WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:20.615 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. 00:00:20.695 --> 00:00:26.700 Alright, boys. Grind them corners, chirp responsibly, and bring that savage fire. 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:56.340 Alright, everybody. Welcome back to episode 76 of the Crazy Hockey Dads Podcast powered by Pacific Rink, the unfiltered podcast for hockey parents. No politics, no sugarcoating, just real talk for hockey parents in the trenches. Buddy. Yo. 00:00:56.340 --> 00:01:09.300 Welcome to another one. Welcome to another one, and thank you to Big John Dangles for our awesome intro. You could check him out at Big John Dangles on Instagram. He's got some really, really cool stuff, so go check out BJD. BJD. 00:01:09.300 --> 00:01:12.315 But I feel like yesterday was a little bit of a insane day. 00:01:12.875 --> 00:01:26.090 Yesterday yesterday was a few moving pieces. A few music pieces. So just to set the stage, we are officially on, like, summer hockey camp Mode. Tours, mode, whatever. Right? 00:01:26.090 --> 00:01:35.770 Last week, you were at Penn State. Otto was skating locally up here for the week, and then Yeah. Both kids are now down in Princeton where you still are. Nice nice sweatshirt, by the way. Go Tigers. 00:01:35.770 --> 00:01:39.695 Gotta rep gotta rep the Jersey Jersey division one ice hockey. Right? 00:01:39.695 --> 00:01:50.015 New Jersey, that's what's up. Go Tigers. Yeah. So so anyway, so yeah, full on with with our summer hockey stuff. How was how was Penn State? 00:01:50.750 --> 00:02:06.055 Penn State was a lot of fun. Not gonna lie. It was really cool. I guess if people were paying attention to some of our Instagram, you know, story stuff over the last couple days, Penn State was fun. We came up on when did we we went up Thursday. 00:02:07.575 --> 00:02:10.855 Yeah. Right after the the event. After Moe's Moe's Smile. 00:02:10.855 --> 00:02:13.895 Yes. Yeah. Which which again was a tremendous event, by the way. 00:02:13.895 --> 00:02:20.090 For real. Yeah. Again, shout out Larry Longwood, all the people The Cambro Sloan Kettering. 00:02:20.570 --> 00:02:23.610 Sloan, Megan The Cambro family. I mean 00:02:23.850 --> 00:02:24.650 All of it. 00:02:24.650 --> 00:02:39.335 Everybody that came on with us, everybody that came out to support it, Dan Muse, Evan Rodriguez, you know, we're not we're not mentioning a gazillion people that also had a hand in it to come out and support it. What an event. This is our first pod since that event, isn't it? 00:02:39.335 --> 00:02:54.230 It is. Yeah. And there was a bit more video footage than we normally take for any one pod. So it's it's taking just a little bit longer to to clean that up and and get it ready to go. And so we'll release that one next week, a recap of the the event and 00:02:54.390 --> 00:02:54.710 Right. 00:02:54.710 --> 00:03:00.455 Everything that went on there. But, yeah, I got some great interviews. And, again, what an unbelievable event. 00:03:00.615 --> 00:03:03.495 Yeah. We should tell let's talk about that for a couple minutes. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. 00:03:03.495 --> 00:03:06.375 That was pretty sick. I'm not gonna lie. That was 00:03:06.935 --> 00:03:35.145 Yeah. And so for for anyone that hasn't heard us talk about it, and I just wanna shout out also or call out that the fundraising efforts are still going on. Right? So Yes. For anyone that's listening to or learning about the event for the first time now or, you know, was on the fence maybe about donating, you're still able to and and, you know, we we participated last week in an event called Moe's Smile, which is a fundraiser for, you know, in joint in joint joint? 00:03:35.145 --> 00:03:53.420 Is that the right way of saying it? I don't know. It's a little confusing, but, like, memorial in Kettering is is part of it, and we were raising money for for Like, pediatric cancer. Pediatric cancer research. So if any you know, we can check out our there's a link in our bio on on our Instagram feed so anyone can check it out. 00:03:53.420 --> 00:04:02.255 If you wanna donate, by all means, we'd be more than happy to have people to continue to participate. But, yeah, unreal event over at Longwood. 00:04:02.655 --> 00:04:23.170 Yeah. It was really I mean, the the the effort that went into putting that together, and it's it was the third annual, which, again, we were thrilled and honored to be at. It was fantastic. I love what they're doing and what they're raising money for. We say this all the time, parent should ever have to bury their child. 00:04:23.170 --> 00:04:35.685 Right? So any monies that go toward helping save any kid from cancer down the road, we've all been touched by cancer probably in one form or fashion. Right? Yeah. When it's a child, it's like a whole another level. 00:04:36.570 --> 00:04:46.970 It's awful no matter who it is. Right? Whether it's a 90 year old grandmother, grandfather, whether it's a parent, aunt and uncle, it doesn't matter. But when it's a child, that's like a whole another level because that's not supposed to happen. You know? 00:04:46.970 --> 00:05:02.565 So and listen, everybody's genetics are different, things happen. But if there's ways in the future where we can raise money, you know, to save even one child's life down the road, then you know what? It's all worth wonderful. Yeah. You know, so like Scott said, please go check out the link in our bio. 00:05:03.525 --> 00:05:20.260 The event was was unbelievable. The third annual, I hope we raised more money than the previous two. I think they're probably going to. Like you said, still ongoing. So I hope this event gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger every year. 00:05:20.260 --> 00:05:26.715 I hope in ten years they're they're raking in several million dollars, you know, for the event. 00:05:26.875 --> 00:05:31.115 That would be tremendous. Just to kinda go cheap. No. No. It's definitely not. 00:05:31.355 --> 00:05:34.715 Solve, I'm saying. Right? It's not it takes money to solve all these diseases. 00:05:35.520 --> 00:05:51.505 Without a doubt. Without a doubt. And and just to kinda like recap for the audience, like, this whole event was. So basically, the day was full of, you know, of hockey games, and it was basically four on four, the rink at Longwood, which is, you know, on on a private property. Jeez. 00:05:51.505 --> 00:05:58.145 I don't know the dimensions, but I would say it's probably let's say it was, like, half half half an NHL rink. 00:05:58.145 --> 00:05:59.265 I think that sounds right. 00:05:59.265 --> 00:06:12.520 Fair. Like, around that. So in any event, it was four on four starting with mites, squirts, peewies, bantams, and then we got up to junior and no. Junior played with pros. Right? 00:06:12.760 --> 00:06:19.535 I think there was After bantams? There a bantam, then there was like a midget game. There was a game after jogging, and then the pro game was after that. 00:06:19.855 --> 00:06:27.935 The pro game at the end. Right? So the the teams that part like, the the kids that participated were local kids as well as Oh, 00:06:27.935 --> 00:06:29.135 sometimes not local. So we're like 00:06:29.135 --> 00:06:31.935 Florida kids. No. No. There were local kids. Right? 00:06:31.935 --> 00:06:32.975 There were a lot of local kids. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:57.585 There were kids from Florida, from Pennsylvania, you know, from from the Tri State Plus Yes. Including, right, like Florida because Longwood's affiliation with the Florida Surf and the Florida Breakers. And so there was the property was full of kids and families all day. The property was was had all these different, you know, events or events or activities on the property. Right? 00:06:57.585 --> 00:07:11.550 There were shooting lanes that were set up for the shooting for a cure. Yeah. There were bouncy castles set up for the younger kids. There was that one inflatable that knocks kids over when they try to jump or duck under the spinning arm at, like, Mach seven, which was hysterical. 00:07:11.550 --> 00:07:16.905 Yeah. Yeah. It was like a wipeout type of of if you went on the show, wipeout. It was like a wipeout type of apparatus. 00:07:16.905 --> 00:07:24.345 Yeah. Was unreal. They had mini golf on the tennis courts. The kids, you know, swing set was open, trampoline, pool. Yeah. 00:07:24.345 --> 00:07:50.835 Pool house was full of food. There was a silent auction. There was a live auction. There was just like there was us crazy hockey dads there taking interviews, and, you know, it was just an unbelievable event of people all over the place, you know, all different, you know, skill levels. And, you know, like we said, they had you know, we had an interview with Dan Muse, head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Evan Rodriguez, the newest New Jersey Devil, or one of the newest, if not the newest. 00:07:51.475 --> 00:07:55.715 So just really getting a chance to talk to professionals, it was just an unreal. 00:07:56.195 --> 00:08:03.290 It was unreal. It was it was it's funny. I didn't even get over to see the mini golf and, like, the I didn't even get over the 00:08:03.450 --> 00:08:04.410 peek over that way? 00:08:04.410 --> 00:08:16.715 Scott, we're so busy. Like, I I I didn't even get a chance to go over there. It was Okay. I I got as far as the pool house when I went to get some food. Like, we we were all some nuts that day. 00:08:16.715 --> 00:08:20.075 You and I got there at seven, and we didn't leave until like 08:30 00:08:20.075 --> 00:08:20.715 Right? At 00:08:21.995 --> 00:08:27.035 It was a long day. Oh, speaking of the auctions, hope they raised a truckload of money at the auctions. 00:08:27.450 --> 00:08:31.690 Oh, somebody won some stuff there, guy. I did. What did you win? 00:08:31.690 --> 00:08:39.450 I did. I I bid on two things. I bid on a a USA hockey signed Brady Kochuck. 00:08:40.235 --> 00:08:40.875 Sweet. And 00:08:40.875 --> 00:09:08.430 I and I also bid right next to it was a USA hockey signed Matthew Kochuck. Won them both. So we're in the process of as soon as we get back from Princeton, I will I will go have them framed in like shadow boxes, and they will then be adorned behind you and I in our studio. So right behind you is going to be a Matthew or Brady signed the Hockey jersey. So that's the plan. 00:09:08.765 --> 00:09:08.925 You 00:09:08.925 --> 00:09:12.765 know? Right. And then you and then you need to refinance your mortgage to pay your bills. 00:09:14.125 --> 00:09:24.380 My my card was not smoking when I gave but listen. It's you know, listen. It's all it's all a great cause. So, like, I'm I'm I'm all for it. And you know what? 00:09:24.380 --> 00:09:28.460 It it it's for a great cause. Right? Yeah. You know? So 00:09:28.860 --> 00:09:45.005 You know what I forgot to mention? And I I don't know if you noticed, but, like, not so additionally, on the property next to the pool house, they also had, like, of, like, carnival game setup where, like, you could throw, like, you know, a baseball to knock over cans. There was, like, basketball hoops and, like, a football, like, quarterback. 00:09:45.005 --> 00:09:47.885 It's almost like skee ball ish type There game 00:09:48.365 --> 00:10:01.750 was yeah. It was there there was no stone left. And and not only were all these event like, all these activities there, but there was so much, like, you know, branding for Moe. Right? Like, his jersey number, they had cookies with, you know Everywhere. 00:10:02.765 --> 00:10:02.925 Everything. 00:10:02.925 --> 00:10:14.925 Ribbon. Ribbon of the color of the war. It was for that that putting it mildly. First class, it was the team that put that together. You have to hats off to everybody who had a hand in that because it was ridiculous. 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:37.145 And you know what I you know what I loved earlier in the day, and I don't think either one of us knew that this was gonna be part of it, but I don't know. Let's just say after the Bantam game, maybe, which was probably capped off the first half to, like, you know, two thirds of the day. Yeah. Then so so the property is at the top of a pretty long and steep hill. 00:10:37.225 --> 00:10:37.385 Oh, 00:10:37.385 --> 00:10:51.820 yeah. And they had a hill run where kids and parents At two pip. Walked all the way down to the bottom of the hill, and they all ran up. So it wasn't just you know, it was about putting in the work. It was a, you know, part of it was doing hard things. 00:10:51.820 --> 00:11:15.500 Part of it was reinforcing some of these life lessons that, like, you know, we try to re re you know, enforce with our kids. And so just so many awesome things throughout the day and, you know, give gave kids a lot of oh, man, dude. I hate your your phone. It's the worst. But, no, I I I think it it also, you know, started conversations with parents and their kids just about like, well, why are we here? 00:11:15.580 --> 00:11:21.775 What are we doing? We're raising money. We're giving back. Like, this is part of what, like, you know, communities do to help one another. Yeah. 00:11:21.775 --> 00:11:36.335 And I think it was just like an introduction for some, you know, just into philanthropy and charitable events and and how, you know, just little things, you know, that might not might seem little to me or you can go a long way, you know, for for others. So. 00:11:36.680 --> 00:11:42.440 Yeah. Yeah. No. That that would and this when you say hill, like, this is this is some hill. 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:48.120 Yeah. It is not a short hill. No. This is not I'd actually be curious to see how long it is. 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:52.155 It's not short. Like, walking down. So we I think Google 00:11:52.395 --> 00:11:52.875 Map this. 00:11:52.875 --> 00:12:15.120 Who who did we interview? Do we interview Rob LaFerrier? Who Rob LaFerrier, who's the President. President of Longwood, and he has his old oh, think so. Alex is playing for the LA Kings, and his and his his his other son is just got kind of hooked up with the Providence Friars to play for the Providence Friars. 00:12:16.695 --> 00:12:26.775 Was it was it him that was saying like, the first time he did it, like, he walked down it and he's like, holy crap. He's like, there's so much more hill. He's like, are we down the hill yet? He was like halfway down it. 00:12:26.775 --> 00:12:27.815 I know. Was that it 00:12:28.215 --> 00:12:29.750 said that? Who said that? 00:12:29.750 --> 00:12:36.790 I think so. I think so. Think so because it wasn't Evan. It wasn't unless it was Dan. Dan's been there before. 00:12:36.790 --> 00:12:41.830 I don't think so. Maybe. Whoever it was, it was they they were, like, shocked that there was more hill to walk down 00:12:41.830 --> 00:12:47.535 to get the mud up. So the hill is 1.1 miles from the bottom up to the rink. 00:12:47.535 --> 00:12:50.655 It's a hole, man. It's a hole. It's a it's a hole. 00:12:50.655 --> 00:12:51.215 It's a hole. 00:12:51.215 --> 00:12:55.695 Yeah. That it's a serious hill. That's not like a yeah. That's a hill. 00:12:56.870 --> 00:12:59.110 Yeah. I think I think you got that one, dude. 00:12:59.110 --> 00:12:59.990 Big fucking hill. 00:12:59.990 --> 00:13:01.110 Nothing gets past you. 00:13:01.110 --> 00:13:11.590 No. No. But but it was it was it was super first class. I mean, what an event. Like I said, we're we couldn't be couldn't be happier to to to participate and help out in any way we possibly can. 00:13:11.835 --> 00:13:24.315 I'm just sorry that our social media following is not quadruple what it is, just to bring more eyes to it. But as we kind of grow here and as they kind of grow, hopefully we can help bring as many eyes to it as possible. 00:13:24.930 --> 00:13:26.690 Yeah. No. A 100%. 00:13:26.690 --> 00:13:38.610 Yeah. So kinda like you said, so kinda finished at 08:30, and then I drove home. Were you at home? I went home. I had to I didn't realize you were going home. 00:13:38.610 --> 00:13:47.075 I had to bring car home. Had to bring my Jeep home, because Nancy met me there during the day, and then she left. But swapping. She went back to pack the car. Right? 00:13:47.715 --> 00:13:50.435 Oh, right. Right. Okay. You needed two cars there. 