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A relatable and honest podcast about the highs and lows of being a youth hockey parent. Join us as we share real stories, struggles, and wins from the rink, offering insights and support for parents navigating the world of youth hockey.
This is for the sled dogs in the trenches. Real hockey parents, real stories. The Good and the Gong Show. No filters, no sugarcoating, no politics, just straight hockey talk, and the best guests around the barn. Welcome to the Crazy Hockey Dads Podcast.
Intro:Alright, boys. Grind them corners, chirp responsibly, and bring that savage fire.
Jamie:Alright, everybody. Welcome back to episode 58 of the Crazy Hockey Dads Podcast. The podcast for the podcast for parents. The
Scott:Those kids play hockey.
Jamie:The podcast for pit what the
Scott:fuck? Unfiltered.
Jamie:The Unfiltered Hockey Podcast for parents. No no politics, no sugarcoating, just real talk for hockey parents in the trenches. Is it something like that? I haven't done it.
Scott:Something like that, yes.
Jamie:Something like that. I know that was not good or correct. Nope. But it was something along those lines. I have not done that for
Scott:I weeks, by the what
Jamie:you were talking about. Well, know. And I'm pretty sure everybody else did as well.
Scott:Well, unless they're kind of new and, know maybe That's didn't start from the beginning last time.
Jamie:This is there are a lot of new people.
Scott:Yeah, there are.
Jamie:So you're not wrong about that. But anyway, thank you to Big John Dangles for the introduction.
Scott:BJD, what's up?
Jamie:You can catch BJD at BigjohnDangle's Instagram. He's got some really cool stuff. So thank you very much for helping us with our intro, BJD. We really appreciate it. Yeah, the baby did it better than you.
Jamie:A 100%. 100%. There's no Yeah, question about you're so much better at that than I am.
Scott:No, that's not true.
Jamie:I'm sure it is. No. You do more.
Scott:It's more I haven't done it weeks. That's why you're out of practice. 100%. 100%.
Jamie:Yeah. So Yeah. Lake Placid.
Scott:Oh, here we come. Look out.
Jamie:Here we come. CHDs descending on Lake Placid.
Scott:Yep. Let's go ECAC.
Jamie:Right? ECAC Conference Championship. Princeton, Dartmouth, Clarkson, Cornell.
Scott:And while I am more than excited to see anyone Yes. I was hoping to see Quinnipiac.
Jamie:Were
Scott:you? Yeah. Because they have that freshman from Long Island Yes. Who's like
Jamie:Yes. Yes.
Scott:The Yes.
Jamie:Man. Yeah, yeah, no, that would have been cool. You're right.
Scott:Would be cool to see him, but it's gonna be sick nonetheless.
Jamie:Yeah, I'm pretty excited Princeton's there. Don't know if you could tell.
Scott:No, I couldn't tell.
Jamie:I know, I didn't think you could. No. You know? No. Yeah, I figured you couldn't tell
Scott:at all. No, the hat and the threefour zip that's bright orange and says Princeton. No, didn't notice that. Thanks for the tip.
Jamie:Yeah, well listen, it's also St. Patrick's Day, so the orange is appropriate. Didn't have green. I looked for green, couldn't find green.
Scott:No, no, You couldn't find I
Jamie:own, so this is actually my Mardi Gras. Actually have a shamrock, green shamrock, couldn't find it. For the life of me, I could not find it. Dude. I tried, couldn't find it.
Scott:Well, didn't try hard enough. You sound like my kids. Bet if I go to your house, I'll find it in thirty I
Jamie:gotta tell you, I looked.
Scott:Did you?
Jamie:I even asked the missus. I'm like, Hey, Nancy, can you help me? No dice. You called in
Scott:backup reinforcement.
Jamie:I had to. I had to call in reinforcements because I was not it was not working. Well Couldn't find it anywhere. Yeah. But back on track.
Jamie:Track? Yes. So, I'm
Scott:going up to Lake Placid this weekend. I am looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing some college hockey. I usually catch like one, two games a year. I have not caught one yet this season.
Jamie:You have not?
Scott:No, so this is I'm excited for that.
Jamie:It's gonna be fun.
Scott:And honestly, I've never been to a college any college tournament. Really? No. So this I'm is gonna be super excited. The atmosphere should be awesome.
Jamie:What was the last college game you were at?
Scott:The last one I was at
Jamie:Didn't you go to a BU game that you guys played?
Scott:Yeah, probably it was BU Does that sound right? Think it BU Merrimack.
Jamie:Am I making that up or is that right?
Scott:No, no, you're right. Okay.
Jamie:Nice.
Scott:So maybe yeah, anyway. Yeah. It's been a minute.
Jamie:Okay. All good. Well, you're going to see three of them.
Scott:Know. I love college. I love how they're super physical. It's aggressive.
Jamie:It's good hockey.
Scott:Yeah, know it's gonna be sick. Yeah. So who's favorite going in? Do you know?
Jamie:I would think Cornell is.
Scott:Cornell, yeah.
Jamie:Cornell's the highest of the four seed wise, which is not shocking. I wonder if Toef's going, by way? Oh. You should reach out to him. No doubt.
Jamie:You know, I was thinking about that today, totally forgot.
Scott:I might be there.
Jamie:He 100% might be there. Yeah. You know, so I'll reach out to him. Yeah, that'd be sick. But yeah, so I think Cornell is when you get into the rink, you will see the banners up in the rafters.
Jamie:Yeah. And it shows all the schools and it shows what years they've won. Cornell has an extensive banner. It's long. It's long.
Jamie:Matter of fact, the last time my family was up there, which wasn't last year's year before, Cornell won.
Scott:Oh, nice.
Jamie:They beat St. Lawrence in the finals, I wanna say. That's awesome. Quinnipiac lost in the semis while we were there to St. Lawrence.
Jamie:Yeah. And I wanna say Cornell beat Dartmouth, if I'm not mistaken, and then Cornell won the whole thing.
Scott:That's sick.
Jamie:Yeah, they're pretty good. They're like a wagon dude.
Scott:Yeah, you always hear their name.
Jamie:Always.
Scott:Yeah, of the schools in the ECA cities.
Jamie:That and Quinnipiac really are the wagons. So yeah, no, it's gonna be fun dude. And we'll do a couple shows from up there. We're gonna
Scott:do a couple
Jamie:of things.
Scott:We'll get interviews, we'll get some content, we'll
Jamie:do a record a pod. Yeah.
Scott:Maybe we'll live a few times.
Jamie:Yeah, yeah. When we get up there We'll
Sandy:do all
Scott:the things.
Jamie:Yeah, all the things like you normally say. That's right. But it'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. And you have been there.
Scott:I've been there. I was at I went up there when I was a kid playing hockey. And I just remember playing on the Rink Of 1980. I just remember that I'd never been on a, you know, an international sheet. And the puck went, I played Is
Jamie:it international? Is it international size? Yeah. I mean, you're saying makes sense to me since they had the Olympics or so, almost like it has to be. I didn't realize that it was a international sheet.
Jamie:Might be right about that.
Scott:Oh, I remember vividly having to go chase the lot corner for the first time. I was like, oh, that's further.
Jamie:A lot of space? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A couple more strides.
Scott:No, like east to west.
Jamie:Yo, yeah. I'm sure.
Scott:Yeah. That's where you feel it the most. Well,
Jamie:what you're saying makes sense to me. Mean, they had international play there. So what you're saying makes a lot of sense.
Scott:Yeah. Saw it with my own eyes. You did? Yeah, both.
Jamie:You 100% did, the way. Nice, dude. Listen.
Scott:Yeah, know. But besides that one time, I mean, don't have many memories or couldn't tell you much about what lasted besides
Jamie:So you'll make new ones.
Scott:I will.
Sandy:We'll have
Scott:some Making memories, that's what we're
Jamie:going do. 100%.
Scott:We'll have
Jamie:some fun over there. And I hope Princeton wins, being a Jersey guy. Looking forward for Princeton, hopefully I'll piggyback on that. Yeah. That'd be nice to see them get an auto bid to the NCAA tournament.
Jamie:That'd be pretty sweet.
Scott:Yeah, no doubt.
Jamie:So that'd be awesome. But yeah, man, we're going to have some fun. You know? Oh, I'm looking forward to it. Now, you guys, rolling kind of into some of your talkie stuff.
Jamie:You guys are done. Right? Oh, Scott's got his candle. Oh, we didn't do that.
Scott:That's also a signal.
Jamie:Well, I was just gonna say, was that
Scott:I'm sniffing my my Howie's That was candle.
Jamie:Listen. That was well done by you. My fault. Let's let's do a little partner. So while Scott's sniffing the candle, we'll talk a little Howie's hockey.
Jamie:So Howie's hockey, go get all the stuff, the tape, the wax, Scott's favorite, the candle, my favorite, the yellow handled scissors. They have awesome gear, love the Howie's Hockey logo. As you can tell, he hangs from my microphone. They have awesome stuff. Use the code CRAZY10 for 10% off your Hockey's hockey gear.
Scott:That's it, my man. And next up, we got coach Kevin from hockeytraining.com. And listen, now is the time to get familiar with hockeytraining.com if you haven't already. Now is the time. Off season's here.
Scott:You know, warmer weather for a lot of places. Less ice. Your kid wants quicker hands. Yeah. Faster feet.
Scott:Stronger stride. You gotta check him out. He runs a virtual stick handling class. He's got a library of on ice and off ice training programs.
Jamie:Good stuff.
Scott:You know, and also non virtual stick hand on courses. So anyone that's looking to get some extra touches, extra instruction without having to go to the rink or maybe wanna enjoy their time outdoors, check out hockeytraining.com. Coach Kevin's got something that's gonna for everyone, including
Jamie:Men's League.
Scott:Men's League. Domination. That's it. Men's League domination.
Jamie:Scott's favorite. Men's League domination.
Scott:That's it. Yeah. So
Jamie:Is there a Men's League domination twenty six yet?
Scott:That's a good question.
Jamie:We're going have to ask Coach Kevin that.
Scott:Yeah. Probably, if I had to guess.
Jamie:He's pretty good at updating that stuff.
Scott:Yeah. So, yeah, everyone take a look. Check it out. Coach Kevin at hockeytraining dot com.
Jamie:Hockey Training HQ Instagram. Hockey He's got a truckload of stuff.
Scott:Yeah, he does. No, he's got a ton of ton of content.
Jamie:Truckload of videos. Great. Truckloads. Yeah, you can't go wrong with that stuff. And then we have Titan Battle Gear.
Jamie:So Scott and I believe that we spend a lot of money in this game.
Scott:I believe. I know.
Jamie:Well said. Yes, we spend a lot of money in this game, so why not protect your kids with the best stuff on the market? So we trust Titan Battle Gear for our base layers for our kids. They're breathable. They're awesome as far as protection.
Jamie:They protect your neck. They protect your wrist. They have awesome stuff. Listen, it's not cheap, but it's worth it because, again, you're protecting your most priceless thing, your kids. So they have awesome stuff.
Jamie:They have awesome colors. They have awesome gear. They have a whole rink life, line as well if you want, like, sweatshirts and shorts, stuff like that. But the base layers are where it's at. So we trust Titan Battle Gear for the base layers for our kids.
Jamie:So you can use our vanity link, which is in our show notes, which is titanbattlegear.com backslash crazy hockey dads. Use the code crazy dads 10 for 10% off your Titan battle gear.
Scott:And as kids say, it's sty.
Jamie:Stye. Stye. Stye. Super Stye.
Scott:Super sty.
Jamie:Super sty.
Scott:And we're come to athletic performance insight. If any of you managers, coaches are thinking about next season and haven't introduced video analytics and video review to your teams, I strongly suggest looking at athletic performance insight. Check out their website. Go fill out the contact form. Reach out to Eric.
Scott:He'd happily demo the software, the platform for you, as well as get a game of yours tagged and broken down for free. It's got all the under the hood analytics. You can use it for as young as mites all the way up through college. It's got all different age groups using it. But it's a phenomenal tool to look at individual and as well as team video replays and statistics to help you get better prepared, improve that hockey IQ, and go get your next W.
Jamie:$100 value from the man himself, Eric.
Scott:That's right. Mentioned Crazy Hockey Dads. Yeah.
Jamie:He's got good stuff. So, you guys are done with tryouts.
Scott:Done. Done. Should
Jamie:we talk about the fact that they bagged it after one skate?
Scott:No pun intended. Exactly. Yeah. That was, that was interesting. So a good
Jamie:that's actually a good way to say. Interesting.
Scott:Yeah. I mean, it it would so Otto gets off the ice, and he's pretty much like, yeah. So if I get a contract tonight, I have to come tomorrow. And yeah. And so it's usually, like, the other way around.
Jamie:Right? Gonna say, it's usually you don't come the second night.
Scott:So, basically, what happened was they got, the contracts were sent out that night. Mhmm. Signed them. The next day was the first team practice.
Jamie:Yeah. How'd that go over, by the way? I'm assuming that there were parents who were bent out of shape about that that I mean, am I wrong? I mean, that Had to be. I would Right?
Jamie:Think so. Has to be. Has to be. Yeah. Although, on the flip side of that, I will say, being fair, it does give those other kids that were not sent contracts the first night time to go elsewhere and find a place to play.
Scott:Listen. So Right?
Jamie:So there are two sides to that coin.
Scott:And and look, I Right? At first, I didn't give that as much, I guess, merit, I suppose. Yeah. And what do I mean by that? I mean, like, you know, do you you could have had a second skate and then, you know, kids still could have gone elsewhere the third night.
Scott:You should really think about it. Right? Like, the end of the day Just cut the corn. You just, like, bottom line up front. Yeah.
Scott:Give me the bottom Right
Jamie:between the eyes. No, like, sugarcoating. Don't put it in the bush.
Scott:Yeah. I I mean, like, if you know that's the team, like, don't waste my time. I mean
Jamie:Listen. And and and listen. I I don't I feel like this time of year, that's probably pretty appropriate.
Scott:Yeah. Right? Yeah. Think so.
Jamie:It's it's more of like a like just be honest type stuff, which we've gone over a couple times.