00:13:50.435 --> 00:14:16.635 So she left around six to go pack the car. So she went home, packed the car. I got home around nine, and we I jumped in we jumped in the truck, and we drove out to Penn State because Dominic needed to be at check-in next morning at, like, 08:45 at Penn State. So so we didn't get out to Penn State till about 01:40 in the morning. You know? 00:14:16.875 --> 00:14:23.130 That's late. Yeah. We got to the Nittany Lion Inn like 01:40, 01:45 in the morning. 00:14:23.130 --> 00:14:23.850 That's downtown. 00:14:23.930 --> 00:14:30.330 Right? It is. Yeah. It's basically downtown. It's right it's right next to the blue and white golf course, if anybody knows Penn State. 00:14:30.650 --> 00:14:49.620 Yeah. It's it's on the campus of Penn State. You can walk down you can walk to the shops. You can walk kind of to the middle of of town with, like, College Ave and all that. Shockingly, when we walked into the Nittany Lion Inn, there were two people at the front desk, like, bushy eyed. 00:14:49.620 --> 00:14:55.380 Like, I thought they'd be like thought dude, you walk into, a Marriott Courtyard, like, two in the morning, and there was, like, nobody there. 00:14:55.860 --> 00:14:56.100 Or is 00:14:56.100 --> 00:14:57.380 there Like, they're in 00:14:57.380 --> 00:15:01.300 the back. On their phone or nodding off because they're tired. 00:15:01.605 --> 00:15:07.285 Like, I walked into the Nittany line, and there were, like, two desks, and two ladies were sitting there like like it was nothing. 00:15:07.365 --> 00:15:08.565 They were ready to go. 00:15:08.645 --> 00:15:12.485 Assumed there'd be place would be empty. I was even shocked the front door was open. 00:15:12.965 --> 00:15:13.445 Oh, come on. 00:15:13.445 --> 00:15:24.420 Listen. I I was wasn't sure. And we knew it. You know? So we got in and we fell asleep around like, I'll call it 02:30 because we were all wired from the drive. 00:15:24.420 --> 00:15:35.455 So we got in we fell asleep about 02:30. We're up early next morning, checked in at Penn State, and Dom was there for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It was good. 00:15:35.615 --> 00:15:40.095 That's awesome. Yeah. It was cool. And just so those there was he wasn't staying over. Right? 00:15:40.095 --> 00:15:43.775 There was, like, kind of, a day camper situation, so he was staying back in the hotel with you guys. Right? 00:15:43.910 --> 00:15:48.470 Yeah. They didn't for whatever reason, they did not have an overnight 00:15:48.470 --> 00:15:49.590 option. Yeah. 00:15:49.990 --> 00:16:01.055 You know, obviously so now so our buddy, Alec Marsh, friend of the show, Alec Marsh, episode 27. Not sure. 00:16:01.055 --> 00:16:01.535 So 00:16:02.335 --> 00:16:23.860 Alec Marsh, was the assistant coach at Hobart, who knows who my my family knows well now, because Dominic was with him down at the Rockets. So he was the assistant coach at Hobart for this past season and played four years at Penn State when he was in college. They hired him back now. So now Alec is on the coaching staff at Penn State. He's like the director of player personnel and video. 00:16:25.295 --> 00:16:36.735 You know? So we ran into him. He gave us oh, so but he was saying he wants to make he wants to redo the camp next year to make it more like, kinda like an overnight option. 00:16:36.975 --> 00:16:37.455 Right? Okay. 00:16:37.455 --> 00:16:46.790 When was younger, he had an overnight option at Penn State. So he's like, you know what? That needs to come back. So he's gonna try to make an overnight option for next year. So that's kind of the plan. 00:16:46.790 --> 00:16:57.655 Yeah. So but yeah. But he Dom came back to the hotel with us. We dropped him off every day at like don't know, between between like 08:45 and call it 09:45, know, depending on their schedule. 00:16:57.975 --> 00:16:58.775 Right. Then 00:16:58.855 --> 00:17:01.335 by, like, 04:30, 05:30 ish. 00:17:01.575 --> 00:17:13.060 Right. You know, I was think I was thinking about, you know, the like, when we were there so let you know what? Let's let's keep going on your end. So then you finish up you finish up over at Penn State on Sunday, Sunday morning, afternoon. 00:17:13.460 --> 00:17:16.100 Yeah. Yeah. Finished up Penn family. 00:17:16.340 --> 00:17:17.700 Yeah. Yeah. Four 00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:24.275 four of us were there. Don was done at, I guess, he had the late game, of course. Of course, he had the late game. 00:17:24.275 --> 00:17:25.475 Of course, had a lot of like, my mind. 00:17:25.475 --> 00:17:42.760 Yeah. So I think he was done at, 02:30, 02:45, something like that. And then we went and got gas, and then we had to stop at, like, a Sheetz. Those of you who know Pennsylvania, Sheetz is big in Pennsylvania. We had to stop at a pencil you know, at Sheetz in Pennsylvania. 00:17:42.760 --> 00:17:48.115 So like, we didn't really get on the road until like, I don't three know, thirty, 03:15 ish. 00:17:48.115 --> 00:17:49.795 And you missed the whole World Cup, dude. 00:17:49.795 --> 00:18:02.230 Missed, dude. Then we drove directly to Princeton. So because because so our Princeton check-in was was Monday morning early. Right? Mhmm. 00:18:02.630 --> 00:18:13.270 So we drove right to Princeton, to Nassau Inn in Princeton. You guys were here a little before we were. Yep. You know? So you guys were kinda camped out in the Graduate Hotel in Princeton watching the World Cup game. 00:18:13.505 --> 00:18:21.745 We drove right through the World Cup game. We didn't get into Princeton to what time? Like, seven. Right? Seven, 07:30? 00:18:21.745 --> 00:18:22.305 Something like that? 00:18:22.305 --> 00:18:23.585 Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. 00:18:23.585 --> 00:18:33.800 Yeah. So yeah. So we we kinda missed the entire World Cup game. Unfortunately, we're kinda trying to follow it on our phones while we're driving. But Listen. 00:18:33.800 --> 00:18:34.920 What are gonna do? 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:54.955 Yeah. Well, the so you're you so Crazy Hockey family, you all of you, your whole family, including your oldest, you were at an all day thirteen hour event. You drive, arrive at, like, two in the morning in in Penn State. Yeah. Your whole family is there for for hockey. 00:18:54.955 --> 00:19:02.130 Then you hop in the car, you drive to Princeton. Your whole family is in Princeton for hockey. Yeah. Yep. So that's, you know, that's legit. 00:19:02.130 --> 00:19:03.650 That's legit commitment, dude. 00:19:03.650 --> 00:19:22.695 You know, I I have to tell you. I don't mean to cut you off, but I wanna get this in. Yep. You know, it's it's funny because, you know, hockey, what hockey's given to my family so Nancy and I like, you know, what Dom's doing. Right? 00:19:22.695 --> 00:19:30.900 And we're supporting him. If he wants to play hockey, we're gonna support him. Right? My older one loves to travel and loves to see new places. Right? 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:49.755 So what hockey has done for us as a family, I can just speak for our family, but what hockey has done for us is it has forced us, not like we were, you know, didn't want to do it, but it's forced us to spend time together. We're always in the car. We always make trips out of a hockey thing. Right? We've been doing it forever. 00:19:49.755 --> 00:20:00.490 We've been coming down to Princeton forever. Right? Dom and I would I was taking Dom to hockey games in Princeton when he was like six. You know, but we would come down as a family, go to the hockey game, and spend the night at the Nassau Inn, which is where I am now. Right? 00:20:01.130 --> 00:20:20.655 Around the Princeton campus. You know, so hockey for my family has has and again, we like to travel too. So like it works for all of us. But I have to tell you, like, we're gonna look back at this some year, and my kids are gonna look back at this, and we spent so much time together, and hockey has done that for us. Have to tell you. 00:20:20.655 --> 00:20:26.655 The fact that Dominic plays ice hockey, that's that's the only reason why we are what we are now. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:35.240 You think so? I I I have a feeling you guys would probably be doing travel, but maybe not to, like, some of the destinations that you're going to. 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:36.840 And maybe not as much. Right? 00:20:36.840 --> 00:20:38.600 Maybe not as maybe not as much. Sure. Maybe not as 00:20:38.600 --> 00:20:48.185 much. Fair. Right? Like, I I mean, I've been to we've been to I mean, just kinda off the top of my head, like, think about, like, hockey camps. I mean, Princeton, Penn State. 00:20:49.305 --> 00:21:06.630 You know, we've done them up in, like, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania. I mean, like I mean, we've done we've made trips to Vegas. We've made trips to Chicago. I mean, like, we just make trips out of it. Luckily, my older one doesn't play like a rigorous sport. 00:21:06.710 --> 00:21:13.535 He's more of a brainiac. So it's easier logistically. He can just come with us. He loves traveling and he loves seeing things. Right? 00:21:13.535 --> 00:21:35.090 So so it works for us as a family. But like, we're gonna look back at this one day and the amount of time that we spent together as the four of us as a family is like, how do you you know, like, it's it's it's unbelievable the amount of time that we've spent together. And it works. We enjoy spending time. We of course, we all get into each other's nerves like any family. 00:21:35.605 --> 00:21:40.405 But, like, we it's hockey's, like, forced us to spend time together, and we all really enjoy it. 00:21:40.405 --> 00:21:40.885 So Yeah. 00:21:40.885 --> 00:21:44.165 I can just speak for my family, but it works for us. 00:21:44.405 --> 00:22:08.375 Well, you know, like, as you're saying that, and it was something I thought about also when we were going into recording this pod and, you know, I knew we were gonna talk about some of the summer camp stuff. But just even going back to I guess it was not last summer, the summer before. I don't know. Is it a couple years ago, we went auto played over in Europe with one of, like, the you know, we went to Slovenia. And then as a family, we ended up staying after the tournament. 00:22:08.375 --> 00:22:22.470 First of all, Bled, Slovenia is gorgeous. So I I I can't recommend that destination enough. Right. Supers. And it's like an interesting part of Europe where it's like really close to it's close to Switzerland. 00:22:22.470 --> 00:22:33.815 It's close to Croatia. It's close to Italy. Like, you know, you can go it can be a good jumping off point to go in a bunch of different directions. But, like, we went there because of hockey. We would have never gone to Bled Slovenia if it wasn't for hockey. 00:22:33.815 --> 00:22:34.535 Right. Exactly. 00:22:35.015 --> 00:23:00.905 And and so that's a that's a trip my my family's never gonna forget. Now, you know, when now that Otto's, you know, getting a bit older, and I know that you've been going to college campuses for some time, but I I do think, like, spring, summer hockey, if, like, a family is gonna do that, you know, for me, I certainly enjoyed going down to Princeton, you know, spending time down there. I brought my daughter there. Like, our whole family was there. We got to hang out, you know, see different things. 00:23:01.065 --> 00:23:02.185 It's just city. 00:23:02.265 --> 00:23:22.220 Right. So using hockey as a vehicle to go explore different places. Like, I I I think for sure, like, when I think about future summers and, like, you know, hockey camps or, you know, whatever the case might be, say, for, like, local local situations Yep. Going to a destination not because it's gonna be the most elite hockey experience for my son. 00:23:22.220 --> 00:23:22.700 Doesn't need 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:34.815 to be. It's like, know, you it doesn't need to be. It's just like Yeah. Can we go somewhere where our family's gonna have great memories? Is it can can he go to a place with a buddy where he's gonna remember, like, you know, dorming with Dom at Princeton, you know Right. 00:23:34.815 --> 00:23:57.765 Years down the road. Yeah. So as we, you know, started talking about this, know, for me, and I think it's only getting stronger and stronger, my feelings for the for using hockey as a vehicle to go explore explore the world's potential, know, like, go overseas. Go go domestically, but don't just go someplace because you think it's gonna get your advance your kid's career. 00:23:58.005 --> 00:23:58.885 That's not what I mean. 00:23:58.885 --> 00:24:09.200 Like We're we're not we're not there because we think Princeton's gonna be the difference maker. Oh, correct. Could it could it end up being maybe he's gonna need a coach that's gonna give him an opportunity one day. Who knows? But that's not that's not why we're there. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:09.440 No. No. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:10.160 No. You know what 00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:13.440 comes out of it, that's like I'd actually added cherry on top. A 100%. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:35.705 But I also say that more the more the more people you get in front of us, like any other networking situation, man, like, the more connections you have, the more relationships you have, the, you know, the more you get informed about things, the more opportunities that might present themselves as long as, like, you're conducting yourself, like, you know, the family, the player in ways that are, like, respectable and, like, you get invited back and all that other stuff. You know? 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:49.685 Right. And and, you know, it's funny. It's a it's a little bit of a different situation now now that you and I have, like, a hockey podcast on your show. You know, it it it's it's smart for us to come. And, obviously, we've kinda hooked up with Princeton a little bit because we're a New Jersey based podcast. 00:24:49.685 --> 00:25:04.030 They're the number one, you know, they're the only D1 program in in the state of Jersey. Right? So Mhmm. We kind of hooked up with them a little bit to do a bunch of media for them because we want to spread, you know, Princeton Ice Hockey around because it's an awesome product at an awesome place. You know? 00:25:04.030 --> 00:25:12.190 And their location is unbelievable. Right? It's not far from Philly. It's not far from New York City, everybody in Jersey or Philly. I'm sure people can come up from like Delaware. 00:25:12.350 --> 00:25:31.325 It's not far from really anything. Right? But the funny part about it is is that, you know, so so it's easy for you and I to come here because we can do kind of our thing and we and obviously we're gonna we're gonna do some recording tomorrow from Princeton. You're gonna come back down and we're gonna do some recording from Princeton tomorrow, is gonna be awesome. We're gonna grab the coaches, whoever's available and kind of do some interviews, which I'm sure you guys will see shortly. 00:25:31.690 --> 00:25:38.650 You know? But my family's been doing this even before we had a podcast. Right? Right. You make an experience out of it. 00:25:38.650 --> 00:25:58.315 Listen, it's not cheap, you know? But if you can figure out a way to do it and you figure out a way to sign yourself up for a camp, he has fun, you see a new place, like you said, there's a bunch of networking involved in it. Right? I think Danielle matter of fact, we had Danielle Ward on very shortly, you guys are gonna hear her. And she said, I think the same thing if I'm not mistaken. 00:25:58.315 --> 00:26:09.020 Correct me, Scott. She said, if you're going to network and meet people, that makes a lot of sense. Right. Right? You guys gonna hear her say that in the next half hour. 00:26:09.020 --> 00:26:18.995 Right? And that's really the thing. You come, you network, you meet people. Like you said, you don't know who you're gonna run into. You don't know what coach is gonna rub off on you, and it's gonna stick with your kid. 00:26:19.395 --> 00:26:21.475 Right? You never know. 00:26:21.555 --> 00:26:38.870 And listen. And and and one of the things that although the interview will come out next week, but when we spoke with Evan Rodriguez, he he talked about a single and I'm not gonna go into the the we'll save the story for next for next week and let let him share it. Know. Yeah. 00:26:38.950 --> 00:26:39.990 It's it's a good story. 00:26:39.990 --> 00:26:53.845 He he had one conversation with one coach that he, you know, changed trajectory of his career. Yeah. His entire life. So, you know, the circumstances weren't like he went to a summer camp and that coach called him, like, ten years later. No. 00:26:53.845 --> 00:27:17.105 That wasn't it. But the point is that, like, you never know what, like, event on paper that seems somewhat like a nothing burger life. Could could really stick with you, and and you never know when you're gonna meet those people. You never know when you're gonna have those conversations. So the more you put yourself out there like anything else in life, you know, the the more opportunities you you you put yourself in a position to get something back, you know. 00:27:17.105 --> 00:27:38.380 That's right. So, in any event, it's the way I'm thinking about spring and summer hockey is much more about, like, family togetherness, exploring, getting, you know, having, you know, different experiences with different coaches, but but not because it's gonna make a difference, like, where he goes to school or whatever. So, like, those are not the intentions. Right? And, yeah, that's yeah. 00:27:38.380 --> 00:27:39.820 That's become very clear to me this week. 00:27:40.495 --> 00:27:57.710 Yeah, I agree. It creates memories, right? I mean, we say it all the time, the kids don't remember whether they I think Evan Rodriguez says it in the interview with him, says, You'll hear it next week. I think he said, like, you know, you don't remember whether you won or lost XYZ tournament. You don't remember the score. 00:27:57.710 --> 00:28:04.750 You don't remember any that boat you you remember is hanging out with your buddies Yep. In hotels. Right? You remember the experience. You don't remember the games. 00:28:05.085 --> 00:28:18.765 Right? And listen, there are certain games, obviously, you remember, you know, if you went and win brick or peewee Quebec, but like other things, it's about the experience. And that's and that and that shapes your kid in different ways, and they turn out to be, you know, a certain type of adult because of those things. 00:28:18.765 --> 00:28:19.325 No doubt. 00:28:19.325 --> 00:28:23.160 You know? Yeah. For sure. So that's how you need to look at this stuff. You're a 100% right. 00:28:23.560 --> 00:28:34.905 Yeah. Now, so now Otto's down there, and Dom's down there. After so that'll finish up on Thursday. After that, Otto's coming back. Yeah. 00:28:34.905 --> 00:28:41.625 My dad my dad got hacked. Did he? So, yeah. So, my family's kinda dealing with hacking. 00:28:41.625 --> 00:28:43.625 Oh, always fun. 00:28:43.625 --> 00:28:47.210 Annoying. Yeah. But yeah. After 00:28:47.210 --> 00:28:52.890 this Rough rough go the last couple days. Lost helmet. Oh, I can tell that story. 00:28:52.890 --> 00:28:57.130 Even though I shared it with the interview with Danielle. Yeah. I was just checking like 00:28:57.130 --> 00:28:58.570 a rough an experience yesterday. 00:28:59.185 --> 00:29:09.985 Yeah. No. Yeah. Check-in was check-in was was definitely an experience. So, I don't wanna say needless to say because but, like, you know, not everything is as organized as No. 00:29:10.385 --> 00:29:12.945 Things potentially could be, and yesterday was an example. 00:29:13.025 --> 00:29:14.110 Get chaotic. 00:29:14.510 --> 00:29:19.150 Yeah. And so, any event, one one of the things that happened yesterday no. Was it yesterday? 00:29:19.150 --> 00:29:20.110 Oh, yeah. It was yesterday. 00:29:20.110 --> 00:29:25.630 It was yesterday. Okay. So, we have to rewind the tape, go back to Sunday morning because we drove down on Sunday. 00:29:25.875 --> 00:29:26.595 Yes, you did. 00:29:26.595 --> 00:29:42.390 So, Sunday morning, Otto I I brought Otto to play some pickup hockey at, 06:00 in the morning. And, you know, my wife wanted to get a picture of us on the ice together. It doesn't happen that much. And last time I'd taken him, we didn't get a picture. She's like, just go get a picture on the ice with him. 00:29:42.390 --> 00:29:50.310 He's got like, whatever. Now his hair is like bleached blonde and whatever. He looks like Eminem. He looks like Eminem. Ish. 00:29:50.470 --> 00:30:09.435 A big fan. So then we took her I said, dude, take off your helmet. And so we both take off our helmets and put them on the ice. And as we're getting off the ice, like, the Zamboni's coming out, there's like two other guys that were in the middle of, like, you know, having a conversation with. I pick up a helmet, he picks up a helmet, we get undressed on benches that are, like, not in the locker room because he's younger. 00:30:09.435 --> 00:30:19.400 He doesn't wanna, you know, we're not in there with like all the older dudes. We're just getting changed separately. Got it. His helmet ends up in my bag, and my helmet ends up in his bag. Yes. 00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:32.925 Neither one of us realized that we had each other's helmet until a day later when Otto goes to get dressed at Princeton because we drove right down. He didn't unpack his bag after that skate. Yeah. And then it sat in the car overnight. And 00:30:32.925 --> 00:30:33.565 then Yeah. He 00:30:33.805 --> 00:30:38.620 then he unpacked it and he realized he had my helmet. Oops. And this was after And when 00:30:38.620 --> 00:30:40.460 did he realize that he he had your helmet? 00:30:40.460 --> 00:30:41.900 Right before he had to get on the ice. 00:30:42.140 --> 00:30:44.940 Yeah. So we had we we had checked in. 00:30:45.020 --> 00:30:55.995 But hold on. I just wanna say one thing. Good. On the whole ride down there, meanwhile, we still needed to pick up Otto as an another pair of, like, base layer pants You said that. He only had one because one ripped. 00:30:55.995 --> 00:31:00.475 So we need to pick up another pair. We need to get a skate sharpened. Going down there 00:31:00.555 --> 00:31:01.595 any of that stuff, by the way? 00:31:01.790 --> 00:31:04.430 Yeah. We got a skate sharpened, and we got him a new base layer. 00:31:04.430 --> 00:31:05.550 Oh, you found it all? Okay. 00:31:05.550 --> 00:31:07.710 Both. But those were two separate stops. 00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:08.590 Yeah. I know they were. That's what 00:31:08.590 --> 00:31:32.550 I'm saying. And we're, like, hustling to get down there to watch the World Cup. We had made a stop before. So in in any event, the the hockey equipment, the amount of effort that went into, like, just making sure we could have, like, these, like, final pieces together and then only to find out that we need to go to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy him a new helmet, which was the closest place that had hockey helmets that I knew of or could find easily. 00:31:32.550 --> 00:31:33.670 And you're lucky that you had one. 00:31:33.670 --> 00:31:36.950 And there was only one. There was only one, and that was it. 00:31:37.190 --> 00:31:41.270 So it worked. It it did work. It was it was pretty funny how Like 00:31:41.270 --> 00:31:43.510 he missed the first session, the first online session. 00:31:43.715 --> 00:31:54.275 Yeah. It was kinda funny how everything kinda played itself out. So we get there, and there's there were a lot of people checking in. Right? So the line was long to kinda and it went through was it went very quickly to check-in when we got here yesterday morning. 00:31:54.755 --> 00:32:12.330 But so then we check-in, and we go to the to the dorms. Right? And there was a little mix up of the rooms that then got got, you know, figured out. So Dom and Otto get to their room. And and I guess I guess oh, no. 00:32:12.330 --> 00:32:24.065 Dom and Otto did not get to the room. I take that back. There was a mix up in the room, so the original rooms were off. So they went back to the rink because they had a 10:15 talk. Coach Sire was talking at 10:15. 00:32:24.145 --> 00:32:39.000 So they went back and then us four, me, you, Nancy, and Orly, kind of talked to the young lady that was in control of the rooms. Right? And then we went and kind of moved their stuff into the new room. Right. Right? 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:53.385 So the kids weren't even with us. So we get to the room and really cool room. The buildings are ridiculous here on the campus of Princeton, like, just ridiculous. Absurdly ridiculous. They're they're like from the eighteen hundreds. 00:32:53.385 --> 00:33:00.190 They're they're unbelievable. So their room has a fireplace in it. Super cool. Own bathroom, own shower. Again, super cool. 00:33:00.670 --> 00:33:12.995 Old windows like right up my alley. Like, can't even tell you. So cool. And then I was kinda joking about this during during our our interview with Danielle Ward. Nancy and Orly start setting up their room. 00:33:13.475 --> 00:33:14.355 Oh, yeah. 00:33:14.835 --> 00:33:32.400 Nancy and Orly are putting their their clothes in the in the drawers, and they're and they're making their beds. Right? Like, they're doing all this stuff for them. So, you know, so then then was it was we were on there on our way to the the the room? I think it was we're on our way to the room. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:48.775 We were just about to the room to kind of move their stuff into the new room. And Dominic texts me, dad, Scott's helmet is in Otto's bag. And I'm like, oh, fuck. And you were standing right next to me. I look over at you and I'm like, yo, dude. 00:33:51.380 --> 00:33:55.140 Like, your helmet's in Otto's bag. Hilarious. Fuck. 00:33:57.460 --> 00:34:06.985 Yeah. I was so confused as to how that even happened because I didn't realize that we had and like, part of this is like, and then I feel bad. Right? Because then, like, Otto I get on the phone with Otto. 00:34:06.985 --> 00:34:08.665 Yeah. And they were just about they were starting to get on the ice 00:34:08.665 --> 00:34:10.425 for an eval. They're just yeah. 00:34:10.425 --> 00:34:14.265 They're about to get on the First session after coach Sire talked was an escape. 00:34:14.425 --> 00:34:32.025 And I said to Otto, I was like, I was making I I feel bad because I was definitely making him feel badly that he had fucked up. I was like, dude, dude, this is why we empty This bags is why we double check everything to make sure you have all of your own shit. Period. End of story. Period. 00:34:32.025 --> 00:34:39.785 End of story. And and and, like, you know, ultimately, was it his fault? It was both of our faults, you know It's what happened. In the grand scheme of things. It was a it was a genuine mix up. 00:34:39.785 --> 00:34:47.040 It wasn't out of, like, complete stupidity. Yeah. But yeah, man. And then So, he finally got his helmet. He got back he got on the ice for 00:34:47.040 --> 00:34:54.400 the rest you guys ran to dicks. You guys Yes. Missed they wouldn't let him go on the ice with Scott's helmet, obviously, because he just didn't fit right. Right? Of course. 00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:56.800 That's liability wise. You knew that was gonna happen. 00:34:57.125 --> 00:35:01.125 And for what it's worth, I'm looking at our helmets right now. They look basically identical. 00:35:01.205 --> 00:35:05.285 Do they? One's not like three times the size? I mean, you have a pretty serious dome. 00:35:05.365 --> 00:35:09.525 No. But listen, I I could what? I'm not gonna put the helmets. 00:35:09.525 --> 00:35:10.485 But I'm serious. They don't look 00:35:10.485 --> 00:35:23.260 like they don't look like totally different size wise? If you were really look when I look down and I see a helmet that's like navy blue with a black Oreo cage and, you know, whatever, they look exactly the same. 00:35:23.260 --> 00:35:27.100 So let me ask you a question. Do you have these the team stickers on your helmet? 00:35:28.545 --> 00:35:32.785 No. But I I well, however I picked it up, I didn't notice the 14 on the back. I'm obviously 00:35:32.785 --> 00:35:33.345 just missing your 00:35:33.345 --> 00:35:34.225 child. In any event. 00:35:34.305 --> 00:35:50.440 Listen. It it happens to every single person that's listening to this has has forgot something, whether they're skates or a helmet or elbow pads or shin guards or a cup, neck guard, you name it. We've all sticks. We've all done it. You know what I mean? 00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:59.655 I I remember I was where was I? I was somewhere with Dominic, and we forgot his fucking sticks. I mean, it happens, dude. It just happens. It happens all I the 00:36:00.295 --> 00:36:06.615 just sent you a picture of her two helmet of the two helmets side by side. Not that they're really close-up. 00:36:06.855 --> 00:36:12.030 Yeah. Okay. I mean, fair. I I see it. Oh, they're both CCM. 00:36:12.030 --> 00:36:20.270 Okay. No. They're you're right. Matter of fact, now that I'm looking at it, I actually I actually can't tell which one's which. So fair. 00:36:20.685 --> 00:36:21.325 You know? Fair. 00:36:21.325 --> 00:36:21.805 It's fair. 00:36:21.805 --> 00:36:27.245 No. No. They both look the same. But one's got CCM on the chin strap and one doesn't. Other than that, they're the same helmet. 00:36:27.325 --> 00:36:32.525 Right. So in any event. So but we got that cleaned up. They finally got checked into the room. Otto got on the ice. 00:36:32.525 --> 00:36:33.405 All all good. 00:36:33.405 --> 00:36:35.325 But You guys ran to dicks, got him a helmet. 00:36:35.800 --> 00:36:36.840 Mhmm. Ran 00:36:37.160 --> 00:36:44.520 so lucky, by the way. He was a helmet player. Because Dick has so little hockey stuff. As everybody that's been to Dick's knows as a hockey player. 00:36:44.520 --> 00:36:49.385 The hockey season sucks. We would have had a further drive to get to a pure hockey. 00:36:49.465 --> 00:36:50.585 Yes. Which is like in 00:36:50.585 --> 00:36:52.825 Cherry Hill, which is like forty minutes away. 00:36:52.825 --> 00:37:02.025 Yeah. Sorry. So talking about like forgetting shit or like not or needing stuff. So we're out at Penn State. And so we ordered a bunch of Titan Titan Battle Gear stuff. 00:37:02.025 --> 00:37:05.040 Speaking of, we should do our partner shortly. Oh, yeah. And 00:37:05.040 --> 00:37:06.000 then we Yeah. Go ahead. 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:17.535 Yeah. We ordered a bunch of Titan Battle Gear stuff for for Dominic's two hockey camps, Penn State and Princeton. Yep. And he was running short on socks, on like Bauer socks. Like socks. 00:37:17.535 --> 00:37:18.815 Or like hockey socks. 00:37:19.055 --> 00:37:22.255 Like socks that go in like on his the skates or shin guards? 00:37:22.255 --> 00:37:27.295 No. No. On his feet. And then this foot goes in the skate. Like socks, regular socks, not not hockey socks. 00:37:27.295 --> 00:37:41.820 Right? Like socks that you put on your feet. So so when we were in Penn State, we were looking for hockey socks. Can I just tell you, there's like no pro shop anywhere around Penn State? And I mean no pro shop. 00:37:41.820 --> 00:37:55.055 There was a place that I found. I'm like, oh my god. I'm like, it was like Smitty's bicycles Bro, and you think I'm joking. You think I'm joking. It was Smitty's, bicycles, and hockey equipment. 00:37:55.215 --> 00:37:59.695 Shit you not. No bullshit. It wasn't called Smitty's, but it's something like that. 00:38:00.200 --> 00:38:01.000 Right. Right. 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:08.120 Stewards, bicycles, and hockey equipment. Right? That was somewhere in downtown State College. Right? Yeah. 00:38:08.120 --> 00:38:13.960 So then when we went to find that place, permanently closed. Okay. Not gonna lie. When I 00:38:13.960 --> 00:38:15.160 looked Wait. Did up we you went there? 00:38:15.615 --> 00:38:16.655 Fuck. Yeah. Walked 00:38:16.655 --> 00:38:19.135 over pulled up. It didn't say permanently closed on Google Maps? 00:38:19.455 --> 00:38:24.415 Yeah. It it did, and then we kinda like we're we were near it anyway, so we just walked over to see 00:38:24.495 --> 00:38:27.455 You got to Wally World and the parking lot 00:38:27.455 --> 00:38:39.460 was closed. Empty. Exactly. So, like and I'm not gonna lie. When we looked it up and I looked at Nancy and I go I go I go, first of I go, does a bicycle shop and hockey equipment, like, those two things don't go together. 