Scott:And I think you should appreciate that. I mean, I don't think anyone's You going
Jamie:may not like hearing it.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:But you should appreciate the fact that they're trying to not lead you on. Yeah. No. For sure.
Scott:I I mean, I guess you could make the argument if, like, the team is totally picked Right. And you have all your slots full, like, just don't have a tryout then. Like you could you could say that.
Jamie:Well, you know why they have tryouts.
Scott:No. Well, listen. I understand. But at the same time, like there's plenty of coaches that are going into trials that probably have one or two spots 100%. They're willing to fill.
Scott:Yep. And if someone walks in the door that's like, hey, where did this kid come from? Like boom. I agree. You got a new guy.
Jamie:I agree.
Scott:Or gal. 100%. But if that's not the case, then call a spade a spade. Move on next. And let's go.
Jamie:No, you're not wrong.
Scott:So on one hand, yeah. But I don't think, you know, people have said like, oh, so it's like whatever the cost of the, you know
Jamie:The tryouts.
Scott:Tryout was. Yeah. Oh, so that's how much I paid for an hour skate? But like, who's going to a tryout? Like thinking like, oh, I'm just getting a skate in.
Jamie:Do you remember how much tryouts were, how much you paid? Honestly I haven't signed up for tryouts yet, so
Scott:I have no idea. I I could look it up.
Jamie:Know I know something. $1.75, $1.50. Know we talked about it, like I
Scott:I honestly forget.
Jamie:I think Orly put up a a or she put up a
Scott:Let me see.
Jamie:A reel. She put up a reel of you and I talking about tryouts, which I think was, like, last March, by the way. Was
Scott:Oh, is
Jamie:that one that was from? I'm pretty sure that was, buddy. No way. I think so. That was one month
Scott:That was from, like, two weeks ago.
Jamie:I don't I don't think so.
Scott:I'm pretty sure that was one of the first episodes. Sheesh.
Jamie:You know? And, and we were kinda giggling about, like, how, you know, you pay, like I mean, how tryouts are not was gonna racket, but, like, you know, you pay, like, $1.75, $1.50, and you bring in 50, a 100 kids. It's money, dude, for one team. That's money.
Scott:Yeah. No. A 100% it is.
Jamie:I mean, you're talking probably, like, $8 to, like, depending on how many kids you
Scott:are. I mean, I'm not defending the rings, but all I'm saying is, like, how do you so No. No. I agree
Jamie:with this. They have to make money.
Scott:How how else do do it?
Jamie:But listen. I but where does it you're not wrong. Right? You're not wrong about that. But where where does it stop?
Jamie:I mean, they get you in so many places, dude.
Scott:Yeah. I I mean, I hear you. I'm look, I think Absolutely. If you go to a tier one tryout and your kid doesn't make it, then let them try out for tier two at no additional cost.
Jamie:Yeah. Yes. Right? Like, that's agree with that, by the way. I agree with that.
Jamie:Most teams, you you go to tier one tryouts, you pay, just call it $200. And if you don't and if you don't make tier one, they're like, alright, you give us another like 75 or a $100. Yeah. You know?
Scott:Well, I mean
Jamie:I think Orly was actually she put the the question on our stories. What's the most that you paid for tryouts? A couple people were at $300.
Scott:It could be. Yeah. I I mean, don't know. Ours were less than Maybe they were
Jamie:It doesn't matter. Honestly, try They range between, like, $1.50 and 300. Right? Give or take?
Scott:Mhmm.
Jamie:For the most part, depending on where you are?
Scott:Yeah. I'm still trying to
Jamie:find trying out for? I mean, listen. It's not that important. No. But but so you guys had a practice the second night of second night
Scott:of It your
Jamie:was a practice. I'm sure that pissed so many people off.
Scott:Okay. Here. So it was a hundred and seven One seventy five? One seventy five of early bird. 200 Walking.
Scott:Regular.
Jamie:If you oh, okay. Whatever regular. If you don't early bird it.
Scott:If you don't early bird.
Jamie:Such a fucking racket. Such a fucking racket.
Scott:Well, you know.
Jamie:Anyways, the tune ups, all that bullshit, it's such it's all such horseshit.
Scott:Look. I I under so look. If I if I'm an organization, right, and I knowing how the community uses tune ups
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:You know, I'll have a tune up and see who shows up and see if there's anyone that
Jamie:I want
Scott:to talk to before tryouts.
Jamie:A 100%. Yeah.
Scott:I mean
Jamie:Somebody wrote on our on our comments that, like, I don't know where they were from. Something like you have to pay, like, $1,600 for, like, pre skates or, like, What?
Scott:Or, like, a pre skate. You mean you mean ice skates?
Jamie:No. No. No. No. I don't mean ice
Scott:skates. A new pair of ice skates?
Jamie:No. I don't mean that. I mean, like oh, god. I I I'm gonna botch this so badly because but I saw it briefly. But it was something along the lines of, like, you have to you have to pay, like, $1,600.
Jamie:Shit. I need to go look at it. It's gonna it's gonna throw me for a loop back because I'm I'm not explaining it correctly. Okay. But the point was is that you had to be on, like, you had to pay whatever you had to pay in order to like just try out.
Scott:Right. To get to get like the Correct. Like the opportunity to spend more money.
Jamie:Correct. Yes. And that's horseshit. Yeah. Like that's not
Scott:that's Yeah. You know? Anyway. But, yeah, no. Tryouts are over.
Scott:Auto's done. He's, going back to triple a.
Jamie:Nice. Very cool.
Scott:It's a new it's a new team for this building, this organization. New day. Excited about the coaching. Main reason why we decided to stay put. Again, listen, there's a bunch of kids from a bunch of different teams.
Scott:Like I said, it's the first year this team's come together. I'm not anticipating anything exceptional. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than Yeah. Disappointed. So we'll see going into it with realistic expectations.
Jamie:But Smart.
Scott:Again, just wanting, you know, Otto to be a part of a team with a coaching staff that's proven coaching, you know, at Yeah. High levels for You don't really
Jamie:shit about wins and losses.
Scott:No. And even say that to me on the phone like the coach said. He's like, you know, that's the I'm not looking at my hockey rankings. You know, I don't really care about wins and losses. He's like, I'll tell you what I care about.
Scott:I care about, effort. Like, I wanna see who's like, you know, I care about the kids that are gonna go out there be dogs that are gonna be hard to play against. It's awesome. Yeah. Care about kids blocking shots.
Jamie:Yeah. Listen. I like that too.
Scott:I care. I'd rather I'd rather look at, your plus minus than your goals and assists. Yeah. You know? So
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I think it's great.
Scott:Good stuff.
Jamie:That's great. Yeah. No. It's exciting, man. I think it's, listen.
Jamie:Hopefully, he now what you know what you need to do now. Now that you know where you're gonna play next year, you need to call our buddies at Pacific Rink. And you need to, besides smell the Howie's Hockey candle, you need to go and you need to get Otto a light blue bag.
Scott:Yes. I saw that. Yes. Pacific Rink.
Jamie:They have light blue, dark blitz, the same exact colors.
Scott:Yeah, is. I know. Saw Otto he already showed me.
Jamie:Oh, he did?
Sandy:Oh, yeah.
Jamie:He did. Yeah. You need to do that. Yeah. You need to get and speaking of Pacific Rink, we actually are doing an unboxing, I think, when we're done with this.
Jamie:Amazing. We have a care package from Pacific Rink.
Scott:Let's go Pacific Rink.
Sandy:For those
Jamie:of you who don't know Pacific Rink, Pacific Rink has the best bags on the market. In my opinion, Dominic's been using them since he's like six when he could barely fucking carry the thing. I mean, he's he has tipped over many a times carrying that bag. I wish I could say that I'm joking. I'm not.
Jamie:They have awesome stuff. Go check out pacificrink.com. They are phenomenal. I like I said, they have the best bags on the market. They last for a very long time.
Jamie:They're not a piece of shit. They're very well made. They have awesome zippers, good material. We've flown to Vegas, Chicago. We've been to Boston a bazillion times with it.
Jamie:We've been to Nashville. We've been to Tampa. We've been I mean, never had an issue traveling with it. Doesn't get ripped. Doesn't get it's it's make it High quality.
Jamie:Make it simple. Durable. Yeah. They make it they make an idea they make an unbelievable piece of equipment. It's awesome.
Jamie:Yeah. So yes, that's what you guys need to do. Guys need go with light blue, dark blue bag. That matches the team for you. No doubt.
Scott:Like it, buddy. Auto's on it.
Jamie:Clearly, is. Sounds like
Scott:he is. But the truth is every other like question out of his mouth is, can I have, can I get And
Jamie:what's he asking for?
Scott:Oh, like you name it. Like pretty much anything that just like pops into his brain. Just What was he asking for? Now of course I'm gonna blank. He wanted a new wanted a new cage for his helmet.
Scott:Okay. He recently got his He wanted to, you know, he's springtime. He wanted to get shorts. Of course.
Jamie:Wanted get
Scott:new t
Jamie:shirts. He wanted to
Scott:get this. That we're going up to like plastered. Yep. Whatever. He, you know
Jamie:Nice.
Scott:A one zero one zero
Jamie:one. Of course. Are you surprised? No. No.
Jamie:No. It's awesome, dude.
Scott:Yeah. I like it. And how about you? Tryouts? Not yet?
Jamie:Tryouts. Not yet. Tier one tryouts are, I want to say, the March, maybe going into the first couple days of April.
Scott:Very nice.
Jamie:And then tier two is after that. Yeah. And? And. Still on the fence.
Scott:Undecided.
Jamie:Undecided. Don't know what we're doing. Everybody keeps asking me. I don't have an answer. One day, Nancy and I are in one camp.
Jamie:The next day, we're in the other camp. Dominic's the same way. One day, he thinks one thing. The next day, he thinks the other. Pros and cons to both.
Jamie:Yep. We've done a bunch of tier one ID skates. Not a bunch. I can't say that. We've done one.
Jamie:Two coming soon. And then we skated with our team on Saturday.
Scott:Oh, right.
Jamie:With our last year's team. It's Did
Scott:that whole team turn out?
Jamie:A lot of them did.
Scott:Yeah. Any new faces?
Jamie:A lot of them.
Scott:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Anything that was
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:Looks promising? Very. That's great.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. So, know, his Dom's old team looks like it may be a wagon next year. Yeah. So, know, so we'll see if we stay with tier two stuff, that would be very interesting.
Jamie:Yeah. You know? So that's appealing.
Scott:That could have some big upside. To house,
Jamie:Knows a lot of the kids. The coaching staff is the exact same as the last two years. That would be cool.
Scott:That's what he's getting into.
Jamie:Consistency there. So yeah, it depends what he wants to do.
Scott:All right.
Jamie:Oh, I have a funny story. I don't know why I didn't tell you this either. So we were at an ID skate last Friday night.
Scott:And
Jamie:the ID skate went on and we're waiting in the lobby for Dominic to come out. Right? So I'm standing there talking to Nancy and a buddy and this gentleman walks up to me. He's like, Are you Jamie?
Scott:Oh, yeah?
Jamie:He's like, I listen to the podcast. He's like Pennsylvania. No way. Swear to God. Yeah.
Jamie:How do you think
Scott:I mean, he listens or he watches?
Jamie:No. Does he recognize
Scott:your face?
Jamie:Yeah, dude. I I don't know if it's from I don't know if he watches the I don't if he watches us on YouTube Yeah. Or listens to it and then knows the Instagram clips, but he
Scott:Oh, yeah.
Jamie:Recognized me standing in the lobby and came up to me. I had the whole conversation. I wanna say his name is Jim Buddy. I'm so sorry if I'm if I'm if I got that incorrect. Nice dude.
Jamie:Tall skinny guy. Nice guy. His son came out and shook his son's hand.
Sandy:Oh, no way.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was on the ice with Dominic.
Jamie:Nice guy, real nice guy. And if I pronounce your name wrong, Jim, think it's Jim, then I apologize. But nice dude.
Scott:Dude, you are so Oh my God.
Jamie:Let's not get crazy. It was cool. Meant to tell you, I totally forgot.
Scott:Oh, man.
Jamie:But nice guy, man. That's so cool. Listening to podcast. Really enjoys it. Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. That was cool. Love it. I want say Jim from Doylestown, PA. Doylestown.
Jamie:Shout out if your name is Jim, I hope. Fingers crossed.
Scott:All right. Well, either way, I'm sure he knows who you're talking about.
Jamie:Yes, I'm sure he does. So yeah. So if yeah. So we'll see, man. I don't know.
Jamie:Don't know.
Scott:All right.
Jamie:Well, we'll see.
Scott:You have time.
Jamie:We do have time.
Scott:Sounds nice.
Jamie:So we'll see how it goes. All right. Well, on that note, would you
Scott:think you want to flip it over to today's interview?
Jamie:We can. Yes, absolutely. And who do we have, Scott?
Scott:Sandy Cohen.
Jamie:Sandy Cohen. I got to tell you, his book was fantastic, by the way.
Scott:Loads of nuggets of information.
Jamie:99 of them.
Scott:To be exact.
Jamie:Yes. His book is phenomenal. We mentioned it during the interview. I don't want to give anything away. But he was a really, really good guest, dude.
Scott:No, was excellent.
Jamie:He was really good.
Scott:And he's the founder of Mental And Edge if you're not, you know, check it out. He's all he's in the business of mental or I should say mindset preparation for athletes and he having been a hockey player himself is clearly working with a wide variety and rate, you know, of hockey players. He said a lot of you know, he's getting more and more teenagers, like middle school, certainly up to high school, junior, even professional level. And so he's always great, you know, in talking to someone like him because they just think about things differently. Yeah.
Scott:And you know, it's in some sometimes, you know, when I think about like one of our conversations like, oh, it's so logical and it seems so simple when you talk to someone who can like lay things out. You know, it's the hard part why, you know, I think a lot of us, you know, if you're not talking, if it's not your kid talking to a mental performance coach or
Jamie:Yes.
Scott:You or I or anyone's even talking to like someone else. It's like
Jamie:Yes.