00:38:39.460 --> 00:38:41.140 Like Not a lot of synergy there. 00:38:41.220 --> 00:38:42.260 I was like, Nancy, this can't 00:38:42.500 --> 00:38:46.505 biking is good for for like, a good exercise for hockey players. 00:38:46.505 --> 00:38:54.185 Sure it is. But, like, you know, like, I've those are two things that I would not think would be one the same store. Right? 00:38:54.185 --> 00:38:55.385 No. I totally agree. 00:38:55.385 --> 00:39:10.890 Right. So, like so again, so couldn't find any fucking socks, Bauer socks anywhere. I would take any hockey sock or or close to it at the time. So then we we ran to like a place called Durhams. Out in out in out in State College is a place called Durhams, which is a sporting goods store. 00:39:10.890 --> 00:39:13.725 It reminds you of a Dick's. Okay? 00:39:13.725 --> 00:39:15.885 It's a fucking mom and pop Dick's. 00:39:16.205 --> 00:39:17.405 But it's massive. 00:39:17.565 --> 00:39:18.525 Like, Scott, 00:39:18.525 --> 00:39:24.685 they're the same size as Dick's. Like, you would almost think that Dick's owns Durham's. Okay? Okay. Place is fucking massive. 00:39:24.765 --> 00:39:31.050 So we go to Durham's. No hockey socks. Very little hockey stuff similar to Dick's. Right? So they're like, okay. 00:39:31.050 --> 00:39:43.755 Let's go to Dick's. Now, again, like I said before, for those of you who know Dick's and you have a hockey player, you've walked through the Dick's hockey section. Like, don't blink because you'll miss it. Right? Super tiny. 00:39:43.755 --> 00:39:58.350 Most of the stuff is like street hockey sticks. Sometimes they have a helmet. So we walked in we then we drove to Dick's because we can't find hockey socks. Dick's, no hockey socks. When they did have Dick's at out of state college, they had two hockey helmets. 00:39:58.670 --> 00:40:07.710 Those I did notice. So when you when you found out yesterday that you guys were down a helmet, I was pretty confident that there would be a helmet there. 00:40:08.285 --> 00:40:17.245 That's what there was. Ah, Ah, junior helmet. Ah. Ah. I was like I was kinda hoping it was like in pink. 00:40:17.885 --> 00:40:19.405 So, just embarrassed him? 00:40:19.405 --> 00:40:30.080 So, he'd have to wear it. Yeah. You know, I said to Dom, Otto ran back to the locker room because I said because I didn't want it. I wanted to bring my helmet back in case I was gonna get on the ice before he got back. Right. 00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:46.175 And so Otto went to run and get my my helmet, and I was standing there with Dom. And I say, Dom, listen. If your dad came back with a pink helmet and that was your only option, are you gonna wear it? He goes, I have no choice. 00:40:46.575 --> 00:40:48.175 Is that what he said? Dave, I 00:40:48.175 --> 00:40:48.895 I have no choice. 00:40:49.570 --> 00:40:52.770 Listen. Yeah. Good for him. I would it's good. 00:40:52.770 --> 00:40:58.450 No. That was a good answer. I feel like I feel like Otto Otto actually kinda doesn't mind some of that like 00:40:58.770 --> 00:40:59.490 The pink stuff? 00:40:59.490 --> 00:41:00.450 Flare, if you will. 00:41:00.450 --> 00:41:02.770 Well, he he likes he likes a little sty. 00:41:03.205 --> 00:41:06.405 I mean, his hair is unnaturally blonde. 00:41:06.405 --> 00:41:07.685 The real Slim Shady. 00:41:07.685 --> 00:41:10.325 He was gonna dye it. He was gonna tint it pink too. 00:41:10.565 --> 00:41:11.285 Right. Was he? 00:41:11.285 --> 00:41:12.805 So, I guess he would have been okay with a pink helmet. 00:41:12.805 --> 00:41:14.645 Yeah. I think so. Sounds like it. 00:41:14.725 --> 00:41:23.900 Yeah. Anyway, there was a guy in the World Cup, maybe for Norway, who had like a pink tinted hair. I was like, oh He liked tomorrow at twelve. Yeah. 00:41:23.900 --> 00:41:25.980 Don't like that. He liked that. 00:41:25.980 --> 00:41:26.780 Yeah. Anyway. 00:41:26.860 --> 00:41:34.635 Okay. Alright. So talk so speaking about like gear and socks and base layers, so why don't we do a little partner stuff? Get some take some 00:41:34.715 --> 00:41:35.195 Yeah. 00:41:35.515 --> 00:41:52.050 Business, get that out of the way. So you guys should go check out Howie's Hockey. Use our code crazy 10 for 10% off your Howie's Hockey gear. They have awesome tape, laces, Scott's favorite, the candle, my favorite, the yellow handled scissors. We use them everywhere, literally everywhere, not joking. 00:41:53.250 --> 00:42:01.555 They have one of the of the best logos in youth hockey right next to ours. Yeah. They have awesome stuff. Their their clothes are are great. Their hats are great. 00:42:01.555 --> 00:42:11.395 You see them all around rinks. You see the the little tape squiggle on people's gear. So go check out Howie's hockey. Use our discount code crazy 10 for 10% off your Howie's hockey gear. 00:42:11.970 --> 00:42:20.850 Yep. And it was it was great. Howie's they got Howie's jerseys at Princeton. They had the the Yeah. The tape the tape h front and center. 00:42:20.850 --> 00:42:24.210 Yeah. Right on right above the Yeah. The h squiggle. Yeah. That's right. 00:42:24.210 --> 00:42:29.785 Princeton all the Princeton the jerseys they hand out yesterday, all the kids, all were Howie's jerseys. 00:42:29.785 --> 00:42:30.425 Yeah. It was cool 00:42:30.425 --> 00:42:31.705 to see. Good call. Yeah. 00:42:31.705 --> 00:43:03.855 Yeah. And so now that off season is in full swing, everyone should be going to hockeytraining.com to check out coach Kevin's library of off ice speed strength agility stick handling video courses. It's a great way to improve your off ice or improve your hockey your on ice hockey skills off ice in this during the off season at home. If, you know, you go to your local high school to do any, like, running or any type of, like you know, wherever you might get some off ice conditioning, you know, you can do it with hockeytraining.com. Go to Instagram. 00:43:03.855 --> 00:43:22.080 You can check out coach Kevin's IG page. It's Hockey Training HQ. He's got a lot of great information there, but please check him out. He's got a a massive library of videos that are gonna help you, you know, improve your on ice skills off ice during this spring and summer. 00:43:22.555 --> 00:43:31.755 Yeah. Yeah. And then go check out Titan battle gear. So Scott and I trust our kids with Titan battle gear. As far as base layer protections, the cart resistant stuff is unbelievable. 00:43:31.755 --> 00:43:43.290 The a nine, it's the safest stuff on the market. And it looks great too. So we all we all know that kids love style. So go check out titanbattlegear.com. You can catch it in our show notes. 00:43:43.290 --> 00:43:56.385 The the link is titanbattlegear.com backslash Crazy Hockey Dads. Use our discount code for 10% off. It's Crazy Dads 10 for 10% off your Titan Battle Gear. They have some really cool stuff. They just partnered with USA Hockey. 00:43:57.105 --> 00:44:09.330 Dominic just got the USA Hockey base layer. They have camo. They have all these different colors. They have the Miami Vice one. They have a new they have an a new limited edition that just dropped called the Frozen Rocket. 00:44:09.490 --> 00:44:16.375 So for you for you for you moms and dads, it looks like a Bomb Pop. Right? The old Bomb Pops that we used to get at the at the ice cream trucks. 00:44:16.375 --> 00:44:17.335 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 00:44:17.335 --> 00:44:23.095 They have a whole line called the Frozen Rocket that just came out. They have shorts. They have the base layer. They have hoodies. They have T shirts. 00:44:23.335 --> 00:44:30.590 So go check out titanbattlegear.com. Use our discount code crazy dads 10 for 10% off your Titan battle gear. 00:44:30.830 --> 00:44:59.400 That's it. And for any of you coaches or managers listening that are considering or looking into video review and team analytics for your upcoming winter season, go to athleticperformanceinsight.com. It's a super robust platform. If you fill out the contact form, reach out to Eric who's developed and owns the company. He'd be more than happy to do a demo for you as well as break down a game for free just so you can see what's going on with the platform when all is said and done. 00:44:59.800 --> 00:45:18.235 But, yeah, it's a it's a great platform to use with your in your video sessions, to talk to players about their On Ice performance. You can filter. You can look at all different types of gameplay scenarios. Look at stats. You can look at your competition before you, you know, have your next game against them. 00:45:18.235 --> 00:45:28.010 So go check out athleticperformanceinsight.com, you know, for any of your video analytics needs. Mention Crazy Hockey Ted Hockey Dads for 10% off your season subscription. 00:45:28.490 --> 00:45:31.690 Yeah. Right? Yeah. $100 value. 00:45:31.690 --> 00:45:32.410 There you go. 00:45:32.410 --> 00:45:37.610 You can buy a third of a stick with that. So Yeah. Unless you get your stick at Swift. 00:45:39.145 --> 00:45:42.825 Oh, I told you, we saw one of the goalies 00:45:42.905 --> 00:45:43.385 sticks. Right? 00:45:43.465 --> 00:45:55.090 One of the one of the goalies at the Longwood Moe's Smile event was using a Swift hockey stick. And I was like, oh, dude, you should check out our our episode when we interviewed Zacharias Thomas. Yeah. 00:45:55.090 --> 00:45:56.610 Yeah. Yeah. It was good. 00:45:56.850 --> 00:45:57.570 Yeah. And 00:45:57.970 --> 00:45:59.570 who do we have today, Scott? 00:45:59.730 --> 00:46:07.815 Oh, my God. Do we have one of the the most notable youth hockey coaches probably in the country. I 00:46:07.815 --> 00:46:12.935 was gonna say Or or even further afar. For that for those birth years, yes. 00:46:13.015 --> 00:46:22.290 Well, listen. I mean, so Danielle Ward, head coach of now she's the head coach of the sixteens, fourteens, and twelves? 00:46:22.370 --> 00:46:23.330 A lot. She's got 00:46:23.330 --> 00:46:25.010 a 16, full fourteens, twelves? 00:46:25.090 --> 00:46:27.730 Full slate of teams. You'll hear about it shortly. Yeah. 00:46:27.730 --> 00:46:41.775 And she's you know, she coaches at Mid Fairfield, and we brought it up when we spoke with her, but I I many of you might have seen an Instagram post where her 2012 team won Pee Wee Quebec. This was They 00:46:41.775 --> 00:46:42.655 won brick too. 00:46:42.655 --> 00:46:58.250 They won brick too, but then they won Pee Wee Quebec, and there's a like, kind of like an aerial picture of, like, the benches, and it's just Danielle on the bench with her group. And then there's the other picture, and I think it was like the a Canadian team. I feel like they were in Montreal colors. 00:46:58.250 --> 00:47:02.330 Maybe not the more yeah. It was a team team Toronto or so it was somebody like that. I forgot who it was too. 00:47:02.665 --> 00:47:07.145 Yeah. And their coach is like looks more like, you know, it's full of, like, assistant coaches and 00:47:07.385 --> 00:47:09.065 There were like seven guys on the bench. 00:47:09.065 --> 00:47:24.760 It's like one woman, you know, one group versus like seven men and like whatever. And it was just unreal to see how, like, dominant that team has been over the years, and it's crazy. Like, any of their losses are are pretty much just to birth years above them. Right? So, like, old 00:47:24.920 --> 00:47:27.560 like, older groups. Elite elevens. Elite right. 00:47:27.560 --> 00:47:39.655 Yeah. They're 12. They're Yeah. So it's just an unreal unreal group, unreal team, unreal, you know, coaching. Just so much goes into making such a dominant team. 00:47:39.655 --> 00:47:44.940 Right? And yeah. Go ahead. You you I mean, you know Danielle for years. Dominic skated with her. 00:47:44.940 --> 00:47:58.795 So, I mean, you could probably shed more light on on your experience working with her and, like, about her teams. But, yeah, just just meeting her on, you know, the call for the interview was just it was awesome just to hear from her and learn more about what goes on over there. 00:47:59.035 --> 00:48:06.235 Yeah. Yeah. No. We've known Danielle for a while now. You know, Dominic tried out for for the CJR Pre Brick stuff. 00:48:06.235 --> 00:48:11.790 So he made CJR Pre Brick, I guess, when he was, like, Nine? Seven, seven, or eight. 00:48:11.790 --> 00:48:12.510 Seven, eight. 00:48:12.510 --> 00:48:20.430 I think I think was was it was it after full ice mites or before full ice mites? It I forgot when It would have been after, dude. When we did pre well, it would have been okay. So, yeah, is that what I'm 00:48:20.670 --> 00:48:23.390 your second year is your second is your second squirt year. 00:48:23.630 --> 00:48:25.725 Is that when they that's when they that's when they have the game? 00:48:25.885 --> 00:48:27.725 No. So I'm saying pre brick. 00:48:27.965 --> 00:48:28.205 Right. 00:48:28.205 --> 00:48:31.725 So pre brick. Sorry. Pre brick would have been at the end of your first squirt year. 00:48:32.205 --> 00:48:37.645 Okay. That that alright. So alright. So whatever it was. So we we met Danielle when Dominic was probably eight, call it ish. 00:48:37.860 --> 00:48:49.540 Yeah. Right? So Dominic went up to to Stanford and he tried out for the pre BRIC CJR. So he made it. So we played with him for for for two years, you know, in the pre BRIC stuff. 00:48:50.745 --> 00:49:09.630 It it was cool. It was a lot of fun. Dom was doing lessons with her too. You know, you could tell from from the from very, very, very early on that she was just cut from another mold. Like, you know, like, just actually, I I think I just I think I just put two things together. 00:49:09.630 --> 00:49:17.470 I meant cut from another cloth. Cloth. And yeah. And but they broke the mold when they made her as a as a as a coach, I think. She's just a different animal. 00:49:17.775 --> 00:49:31.055 You know? And you get and you you figure it out very, very early on. If you've ever been around her, she's she's, you know, she's don't get me, she's a lot of fun, but she's super not super serious on the ice. I take that back. She actually jokes around with kids a lot. 00:49:31.535 --> 00:49:33.375 But she's just a different type of youth coach. 00:49:33.900 --> 00:49:43.020 Well, the Right? Accountability is super important. Accountability and effort. If you fall short on either one of those, you're gonna know. 00:49:43.500 --> 00:49:58.515 Yes. Yes. You know? You know, so she she's just been she's a different animal when it comes to to youth hockey coaching. And listen, she's had I I I don't know any other coach that's had the the level of success that she has. 00:49:58.515 --> 00:49:59.635 I I can't even think of one. 00:50:00.570 --> 00:50:15.525 I personally don't even think I would know if there were there was another one with as much success. But, like, based on since since my son's been playing Yeah. That team has been the unicorn of unicorns, the twenty twelve State Fairfield team. 00:50:15.525 --> 00:50:26.325 Yeah. And my kid's twenty twelve, so I know a lot of those parents and a lot of those kids very well. Like I said, we did pre break with a lot of them. When Dom was on our Rockets team, we played against them a truckload. You know? 00:50:26.325 --> 00:50:46.115 So Dom's we've known Danielle for a very long time. She's a great skills coach. She's she runs a great skills practice. You know? And to be totally honest with you, I remember when when Dominic made when he made that CJR pre BRIC team at first, I think they took like 30 kid there was 30 kids? 00:50:46.115 --> 00:50:58.660 Whatever they took. I forgot how many kids they took, whatever it was. But I remember it was during COVID and going up there, and I remember the workouts were so ridiculous. I'd never seen anything like it up to that point. Right? 00:50:58.660 --> 00:51:11.955 Wow. And I remember like saying to somebody like, I would I would pay for this just for the workouts. Sure. Like the tournaments or something like that that you went to were just kinda like an extra added bonus. You know? 00:51:11.955 --> 00:51:29.370 And you went to some pretty cool places like Chicago, Vegas. Vancouver got canceled because of COVID. But like the Boston showdown up in Boston. But yeah, it was it was it was it was her workouts were just different, man. They were just different. 00:51:29.370 --> 00:51:36.890 You know? And and they and there was also a different the different level of kid there, you know, at at at that time. 00:51:37.175 --> 00:51:59.350 Well, and Mid Fairfield is consistently one of the top teams. Right. Yeah. Listen. According to you know, in their leagues, you know, across the nation, but also, like, the my hockey rankings always has them in, the top five best organizations, youth hockey organizations in the country among some of other real notables like Penn's Elite and, like, Bell Caesars and 00:51:59.510 --> 00:52:03.910 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Know, they've they've cemented themselves as as, you know, they're the real deal. 00:52:03.910 --> 00:52:05.590 They have a lot of they have a lot of talent. 00:52:05.625 --> 00:52:10.105 She even said they have people that are, like, moving across the country so their kids can play. Who do 00:52:10.105 --> 00:52:13.785 we got here? Nancy and Luca. Nancy, they brought they brought me Starbucks. 00:52:13.865 --> 00:52:17.385 Oh, nice. I I wish I had Starbucks need right now. Coffee. 00:52:17.545 --> 00:52:21.760 Yeah. What comes hi to everybody, Nancy? Come say hi. Come on. Just poke your head. 00:52:22.400 --> 00:52:25.120 Say hi to Scott. We're we're recording. Say hi. 00:52:25.120 --> 00:52:27.200 Hey, Nancy. Hi. What's going 00:52:27.200 --> 00:52:28.480 on? Luca, wanna say hi? 00:52:28.480 --> 00:52:32.160 Crazy hockey mom, crazy hockey brother. That's right. What's going on, Luca? 00:52:32.960 --> 00:52:36.935 Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. They brought me they brought me a green tea from Starbucks. 00:52:36.935 --> 00:52:37.495 Thank you, guys. 00:52:37.495 --> 00:52:38.055 Oh, yeah. 00:52:38.055 --> 00:52:57.970 They just came back from PJ's Pancakes. Those for those of you who know Downtown Princeton, there is a place on Nassau Street, which is right down the street from the Nassau Inn where we're staying called PJ's Pancakes. Great for breakfast. I think when we had Connor Jones on both times, I think I I actually mentioned PJ's to him. We talked about that. 00:52:58.290 --> 00:53:01.090 Mhmm. Yeah. Well, you know, you know downtowns. 00:53:01.095 --> 00:53:09.895 Not only are we a youth hockey podcast, but we also like to give travel information. Yes. Especially if they're around rinks and camps. Yes. 00:53:09.975 --> 00:53:15.940 I know downtowns. Anyway And have downtowns. Yes. But, yeah, listen. Why don't why don't we send it over to Danielle? 00:53:15.940 --> 00:53:19.540 Let's get that interview underway, and then we can pick it up on the flip side. 00:53:19.620 --> 00:53:34.205 Yeah. Here it is. Danielle Ward, winner of February Bricks, February Peewee, Quebec. I don't know another better youth hockey coach than her to date, so I hope everybody enjoys this interview with Danielle Ward from Mid Fairfield. Alright, everybody. 00:53:34.205 --> 00:53:44.280 We have a special guest tonight. We have Danielle Ward. I've been trying to get Danielle on the podcast for jeez, Danielle. I mean, like, a year, something like that. Yeah. 00:53:46.520 --> 00:53:52.200 Finally finally got you to come on. I I appreciate you taking the time tonight. Thanks so much for hanging out with us. 00:53:52.520 --> 00:53:54.760 Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. 00:53:55.240 --> 00:54:16.070 So, we always like to start, Danielle, with, like, you know, your your path. Like, you know, how did you fall in love with the game? Like, so take us from, like, back to when you were little, whatever age you started skating, and and and kinda go through your entire, like, youth, college, and pro career, and then kinda get into what you're doing now. Actually, you know what? Let's do that. 00:54:16.070 --> 00:54:19.270 Why don't you talk about what you're doing now, and then we'll get into your youth stuff. How's that sound? 00:54:19.270 --> 00:54:41.005 Okay. So right now, I'm basically full time coaching at the youth level. I have bantam major, PB major, squirt major. And then I coach at our hockey academy, which is Breakaway Academy. That's sort of run through Mid Fairfield. 00:54:41.005 --> 00:54:48.050 And then I also do private lessons, like group lessons. That's a full time thing. 00:54:48.210 --> 00:54:57.090 Right. Right. So you've been and you've been doing this for some time now. Okay. And just in case the for the people that don't know, I can't imagine why they wouldn't know if you're in the youth hockey space. 00:54:57.090 --> 00:55:23.290 But, you know, Danielle's 12 team has won Brick. They won Pee Wee Quebec. I mean, they're an absolute wagon. Everybody kind of around the 12 birth year kind of knows the story. Everybody has seen the Instagram clip of Danielle winning when she's literally the solo coach on the bench and the other I forgot who you guys were playing, Danielle, but it's the funniest Instagram clip when you're on the bench by yourself running an entire team, and the other team's got like seven dudes behind the bench. 00:55:23.825 --> 00:55:26.305 I mean, you're Scott? It's one of the best Instagram 00:55:26.305 --> 00:55:27.905 videos. Like, all time. 00:55:27.905 --> 00:55:28.465 Yeah. It is 00:55:28.465 --> 00:55:29.825 all time. It's unreal. 00:55:29.825 --> 00:55:42.790 So good. Alright? So Danielle obviously has a is a very imp See, Danielle, as I mute my mic. So Danielle is a very impressive youth coach. So take us back, Danielle. 00:55:42.790 --> 00:55:49.030 Take us back to when you were younger and how you started playing this game up until you finished your pro career. 00:55:50.515 --> 00:56:02.515 So I have an older brother. He's ten years older than me. So he was playing hockey. And then my parents wouldn't let me start playing hockey until he graduated high school. Oh, wow. 00:56:03.350 --> 00:56:31.175 So I kinda started a little bit late, like eight years old. I had been begging to play, but they wouldn't let me play. So I basically started out at the house level at eight and played house league or B level in Flint, Michigan through 12 years old. And my dad was my coach and I love my dad. He's a great coach, but he can't skate. 00:56:31.975 --> 00:57:08.070 And so, we had a lot of fun. He always taught us to be like, score and pass and just be a good teammate. He made it a lot of fun for us since we didn't really get the skill development side of things. And then I started moved to like a single A level at 13, and then moved over to girls triple A at age 14. And so then I finally started playing like triple a level from, you know, 14 to 19. 00:57:08.230 --> 00:57:24.215 I did like a PG year at Honey Baked before I went to college. Then I did two years at Southern Maine, which was division three. And then I did two years at University of Maine, which was d one. 00:57:24.295 --> 00:57:33.250 Right. I'm curious. How did you how did you make the jump from like from D3 to D1? Did you just light it up and then they kind of brought brought you on? How'd that happen? 00:57:34.450 --> 00:58:07.070 I probably was always on the level of D1, but didn't necessarily choose that route for myself and maybe didn't have priorities totally straight and, you know, wanted to have a little fun. And then I was actually gonna kinda just hang it up and move back home. And then two weeks before the season started, the new assistant coach at Maine had just gotten hired. And he was like, oh, we just had a spot open. Like, will you bring be the first person we bring in? 00:58:07.150 --> 00:58:18.265 And so made it work out. I was literally driving to school, and he called me on the phone and was like, oh, by the way, you got admitted into school. I was like, great. Because I'm only a few hours away. 00:58:21.145 --> 00:58:25.440 Unbelievable. So you finished up at Maine, and then what happened after that? 00:58:26.400 --> 00:58:40.265 After Maine, I went and played in Germany for one season. I played in Munich. That was an amazing experience. A the hockey was pretty good. Most of my team was on the national team. 00:58:40.585 --> 00:58:46.745 And we Jeez. We won the German league that year, and I believe we won the European league also that year. 00:58:47.545 --> 00:58:49.945 Jeez. Okay. So is that 00:58:50.185 --> 00:59:05.580 then I was looking to move back to The US after that, and I had a couple job offers. And one of them ended up being through a connection of old coaches back in Michigan and then also through Maine, got me the job in Stanford, Connecticut. 00:59:06.985 --> 00:59:08.985 Okay. Wow. Gotcha. 00:59:10.105 --> 00:59:19.065 I, yeah, I actually moved back to Connecticut or to Connecticut. And then I believe it was two years later is when the women's pro league started. 00:59:19.820 --> 00:59:20.540 Oh, wow. 00:59:20.540 --> 00:59:24.860 So Oh, you coached and then you went into the women's pro league. Didn't realize there was a gap there. 00:59:24.860 --> 00:59:31.020 Just kinda got lucky that they had ended up putting a team in Stanford where I had just kinda taken a job two years prior. 00:59:31.020 --> 00:59:32.300 Amazing. Okay. 00:59:32.985 --> 00:59:38.185 Yeah. And what was that experience like? So you played one year in Connecticut for the women's pro league. What was that like? 00:59:39.145 --> 01:00:10.295 It was was pretty amazing to be a part of that foundation and just trying to get it going. There was a lot of excitement around the team. We had way more fans than I ever had in college, which isn't saying much, but for the first year, it was great. And, you know, the level was really great that first year because we had a ton of Olympians in the league. And so it it was a good experience. 01:00:10.295 --> 01:00:16.330 It was nice to be back on a team and back in the locker room and and playing at that level again. Right. 01:00:16.890 --> 01:00:47.120 Wow. So just just hearing just going rewinding the tape a little bit. So when you made that transition because, you know, we haven't had too many guests on to talk about the women's game. And, obviously, you know, what, you know, the game has changed so much certainly from when I was a kid and when you were playing at the youth levels. But in terms of, like, you know, families that have young girls that are playing and you your transition from playing, you know, coed or, like, you know, boys, you know, whatever you wanna call it, and then going to girls only. 01:00:47.520 --> 01:01:02.965 If was there were there options for you to keep on going and playing, you know, with the boys, or did you have to make the switch then? I I forget if you said it was, like, when checking or if it was earlier. But, you know, if you could just talk a little bit about that transition for yourself and like any advice for families out there with girls in So the 01:01:04.565 --> 01:01:28.905 I did three years of checking. When it got to about age 14 is when the size difference like really, really set And again, my dad was my coach still at the time, and he even says, I don't remember this, but he's like, There's times I just couldn't put you on the ice anymore. I was nervous for was just small. I was really tiny. And I don't know, 14 year old boys are pretty big now. 01:01:28.905 --> 01:01:29.625 Sure. 01:01:29.705 --> 01:01:32.345 Yes. Yes, they are. Some of them are enormous. 01:01:32.665 --> 01:02:07.025 Yeah. So as you said, the game has evolved so much on the girls' side. Back then, there wasn't a ton of opportunity under Pee wee age. They're under 12. I think now the level's gotten so high on the girls' side and you see so many females coaching now that played division one and played pro hockey that there's this thought that, oh, girls should stay with the boys for as long as they can. 01:02:09.140 --> 01:02:36.595 I don't necessarily believe that's true. If you asked me fifteen, twenty years ago, would've said, Yes, stay with the boys for as long as you can. I sort of disagree a little bit now Just because on the girls side, are probably sometimes getting better coaches than what you could get playing at the level of boys you could play. Got So not every girl's gonna make a tier one top elite boys team. Right? 01:02:36.595 --> 01:02:48.650 It's just genetics. Like, you can't do it. But so sometimes you're playing at that tier two level or the double A level, and then you're still getting like a lot of parent coaches or it's more recreation. 01:02:48.730 --> 01:02:49.370 Mhmm. 01:02:49.530 --> 01:03:20.100 But if you were to play on the girls side, you might have someone that played division one hockey and knows the skill development and knows the techniques. And you actually might be getting better development on the girls' side at a younger age now than if you stuck with the boys' side. And so I think like, one, the skill development, because you do have really good coaches. Two, is like a confidence thing. You see the girls, like, I watch some girls that stay with boys a little bit too long and they barely touch the puck. 01:03:20.340 --> 01:03:30.805 Right. So, like, they may they might have, like, good IQ or, like, keeping up with pace. But if you don't have the puck on your stick, like, it's it's hard to get confidence when that time does come. 01:03:31.605 --> 01:03:39.700 Right. Right. Are you impressed with the with kinda what's happening with the girls game now? It's funny, Danielle. You know, it's funny when Scott asked that question too. 01:03:39.860 --> 01:03:51.765 I feel like girls, I don't wanna say almost had to play with boys, you know, for a long time, you know, when you came up in the game because there weren't a whole lot of all girl teams at that point. Right? 01:03:51.765 --> 01:03:52.005 Mhmm. 01:03:52.005 --> 01:04:10.000 You know, now you see them like, because obviously it's evolving, you know, so the game's changing. And you see a lot of girls programs with full teams. I mean, we we talked to Sadie Lundquist on here from Minnesota, and listen, Minnesota's little bit of a different animal. Right? I mean, I mean, you know, I mean, they they could field girls teams all day long. 01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:25.455 You know? But even around here, you know, I mean, you know, the girls teams are, and they're full teams. I mean, so the game's definitely changed. Are you impressed with how, like, the game has changed, you know, on the girls side? Obviously, the PWHL is is huge for that, but it seems like the game has really taken off on the women's side. 01:04:26.190 --> 01:04:39.390 Yeah. Absolutely. It it feels like it's one of, like, the biggest growing sports right now, honestly. The numbers are big. You know, I started the girls program at CJR probably eight years ago now. 01:04:39.550 --> 01:05:06.090 And at one point, I think we had, like, five age levels going through and I think we had multiple teams. We were even ranked number one at one point. But for a state as small as Connecticut, like to see that growing and you get a number one team in a small state like that, like I'm really impressed with where the girls game's going. And, you know, we've got, like, the prep schools in the area too. And I think that helps, and it gives a little pathway for the girls. 01:05:06.570 --> 01:05:17.665 Right. Do you find that since you started that girls program at CJR, do you find that maybe you guys didn't have a lot of teams to play early on, and that's kind of changing now a couple years later? Do you notice that? 01:05:20.465 --> 01:05:26.785 Yeah. Definitely. I mean, I guess it goes against what I said a little bit earlier, but we played a lot of boys teams 01:05:26.960 --> 01:05:27.600 Okay. 01:05:27.600 --> 01:05:28.560 Early on. 01:05:28.880 --> 01:05:31.120 Sure. Because of But we're normal taking all 01:05:31.120 --> 01:05:53.645 girls team and play boys teams. Gotcha. And it mostly went over pretty well, and people were accepting of it. And again, like I said, it pushed the pace of the girls, but at the same time, like, there's nothing like that locker room and having, like, an all girls locker room. Like, I feel the difference when I walk in my boys' locker room and I walk in my girls' locker room. 01:05:53.645 --> 01:05:59.910 It's just so much fun. And we have a really great time, and I guess, like, girls kinda miss that when they're on a boys' team. 01:06:00.150 --> 01:06:00.870 Mhmm. You know, 01:06:00.870 --> 01:06:17.795 it's so funny. Now that I'm actually thinking about this, now this I don't know why this slipped my mind, but when when we were the when Dom was on that 2012 Rockets team, I wanna say we played your tell me if I'm wrong here. We played your 11 or 2010 My 01:06:17.795 --> 01:06:18.755 2011. 