Scott:Having a different person's point of view Yeah. On like whatever the situation is, like really just gives a different perspective that it can sometimes just be enough to get you like, oh, now I see it. Now I get it. Yes. I was looking at this all wrong.
Jamie:You know what? We're coming up on our matter of fact, we're going to have our one year anniversary while we're in Lake Placid. Wow. So we should do we actually should do something for that. Like, should We should go out
Scott:to dinner and have cake.
Jamie:Really? Joking. Listen. I suppose we could we could do something along those lines. We should do something to celebrate, by the way.
Jamie:Sure. But we should do like a giveaway. We have a bunch of Sandy's books.
Scott:Oh, we should definitely. Yeah. We should we should get those out.
Jamie:Sandy's books are he he has a set. The 99 rules. Yeah. I guess they're 99 rules books. There's three of them.
Scott:Yeah, series.
Jamie:Yeah, there's a series. So he sent us the 99 Rules for Every Sports Parent. 99 Rules for Every Sports Parent needs to know, this was a, like I said during the interview, I thought he was talking to me. It's very easy to read, I think he sent it to me, I read it in forty minutes, the whole Because fucking I couldn't put it down. Kept Not sure what this says about me, but it could say I'm an asshole.
Jamie:I was an asshole, not anymore. When he was
Scott:Let me be the judge of that.
Jamie:When I was reading this 99 rules for every sports parent, I kept saying, oh my god.
Scott:I'm an asshole.
Jamie:Oh my god.
Scott:I'm an asshole.
Jamie:Oh my god. For instance, rule four, raise a human, not a highlight reel. I mean, every page is another rule. And then once he gets through I forgot how many of Once he gets through a certain amount of them, he does a recap of the last 15, the last 10, whatever it is. But it was frightening how much and how relatable the book was.
Scott:The book was like talking to you. Correct. Yes.
Jamie:He gets into it a little bit during the interview, but we should give a couple of those away.
Scott:Yeah, we should.
Jamie:Reading this book has made me a better hockey parent.
Scott:Yeah, it has.
Jamie:100%.
Scott:Yeah. And then there's also the 99 rules every hockey player should know. Yes. And so we can also send some of those out too.
Jamie:We can, yes. Yeah. No, we 100% should. So more than League Plastic, we'll figure something out to
Scott:do. Great.
Jamie:Yeah. Sandy was great. I thought he was great.
Scott:You know? Yeah, I agree. And let's turn it over to him and let everyone enjoy all of his wisdom and his thoughts about working on this aspect of the game with kids and players. And let's pick it up on the flip side.
Jamie:Alright, bud. Alright. Here we go. Okay. Alright.
Jamie:Here we are back with our next interview. We have Sandy Cohen from Mental Edge Hockey and author of 90 the 99 rule series. Sandy, thank you for jumping on with us and chatting with us for a little bit. Appreciate the time. Happy
Sandy:to do it. You guys are doing great stuff. Happy to be here.
Jamie:I appreciate that.
Scott:Thank you. Thank you. Thank you
Jamie:for the kind words. We're for trying. Listen. It makes you And we're doing, dude. We are doing.
Jamie:We're doing. Makes That's me awesome. Do Yeah.
Sandy:You're doing Let's go.
Jamie:We're doing it. It's getting there. We're Come
Scott:on, guy.
Jamie:When we have guests like you, it's easier. Let's put it
Scott:that way.
Jamie:You know what I'm saying?
Scott:Alright. That's fair.
Sandy:It is. It's true. One of things we're gonna talk about is self doubt, so we need to work on your own messaging about yourself. Come on.
Scott:Yeah. Dare we.
Jamie:That's I all I'm know we're doing well. I'm trying not to be braggadocious.
Sandy:I know. I know.
Jamie:I know we are. Listen, there's a reason why I keep dropping how many countries we're in on the podcast like a schmuck. You know? Well, I know we're doing well, but
Sandy:Who ever thought though, right? Like, you guys you guys never had it, right? I mean, three years ago, four years ago, if if I told you guys would be doing this, you'd be like, what?
Scott:And you you know what? I'm I'm sure we'll end up talking about this because I know it it we're already kinda, like, going a little bit all over the place, but a lot of it comes out to, like, just confidence. Right? And your willingness to being vulnerable and not caring about what other people think and keeping focused on, you know, what your goals, you know, speaking about myself or whatever and and not letting other people's thoughts derail you. And and I know for sure that's something that athletes deal with at all ages.
Scott:But before we even get into that, all that stuff,
Sandy:say, think
Scott:if you just, like, you know, just tell us a little bit about mental edge hockey, kind of what you got going on now so all of our listeners kinda, you know Yep. Know what you're up to.
Sandy:So we are in the mindset business, obviously, and we've our our background is exclusively in the hockey market. Right? So I was a player. Grew up in the Mid Atlantic. Played up up tier one there until it was probably time to go to high school and start thinking about next steps and and wanted to, you know, eventually play in college like, many many of the folks there.
Sandy:Weren't a lot of options, so I ended up going to a prep school up in New England. My parents were unbelievably supportive. Awesome. And That's great. Loved loved that, because I wanted to end up playing in college and then did that.
Sandy:And when my career was finally over, it happens to everybody, I spent about about fifteen years as a professional skills coach, so I I never wanted to coach teams. I wanted to for me, I wanted to kinda move the needle more on the individual side. So a lot of college players, a lot of lot of pro players, a lot of pro pro teams, and it was on skill work. So skating, shooting, situational play. And right around, probably 2012 ish, built, the large at the time, the largest hockey training and development facility in the country.
Sandy:Was about a 30,000 square foot facility up in the Mid Atlantic. Oh, wow. Shooting lanes, treadmills, and we're just in the development business. Right? Like, no yeah.
Sandy:Yeah. We it was so amazing. Yeah. Yeah. We sold memberships.
Sandy:We're doing lessons, camps, clinics, and, like, no affiliations. Right? So it wasn't like
Jamie:Oh, very nice.
Sandy:Yeah. Yeah. I've we I fought it. You know? It was it was enticing, but we always wanted to to to be in the place where I always wanted to be in the place where I could look at a family or or a parent and really speak about what was in their best interest.
Sandy:Like, not, you know, not Oh, yeah. Allegiance to this team or that school, like, whatever.
Jamie:Get it.
Sandy:And it was hard. It was hard to navigate that. But it's that was right around the time I really kinda started getting serious about the mindset piece. A lot of the pro guys at that point, it was only pro guys, but a lot a lot of the the guys, if they would call or interact with me, they didn't know what was wrong, but something wasn't being maximized. You know?
Sandy:Something was was off. It was, you know It
Jamie:was missing. Yeah.
Sandy:Yeah. Yeah. And that put me down on on this path, but but so it's been about eight years exclusively in the mindset space. We do customized mindset coaching. And when I say that word mindset, what I'm talking about is belief, attitude, grit, emotional control, discipline, self awareness.
Sandy:Like, some the ability to kinda control and manage that. So fast forward to to now, a lot of lot of pro clients, men and women, a lot of Olympians, a lot of college players, and really helping them maximize their their potential. Right? Whatever whatever that might mean for them, But helping that foundation of the building, which is mindset, really be something stable that they can lean on. And that's that's that's where I spend my time.
Sandy:Hopefully, I answered the the question. Yeah. For for sure. Absolutely.
Scott:So so that it's it's it's remarkable on how, I think, more commonplace, like, you know, it is for people to be talking about the mental side of the game, not just in our sport and hockey, but, like, across all sports, especially with, the early professionalization of kids. But just, like, your journey to, like, get to this point, obviously, you know, you just shared a little bit about what it was like, you know, post career. But, like, as a as a kid growing up, you know, you'd you'd mentioned that your parents were very supportive. What what was it like for you get, like, just falling in love with the game, playing, like Yep. Moving up?
Scott:Like, did was the mental side of things something that you felt like you had really dialed in as you No. Like back? Or no. Okay.
Sandy:I you know what? I wish. I I wish. And I I have no issue talking about this. I'm very, very transparent about it.
Sandy:One was probably a lack of of awareness about it. It just wasn't a a topic back then. It's not right or wrong. It was just a different a different time. It was very much a suck it up and deal with it.
Sandy:Absolutely. Yes. It was. Yep. And I spend a lot of my time now kind of in that belief and confidence world, and I wish I I wish I knew more about that when I was younger.
Sandy:But no. I mean, I love the sport. Got into it very, very young. My birth year right around maybe a couple years older, a couple years after, hockey really kinda started to take off in in the Mid Atlantic, in in the Maryland area specifically, and started going to the Quebec tournament and and really just getting a lot of exposure. Right.
Sandy:Had amazing coaches. I think that was probably one of the the biggest things for me, but I I was a confident kid, a very, very skilled player. I I was a center. Really, really good skater. But I had a tremendous amount of self doubt that that I I didn't even it didn't really surface for me totally until I got to high school.
Sandy:But looking back on it, I can pretty pretty it was a pretty obvious thing. But my parents were terrific. My family, they, you know, gave me every opportunity, camps, clinics, everything, driving all around. I mean, we spent so much time in the car. I know you guys can relate to that.
Sandy:Oh, yeah. And they were terrific. They sacrificed so much, not just time and and attention, but but resources, and and I've absolutely nothing but respect and admiration for them. They're they're terrific people. But I think so much of what kind of helped me be successful in the sport and and and beyond was all of the lessons that that they gave me that really had nothing to do with hockey.
Sandy:You know? It's just
Scott:just Interesting.
Sandy:It just I I ended up that helped me in hockey and ended up, I think, maximizing parts of my career, but they were skills, I think, that that I learned away from the rink that I then learned to apply in the rink, which I don't know if that's super relevant in today's world. I I wish it was more so on the younger side, but so I I great family, amazing coaches, very, very fortunate. But I wish I I wish I I wish the mindset side was was more something that people coached back then, and it it just wasn't.
Jamie:No. No. I don't think parents knew about it. Coaches didn't give a shit about it. No.
Jamie:Like you said, it was just more like deal with it type stuff. You know? You know, suck it up and deal
Sandy:with say anything. You know? And it it you know, it wasn't like I was you know, hockey, especially back then, you know, it was coaches it's just very alpha. You know, a lot of yelling and screaming, you know, and it's Some of them. Yes.
Sandy:You're you're a kid. So, you know, you're going to be submissive to the alpha voice. Right? You're not gonna Yeah. It doesn't mean that that was necessarily the right approach.
Sandy:It's just how how it works. But Yeah. You know, looking back on it, right, like, that's that's that's not coaching. That's that's just, like, loud bullying slash talking. The the hard part is the coaching part.
Sandy:You know? That's that's that's the hard part.
Jamie:Yeah. The coaches of of yesterday and the coaches of today look totally different.
Sandy:Different. They're
Jamie:from side by side.
Sandy:Yeah. And you see you see it in the you see it at all levels. You know? The old school coaches
Jamie:Absolutely.
Sandy:It's just those are the ones kind of being phased out. It's a it's a different athlete athlete today. Today. It's It's a a different different kid, different circumstances, different life. And I I think you have to adapt.
Sandy:You have to.
Jamie:So it's funny you mentioned that. I'm curious. So you obviously, we know there's different coaches compared to, like, when we were kids. Right? What do you think is the difference with athletes, especially hockey players, from that period to this period?
Jamie:What's the difference? I'm curious what you see.
Sandy:I see two main things. I think that they they probably show up a lot of different ways, and they they I think a lot of people could disagree on how those things have come to be. Whatever. I think the two biggest things are resilience slash grit and the ability to focus.
Jamie:And you think the athletes of when we were kids had that? Absolutely. Today's does not.
Sandy:Yeah. And and look, it's not I I this is not like a we had to walk 30 miles to the bus stop. You know? That's that's not what I that's
Scott:not what I'm saying.
Sandy:But but it was a different time. Less distractions.
Jamie:Yes.
Sandy:I think people's maybe morals and values were just a little bit different.
Jamie:There's no question about that,
Sandy:by the Yes. Every everybody wants what's in the best interest of their kids. Right? Like, you you wanna provide them with the the best opportunities. I think over the years, though, it it's I think the compete edge and the grind has maybe not been celebrated as much.
Sandy:A part of it's maybe culture. You know, you see on Instagram or social media, you see the highlight or the great thing.
Jamie:Never see the lowlights, do you?
Sandy:No. You don't see is the the effing grind
Scott:Right.
Sandy:That led to that. Right? Which is the important part. Yeah. Yeah.
Sandy:So I I think those two are different, and I think they can be taught. But I would say at at the end, it's it's not understanding what focus means Uh-huh. And the concept of being gritty. You know? I think a concept for younger kids when I say kid, I'm I'm 50, so kid is basically, you know, I I don't know
Scott:if you wanna be 30. Vomit.
Sandy:Make me
Jamie:vomit. Yeah. Yeah.
Sandy:I'm like, my bag is killing me. But the the concept of failing to understand why today matters. You know, today matters because eventually, when you add up all the todays Yeah.
Jamie:It's a lot of time.
Sandy:That's right. That's the that's the achievement. Right? That coaches, scouts, you know, they talk bosses at work. They talk in terms of today's, but they talk about it a little differently.
Sandy:They they might say a season of stats, a quarter of work. You know? Like, they're that's the language they're speaking. But the irony is that that is also the language that players and employees are speaking because when that coach says, well, what are the stats? You know?
Sandy:Maybe we're gonna scout you to come here. The language of of the player has to open up that wallet, and you hand them that stack of today's. And there can't be today's missing. You know? Like, that's why today matters.
Sandy:And that's a diff that's a concept that I don't think is super relevant for for athletes younger athletes today.
Scott:Yeah. It's like the and we've talked about this a bunch, especially recently, but, you know, just like and you mentioned too, just the the highlights in the Instagram and the reels and, like, these short clips and people aren't kids aren't watching full games or just watching highlights, and there aren't that many lowlights. And those overnight successes have been building for years in the making, and then all of a sudden, you hear about the next generational talent. It's like, that just didn't happen overnight. There's been years in the making.