01:06:18.755 --> 01:06:20.595 2011. That's Sacred Heart. Right? 01:06:21.660 --> 01:06:22.300 Probably. 01:06:22.460 --> 01:06:26.380 Right. Right. Right. That's right. I that's totally popped into my head when you said that. 01:06:26.380 --> 01:06:27.420 I forgot about that. 01:06:27.740 --> 01:06:36.855 Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of those girls have now moved on, and they're playing at Shattuck and BK and Right. A lot of prep schools too. So Right. 01:06:37.095 --> 01:06:38.935 That that was a pretty high end team. 01:06:39.175 --> 01:06:39.735 Yeah. 01:06:39.975 --> 01:06:41.575 Yeah. You seem 01:06:41.575 --> 01:06:43.415 to have a lot of high end teams, Danielle. 01:06:44.695 --> 01:07:25.020 I I actually wanted to I wanted to dive into that a little bit because, obviously, folks that are around this, you know, where we live, New York, New New Jersey, Connecticut, and certainly beyond, like, are from oh, I let me back up. I'm sure the whole country is aware of how, you know, talented, you know, Mid Fairfield is. And, you know, obviously, they're always in, like, my hockey rankings, one of the top ranked organizations in the country. You know? So could you just if you could talk a little bit about to the about the organization, you know, kind of, like, what what are some of, like, the philosophical things or even, like, cultural things within that organization that just help it continue to be, like, best on you know, like, the best year over Yeah. 01:07:25.740 --> 01:07:30.620 Exactly. Like like, if you could just give us a little insight to, like, you know, what it's like working at that program. 01:07:32.220 --> 01:07:54.340 I love it. I absolutely love working for Mid Fairfield. They kind of have the same philosophy of me, and I believe in just building everything from bottom up. So we have a pretty big might program. And starting with our five year olds, we have our top coaches on the ice with our five year olds. 01:07:55.700 --> 01:08:28.109 And whether that's dads that played in the NHL, multiple paid coaches, we take that youngest age pretty seriously, and we keep a coach with each birth year, and they kinda move up with that team. But we've always put a lot of effort into building at that youngest age and just trying to keep it together as long as we can. I think until last year, I still had six kids from when we were five on our on our 13 turning 14 year old team. So that's not bad. 01:08:28.830 --> 01:09:00.755 No. That was shocker. Because that that's like something also and I'm jumping around a little bit and, you know, I'd love to hear more about, like, any of the organizational stuff you wanna, you know, talk about. But I know on some of, like, the sort of the higher end organizations, and I and I I don't know Mid Fairfield, but there are some out there where it's like you could spend, like, you know, your mite your mite years through your pee wee, you know, years. And then once you get up to, like, whatever pee wee bantam and then but when you're getting to that, like, 15, 16 year old birth, you know, birth year or age group, not birth year, age group. 01:09:00.835 --> 01:09:16.890 Like, there there ends up being a lot of building, people coming in from all different parts of the country. So in terms of, like, you you know, keeping that team together, is that something that Mid Fairfield experiences also when you get to certain age groups, you're attracting talent from further further away? 01:09:17.850 --> 01:09:40.395 I think it's really new for us as an organization. I have three kids building next season. But even down to my squirt team, we have kids that have just moved in from across the country. We just picked up a kid from California, two kids from Florida. All have roots in Connecticut, so it's not totally like 01:09:40.680 --> 01:09:41.720 Right, insane. 01:09:41.720 --> 01:09:51.080 Out there. I think it's a pretty new thing. And I think the biggest reason is because we have to now compete with the academies. 01:09:52.040 --> 01:09:52.840 Right. 01:09:53.745 --> 01:10:28.195 And, you know, we've always had a rule that we have to have one more player from Connecticut than every other any other state. So that still keeps us pretty heavy Connecticut loaded. But you do need to do what you can to compete with these academies. I feel like we need to keep pushing it just because you owe it to your top players to continue to have the best team on the ice for those guys, especially the local guys. Like, if they're gonna stay stay with you, you owe them the best team that you can put on the ice. 01:10:29.155 --> 01:10:42.850 So we have started, you know, reaching out a little bit farther, getting billet players. You hate to, like, let go of a local guy, but it's kind of the the new beast that we're working with. 01:10:43.410 --> 01:10:49.330 Yeah. Interesting. I'm curious. What do you what do you think about what's what's kinda happening in in Uthaki these days? I'm so curious. 01:10:49.330 --> 01:10:58.815 You've obviously been doing this for a long time now, so you've kinda seen the evolution of it. What do you think about kind of the state of of youth hockey today compared to when you started this? 01:11:00.175 --> 01:11:02.335 It it's gone totally crazy. 01:11:02.335 --> 01:11:04.175 Yep. Which is why we have a podcast. 01:11:04.820 --> 01:11:23.035 Yeah. It's gone totally crazy. At the same time, it's been really fun for me. This past season again, year, for example, we only have six kids that are going to traditional school on my oldest team. Wow. 01:11:24.315 --> 01:11:44.150 And we'll have like seven or eight going to our academy. But that's super fun for me because now I'm skating with our guys in the morning, in the middle of the day. It's a little bit more of a nontraditional thing. Like, we now have a 4PM team practice instead of your typical band team practice is at 09:00. 01:11:44.150 --> 01:11:44.310 Right. 01:11:45.475 --> 01:12:05.999 We're able to now practice at 4PM next year, which Shoot. Maybe gets these guys to bed a little bit earlier, which is that's exciting for me. Just what what can we create now that the game is changing? Like, what can we do with it? And so I I'm enjoying that piece of it even though it is totally nuts. 01:12:06.160 --> 01:12:08.000 Yes. It is. 01:12:08.000 --> 01:12:27.500 Well, in terms of things being totally nuts, I mean, is there like, what and and I'm not I'm not saying nuts necessarily to put it like, know, patient hold is something like bad or that's just but something that's just, you know, maybe kinda taken on a life of its own that it didn't have previously. Are there certain things in particular that kind of fall into that bucket for you? I mean, like, the academies is one. Right? So there's that's that's a thing. 01:12:27.500 --> 01:12:30.380 But is there anything else that kind of touches on that? 01:12:31.420 --> 01:12:55.950 Well, I almost like the academy style seems like the biggest thing to me because, like, in the past, how many kids were going to school online or going to academies? Like, you'd like to think that it's all gonna be, you know, we all come out of this normal. I hope so. But I guess we're kind of the guinea pigs for all of that, it seems. 01:12:57.470 --> 01:12:58.910 Right. Yeah. 01:12:58.910 --> 01:13:12.124 But it seems like we're surrounding these kids with good environment, good people. So I think it'll be okay. But that to me seems like the biggest change. 01:13:12.525 --> 01:13:25.080 I'm curious. Did they when so did you have a hand in kinda building the academy, or did somebody else kind of have the architecture of it and then kind of bring you in and kind of like have you work it? Like, what what was that looking like? 01:13:25.640 --> 01:13:56.830 So the original Breakaway Academy is in Minnesota. And so Gary Zegres, who runs Mid Fairfield, he brought the breakaway to Connecticut. And so they built that two years ago. I've had like a decent hand in it as far as like bringing kids in, running practices. And now we're building like a video room, a shooting room. 01:13:56.830 --> 01:14:12.865 They've got the gym. And now I'm kind of, we have meetings this week coming up about just how we're gonna adapt the day to day based on like our ages, our skill levels. So I I'm enjoying being involved with that kind of stuff. Mhmm. Because, again, it it's all pretty new. 01:14:13.105 --> 01:14:17.905 Right. And just seeing how creative we can get with it to get the best out of it. 01:14:18.385 --> 01:14:31.260 I'm curious. What what is what have you noticed as, like, the hardest thing kind of kind of seeing it being put together? Is there something that you noticed that you were like, wow, that was really difficult or is really difficult, still is really difficult? 01:14:31.900 --> 01:14:51.685 I'd say the most difficult thing is costs. These academies aren't cheap. And so to get kids into these, it's not totally easy. And so I'd say that's like the biggest hurdle right now. Hockey's just become so expensive. 01:14:54.410 --> 01:15:12.425 I guess, like, when you're playing tier one, like, truthfully, cost has gotta be at least $20 or more anyways without going to an academy. So I think now just families trying to decide, like, how to balance those costs and what's worth it is probably the biggest hurdle. 01:15:12.665 --> 01:15:24.890 Yeah. Right. So and you were you were talking earlier just about, like, how serious that mid fear field takes, like, the younger age groups that, like, for as young as five. Mhmm. You know, just kind of, like, build from the ground up. 01:15:25.050 --> 01:15:46.205 In terms of, like, a a player's path that's, like, you know, getting into, like, the mid fear field ecosystem, You you know, like, what the hopes from, like, an organizational standpoint for, like, you know, a player that's gonna have longevity within the organization, does that include the academy at this point, or is the academy kind of, like, treated separately, or, like, do they feed each other? Like, kinda how does that work? 01:15:46.660 --> 01:16:10.975 The academy's separate, but it certainly helped me build my teams. So I have even as young as 20 that go to the academy. So they were squirt minors this year. And that certainly helped, I guess, feed both sides of things. You don't have to go to the academy. 01:16:10.975 --> 01:16:23.880 It's there if you want to. You know, I had people that didn't come to Bantam tryouts this year because they thought that they had to quit school. And I was like, No, no, no. You don't have to quit school to play on Mid Fairfield. You can still go to school. 01:16:25.160 --> 01:16:32.455 So, they feed off each other. They help each other out. And I think it's good. I think it's really good for the organization. 01:16:32.935 --> 01:16:33.255 Yeah. 01:16:33.255 --> 01:16:43.830 Yeah. Yeah. So I'm curious. What were your parents like, Danielle? Did you have crazy hockey parents, crazy hockey dad, crazy hockey mom? 01:16:43.830 --> 01:16:49.830 I mean, it sounds like your dad maybe couldn't skate like you could, but what were your what were your parents like when you started? 01:16:52.605 --> 01:17:16.630 I don't think they were crazy. My dad was always pretty level headed, even keeled. Pretty positive coach, made sure that things were fun. Like, I don't really remember a negative experience with him on the bench. You know, I think he always just wanted to get the best out of all of the kids. 01:17:17.910 --> 01:17:30.504 My mom was always pretty positive. You know, she wasn't like one of those loud parents in the rink. She just kinda let me do my thing. Same with my dad. I kinda steered the ship and they supported it along the way. 01:17:30.745 --> 01:17:35.145 Right. Yeah. That's awesome. Did did did did your dad play hockey at all? 01:17:35.810 --> 01:17:39.250 No. He didn't? He was a baseball player and a wrestler. 01:17:39.490 --> 01:17:45.410 Okay. Gotcha. So he just kinda got into coaching it because he saw that you loved it and he just kinda wanted to help out? 01:17:45.890 --> 01:17:49.815 I think so. I mean, my brother was playing and yeah. 01:17:49.815 --> 01:17:51.095 Did he coach him too? 01:17:52.295 --> 01:17:53.255 I'm not sure. 01:17:53.415 --> 01:17:56.135 Oh, okay. Gotcha. Alright. Listen, Dads. Listen. 01:17:56.135 --> 01:17:57.895 Alright. Good for him. Like that 01:17:57.895 --> 01:17:59.335 There's he big got age gap. 01:17:59.335 --> 01:18:02.830 Oh, there is. Gotcha. Okay. Listen. That's awesome that he got into it for you. 01:18:02.830 --> 01:18:06.750 Listen. Yeah. Maybe it's a reason to spend more time with you. Right? Can't fault him for that. 01:18:07.230 --> 01:18:14.670 Know? Was was your decision to go into coaching at some point? Was that did that have anything to do with, you know, like, the fact that your father had coached at some point? 01:18:16.415 --> 01:18:38.930 I I think he definitely left a positive experience Yeah. On me with it. And just like the the things that he taught me that are important, you know, I think I carried that through my game for a long time. And that was just like like I said, being a good teammate, like, you have to have the same amount of goals and assists. So like, I'm like a big believer in passing the puck. 01:18:39.010 --> 01:18:56.345 And just like really hard work ethic. My dad was a super hard worker, expected me to work hard. And so that's something that I really value. And so I think, like, him building those things in me has definitely, like, made me enjoy wanting to pass that on. 01:18:56.585 --> 01:19:09.630 That makes sense because I know And, you know, maybe if even just like if, you know, we have coaches that listen also, and I and I feel like we're jumping around a little bit. But, know, Jim, you know, if you wanna go back another direction. But I was just curious 01:19:09.790 --> 01:19:10.190 That's good. 01:19:10.270 --> 01:19:32.710 In terms of your approach, I mean, you've had so much success, and then certainly with the 2012, you know, birth year that's, like, you know, unreal, and so many people know about the team and the talent. But, you know, like, any any advice that in terms of or maybe you could speak to some of the things that you do that that you believe you can, you know, attribute some of the you know, some of your success to from a coaching perspective. 01:19:36.550 --> 01:20:03.410 Well, I I've always tried I'm pretty hard to play for, to be honest. Not the craziest coach play for. I've always been known to be tough on kids, but at the same time, I try to be fair. There's an accountability and top to bottom, there has to be that accountability. So you can be hard, but as long as you're fair and you're the same way for everybody. 01:20:05.125 --> 01:20:23.490 So like, I think that gets some respect along the way. Sure. And that's kinda why like kids trust you and are willing to put it all on the line because they do believe that there's like, oh, if I put in this, I'm gonna get that. It's not just like a reward because of a name type of thing. 01:20:25.250 --> 01:20:35.925 Right. Yeah. So I'm curious. What made you wanna get into coaching? I know you said kind of like when you were finished playing, a bunch of people asked you, did you just kinda fall into it? 01:20:35.925 --> 01:20:41.124 Is it something you always wanted to do? Just kinda like they offered you a job and you're like, yeah, sure. I can do that. 01:20:41.205 --> 01:21:10.775 No. I've always loved the system side of things. And I had a coach starting in u fifteen who really started to introduce me to that stuff. And that's when I really, really started loving the game is when I started understanding the the thought process of the game more. And so then in college, I had a really good coach that started bringing me in to teach me how to do video. 01:21:10.775 --> 01:21:32.465 And I would sit in the office in college and clip video and watch future recruits. Like, what'd you see that was good here? And they kinda taught me how to do it. I just fell in love with it even more and kinda knew that's exactly what I wanted to do. So probably starting junior year of college, they started training me then because it just seemed like something I was really into. 01:21:32.865 --> 01:21:40.065 Right. No. No. So it's funny because you were looking you were looking at video of like high school kids for like a college recruiting for college. Right? 01:21:40.720 --> 01:21:50.960 Yeah. They would just show me the tapes of the kids that were sending in and be like, what do you think of this? They'd make me break it down and tell me what I thought about each little play. 01:21:51.360 --> 01:21:51.600 And 01:21:51.600 --> 01:22:04.274 then they'd make me clip our team games. I just And you learn a lot. Like, you're constantly learning from watching. I watch probably eight hours, ten hours of video every week now 01:22:04.595 --> 01:22:06.755 as Right. A Right. 01:22:06.755 --> 01:22:10.515 So you're just, like, constantly learning, and that's really exciting to me. 01:22:11.300 --> 01:22:17.540 Did you ever think you would be doing that for the youth level, or did you think you'd be doing it for the college level when you first started doing Yeah. 01:22:17.940 --> 01:22:21.300 I did one year as an assistant at Connecticut College. 01:22:21.300 --> 01:22:21.620 Okay. 01:22:23.485 --> 01:22:25.085 I didn't love it as much. 01:22:26.045 --> 01:22:26.685 Interesting. 01:22:28.045 --> 01:22:45.090 That's probably not the right school atmosphere for me. I don't know if I'm NSCAK material. So maybe I'd give it a shot somewhere else. But I I do love the youth level because I like the social aspect of it. Mhmm. 01:22:45.090 --> 01:22:54.525 There's just, you know, being with the parents, being with the kids, you're just always around a group of people. You're traveling on the road. It's like it's like a traveling circus constantly. 01:22:54.525 --> 01:22:55.405 Yes. Is. 01:22:56.285 --> 01:23:07.450 But I I love that. I love being on the road. I love being with the parents. I love being with the kids. And I just found that that's more fun than being on the older side of things. 01:23:07.530 --> 01:23:08.090 Right. 01:23:08.250 --> 01:23:39.680 Well, let let me ask this now that we're talking about parents. So in terms of in terms of Crazy Hockey parents, from from and I'm sure you've seen it all, But, like, any, like, red flags that, you know, for, you know, let's say parents that are either getting into the game, trying to get to the higher levels, maybe got tier two parents that, you know, think would love to get their kids to tier one or whatever the might the deal might be. What are some of the biggest mistakes that you see, you know, parents making? And I'm sure it varies from, like, the different age groups. Right? 01:23:39.680 --> 01:23:44.240 But, like, you know, just anything that comes to top of mind for you, whether it's at the younger As 01:23:44.320 --> 01:23:49.565 far as, like, how they're, like, pushing their kids on the coaches or, like It 01:23:49.805 --> 01:24:05.230 it could be yeah. That you know, thanks for clarifying Yeah. So on one hand, I'm curious about, like, you know, because one of it one of one of the things is the parents' interactions with the coaches. Right? I'm sure there's plenty that, like, you know, would if they if they didn't have to, they would never leave you alone. 01:24:05.390 --> 01:24:13.790 And and on the other and the other side of things, just like maybe parents that you see the way they're, you know, interacting with their kids that might not be setting them up for success long term. 01:24:15.315 --> 01:24:46.415 Yeah. I mean, there's definitely parents that like promote their kids in a way that's not reality. And you can kinda spot it pretty quick. I've had some very overconfident parents try to push their kids out on me very recently, and it's like an instant turnoff where you're just like, I just watched your kid play. I can see, let let your kid's performance, like, do the speaking. 01:24:46.415 --> 01:25:09.490 Like, I've definitely made parent cuts over the years, and I don't regret them. Right. It it overall makes for a better season. And you do see parents make those mistakes where you just like, your kid could be phenomenal. They could be a great teammate, a great hockey player, but you're really you see parents ruin it for their kids. 01:25:09.490 --> 01:25:40.215 And you would hope like as they go down the road, as things get older, the scouts are just paying attention to what the kid can do on the ice and who the kid is off the ice. But at the same time, you know, the parents should be careful because I think even up until the NHL level, like, they're you're still dealing with some type of culture with the parents, and there's some that can be far more difficult than others. 01:25:40.855 --> 01:25:43.255 It's Right. So is it oh, go. 01:25:43.255 --> 01:25:45.335 Go. No. No. Go, Scott. I I followed after you. 01:25:45.335 --> 01:25:45.815 Go ahead. 01:25:45.815 --> 01:26:07.995 No. I guess I guess, you know, on one hand, it's you know, just in terms of, let's say, parents that what am I trying to ask? So not all parents are necessarily, like, interacting with coaches for the wrong reasons. So maybe if you could just share some of, like, you you know, what are the right reasons parents would interact with a coach? 01:26:08.875 --> 01:26:40.075 So I actually love when parents do like check ins, just like mid season check ins, ask how their kid's doing, that kind of stuff. Because then you can have pretty honest conversations, especially when the parent engages at first, just like in a normal type of way, just asking like, hey, just checking in. How are things going? Sometimes if you have to check-in first, just the coach, like the parents don't always take it the right way. Like, oh, you're picking on my kid type of thing. 01:26:40.075 --> 01:27:18.150 So I actually enjoy when the parents reach out and just, you know, a few times a season, And it does open the door a little bit. I always tell people, if there's an issue and I don't know about it, I can't fix it for you. And so hearing about an issue secondhand in the bleachers is a lot more difficult to fix. And it becomes a little more hostile than if a parent just comes to you directly. Because usually like, oh, you know, my kid feels like you're, you know, you're just like not really giving them a chance or what's this, what's that? 01:27:18.150 --> 01:27:35.485 Like, then you kinda check yourself too a little bit. And you can be like, oh, you know, maybe you're right. Like, I can I can take a look at that? And usually you have a positive outcome from it. But if it comes secondhand or the coach has to reach out first, it tends to be just more hostile. 01:27:35.805 --> 01:27:37.005 Interesting. 01:27:37.085 --> 01:27:59.925 Yeah. That is actually. So it's funny, Danielle, you mentioned before kind of as they get older and kind of like up to even like the NHL level with parents. So I assumed, which was probably a mistake, right? I assumed that when you get to like the d one college level that like there's no there's no more crazy hockey parents. 01:28:00.245 --> 01:28:11.340 Because like you've kind of hit like listen, most people don't go to the NHL, right, for the most part. You know, it's a very small percentage overall. So like playing d one hockey is pretty legit. Right? You know? 01:28:11.340 --> 01:28:31.725 Right. So I remember, so Scott and I were in a hotel, and we happened to be talking to a division one parent, a division one dad. And he kind of found out like what we did. Right? So started we talking to him in in in the in the restaurant in this hotel, and we're just kind of picking his brain. 01:28:31.725 --> 01:28:40.070 And I said, yeah. I'm like, but you know, I'm like, but you don't see crazy hockey parents. I'm like, because what do you to be crazy about? Like, you know, you're the all these kids are playing d one. You know? 01:28:40.070 --> 01:28:47.990 Like, what's there to be crazy about? You know? And he and he remember Scott? He looked at us and he's like, no fucking way, dude. He's like, they're almost worse. 01:28:48.790 --> 01:29:09.660 And I I was like, what? So I assumed, again, maybe my bad, I assumed that like when you get to those upper levels, your kid's playing Division I hockey, like, what do you need to complain about? Your kid's playing for free for the most part, right, or whatever it is, And he's playing at probably what you know, the top level. Right? Because, again, the number of kids that play at the NHL is small. 01:29:09.900 --> 01:29:17.340 So I assumed that it wouldn't be insane, but apparently, Danielle, it doesn't go away at the d one level, which I was shocked to hear. 01:29:18.455 --> 01:29:25.415 Yeah, I mean, you'd like to hope that the parents' complaints at that level have far less influence. 01:29:25.495 --> 01:29:26.374 Sure. Right. 01:29:27.015 --> 01:29:57.515 And that hopefully they're just complaints on the sideline. Whereas, when the kids are younger and everyone's paying a lot of money to do this, you have to listen to a certain extent. But you would think it has less influence at that age, and they're more just complaining about stats and assists and what line their kid's playing on. And I'm sure everyone, even up to the NHL level, is still upset about that stuff. But you'd think it doesn't have any merit, at least, coming from the parrot. 01:29:57.675 --> 01:30:12.610 Yeah. Yeah. Matter of fact, now that we're talking about this, Scott, I think I think Scott Bartlett, when we had him on, the NHL agent, I think he even said that that some of the parents would, like, complain to him about, like because about their their kids' playing time. Your kid's like a man now. Right? 01:30:12.895 --> 01:30:19.295 You know, he's not a kid anymore. But, you know, but even because when you get to that level, everybody's legit. Right? So even Yeah. 01:30:19.295 --> 01:30:20.495 Yeah. You know? But 01:30:20.735 --> 01:30:46.545 The the amount of spring well, we don't go to a lot of spring tournaments anymore, but the amount of parents I see dragging coaches and agents into the stats office after games to change the iPad points is like absurd. So agents will go in and change the points for their players to just boost it. Oh, shit. You're seeing a lot of that right now in the spring tournaments. 01:30:46.545 --> 01:30:54.880 You know, it's so funny that you say that because can I just I tell have seen, I I okay? So at least 01:30:55.120 --> 01:30:58.480 Not that anyone's looking back at how your bantam stats were. 01:30:58.480 --> 01:31:26.070 Exactly. So that's funny you say that because I have seen I have seen a fair amount of parents go to the scorer's box or go to the manager and say, hey, listen, like, my kid, you know, missed the assist got missed or my kid didn't score the goal. I mean, I I that's like it's so funny bringing that up because that to me is so insane. That to me is so fucking insane because no d one coach, you know, you know, gives a shit. You know? 01:31:26.310 --> 01:31:34.230 For the most part, I can maybe the top kid's fine, you know, but like most people don't give a shit, you know, how many points your kid had a Bantam minor or I Bantam 01:31:35.595 --> 01:31:42.955 agree. I could see it like when you're making a run for like the top three scores in the tournament. Right. Like, there's some clout to that. Right? 01:31:42.955 --> 01:31:43.755 Right. If 01:31:44.315 --> 01:31:50.075 you've got four points in six games and you're pushing to change your fifth point, like, what are we doing? 01:31:51.920 --> 01:32:16.415 Totally. Well, you know, and and now now that we're talking about, like, spring hockey, and you were saying that you don't do and, like, correct me if I but not many spring tournaments potentially. But, like, what I wanted to just ask about is, like, where like, what's your philosophy or, like, kind of, like, what would be your approach in in terms of, like, the, you know, the off season. Right? So, like, at the younger ages, clearly, there's things like brick, then there's things like Pee Wee Quebec. 01:32:16.415 --> 01:32:35.035 So there, you know, certain years that there's gonna be, like, heavy duty hockey in in in the off season. But, like, from a general development perspective, like, what what's your philosophy? What's your take on, like, you know, you know, secondary you know, having a second sport and then also, like, the spring summer hockey. Do it, don't do it situationally. It's very important. 01:32:35.035 --> 01:32:36.955 Kinda like what's what's how how do you view So, that 01:32:38.395 --> 01:32:57.490 like, back when the kids were mites, we basically mandated that, like, you have to play a second sport. Mhmm. That could be like a rec league. I mean, we had a mom sign the kids up for soccer, basketball, just totally, like, not even real teams, but just to be in sneakers. Right. 01:32:57.730 --> 01:32:59.010 Right. Not skates. 01:32:59.475 --> 01:33:09.235 Yeah. I personally only do, like, two or three spring tournaments, and we do them as, like, 90% of our winter team. 01:33:10.035 --> 01:33:10.675 Got it. 01:33:10.995 --> 01:33:42.780 We'll bring in, like, four or five extra guys just to give it a little more of a boost, but we try to keep it a pretty heavy majority of our winter team. That's how we've always done it. So that, you know, really it benefits just the continued growth of our group because that's really what you're gonna do there. But when people ask, oh, should I go to this spring event, that spring event? To me, I tell people, if you're going, you're really just going to network, which is fine. 01:33:43.900 --> 01:33:59.845 If you wanna go and meet other people and network and get your kid here and meet these people, I see no problem with that. As long as you know that that's why you're going and not just like, I don't know, you're probably not going to get better. 01:34:02.005 --> 01:34:02.565 Interesting. 01:34:04.710 --> 01:34:23.355 There's a handful, not even a handful, like probably like two or three, like week long elite invite only camps that I've seen that are like actually truly put on really well and worth it. And there's some I've seen that are just a total waste of time. 01:34:23.435 --> 01:34:25.755 Right. Right. But 01:34:26.075 --> 01:34:27.835 So And If and so, like oh, go ahead. 01:34:27.835 --> 01:34:28.955 Yeah. No. Go ahead, Scott. I was 01:34:28.955 --> 01:34:29.595 just asking Scott 01:34:29.595 --> 01:34:30.875 about, like, development. Go ahead. 01:34:31.130 --> 01:34:59.665 Oh, no. But, so if if a player, let's say in, like, a non on a brick, non p week Quebec, non, like, other tournament that's, like, you know, a big deal year. Like, if a if a player came up to you said, like, you know, spring summer, hanging up the skates, you know, I'll get on the ice maybe once a week just to keep off, like, some rust. But otherwise, I'm just gonna play other sports and do other things. Is that something that you think is, like, in a player's best interest, or do you think, like, you know, continuing some some regular, you know, on ice training is important? 01:35:01.030 --> 01:35:13.910 I think it's okay to take a period off. In between season and spring hockey, I always try to tell our guys, hey, take two or three weeks off. Just don't touch the ice. No one ever listens. Right. 01:35:15.305 --> 01:35:20.985 You'd like them to hang it up for a certain period of time just to get a little bit of that hunger back. 01:35:21.305 --> 01:35:21.945 But 01:35:24.425 --> 01:36:02.470 I've seen to a certain extent athleticism with the way the game has changed and how high the skill is, will only take you so far if that's what you're gonna fully rely on. So I do think there's definitely gotta be training, whether that's off ice. I think the on ice should be like, you gotta pick out something really specific that you wanna continue to develop and make sure that you're not just BS ing your way through the skates. Like like, pick something you wanna work on, get better at it over the spring and summer. And I think off ice is really big too. 01:36:02.710 --> 01:36:17.895 But I think the kids that do nothing have a really hard time that first two months of the season, and it's it is hard to catch up. But I know you also hear these stories of, like, late bloomers too. Sure. But I don't know. 01:36:17.895 --> 01:36:28.690 It's just funny you mentioned the late bloomer. You know? Because we talk about the late late bloomer a lot. Do you think that the alright. So you alright. 