Scott:So, you know, kind of what I wanted to get a sense for, and, like, I know you work with a wide range of athletes in terms of age. But just just for, you know, for our audience, like, generally speaking, you're you're what what age do you start engaging with players where it's like, you you know, it's The fur yep.
Sandy:The fur the first the first five years, I would say it was 90% juniors Yep. College players, pros. Happily, happily, I would say over the last three years, that's still a big chunk, but that's probably 50%. And we're we're much more into the teenagers. Like high school?
Sandy:Yeah. High school and even in even in middle school. Even middle schoolers. Yeah. So
Jamie:13 to 14 ish is when you
Sandy:get Yep. You know, it's different, boys and girls. Girls typically can start a little bit younger. Their their maturity is Absolutely. I don't have to tell.
Sandy:We're we're like simpletons. But but yeah. It's it's it's definitely changed for the better, I think. But my my thing, where where I think mental edge hockey is a little bit different is I I don't get too caught up in what the aspirations are. The collegiate aspirations, tier one, whatever.
Sandy:That's important. And and in kind of the interview process, that comes out. What I think is more important, though, the differentiator is there there needs to be aspirations. There needs to be a desire for next level fill in the blank. Like, that that that core thing for younger people, especially before puberty where as a hockey player, everything changes, you know, once you hit puberty.
Sandy:Those things are just intangibles. Like, you have to have those things. But happily, it's changed, and I I think the majority is because parents what parents will say is, my kid, he or she something's going on with their confidence. They are a different player from practice to games. Something's not translating.
Sandy:Or, like, their their negative self talk is, like, running out of control slash Yeah. You know, they have no belief. It it's normally one of those three things. Yeah. And I like those calls.
Sandy:I like those when parents reach out because those are human traits. Right? Like, those things are so important. But most players at that age aren't going to reach out and and say or even be open to the concept of
Jamie:I need help.
Sandy:I yeah. Mental slash mindset help. When the irony is when I tell them, I say, you know, I don't know one pro player, not even any college players anymore, that don't have some sort of a mindset slash mental performance routine. Like, it's it's unheard of. Yeah.
Sandy:It's unheard of. Yeah. To to not have it.
Jamie:Yeah. It's funny how the athletes changed from when we were kids to now.
Sandy:Yeah.
Jamie:It's it's a much more well rounded athlete. You know?
Scott:So for for, like, the younger ages, like, certainly, there's a maturity thing. Like, even for Otto, like, we we've had him like, he's talked to like, there's programs out there where they, like, they match you up with, like, collegiate athletes, like, this mentorship stuff. Like, and Otto's talked to he's he's talked to, I think, at least two people, like, I don't know, a couple months at a clip just, you know, to try to break into that kind of, like, a mentor slash positive self talk, you know, space. And what's interesting is that, like, it while it it just seems like such a great opportunity, it you know, I I'm just speaking for my son. You know, it's like, there there's a certain lack of fun.
Scott:Right? So, like, when he would talk to, you know, like, the collegiate athlete, like, he would just wanna talk about, oh, dude, like, what stick do you have? Oh, and now Gower sends them to you for free? Like, yeah. How do you tape it?
Scott:Like, are you on YouTube? You know?
Sandy:That that is that is such a good point, honestly. And I'm I'm not I I'm not poop I'm not bashing any that's that's that's not my style. I I think, though, that there's a big difference between mentorship Yeah. You know, hockey IQ stuff, which is so so important. Video analysis, that's so important.
Sandy:When you cross the threshold, though, into, like, the psychology, mental performance, mindset, and this is my opinion. It's there has to be some some experience and and training there. But but that that that's a fine line, though. I think a lot of those things kinda get the people in the door, but I do think it's a skill. It's a skill to be able to kinda turn that, and how do you interact with a 13 or 14 year old that is like you know, it's a different world since COVID, but, I mean, to even get them to sit still in front of a computer is is very challenging.
Sandy:So Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I I understand that. I see it all the time.
Sandy:That's part of kind of the growth thing, but but I think it has to be in very palatable bites. I do think I do think that it is a process. There is a beginning to this. There's a lot of kind of listening and a lot of meeting the players where they are. That's one of the things I think that we really kind of pride ourselves on is that we meet the player.
Sandy:Your kids are different. They learn different. They might be different on the belief slash grit scale. So for us to talk to both of them the same
Jamie:Would not be yeah.
Sandy:Yeah. Yeah. Right. Apples oranges. Yeah.
Sandy:Yeah. So Yeah. Think customized work has to really mean something, and we kind of pride ourselves on that customized is customized.
Jamie:Yeah. I would say a college kid probably does not do exactly what you guys do.
Scott:No. Yeah. You guys are No. I would always say like ballpark than They're not like you pointed out
Jamie:thing. Right?
Scott:Yeah. No. They're just not trained. They're not trained like that. Like, they've got, like, a script probably that they're, like, used to, like, you know, start conversations, which is great.
Scott:Yeah. But, like, in terms of really making a difference. And, like, that's kind of, like, what I wanted to, like, dive into a little bit is, like, for anyone that hasn't gone through the process of, like, mental coaching, mental training. You know, if you could kind of just, like, open the door a little bit and, like, obviously, it's not a one size fits all model. Got that.
Scott:Every kid's gonna be different. Got it. But kinda like what's the process? Like, what could a, you know, an athlete expect to kinda go through? What would a parent expect their child to, you know, kinda go through when working with someone like yourself to start, like, digging into this stuff?
Sandy:Yep. So what I'll start it's a great question. The the what the feelings or the the the very noticeable things that change for the parents is they'll see smiles happen a lot more. There is less probably angst, a lot more calm. There is, you know, post game.
Sandy:There is a lot of things that that probably aren't so results driven. It's a lot more discussion about actions and behaviors, because those are really the the metrics. Right? Like, everybody wants the results. The results matter, of course.
Sandy:But but the irony is, like, the best way to get and the only way to get to those results is focusing on the actions and behaviors that when and if you do them, they lead to those results. Right? So so many younger people, I think, are kind of stuck in that mindset of good game, bad game. Did I get a point? Did I not get a point?
Sandy:Know, everything's so black and white. Right? Absolutely. Yes. So a lot of it is you gotta kinda understand their thought process.
Sandy:I always, always, always, always, always ask people just, you know, what what kind of player are you? Help me understand, you know, what kind of season is it? What does success mean? And for anybody, most players 16, they're stumped already.
Jamie:It's I'm sorry. It doesn't surprise me. They have no idea how to answer you.
Sandy:Yeah. Well, it's it's not it's not their fault, but think about that, though. Like, their moods or lack of confidence, lack of belief, or self talk, or going off on tangents, unable, you know, inability to to focus, they're based on something that they can't even tangibly tell me what success is or isn't. Right? So how do you track it?
Sandy:How can you celebrate it? How can you kind of
Jamie:You can't quantify it.
Sandy:Yeah. That's exactly right.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah.
Sandy:Yeah. So so much of it is like, well, let's define it first. I don't know what it is, but let's let's define it. Right? Like, let's have a plan.
Sandy:It's a lot easier to chase something that that we know we that that is real. So a lot of it is that. A lot of it is listening. A lot of it's perspective. You know, it's it's we glass half full, glass half empty.
Sandy:I think there's a third rail there. Right? Like, what if the glass is just refillable? It's both. Yeah.
Sandy:Well, all three.
Scott:Right.
Sandy:Half empty, half full. Refillable. Right. Yeah. Right.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Right. Never heard anybody put it like that.
Sandy:That's interesting. So so we spend a lot of time with that and then kind of what where confidence starts. So so early on, I think this is within two or three sessions. Players have a much a much better understanding of the things they can control, the things they can impact, the things they have to let go. And again, the crazy part is the controllables are not outcomes.
Sandy:They're actions and behaviors. Mhmm.
Jamie:You know, it's interesting you say that because, you know, my my child would come off the ice for the last couple years and he would be ripping pissed. I mean, pissed, you know? I mean, and it's so obvious, and it's all point driven. It's all, oh, didn't have a good game. I didn't get a score sheet.
Jamie:Yeah. You know? And Scott and I, we say all the time to our kids, we don't really care. As long as you're out there giving your all, there's a lot of things you can do that don't show up on the score sheet. Right?
Jamie:I mean, are you playing your position right? Are you being a good teammate? Are are you are you giving effort? Are you going out there? Are you picking your teammates up when they go down?
Sandy:So don't don't there I would say two things.
Scott:I didn't
Sandy:mean to interrupt you, but two things on that. First of all, it's right out of the gate, someone like me has the advantage because I'm not dad. I am I'm the neutral party coach. Right?
Jamie:Right.
Sandy:So I and there's a lot of things that that I could say that would be similar to what you would say, and they'd be like, coach Sandy's so smart, dad. And he'd be like, dad, you're an idiot. You know? It's like But I just
Scott:said that. 100%.
Sandy:Yeah. 100%. But
Jamie:Yeah.
Sandy:So much of it from the the parent's side is what you just said. I'm not ripping on you. But what you just No. Said Please. Yeah.
Sandy:Like, the the we don't care about points or we don't this. I understand what you mean by that, but a kid doesn't understand that. Right? Like They don't. It's they want the to dos.
Sandy:They need they need that this is to focus. Right? So it's like, we don't care about that. That leaves the door open. It's like kind of helping parents shift and say, well, what what is it that we do care about?
Sandy:What is it that's important? And start shaping those behaviors and reframing things that we're starting to talk about and celebrate the same things all the time. So a lot of the work that I do, you know, I speak to the the the players. There's, you know, a a a recap and a summary that's sent to everybody. So parents get the same stuff.
Sandy:We start bookending the language. You know?
Jamie:So are are they, like, the recaps in your book?
Sandy:Some. Yeah. Yeah. So So the first book I wrote was 99 rules every athlete needs to know. And I'm not gonna I was not a humongous reader when I was younger.
Sandy:I'm not gonna say that I was. But this is the kind of book I would have wanted to have read. Right? Short kind of bursts, very tangible. You can almost open it up to any page, underline stuff, highlight stuff, and stuff you could take with you.
Sandy:And it was very well received. I was so happy to have impact like that. It was very well received.
Jamie:I'm sure.
Sandy:And and within, like, two months, I started getting so many messages from parents, like, this is great stuff. You know, my kid won't read it or this or that or I wish they would read it. And what it really highlighted for me is that the the parents needed some help to create the environment.
Jamie:Oh, yes.
Sandy:For the kids to understand what learning is. So so we kinda circled back, and then we wrote 99 rules every sports parent needs to know. And it's been very well received over the past six, seven months. And it's not a how to book like how to parent, but it's very palatable. There's a rule, seven or eight lines, a takeaway, and I really think it helps provide the structure and the environment for parents to to know, you know, what the third rail is, the the to says, the don't says, and just to remind them that, you know, the goal doesn't have to be to to always shelter your kid from the fall.
Sandy:The goal should be to teach them to get back up.
Jamie:That's right. Yes.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:And it's funny because when you sent me your book, so I started reading it, and I'm like, Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm like, Holy shit.
Scott:I think he literally called me after he was done with the first 10.
Jamie:I was like, Dude, yeah. I'm doing this all wrong. Yeah. Like, I'm like, stop. You know what?
Jamie:This is exactly what calling me.
Sandy:I learned so I learned so much of that by by watching, you know, as as a coach forever. You know, like, see all. You see everything. And there were certain things where, you know, you're like just, you know, parents talking to me or about their kid or something where it's I would just say, look. I mean, you can't you you cannot I don't care what happens with hockey.
Sandy:Like, you you cannot do that. Like, I'm just providing you another perspective. Like, it it can't be like that. And so a lot of it was kinda what I saw. A lot of stuff that my parents did, my parents didn't do.
Sandy:You know, I really tried to pull the environment of stuff that I had seen and and just kept kinda working it and and put it together. And it's been so gratifying because we're so close to it. Right? Like, we all want what's in the best we want our kids to have a better life than we had.
Scott:100%.
Sandy:Right. You know? And you're like, there's no book for us on, you know No. How to
Jamie:parent. No. No.
Scott:No. And you know what? You said it earlier, and it's something that, like, in just even talking with my son's teachers and, like, watching him transition from elementary school into middle school and, like, that was, like, a big jump, you know, and it was just so clear, like, you know, children aren't taught how to learn. Know what I mean? It's like, how how is he supposed to know how to be organized for, like, this, like, you know, deluge of, like, you know, like, studying and learning that's supposed to come his way.
Scott:I mean, like, they ease it onto them, but, like, he doesn't necessarily walk away from school with, like, a class on how to, like, get organized and do all the things. Like, some of it is just, like, expected to come from home or just, like, you know, if your kids cut from a different cloth, they're just, like, their brain works that way. But, like, just learning how to learn is, like, is a whole thing onto itself. So I think, like, as you've mentioned that, it just got me thinking about when you work, you know, with, you know, your athletes, it that sounds like that's part of what you need to do for certainly for certain age groups. Are there any, like, reoccurring themes that perhaps touch upon the idea of like learning to learn that you have to walk through with, know, your clients?
Sandy:The the older players, it's there's a lot of kind of breaking old habits and a lot of reminders and a lot of different kind of thought patterns and different behaviors we're we're trying to implement. For the younger ages, though, which I I really, really like on the younger side because it really is a blank canvas. Like, they they they don't know what they don't know. Right. But so much of it on the confidence piece, on the belief piece, on the effort piece, on the controllables for a younger for a younger person to understand how all of those things fit together.
Sandy:There is no hockey scenario, no school scenario no and no social social situation that that that they that they could be dropped into that they wouldn't be able to navigate better having these skills. But I would say from the younger kids, one of the biggest one standards and expectations, those that's a tough one for for younger kids, you know, what they what they think are standards, you know, x there's kind of a blurry line there, you know, so habits and and things like that. Understanding that confidence is not a feeling. Confidence is a choice. You know, confidence can be built, grown, developed.
Sandy:That's that's a really, really big one. But I think the biggest one for younger kids is probably the concept of focus. You know, if you ask anybody what focus means younger, I think they confuse it a little bit with the concept of awareness. I would say, like, awareness would be looking out the window. Like, hey.
Sandy:There's my neighbor. There's a bird. You know? There's the mailman. That's awareness.
Sandy:Focus is like looking into a mirror. Like, those two things are very, very different. And I think what a lot of younger kids, their pregame thoughts are a lot of don't dos.
Jamie:Like, don't turn the puck over. Don't
Sandy:They they they pause the tape on the negative. Right? So, like, what are we gonna focus on today? Okay. Don't be nervous.
Sandy:Don't miss the net. Don't turn the puck over. Right? Well Right. That's like that's like, don't think about an elephant.
Jamie:Yeah. You're gonna think about an elephant. You're setting yourself up for failure immediately. Right before you even before you step on the ice.
Sandy:Yeah. So the and the brain doesn't work like that. Right? Like, if you want your kid to skate fast, you don't say go out there and don't skate slow.
Jamie:That's right.
Sandy:Right. So Right? Yeah. So so so a big thing a big thing is kind of reshifting. Like, focus is not about blocking anything out.
Sandy:Focus is about locking in. Right. Like, might we're not trying to keep the Yeah. The crappy stuff out. Folk one or two things, what are they?
Sandy:And then you fight like hell to keep them in.
Jamie:So I I have a question for you. I'm so curious how you're gonna answer this too. So my child has like when I say he has ADHD, it doesn't even begin to describe how he is. He has literally every symptom in the book. He's a textbook case of ADHD.
Jamie:So have you worked so keeping him focused on the ice is like
Sandy:you know? Mhmm.
Jamie:You know? And we don't he's not medicated with anything, Sandy. Mhmm. Because when he was, he didn't eat and he wasn't growing.
Sandy:Yeah, I get it. Hear this all the time.
Jamie:I'm thrilled to hear you say that because my wife and I are like lost. So, we don't want to medicate him because we need him to grow, right? I mean, so we're kind of biting the bullet and we're dealing with his ADHD because we need him to grow, right? So, I mean, is, you know, he'll stay more focused in school and in sports, but then he's not gonna grow. So, Nancy and I are like, you know what?
Jamie:We're not doing any meds, we're gonna do it all organically if possible, right? So, I was telling you, we just came from a skate, right? So, I don't know if ADHD kids sundown or what, but my child, when it hits like 05:00, okay, like again, he was just on the ice with three other kids, they were all nine, so they're three years older than him, they're doing the drill and Dominic's on the side, kind of like Michigan ing the puck, right?
Sandy:Of course.
Jamie:Because he's just done, he's just done for the day, you know, So, my question to you is, how do you take a kid like that, okay, who isn't your normal kid just not being able to focus? He's he can't focus because he's 13 and he has like a rip roaring case of ADHD. What do you do with a kid like that?
Sandy:Yep. Well, first of all, so preface it, I'm not a doctor. Understood. Know you're not.
Jamie:I trust me, I get it. But you know what?
Sandy:Yeah, I understand.
Jamie:I've been to the doctors and they can't fucking answer me.
Sandy:Yeah.
Jamie:So, I'm done with doctors, Sandy. So I'm more interested in what you have to tell me.
Sandy:Yeah. So and and I don't know what what is in terms of, like, what drills or what's happening on the ice. I know pace of of play and and engagement. That's that's, like, a big one from, like, the coaching side. But but what especially kids that that have that challenge, they more details matter.
Sandy:More to dos matter. More things to focus on, more setting the scene in the future, where we're going matters. So I'm not saying we're adding 35 things, but we are adding more detail maybe to one or two things. And really helping your son understand, well, what what is it that he can control? We don't even have to talk about the things he can impact Right.
Sandy:Or the things he needs to forget. What are the things he can control? You know? And ironically, it's gonna be his belief, his attitude, his grit. Right?
Sandy:So giving him very, very small doses and then defining what those things mean is a big deal. Locking in imagery is a big deal, but specifics always matter. So it's almost like, okay. Don't do this. Pay attention.
Sandy:Don't do that. Don't do that. What if what if it was we just we just wanna outwork everybody today. That's the goal. Outwork everybody.
Sandy:Keep it simple. Make plays. Take chances. Everything's full speed.
Jamie:Right.
Sandy:Right? Right. And if he is aware of it, which, you know, a lot of kids kind of are aware when stuff kinda starts to go haywire a little bit, they they have to be taught a behavior, a word, a something that brings them back into the now.
Jamie:To refocus.
Sandy:Yeah. And I I always love, you know, kinda like the now what? Like, what now? I I I don't know about five minutes from now, but right now has to be the most important moment. So I think a lot of time working on things like that, he is where his feet are, whether he likes it or not.
Sandy:This moment right now is the most important. So I would shrink the world. I would make topics and concepts that are chasable Mhmm. And then clearly define it. You know?
Sandy:It's they they have to know what it means. Like
Jamie:Have you Yeah. Worked with any athletes with ADHD? I'm I'm shit. I I figured you did.
Sandy:You wanna know something? It's like one of the it's it's one of the common DNA traits in all high performers.
Jamie:Oh, isn't
Sandy:that interesting? It's there. But so here's the thing, though. If you
Jamie:I have it too, by the way.
Sandy:Me too.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. 100%.
Sandy:Are you trying to say you're a high performer? Is that why you just said that?
Jamie:Kinda. I mean, listen. We are in 38 countries, Sandy.
Sandy:I know. I I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No. No.
Sandy:But so so this is the thing. Right? Like, I I agree that so many people will say that about themselves, and, like, a lot of it, they are achievers. At some point, though, what they learned is that that that weapon that has gotten them to this place in their life Right. To the good.
Sandy:That it's like when those sensors go out, if there is not something to focus on, like, that it that submarine that that torpedo comes right back, and we just start ripping ourselves apart. Mhmm. Right? So, like, we start using it against ourselves, and some people are better at throwing that thing out there. Some are better shielding, but there has to be something out there.
Jamie:Interesting.
Sandy:That makes I'm
Jamie:glad yeah. And I'm glad to hear that you tell me that my child can be fixed.
Sandy:Makes no he's not broken. Yeah. He's not broken.
Jamie:No. No. I know he's not broken, but you know what I mean. Yeah. As a parent, you know, you rat like you said before, you know, we all want our kids to to outdo us, you know, as far as success goes, right?
Sandy:Have it easier, less challenges, less adversity, sure. Absolutely. I get it.
Jamie:And you know, it's funny you mentioned, the adversity part, I don't mind my kid having adversity. I kind of want my kid to have a lot of adversity because like you mentioned before, I think you grow through adversity, right? I mean, if a child doesn't I'd rather my kid face adversity at like 10, 11, 12, 13, than face it for the first time at 19. Absolutely. Yeah.
Jamie:Right? Because that kid at 19 is gonna be a basket case.
Sandy:I see it all the time.
Jamie:I bet you do. You know, so the adversity, I don't mind, but, you know, I think we all want the best for our children, like you mentioned, and we have a lot of us have the resources to throw toward it, right? Yep. And we want our kids to outdo us. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think a father always wants to see his son outdo him.
Jamie:He's the only one probably that exists out there that really wants that person to be better than they are.
Sandy:Yep.
Jamie:Right?
Sandy:I agree. 100 So,
Jamie:no, he's not broken. But listen, if he can be fixed, that'd be great.
Sandy:You know what it is? I think it's targeted. I think a lot of it is like reframing, and a lot of the stuff that I do, it's again, I I I have the luxury of not being there other than just the times when I am there. But part of the language and the reframing, you know, every single parent has gone through this postgame, That the car ride home, you know, it's it's you don't wanna say anything. You're biting your tongue.
Sandy:Who should speak first? What should we be talking about? Eventually, the the kid is going to the ref's this or this. Someone didn't pass it to me. Blah blah blah.
Sandy:At that moment, that's such an an important moment in this concept. There has to be, like, an immediate reframe. And a lot of parents, well intended, but they don't, they bite on it. They bite on it. You know?
Sandy:Hey. Well, that's you know, Johnny doesn't pass or, you know, you gotta be this player. That moment has to be the immediate well, how what can we do to make that different next time? Like, we're not spending any time
Jamie:On what
Sandy:you said. In that low.
Scott:Right.
Sandy:You know? It's almost like a spit like, it it's like a a political debate. We ask one question, and you answer something totally different. You know?
Jamie:Right. But like like You don't answer the question.
Sandy:Yeah. That's a really pivotal thing, though. And it's hard as a parent to not bite on that because you see your child hurting and not happy, and you want to at that moment, though, it's there's a lot of power in that moment to reshape the, well, now what?
Jamie:And I would think that most parents miss that.
Scott:Absolutely. Yep. Yep. Yeah. One of one of the things and I I do an okay job of it, but a lot of times what I'd like to We're do is getting like better.
Scott:If if I what?
Jamie:We're getting better.
Scott:Yeah. Getting better. But I mean, like, you know, if if my like, my son is is pretty good about saying, like, yeah, I I had a shitty game, you know, and and, like, you know, he'll he'll take accountability a lot of times. But, you know, if if he's, like, complaining about this or that, it's like, yeah. But, dude, what's your part in this?
Scott:It's like, yeah. I get it. You know? Like, maybe Tommy didn't pass the puck, but were you calling for it? Were you in open space?
Scott:Like, you know, kind of just getting get trying to hold up the mirror a little bit and just showing him that, like, even though you can't control what other people are doing, but, like, what is it that you could do that might that might make that situation go your way next time? Right? And what's interesting though, and and maybe it's just because like I'm the dad and like, you know, not the third party, you know, like you would be in a conversation like that. But, you know, so many times and I think, you know, we give our kids feedback. And even if you're delivering it the right way, even if the timing is good, right, you're like, you're not catching them at a bad moment, they're open to it, they you know, and then as a parent, you're out there and, like, you may have been telling your kid the same thing for, like, the last, I don't know, say, season it feels like.
Scott:And they're out there doing the same thing and you wanna pull your hair out of your head. Now, I mean, that happens, I'm sure, with plenty of parents, but just how of going, like, crazy on your kid because sometimes I've snapped. Like, can't believe you're not tying up tying up your man at the face off dot again, like, what are you doing? Like, how how how how should parents start to can they navigate those situations better where they're just like on their wits end and they, you know, the kid you've yourself, coaches, they've given them the right thing, but they're still not doing it yet. You know?
Jamie:Start by reading Sandy's book.
Scott:No. Yeah.
Sandy:No. You you gotta you one, like anything, there there has to be practice. Right? I mean Yeah. But so much of the mindset piece, which oddly enough, like, makes such a difference on the ice.
Sandy:Like, so much of it is done away from the rink. Like, during the day, you know, there there there's so many things that can be done. But something that is very, very important, I refuse to talk successes or failures with any player and certainly any parent if they can't define for me what those two things mean. I don't know if you had a bad game, Billy or Sally. I have no idea.
Sandy:But what I do know is that thoughts are just thoughts. Thoughts aren't facts. So before we start running down that path, what's the data? What's the proof? Help me understand what when you say you had a bad game, I don't know what that means.
Sandy:Help me understand what that means. Like, if we missed one pass in the third period, I don't know if that's a bad game. Right? The only way we can say we have a bad game is what we have to have an understanding about what a good game means. And I don't know if a good game has to mean, you know, five points, six shots, you know, no turnovers, and you were, you know, five for six on face offs.
Sandy:Like, I don't know if that's you know, those are all results. I think I think what can be measured, though, and tracked is what are those behaviors. And I think the the more times we establish what those behaviors are and what we when we teach and talk about those, the conversations will start to shift. They're gonna be less about outcomes and more about those tangible actions that your son, that person's daughter, that person's whatever can do to start moving the needle. But
Scott:So just sorry to interrupt, but, like, so so of those behaviors, like, you know, you've worked with, like, you know, countless numbers of people at this point. Like, how what are what are some, like, reoccurring themes that, like, you know, obviously, without going to, like, the book and, like you know? But, like, is there anything that really stands out to you as some things that, like, a lot of people, like, most places most people in most places most of the time kinda struggle with?
Sandy:Yes. Right out of the gate, at some point, it's different for every player at every level. At some point, there has to be a flipping of the switch. We have to we have to move into compete mode, which is not turning, like, daytime auto off. Yeah.
Sandy:But at some point, we have to he has to flip that switch, and we have to know what does compete auto mean. Because once that switch gets flipped, just like the character just like a character in a movie, he has to be all in on that character. He has to skate like it, move like it, talk like it, shoot like it, talk to his teammates like it, and he doesn't come out of character until that final the the the the final buzzer. Right? Like, the the horn and the game's over, or the session's over, the the practice is over.
Sandy:So players at all ages, I always start with them. What does flipping the switch mean? What is the shift? And when do we do it? And for younger players, there really is, like, no flipping of the switch.
Sandy:It's a focus thing. And if there is, it's maybe in warm ups or they think it's, you know, kicking the soccer ball around beforehand or stretching. There has to be some sort of what does turning compete mode on look like. And it doesn't mean what it doesn't look like. It means what it does look like.
Jamie:Can does every kid have that switch? Can every kid turn on compete mode or be taught to turn on compete mode?
Sandy:Absolutely.
Jamie:They can.
Sandy:Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you you it's it's why are some kids locked in when why are some not? You know?
Sandy:My I hate the headphones. That's my thing in the locker room. The phones, the the I'm not I don't mind the the music, but the locking in, like, you see it in in the pros all the time. You see it in the tunnel. Like, they're they're ready to go.
Sandy:Like, the switch has been flipped.
Jamie:Yeah. They are.
Sandy:And it's not like they can't see or think or hear about right now, but they are they are locked in on something that is forward. There is a direction. They're purposeful, intentional.
Jamie:Very. Yeah. So You're right. They are locked in in the tunnel. You see it in the tunnel.
Jamie:You can actually It's so different. When they're in the tunnel high fiving and chest bumping and doing whatever the hell they're doing,
Sandy:you know. So so many things. The parents listening to this, so many things. If if if for nothing else, if a parent helped their player fully embrace these three things before they got on the ice for practice or or for a game, if the goal, the the the the the what we were trying to accomplish is outwork everybody, make plays, take chances, everything's at full speed. If those three things became on, like Repeat.
Sandy:Auto, auto. Like, every single player understands what what that means. Yeah. Isn't that Right? Like, that's actionable.
Sandy:That's powerful. That's not the self doubt. That's not the negative what ifs. Like, those are like, every single player can understand that. I guarantee that if if a parent really kind of helped a player understand that, and a player really, really gave that some thought before they put the skates on the next time, I don't care if it's a practice, a tryout, a lesson.
Sandy:If it was the same, if we only had two speeds, on or off, that's it, results would be drastically different.
Scott:So a a lot of times, you know, you hear with a variety of things, but getting there is the easy part. Staying there is the hard one. Yep. Right? So it's like, let's just say you have a player that, like, is locked in, gets on the ice, has a great couple first shifts, something doesn't go their way, and then you start to see it unravel.
Scott:Right?
Sandy:I'm sure that happens Immediately.
Scott:The time. So, you know, like, as a parent, like, if I see my kid out there, like, you know you know, falling apart, not during that game, but, like, if that's something that he's prone to, you know, like, what are some things that I might be able to do or help him, you know, kind of say to himself? Is it are we just talking about is, like, positive self talk? Like, what are some of the things that
Sandy:Yep.
Scott:You know, players need to do to kind of get back to, you know
Jamie:That's a good question.
Scott:That might
Sandy:So here's the first one. This is kind of the rule of thumb that I would tell players and certainly reinforced parents that what whatever the thing is that we are thinking if do you guys play golf? Are you guys golfers?
Scott:No. I am definitely not.
Sandy:Okay. So you you what I'm about to say, you you get it. Like, the the negative self talk in golf is just like it's I do this for a living, and I can't even fight it sometimes. Here here's the rule of thumb, that it's like if you wouldn't say what you're thinking to somebody else,
Jamie:you Why cannot say it to yourself?
Sandy:You can't. You can't. You can't say it to yourself. You can't think. We've all been there.
Jamie:Like, I I was
Sandy:the worst. You meant the worst pass ever. Blah blah blah. Absolutely. If you wouldn't get back to the bench and if you wouldn't say that to a teammate, you cannot say it to yourself.
Sandy:You can't even think it. Yeah. Right? So for for younger people, that's a that's a hard one to to kinda grasp. But think about how many things would be different if younger people, just the way they viewed themselves Totally.
Sandy:That right? They they didn't go into that dark place, not just because of what I said, but also because last shift has absolutely nothing to do with next shift.
Jamie:It's true. It's done and over with, and you can't change it.
Sandy:So
Jamie:So get rid of it.
Sandy:Not even get rid of it. Just what should we be thinking about? We don't have to we don't we don't have to worry about blocking stuff out or don't think about don't think about, okay, I'm gonna forget about that last shift. We get to pause the tape, like, wherever we want. So a lot of the stuff that that I do is this kind of training on these resets of what what's the thought pattern when you get off of the ice?
Sandy:Like, I'm talking about after a shift. I'm not talking about after a game. Like, there has to be a habit, a routine that that is is is really nothing about the last shift, good or bad. You know, we can maybe ride some positive momentum, but we gotta be right here, right now.
Jamie:Yeah. I'm curious, Sandy. Do you have a I wanna say a success story, but do you have somebody who came to you that was just not in a good place and you're like, wow, like this is gonna take a lot of work, and you're really, really proud of what that person turned around. Is there a couple that or one particular that sticks out in your head?
Sandy:There there
Jamie:thought was gonna be a problem, and you kind of helped the situation.
Sandy:There are a bunch of names. If I said them, you would know who they are.
Jamie:Yeah. And you don't have say the name. Was curious
Scott:to hear
Jamie:that. Yeah. But I I can imagine.
Sandy:Yep. A lot for, like, the pro guys and gals, a lot of that stuff kinda happens maybe after, like, a significant injury where they they kinda lose some of the identity, which is pretty normal, and they're kinda fighting to get back to who they were, and are things gonna be the same? So there there's a lot of that. But at the tier one level, which I spend so much time with, or even tier two, but just I would say teenagers, there are there are so many that I think the the wins are performances on the ice. I don't chalk them up as the wins.
Sandy:I know that the clients do, and I I'm I'm happy that they do. But they start becoming better sons, better daughters, better students, better friends, nicer to themselves, calmer. A lot of the anxiety goes away. Grades get better. And to me, those those are the ones that that really kinda make a difference.
Sandy:But, yeah, a lot of pros and college players that that some of which you have heard of some are playing in the juniors tournament, some some you'll see tomorrow night and have seen. But, yeah, I don't disclose names, but, yeah, a lot a lot a lot stories that I think the good thing to take from it is that everybody has the everybody has it. The same things that your kids are dealing with, they're pros who are dealing with the exact same shit. Right. Exact same shit.
Sandy:Confidence is going berserk or self doubt or what if it doesn't work out. And they're pros who are dealing with that. And I think when you say that to, like, a 12 year old adolescent boy or girl, they're like, Really?
Jamie:Yeah. Because they don't think so.
Sandy:They don't think
Jamie:so. Performing at a high level, and Yeah. They just think that they have everything figured out.
Sandy:The skeletons in those closets are worse than
Scott:Than Yeah. A younger kid. That's right.
Sandy:That's right.
Scott:So You know? Oh, go ahead, James.
Jamie:Well, I I it's just a quick follow-up. So oh god. No. I forgot what I was gonna say. Sorry.
Jamie:No. It's alright. Go ahead, Scott. I'll come back to it. Forgot what I totally forgot.
Jamie:No. No. No. Sorry. I forgot what it was.
Jamie:All good.
Scott:No. So I'll come back. Just we're you know, talking about, you know, just I'm kinda backtracking a little bit. We were talking about, like, the, like, highlight society that we live in, you know, and
Jamie:That's what I was gonna say, actually. Oh. Continue.
Scott:Wow. So let's see if this is your question.
Jamie:I have a feeling it's gonna be. Continue.
Scott:Oh, wow. That would be really strange. We'll try too,
Jamie:so I'm not surprised.
Scott:So, you know, a lot of times, like, there's there's all this comparison happening. Right? And it's not necessarily rooted in fact. It's rooted out of just, like, the message that, like, people are, you know, putting on social media without any of, like, the the negative stuff. Right?
Scott:But for any kid that's kinda having, like, these comparison issues where it's like, oh, that person's getting, you know, better than me faster, or how come I'm not where that person is, or we started at the same level, but now they're there and I'm here. Like, what's going on, like, with kids who are, like, you know, doing this comparison thing mentally?
Sandy:There's so much of that that is in the home, in the locker room. I think a lot of the behaviors, you know, sometimes the the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. And again, think a lot of parents, well intended, sometimes poorly executed. But for so many of those kids, if they understood what their own journey was, if it was explained to them, if they knew what they could control, and if they really were regular regularly being challenged to celebrate their successes and be aware of them, they would probably spend less time trying to convince themselves and more time reminding themselves. Those are two totally different things.
Sandy:I think a lot of it, though, is is the model. Like, I was talking to a parent the other day that was telling me that their kid in where they live, there's an eight an eight u tier one triple a team. I I literally almost I was laughing so hard. Like, what does that even mean? What does that even mean?
Jamie:Both of our kids were on them.
Scott:Yeah. And now now there's even, like, eight u triple a elite, which is, like, problem.
Jamie:Both our kids played on them. I know.
Sandy:So It's ridiculous. That this is part of my own soapbox that it's, like, whatever. But Yeah. The adults, I think, need to understand that that those those boundaries and those those those false, like, walls that we're putting up, We we do get out what we put in, and that is where a lot of those things come from that, you know, my thing is always, well, compared to what? I I don't know if you're making progress or not, but are we measuring gains, or are we measuring gaps?
Sandy:And
Scott:Yeah. I think there's a lot of gap measuring. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
Scott:Absolutely. That was really well put.
Sandy:So here so and I so I I wish I said that one time and somebody somebody's somebody came up with this analogy. I didn't. I wish that I had, but they were like, yeah. That's kinda like if if we were going on a hike, like, a two mile hike, like, up a mountain and, you know, we we walk up a mile. We're taking a breather.
Sandy:We're getting something to eat. Like, I'm looking down going, god. Look how far we've come. And you're looking up going, oh, look how far we still have to go.
Jamie:Have to go.
Sandy:Yes. And the irony is, like, we're both literally
Scott:In the system.
Jamie:In the spot.
Sandy:That's right. Right? But it's it's perspective.
Jamie:Right? Mindsets.
Sandy:Yeah. Perspective shapes mindset. Mindset builds belief, belief, confident, you know, the the whole thing. So Right. So much of the environment that, like, compared to what, and I encourage parents all the time, you you you cannot play that comparison game.
Sandy:You cannot do that. Kids are always listening. They're always hearing.
Scott:Yeah.
Sandy:And as parents, we're not defined by the kids' success on the ice, just like we're not defined by their failures. Like, it's
Scott:Right.
Sandy:You know? The the percentage of players who won't even be playing hockey every year that goes up and up and up is like I mean, it drops so significantly. Yeah. And sometimes I think we forget that the goal is, you know, are they having fun, which is, like, number one.
Scott:Right.
Sandy:Do they love going to the rink? Is it a good experience? And are we teaching them not to quit? Like Right. If you're under the age of 12, you can't tell me three things that are more important than those three things.
Jamie:No. Right.
Sandy:It's true.
Scott:Well, you know, that that I totally agree, and that's a reoccurring theme in a lot of ways, like, just maybe said differently that, you know, anyone that, like, knows a thing or two about, like, what this is really all about. They're they're kinda echoing the same stuff. But, you know, when you were talking about that, I was just imagining, right, like, being, like, halfway up a mountain and, you know, in some ways, I guess, we're, you know, like, the the person looking there's, this mental toughness thing that kinda, like, came up for me. And let's you know, like, speed speed and strength, those are, like, more measurable things. Mental toughness isn't.
Scott:But if mental toughness were something like speed or strength, like, what would that look like? Are there, like, visual cues or anything, like, audible that you have seen with athletes that demonstrate, like, that they have improved or are demonstrating mental toughness?
Sandy:Yeah. I mean, so a lot of it is linear, and a lot of the work that we do kinda builds on itself. And there are
Jamie:Do
Sandy:you guys hear that echo?
Scott:Yeah. I was just actually pressing my mute button. I don't know where that echo came from. James, do you hear it?
Jamie:I don't actually.
Scott:Oh, maybe it's you.
Sandy:Yeah. Is it me? Okay. Alright. Well, yeah, if you guys can if you guys can hear me.
Jamie:I mean Yeah.
Scott:We can definitely hear you.
Sandy:Okay. Alright.
Scott:But I do hear the echo.
Sandy:Yeah. I don't hear it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Sandy:There there are definitely measurables, and what I think a lot of it is a lot of it is attitude. Belief tends to change. I think you start to see a lot more acting with emotion, not because of emotion. That's that's a big one. But yeah.
Sandy:I mean, it it's it's a linear process. There has to be a foundation that has to be built, but it's it's it's easy to track because I think what you start to see is performance starts to change because there starts being much more of a thought process and discussion about actions.
Scott:And It just got better. Right? That we used it.
Sandy:Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. And I I think there's a totally clear understanding about what can be controlled and what what can be impacted.
Sandy:And I think the mindset shifts a little bit from the the negative what ifs to what what if it does work out? Like, what if this is the best game? What if I do make the team? Right? So it's it's a lot of perspective that changes, but I think it's easier to track in a younger person, quite honestly, but a lot of it's feel.
Sandy:You know? It's it's you can't kinda we do testing, and we do athletic coping skills inventory tests that there's, you know, a series of 28 questions, and we test them three times throughout the process. And I I, in my eight years, I've only had one player, one, who did not improve from the beginning to the end. And there's there's been thousands that that we've put through these these tests. O only one player.
Sandy:That's that's, I think, to the strength of of the the the curriculum kind of the the we push, but the way in which we do it. And that's why it's so important.
Scott:Yeah. That's that's awesome. James, you you maybe unmute yourself to see if I don't know. You're bringing the noise, brother.
Jamie:Is it mine? Sorry.
Scott:Yeah. You're bringing the noise, my guy.
Jamie:Sorry, boys.
Sandy:All good.
Jamie:I I just wanna say
Sandy:This is gonna look so weird in all your other countries. This is gonna look so bad for you. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
Sandy:It might.
Jamie:It's all good.
Sandy:Yeah. They're talking about this in Japan right
Jamie:now. Yeah. Yeah. Shockingly, not one
Scott:of the places,
Jamie:by the way. Like, there's some there's some things that pop up on our maps, like The Philippines Yeah.
Scott:But like Japan. But I'm convinced that these are people that are on business trips or are on vacation.
Sandy:Scott, that's what I'm telling you. I'm not I'm not, like, I'm not just saying this. Like, you guys have really tapped into something. It's it's so human. It's so real.
Sandy:It doesn't come off and I hope I hope this is the thing for me. Like, you never wanna sound, like, preachy. Yeah. But what you said at the beginning is just right. Like, you just you just roll the dice, and and it's you know, if if it's for the right reasons and you're you're trying to do the right stuff, it's it's so authentic.
Sandy:And that's I I don't think you can fake that. And I think that that's that's what resonated for me when when I saw it. You guys were the first time.
Jamie:You know and I'm it was I think we're both thrilled to hear you say that. You know, Scott and I were having the conversations, and we knew that we needed to fix ourselves. Right? Yeah.
Scott:No doubt.
Jamie:So we're on the phone and talking, and we're having the same conversations over and over. We're both saying the exact same thing. We're both acting this, for the most part, the same way with our kids, and we both knew that it wasn't right.
Scott:Or sustainable.
Jamie:And and it that was my next thing. Exactly, Scott. It wasn't sustainable. Right? It wasn't it wasn't gonna work.
Jamie:We were not making the situation better.
Sandy:And how would you guys even know? I mean, that's the same thing with athletes. Like, how would you know how to do it though? Like, what
Jamie:would you
Scott:know? Totally.
Jamie:Yeah. We had no clue. Like you said before, you don't know what you don't know, right?
Sandy:That's right.
Jamie:Until you know it, you know? So we started this in March, right? And here we are at the end of the year, you know, we're nine, ten months in. And I I can just speak for myself, and I I think I think Scott's the same way. I have gotten better with my child, Sandy.
Jamie:No question about it, I know I have, because I don't do 90% of shit that I did I mean, I'll be honest with you, I thought I was telling you before
Sandy:about Dominic
Jamie:on on the ice, you know, a couple hours ago. He was a disaster, and I knew he was a disaster. Years ago, I would have ripped him apart. Be like, what are you doing? You gotta stay focused.
Jamie:You're over there Michigan in the corner. I didn't say boo. I didn't say a thing. So I know this is working for us. Good.
Jamie:And from the comments and kind of emails and messages we get, it seems to be working for other people. We don't script this, Sandy. We go off the cuff. It's all authentic. We don't even edit.
Jamie:Like, we we don't. Whatever we I'm say
Sandy:telling you, I love it.
Scott:Love it.
Sandy:Yeah.
Jamie:You know? But that's that's
Sandy:why it works. I mean, like, it's I I know feedback you guys want, but that that's that's why it works. That's how it resonates.
Scott:I appreciate that.
Jamie:Hopefully, it helps other people because it's definitely helping us. Absolutely.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. These conversations happen everywhere. And, you know, like, it's so refreshing to talk to you, Sandy. Like, we're at we're at about, like, a little over an hour, so thank you so much for all your time this evening.
Scott:But, like, you know, the just the importance of this, and I I like also what you said, and I'm, you know, gonna paraphrase or kinda get the gist across. But, like, this isn't this isn't just about, like, be making a better athlete. It's like making a better person. Right? Like, you're in the business of, like, improving people.
Scott:And I think that there's Right. Like, you know, so many people talk about the life lessons you learn in sport. Right? But, like, even digging in deeper, like, taking it to the next level, working with someone like yourself, all the learnings that people have about themselves that they'll be able to apply in so many situations that aren't limited to just the ice, the rink, the whatever. I mean, like, you're really helping out your kid, your athlete, you know, however old they are.
Scott:Like, they're gonna navigate real world problems in different ways after having an understanding of, like, how to become resilient, how to have a positive mind, all that stuff. So, you know, just hats off to you for, like, going down this road because I can't imagine the number of people that you've helped, and, you know, it just re you know, affirms, like, you know, any thoughts that we have about, like, yeah, like, this is something that, you know, for no other reason than helping my kid just become a more confident, you know, you know, person Human being. In life. Yeah. Everyone should be doing this kind of work.
Scott:So I
Sandy:I What hope what whatever happens on the hockey side for as as as our business has kinda skewed younger, right, and it's it's it's opened up, you know, these aren't, like, professional athletes or whatever. But, like, I what I've come to learn is, like, that that's it's so irrelevant because whatever happens with hockey, whatever. You know? Right. That's great.
Sandy:I I want people to achieve everything and anything that they want, and it just so happens that we we work we we help make better hockey players. But I think I think what we do really well, and I say this without ego, but with a tremendous amount of pride, is that we help build just better human beings. At the end of the day, like, that has to be what it's about. And I think back to the coaches I had when I was younger. I don't remember the who taught me how to take a snapshot or a back.
Sandy:I don't remember any of that shit. What I do remember, though, are the amazing people who help teach me lessons and help teach me navigate adversity and stick to itiveness. And I mean, it sounds cheesy when when you get older, but that's the stuff that me sitting here as a 50 year old, that's the stuff I remember. The coaches at all levels.
Scott:Right.
Sandy:Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. And Sandy, tell everybody. I I want you to plug your book because in my opinion, I think that everybody, every hockey parent, and probably every sports fan, but definitely every hockey parent needs to go buy your book.
Sandy:That's awesome.
Jamie:So it's it was tremendous.
Sandy:Yeah. 99 rules. Every sports parent needs to know. And I'll I'll send I'll send you guys. I don't know if I sent you this one too.
Sandy:This is the athlete version.
Jamie:I don't think I read the other one. I read the yes. Yeah.
Sandy:I'll I'll send it. I'll send you both those. Yeah. Yeah. At mental edge hockey dot com.
Sandy:It's available on Amazon. There's a there's a a digital I think I sent you the digital. I'll send
Jamie:you Yeah. The I read the digital version.
Sandy:Also. But they're I hope that they make impact. It took a while to kinda get to to that place, but they're they're take with you sort of books, you know, not solving, you know, nuclear physics or anything. But but I I think they resonate. And Oh, yeah.
Sandy:Yeah. And it's it's they're good lessons. I like to kinda read read through just to kinda remind myself sometimes of of kinda the parameters that we're living in. So mentaledgehockey.com, And anybody, anybody, can always set up a a discovery call. I I do those all the time where we talk to the parent, learn kinda what's going on with the player.
Sandy:We always talk to players, run through an analysis whether we work with them or not. So every sort of parent at least gets to have that that, you know, a pretty comprehensive analysis about where their kind of player is on the on the mindset spectrum, what they you know, we'll have recommendations, and they can choose to move forward or not. But it's we're totally impartial, you know, and it's it's it's always for the betterment of the the individual and the family. And I ultimately, I don't care who they play for next year or the year after. We want them to achieve what they want, but so mentaledgehockey.com.
Sandy:That's that's where they can go.
Jamie:Yeah. And the parents the the book for parents, the one you sent me Yeah. Will absolutely help. That's the
Sandy:green one. Yep.
Jamie:Yeah. All you hockey parents, I'm telling you, read this because I from the first page to the last page, I was like, I was floored at I felt like you were speaking to me.
Scott:He figured it out.
Jamie:I'm not I'm not joking, Sandy. I'm not gonna blow smoke. It was I I I was like reading. I'm going, oh my god. I'm an asshole.
Jamie:Oh my god.
Sandy:I'm an asshole. No. No.
Jamie:I know. And now listen. Again, I'm open and honest about what I do right and what I do wrong.
Sandy:And I'll I'll I'll send you both do do your kids play on the same teams or no?
Scott:No. Same organization? Same organization. Teams.
Sandy:Yeah. Yeah. I'll send you both a bunch of books. You guys you pass them out and and Oh, they're connect with you after. You guys send them out.
Sandy:Unreal.
Jamie:They're they're so good. Every in my in my opinion, it's like especially hockey, it's like the Hockey Parent Bible. You need to underline and highlight and put dog ears and sticky notes, and you need to It come back to was very good. It was very well done.
Scott:Yeah. Awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you so much for your time tonight.
Scott:This was amazing. A pleasure getting to know you and just learning more about what you do and how you're helping so many people out there.
Sandy:You guys too keep doing great stuff, man. Honestly, you guys are you guys are really doing a good a good good thing. Congrats So to you guys and thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.
Jamie:I'll have to touch on again. Thanks, JB.
Scott:Awesome, man. All right. Have a great night, man.
Sandy:Take care. Caps. Go caps.
Scott:Oh, fair. Devils.
Jamie:Well, let's just get back with him.
Scott:I've been you know what? Before we go, I will hold this up because I meant to hold this up last time, but this is a city.
Sandy:Yep. There you go.
Scott:This is a a nineteen ninety four, ninety five Stanley Cup playoff ticket.
Jamie:Mine's not as much fun.
Scott:Yeah. I still
Sandy:once you told me there was no editing, I knew I was go caps. Yeah. Nothing you can do about it. No. No.
Sandy:That's for sure. Like like
Jamie:I said, we don't edit. I'm kidding.
Scott:Thank you, guys. Thanks.
Jamie:Appreciate it. It was awesome. Thank you.
Scott:Alright. Take it easy.
Jamie:Yep. Bye. Alright, everybody. We're back from our interview with the man himself, Sandy Cohen. Yep.
Jamie:Good. Excellent.
Scott:Go buy his book. Excellente.
Jamie:I'm telling you, made me such a better hockey parent.
Scott:Yeah. The 99
Jamie:rules for every sports parent. Yeah. Really very good. So easy to read too, by the way. Like, such an easy read.
Jamie:Like, anybody can read it.
Scott:Yeah. He he was even saying how he he wrote the book, you know, because he didn't necessarily love to read. And so he wrote it in a way that he would consume the book.
Jamie:Yeah. And it is very easy to consume, by
Scott:the way. Yeah, it is.
Jamie:Super easy. Yeah. He's working on some cool stuff, by
Scott:the way. No, for sure.
Jamie:He's working on well, I don't want to give it away, but he's working on some cool stuff that we might be a part of.
Scott:Yeah, you know what's interesting? I was just thinking about yeah, and it's true. Just thinking about one of the things that he said when he was talking about how most players, like I think it was under 16, they couldn't even tell him what success is.
Jamie:That was a cool part.
Scott:That was a cool part. Yeah. Because if you really think about that, like if you can't define what success is, it's how do how do you ever achieve it? Yes. You know what I mean?
Jamie:Did we put that up on Instagram?
Scott:I don't know. Did we? You look at that more than
Jamie:I do. Maybe I was just going through the clips when we were doing that. Don't remember. But I came across that as well too. Like, for the second and third time.
Jamie:Yeah. You know, yes, that was a very cool part.
Scott:Yeah. Because their confidence is, like, based on something
Jamie:Yes.
Scott:They don't even like
Jamie:He's got some cool nuggets of wisdom. He's a pretty sharp guy.
Scott:Yeah, know, for sure. And also, have a ton of experience to back it up as a player as well. He does, yes.
Jamie:He owned a whole training facility, which is insane. He owned a pretty legit training facility. Yeah. What'd say? Like, 30,000 square
Scott:feet? Something huge with like treadmills Something and major, major shooting lanes
Jamie:and Major, like, skills building. Yeah. Which is pretty sweet.
Scott:Yeah. Because you you I I know that he said that he was always he was more interested in in coaching individuals And
Jamie:doing the skills part.
Scott:Skills. Right.
Jamie:Opposed to like a team coach.
Scott:Exactly.
Jamie:Listen, he's giving back to the game that way. That's yeah. I I would have loved to have seen what his facility looked like. Yeah. You know?
Jamie:Pretty cool stuff. It was good.
Scott:No. Yeah. And then what else was it? There was another thing that really stuck out. And of course now
Jamie:You're drawing a blank?
Scott:Yeah. Oh, just talking about how how everything is, like, very, like, results driven. Mhmm. You know? And and meaning that like people are focusing on like wanting to have a good game or wanting to have a bad game.
Scott:Right. But like the the only thing that drives results are like the actions and the behaviors that are like in the moment. So instead of focusing on like, you know, the result, focus on like the means to the end and like, you know, so I thought that was also an interesting way of like looking at things as well as like when you said, oh, this was I thought was funny. The part when, you know, kids when they're you know, let's say you're talking yourself up, know, and like, you know, you're about to play whatever game and you're like
Jamie:Oh, I know what you're gonna I'm
Scott:I'm not gonna turn over the, you know, the puck. I'm I'm not gonna, you know, get a penalty. I'm I'm not gonna get caught flat footed.
Jamie:Don't think about the elephant.
Scott:And like right. And you just start thinking about all the things that you shouldn't be doing. Right. Don't think
Jamie:the elephant.
Scott:But then what did he say? He said something like, you know, you wouldn't go tell your your kid like not to not skate hard or whatever double negative, like, makes that sentence make sense. And you're like, oh, yeah. Right. Mhmm.
Scott:Like, focus on the controllables Yes. That you can control and say how you're going to do those things
Jamie:Yes.
Scott:Not not do
Jamie:He's got some pretty cool he's got some pretty he's a very sharp guy. I think he probably helps. I know he probably helps a lot of people. And mental performance coaches are big these days, right? We really didn't have them much when we were kids.
Jamie:But they're everywhere now. Yeah. You know? So he was good. I was impressed.
Scott:And the thing like there's one thing, but Multiple things. We've talked about this before and how you know look it's an expensive sport. But like even like take it outside of hockey. You know I think that the work someone does with a mental performance coach.
Jamie:Right.
Scott:You know assuming the the person knows what they're doing and all all the stuff. But assuming you're working with someone that's qualified and good at what they do. You know, the the stuff that you learn even though it might be through the the lens of the sport you're playing at that time. Right. It's so often like, you know, just like their life skills.
Jamie:They are life
Scott:skills. Their life skills that'll serve you well in all different situations.
Jamie:A 100%. Yes.
Scott:So you know it's like we as parents will spend a lot of like some do on like skating lessons and stick handling lessons and shooting lessons. You know, when when that kid is like having a hard time and his boss and like whatever, he's not gonna be like, oh, thank God I had all those skating lessons. You know what I mean? Like, so in a lot of ways, I feel I feel like it's investing in mental performance is not something you're probably gonna maybe you will, but I feel like you're the results come, like, more with time than than maybe some other things, but they're life skills. I think that's well worth investing in, you know?
Jamie:Yes. Yes. I'm telling you, his book is you're talking about life skills, right? You know, that rule number four that I was saying, raise a human not a highlight reel, I'm gonna read you the part of it. It says, stats fade, accolades disappear, but character, that's permanent.
Jamie:Build the habits that outlast the hype. Parents who want to raise great humans and confident athletes care more about who their kids are than what their kids do. Raise someone they'll still be proud of when the crowd's gone. The person is the point. Build the human who outlives the hype.
Jamie:There you go. Perfect. That's rule number four. Right. There's 96 more.
Jamie:I mean, no. I'm sorry. Nine nine ninety ninety ninety How how many how many is that? More. 90 Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. So, I mean, but still, it's it's it's no. Not 93 more. What what is it? Nine 99 rules?
Scott:Yes. 99 rules.
Jamie:Right. So that's number four. Four. Right. So there's yeah.
Jamie:Okay. Whatever. Why is my math fucking retarded all of a sudden? Your math. Why is why is my math ridiculous?
Jamie:Anyway, you know? So, yes. It is a very impressive it's a very it's a very impressive book.
Scott:You know? You don't yeah. I know.
Jamie:I No. I'm telling you. Like
Scott:Well, we're gonna give some out so other people can can also
Jamie:But if if you don't get the ones that we give out, like I highly recommend if you're struggling, this book will help you.
Scott:Yeah. I totally agree.
Jamie:Go to Sandy's website because I promise you it's worth it. Yes. And it's such an easy read too.
Scott:And unfortunately for Jamie, it does not start with math.
Jamie:I have to tell you. When when you have to do math, like, on the spot like that, that's nerve racking. No?
Scott:It can be. Depends how complicated.
Jamie:What did I say? What did say? I said 94?
Scott:Honestly, I forget what you said.
Jamie:I do too now. How fucking stupid. I can't even remember what we talked about two seconds ago. Yeah, dude. When you have to do math on the spot like that, it's like you're like I don't know.
Jamie:Anyway. Anyhoo. It's actually I think it's 95 more,
Scott:by the 95.
Jamie:Yeah. It's 95 more.
Scott:95.
Jamie:Yeah. Anyway. So, yeah, math on the spot. Not not easy when you're, you know, recording something that's No. Tons of put out to the world.
Jamie:So, anyway. Yeah. Yeah, man. But so what else did we miss? Oh, should we talk like a little NHL?
Jamie:I feel like we I mean Oof.
Scott:I mean, the Devils We can. The Devils. Wow. No good. Toronto, no good.
Scott:Dude, no No Austin. Yeah. That hit was shitty. Big
Jamie:time. Yeah. Talk about shitty. That was awful.
Scott:He's coming off the, the Olympics injuring Crosby. He injured Crosby? Yeah. Wasn't it him? Goodis?
Jamie:Shit. I didn't realize that.
Scott:Yeah. Wasn't it? Unless I'm No.
Jamie:You might be right about that. I didn't realize that. I didn't realize that's who injured Crosby.
Scott:Yeah. It was on Crosby.
Jamie:Is he super dirty?
Scott:He's definitely not the friendliest player.
Jamie:Cleanest player? Yeah. Dude, I did not realize that. I didn't realize that he's the one that hit Crosby.
Scott:No. Am I wrong?
Jamie:Actually, the Devils aren't honestly, they're better than we thought. The Devils Yeah.
Scott:It says here. It says Crosby holds no ill will towards Gudas. So says he doesn't have a problem with the Radco Gudas play that entered him at the Olympics.
Jamie:I bet you Austin Matthews has a problem with the hit that he put on him.
Scott:I would too if I was Austin Matthews.
Jamie:He stuck his knee out. Yeah. He did. It was pretty shitty.
Scott:Yeah. It was really shitty.
Jamie:Yeah. That was tough. Yeah. That was definitely tough. So the Devils are not in last place.
Scott:Yeah. But
Jamie:They're close to it. They're no bueno. They are no buenos. Right? Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. I feel bad for Austin Matthews. He's that's listen. That's rough.
Scott:I don't know. What what else then then I just hear how, Vegas is kinda shit in the bed. Don't know what place they're in, but apparently not playing well.
Jamie:They are they are in second place in the Pacific.
Scott:Yeah. With how many points? 76. Okay. How many well, who's in last place in the Atlantic?
Jamie:The Rangers with 64.
Scott:Oh, who's in?
Jamie:64, 69, seventy, seventy. Devils have 70. Maple Leafs have 70. Caps have 74. Flyers have 74.
Jamie:Ottawa Center is 77. Columbus Blue Jackets, 79. And then the Detroit Red Wings with 82, and Boston's in second with 81. Wow. Yeah.
Jamie:But I I know what you're getting at.
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:You're driving it like the West sucks.
Scott:Yeah. Well yeah.
Jamie:Or it's weaker than
Scott:the Weaker than the East. Yeah. Oh, but speaking of the the Capitals. Yeah? Yeah.
Scott:What about Hudson? Hudson signed. He's he's playing tonight.
Jamie:Think tonight's first night. Cole Eiserman did as well with the
Scott:With the Rangers? I mean, Islanders? Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah.
Scott:Look at that.
Jamie:Dude, that time of the year.
Scott:Yeah. It is. You know? Mean, Higgins is also on his way. Boston?
Jamie:That's a good question. I haven't heard anything about that.
Scott:BC's out. No? Or am I wrong? Is BC out?
Jamie:You know, that's a good question.
Scott:Hey, Jamie. Look that up.
Jamie:Are they out?
Scott:I know BU is.
Jamie:Are they really? Yeah. That's disappointing if that's true. I did not listen. I I did not realize that if that's true.
Scott:I haven't heard Hagan's name.
Jamie:I just No. I haven't either.
Scott:I haven't So maybe they're still
Jamie:in it. Yeah. I I I saw I saw Cole Hudson. I saw Cole Eiserman. Yeah.
Jamie:I didn't see anybody else. Like, big but I could have missed it too.
Scott:No doubt.
Jamie:You know? Yeah, man.
Scott:Honestly, I haven't watched a ton recently. Not because I don't want to.
Jamie:I've been watching I'm not gonna lie. I've been watching World Baseball Classic.
Scott:Oh, yeah? Or whatever it is.
Sandy:Whatever it
Scott:is called. So boring.
Jamie:It's definitely not boring.
Scott:They use metal bats in that one?
Jamie:No. No, they don't. No. Aaron Judge would take a plane down if he used a metal bat.
Scott:That's so funny. Wait. Where's it being played?
Jamie:So the the last couple games have been in Miami.
Scott:Oh, nice.
Jamie:They were kind of I don't see all over the place. They were in a bunch of locations.
Scott:In The United States? Or Yeah. Outside of The States too?
Jamie:I'm pretty sure ever since I started watching, they've all been
Scott:in
Jamie:in The States. There there were a bunch in Texas.
Scott:Oh, that's cool.
Jamie:And then the semifinals, at least when the the team USA played, Dominican the other day on Sunday night, that was in Miami. Pretty sure tonight is in Miami. Tonight's the finals.
Scott:US Who's in it? US and Venezuela. Oh, Venezuela. Yeah. How about that?
Jamie:Yeah. They beat Italy, who actually beat The United States in in in the group play.
Scott:How does that happen?
Jamie:I'm not sure. And they The US kinda backed into the What? Yeah. The US backed. They did.
Jamie:They lost the game they shouldn't have lost. So they backed in, but I must say the the The USA Dominican game was ridiculous.
Scott:Who so the US won?
Jamie:The US won. Yeah.
Scott:What was the score?
Jamie:Holy shit. Was it, three two? Oh, it by one. Yeah. Yeah.
Jamie:The The USA pitching staff was insane. Paul Skeen started through a gem. Only let up one run. I was I think it was two one. I'm pretty sure.
Jamie:It was two one final. Gunnar Henderson hit a solo shot and Rome from the Orioles, then Roman Anthony from, the Red Sox hit a solo shot.
Scott:I don't know any of them.
Jamie:They're two very good USA ball players.
Scott:Sweet. Go USA.
Jamie:I must say, you gotta be gotta give out a lot of, credit to the coach at Team USA because he put Gunner Gunner Henderson is normally a shortstop.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:But somebody else was playing short, Bobby Wick Junior. So he put Gunner Henderson at third base just to get him his bat in the lineup, and he delivered. So you gotta give you gotta give
Sandy:him Look at that.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. It was in Strategery. Judged through an absolute laser beam from right field to throw out Fernando Tatis at third base.
Scott:Oh, yeah?
Jamie:Bro, it's fucking laser beam. I think it's funny because he he had an elbow issue last year
Scott:Uh-huh. During the season. Clearly got that fixed.
Jamie:Exactly. That that's what the announcer said. He's like, Yankee fans, you should be pretty happy about that. Clearly, Judge's elbow is fine.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Threw a fucking laser beam to third I mean, like, on a line With freaking
Scott:laser beams.
Jamie:Attached to their heads. Speaking of but, yes, it's the The USA
Scott:I don't know it.
Jamie:The USA Venezuela game is going on as we speak. So Oh. I have to go home and watch after this. Yeah. But, have you
Scott:seen I don't know it.
Jamie:You know the movie? Or are you just saying you don't I'm getting
Scott:ahead of it.
Jamie:So it's very appropriate for what's going on in in in in life right now.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:Have you ever seen Sacha Baron Cohen's what is it? The dictator? Is that what it is?
Scott:No.
Jamie:Is it the dictator? Is that what it's called? I haven't. You know what I'm talking about.
Scott:Right? I do know what you're talking about.
Jamie:It's dude, I mean, I dude, it's it's so funny. Obviously, what's going on, you know, in the world today.
Scott:But
Jamie:he plays he plays like a a dictator. I'm like, is supposed to be some sort of Middle Eastern country? Right? So so he he he walks into, like he he wants to go see his nuclear weapons. So he so he goes into the the factory, and he's like, where is my scientist?
Jamie:Where is nuclear Nadal? So he looks he looks at his nuke and it's like a small rocket that's curved on the top.
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:And he goes to the scientist, he goes he goes, what is this? He goes, it's supposed to be pointy. He goes, and then the scientist goes, what do mean? He goes he goes, it's not about the pointy. He goes, it's about the payload.
Jamie:He goes, no. He goes, this is not gonna scare anybody. It's supposed to be pointy. And he goes, this looks like a big robot still doe. He goes, this needs to be pointy.
Jamie:It's so good. Because of what's going on in the world right now, you will absolutely die.
Scott:All right. Well, I'm gonna add that to the list of things to watch.
Jamie:Yes. So good. I mean, I forgot how funny Sacha Baron Cohen was.
Scott:Oh, he's so funny. I remember the Ali GF. I mean
Jamie:Oh my god. Yes. Yes.
Scott:He had Donald Trump on.
Jamie:Did he?
Scott:He was pitching Donald Trump an invention that he made.
Jamie:Oh my god. And Trump had no idea?
Scott:Well, he was pitching him something called an ice cream glove. And the ice cream glove was made to solve the problem of ice cream that drips off of a cone onto your hand.
Jamie:Oh my god. So he invented a glove. And he was trying to pitch Trump on it? To Trump. Trump's face Trump has been like, you idiot.
Jamie:He must have been. And it was That's gotta be on YouTube, by
Scott:There there was something he did where he was going over, some numbers.
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:And he had one of those, like, you know, those oversized, like, post it note things you put on an easel.
Sandy:Yes. Those really
Jamie:Oh my god. He brought one out.
Scott:So he had one out and then he was like flipping like the pages over
Jamie:Yeah. The Yeah. Yeah.
Scott:And one of the one of the the next sheet had like a number on there.
Jamie:Mhmm.
Scott:And he had to turn it from portrait to landscape because the decimal that he had used was the
Jamie:length of the whole fucking page. I think
Sandy:I have
Jamie:to go watch that.
Scott:Oh, so good. Well, watch it before you go.
Jamie:I definitely have to. Didn't know. Yeah. He's very funny, man.
Scott:He was
Jamie:great in Tal Dick Knights, he was his Borat character is, like, he's very funny.
Scott:He's out of control.
Jamie:The dictator was I I guess the Borat character kinda led into the dictator.
Scott:Right? Yeah.
Jamie:I would think so. Yeah. Similar ish. Yeah. I mean, the suit is not black.
Jamie:The suit is black, Nat. So funny. Oh my god. I totally forgot to tell you. You know how you didn't believe me that people other than people that I know were mentioning about you cutting Mike Rizzioni short?
Scott:Oh, jeez. Here we go again.
Jamie:When I saw the dude from when the dude from Pennsylvania stopped me in the ring the other day, he actually said something about you stopping your Rizzioni short. Oh, please. Swear to God.
Scott:Oh, okay. That's fine. I find it ridiculous.
Jamie:I swear to God. Great. Again, came by and tell you this until now.
Scott:That's okay.
Jamie:I don't know why I forgot to tell you. It was very funny,
Scott:though.
Jamie:That's ridiculous. Yes.
Scott:They probably just listened to you give me a hard time and was I
Jamie:think he enjoyed that part.
Scott:It's clearly
Jamie:bus chops.
Scott:No doubt.
Jamie:You have to bus chops. Life's too short. Doubt. You know what I mean? So on that note, why don't we put this one to bed?
Jamie:We will see everybody from Lake Placid.
Scott:Yes, sir.
Jamie:Right? We're gonna go live a couple times from Lake Placid. Think that's the plan. Yeah. Hopefully that
Scott:Yeah. Well, circumstances permitting, we're gonna do it as much as we can.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. I think we have some interviews planned while we're up there
Scott:with some coaches. Yes, sir.
Jamie:Some people on the coaching staff, so that's exciting. Thank you to all our new listeners. We have a bunch of you.
Scott:Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you for checking us out on Instagram, following, liking, of the above. Appreciate it.
Jamie:Yeah. Please share the show. Leave us a review if you like what you hear and leave us a review. Reviews are impossible to get. Yeah.
Jamie:So leave us a review. It helps us algorithm wise because we need to get ourselves into the top five. Top five what? In hockey podcasts.
Scott:Okay. Day at a time.
Jamie:We're close, by the way. We used to be outside. When we first started, we were outside. We were not on the chart. We were off the chart.
Scott:In the wrong direction.
Jamie:In the wrong direction. And because they only list the top 300. Yeah. So we were like two fifty and then we were off the chart.
Scott:Yeah. And then we were
Jamie:like two twenty and then we were off the chart. And then we were like 195 and then we're back to like two seventy five. So now we're in the top 30.
Scott:That's great.
Jamie:So we gotta get to the top five. It's like spitting chiclets and wingmen
Scott:A day at a time.
Jamie:So if you guys like what you're hearing, share, review. Just thank you so much for listening. We really appreciate it. Couldn't do this without you guys. Hope you enjoy it.
Jamie:Hope it's providing some value. Hopefully, it's making you a better hockey parent.
Scott:There you go.
Jamie:Right. Most That's probably the most important thing.
Scott:No doubt.
Jamie:Right? And we will see you guys from Lake Placid. Yep.
Scott:Alright, dude.
Jamie:See you there. See you guys. Peace.