01:36:28.690 --> 01:36:33.010 So you like which is Scott, you asked the perfect question because it was exactly what I was gonna ask. 01:36:33.410 --> 01:36:34.050 Oh, good. 01:36:34.050 --> 01:36:37.090 Yeah. No. That worked out perfectly. Nice. You know? 01:36:37.090 --> 01:36:44.665 So so so so you think that taking a couple weeks off here and there is good, but then get back at it. Right? Get on the ice. Yeah. Start power skating. 01:36:44.665 --> 01:36:46.345 Or or, like you said, work on whatever your 01:36:46.345 --> 01:36:55.945 depth week off in the middle of the season. So last year, we took six weeks off from basically, like, Thanksgiving to mid January. 01:36:57.090 --> 01:36:57.730 Wow. 01:36:57.730 --> 01:37:01.090 Oh, that's interesting. I didn't know you guys did that. You just practiced for three 01:37:01.090 --> 01:37:07.490 times We practiced a a little bit, but we had a huge gap of time off last year. 01:37:07.810 --> 01:37:08.450 Wow. 01:37:08.770 --> 01:37:20.015 And I think it helped the kids ride out that long season. It made some of the parents a little nutty because they forgot everything that happened before Thanksgiving. 01:37:20.255 --> 01:37:22.015 Right. Right. Yeah. 01:37:22.015 --> 01:37:30.790 All I can remember was the six week break and the new season basically. But to me, it felt like a fresh start and grinded a lot less on the kids. 01:37:31.030 --> 01:37:38.870 And and just so I'm clear, sorry, James. But No. No. Danielle, was that is that that's not organizationally up and down the birth years. That is that with the 2012 specifically? 01:37:40.185 --> 01:37:45.465 It was them specifically. Yeah. I'm the scheduler for twelves, fourteens, and sixteens. 01:37:45.465 --> 01:37:45.865 Okay. 01:37:45.865 --> 01:38:01.180 Okay. So with the exception of our any pack league in the EHF, I schedule everything else. I do try to build in, okay, if we're gonna have a weekend off or two weeks off, we're all gonna take that weekend off. Right. 01:38:01.340 --> 01:38:02.060 Okay. Right. 01:38:02.060 --> 01:38:07.340 And so I try to build my teams in together at least so that we're all kind of working on the same path. 01:38:08.035 --> 01:38:08.435 Got it. 01:38:08.435 --> 01:38:19.635 Right. Did you do that because you knew you guys were were going to go to nationals, so you knew that it was gonna be a prolonged season? Is that why you did that between the six weeks, like, kinda leading up to Thanksgiving and through New Year's? 01:38:19.635 --> 01:38:23.370 Yeah. I mean, the hope was that we were going to make nationals. Well, I mean no auto bids 01:38:23.370 --> 01:38:24.970 last Right. Of course. 01:38:24.970 --> 01:38:25.450 But you 01:38:25.690 --> 01:38:28.570 yeah. Okay. But that was by design because of that. Right? 01:38:28.810 --> 01:38:46.075 Totally. And we we actually started late too. Like, I mean, there's so much pressure now to start, like, mid August with tournaments. And now the last two years, I've just, like, said I I I feel like a jerk sometimes telling people no. But I'm just like, no. 01:38:46.075 --> 01:38:51.195 We're not starting. So, like, we won't start till, like, the second or third week of September. Right. 01:38:51.450 --> 01:38:52.570 Right. Yeah. 01:38:52.570 --> 01:39:14.515 So there there's definitely FOMO because you're missing a few things early on. But, like, it's crazy. We're still playing I mean, they're not allowed on the My Hockey, but we're still playing 80 games and 75 games. So, like, it's a grind. And so it's it's okay to say no and start a little bit later and take some breaks. 01:39:14.595 --> 01:39:18.515 Yeah. 80 games. That's a that's a that's a hefty schedule. 01:39:19.520 --> 01:39:20.160 Yeah. 01:39:20.160 --> 01:39:29.600 How do you feel about that? Would you if you had could do it like let's just say, would you love to play just 45 and then call it a day and go to nationals? Or do you guys like the heavy schedule? 01:39:32.915 --> 01:39:49.950 I I think if you looked at our, like, practice hour ratio to game, we're still, like, significantly higher on the practice side of things. So I think it's okay. Right. Yeah. Would I like to keep it under 60 for sure? 01:39:50.350 --> 01:39:55.310 Right. But then, you know, you run into your state tournament, your regionals, your nationals. 01:39:55.310 --> 01:39:55.950 Yeah. And it just 01:39:55.950 --> 01:40:06.445 It adds adds up. And like, you don't wanna miss out on like a couple big tournaments here and there. And so it it just adds up. But Yeah. No. 01:40:06.445 --> 01:40:09.565 I we're still hot heavier on the practice side for sure. 01:40:10.285 --> 01:40:25.720 So the I mean, that that's a massive number of games. And I know that it's so like, you know, tier one teams are all pushing, like, you know, whatever. Maybe, like, 60 to 80 is a big range. Don't get me wrong. But, like, there it's a lot of games for some kids. 01:40:25.960 --> 01:41:02.215 In terms of managing, like, burnout and obviously, you know, taking that time off from the holiday season, like Is huge. Totally makes sense. Yeah. But if if we just even take, like, more of, like, a macro, you know, view and, like, just step back and take a look at, like, you know, multiple years playing that number of games at the younger ages, is there is is there yeah. How how do you talk about internally or even, like, how do you think about, like, the idea of burnout and, like, when when it becomes either too much or kinda how to make sure to build in some of that recovery downtime to build get that hunger back that you were talking about. 01:41:02.295 --> 01:41:24.105 Yeah. I mean, my philosophy has always kinda been if the kid is asking to go, then continue to fuel that fire. And then if the kid's just like, oh, I don't wanna do it, don't force it. Take that day off. I mean, obviously, you can't let your kids just totally phone in on everything. 01:41:24.185 --> 01:41:28.105 But I think as long as they wanna do it, fuel it. 01:41:28.345 --> 01:41:38.030 Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's easy for these kids to sit home and, like, just sit on the couch and play video games. Like, it's gotta we all push our kids a little bit. 01:41:38.030 --> 01:41:40.990 Right? You have to as a parent. You know? You can't just let them make 01:41:40.990 --> 01:41:43.470 their stuff. Eat your vegetables either. Right? But like 01:41:43.710 --> 01:41:47.150 Right. But they're good for you. Right? That's exactly right, Danielle. They're good for you. 01:41:47.150 --> 01:41:54.485 So you have to as a parent, you have to show them, you know, kind of I think pushing is healthy in my opinion. I do. 01:41:54.485 --> 01:42:25.105 Well, you know, one of the things about the and one of the well, when we talk about the younger age groups and whether or not to push or pull your kid, One of the one of the dads had once said to me, he he said he's like, yeah. But, like, if your kid wanted to eat Reese's you know, talking about a child who's, you know, wants to be at the rink constantly, like, always there, like, no days off type of thing. And he was like, yeah. But if your kid wanted to eat Reese's peanut butter cups for breakfast, would you let them? And it's like, just because they want it doesn't mean it's necessarily in their best interest. 01:42:25.105 --> 01:42:26.145 Right? So Yeah. I I 01:42:26.145 --> 01:42:39.730 wonder like You can see when can see when kids need a break. Yeah. And you try to tell parents that. Like, even I take a break sometimes. Like, I'll cancel a lesson every once in a while. 01:42:39.730 --> 01:42:58.175 Someone's like, oh, man, that's a grind. Like, if I'm tired, the kids must be gassed. Like, we're not skating tomorrow morning. So you try to just gauge the kid. And I know at this tier one level, we're starting earlier and earlier, and it does seem like a grind. 01:42:58.175 --> 01:43:27.265 I was just talking to someone who's in 'eight, and they were a late 'eight, and they're like, oh, I still have three years of juniors, and they're already committed to college. And they still have to grind out three more years of juniors. And it's like, oh my gosh, that's a really long time. So when you look at it that way, you're like, wow, this is long, so maybe you should pull back. But again, if your kid wants to shoot pucks and work on the skill development stuff, fuel it. 01:43:28.385 --> 01:43:37.630 Listen, Jimmy Dads says the same thing. He said right? And this guy said the same thing a couple times when he's been on with us. He's like, listen, he's saying, if your kid loves it, let him do it. Yeah. 01:43:37.630 --> 01:43:46.765 You know? And it's it's hard to argue with that. Right? I mean, you know, I can almost guarantee you, I can't imagine Wayne Bretzky's dad was pulling him back much. You know? 01:43:46.765 --> 01:43:51.085 Because I'm not saying every kid's gonna be Wayne Gretzky, but you see what I'm saying. Right? You know? 01:43:51.565 --> 01:44:05.500 No. And I and I it's funny you say that because, like, I see so many things like, oh, like, on Instagram, oh, the Minnesota model, these guys aren't skating. They're just doing their town teams. That's not true. That's not true. 01:44:05.500 --> 01:44:14.205 These guys are skating every day. They're playing on travel teams. They're doing all kinds of crazy stuff. No one playing at that tier one level is really just 01:44:15.405 --> 01:44:15.725 Right. 01:44:15.805 --> 01:44:15.965 Taking 01:44:17.325 --> 01:44:20.285 Right. All this time off and not skating. 01:44:20.525 --> 01:44:41.435 Yeah. I just tell you, Danielle, even people at the tier two level are not are not taking off. You know, like, it's they they we we all say that we're gonna take off, but do we really I mean, you know, I'm I'm sitting in a Princeton hotel because Scott minus Scott's kid is at a Princeton ice hockey camp. And, you know, so like we like but like Scott, like you said, like, you know, Otto wants it. Right? 01:44:41.435 --> 01:44:53.435 I mean, Dominik wants to do this stuff. And it's better than them sitting home on the couch, that's for sure. Right? Absolutely. As a parent, it's hard to and, you know, Dominik does other things, Otto does other things, which is great. 01:44:53.710 --> 01:45:07.735 You know? But, you know, when your kids have a love for the game, it's really hard, you know, to say no because I'd rather them be active than not active. My kid could sit on the couch like nobody's business if I let him. You know what I mean? So listen. 01:45:07.735 --> 01:45:13.895 So if he he says to his dad, let's go to a hockey camp, like, have a hard time saying no to that because I don't want him sitting on the couch playing video games. 01:45:15.095 --> 01:45:22.510 Yeah. No. I I'm with you on that. I Right? I started hockey so late too, so I, like, didn't really barely get to go to hockey camp. 01:45:22.510 --> 01:45:37.725 So once that finally got put in front of me at age 14, my parents would drop me off at the rink at 4PM, and I would stand at the door of every practice that went on after my team, just like asking the coaches, like, can I get back on? Can I get back on? Can I 01:45:37.805 --> 01:45:38.205 Good for 01:45:38.205 --> 01:45:47.725 And they would let me, which is amazing? Yeah. Again, that's just like you're you're allowing it, you're hungry for it, and then provide it. So Right. 01:45:48.125 --> 01:46:24.290 Well, I wanna maybe switch gears like a touch, but still stay on that, like, crazy hockey parent theme because one time of year when people are nuts is tryout tryout season. So so one the one of the questions I wanted to ask in terms of, you know, tryouts well, look, I I mean, we know a lot of it is sorted out before tryouts. I mean, that's no secret, you know. But, like, in terms of, like, you know, the build up to tryouts and, you know, for you specifically, what separates two players that have similar skill? 01:46:27.090 --> 01:46:28.290 I guess Good question. 01:46:28.290 --> 01:46:29.090 Good question. 01:46:29.090 --> 01:46:33.195 I I guess you can look at it at different age groups. 01:46:33.275 --> 01:46:33.915 Okay. 01:46:35.435 --> 01:47:13.550 I'd say at the youngest age group, hard work probably stands out more, like effort and like grittiness type stuff that you look for that could make a kid stand out more. And then I probably noticed it the most at the band of minor year that started to stand out the most from one kid to the next based on skill level was the IQ. No one's aware same of skill set, but like the IQ difference is extremely noticeable. And that can really make you stand out. 01:47:14.030 --> 01:47:21.550 Yeah. So okay. So, I mean and that that makes sense. Those are some of those, like, intangibles. But, like okay. 01:47:21.550 --> 01:47:32.455 So let's just say you have to cut a play or you I mean, you always have to cut players. Right? But, like Yeah. What in terms of advice, like, to a player or parents to, like, kids that get cut. Right? 01:47:32.455 --> 01:47:50.020 Like, that can be, like, such a, like, a devastating thing. Like, what, like, what kind of advice do you give those families or those players who, like, you know, maybe they're a bubble, maybe they're a fringe player. Right? Like, and and and how to keep it, like, them positive and motivated, but also at the same time, like, you know, doing what's best for the team, etcetera. 01:47:50.580 --> 01:47:54.260 I mean, as far as, like, what their next, like, 01:47:55.315 --> 01:47:56.435 you know, what kind of guidance? 01:47:56.435 --> 01:47:57.955 Like, next place to go. 01:47:57.955 --> 01:48:02.675 Well, not necessarily go go to this place, but just kinda like, you know Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. 01:48:02.675 --> 01:48:36.960 So the biggest thing I've noticed, like, if if it's a kid that just couldn't quite keep up that you had to cut, I often see parents then chase the next hardest thing. Whether that's like, oh, I'll go play on this next team, but it'll be a birth year up. Or I'll go, I just got caught from the number one team in the country. Now I'm gonna go try the number two team in the country. But I don't necessarily think that's always the right decision for the kid. 01:48:36.960 --> 01:49:08.460 Like if your kid got cut, that means they were struggling with something. And maybe moving them down even lower level might kinda help them rebuild that confidence in some of those areas. That's kinda how I feel about it. But to convince a parent that that's the right decision is, you know, it's a lot of a status thing and you don't wanna drop levels. And so I see time and time again, like someone gets cut from a team, and then they go play a year up somewhere else. 01:49:08.460 --> 01:49:21.075 And you're like, oh, that's not That's not That's not what your kid was missing. Like, your kid needs to touch the puck more and get some confidence and polish up this skill, and they're not gonna get that if you're putting them over their skis again. 01:49:21.395 --> 01:49:26.195 Right. Right. Right. So alright. So so it's so funny you say that too. 01:49:26.915 --> 01:49:53.545 You know, because you mentioned about it being a status thing. Do you think that some parents kind of get in their kid's way? You know? And like you said, not drop him down a level or go play or go be the man on another triple a team, like maybe like a, you know, a mid leveled or a lower level triple a team so he can get those puck touches like you mentioned. Because I think we notice a lot that the parent kind of of gets in and impedes the kid, maybe not knowing that he's doing it either. 01:49:54.505 --> 01:50:16.330 Yeah. I I see it a lot. There's a lot of, like, chasing and grass is greener, and it's just like, what are you chasing, really? Like, you could just keep your kid in the car for ten minutes and, you know, help them develop versus chasing something that's a two hour car ride and making your year miserable. Like, I see that a lot. 01:50:16.650 --> 01:50:27.745 Yeah. I'm curious. What are some of the other mistakes you see parents making, Danielle, like out there? If you had to pick one, you're like, wow. Like, that's a that's like, it happens all the time and you see it constantly. 01:50:27.745 --> 01:50:34.250 What's, like, the one major mistake that a parent makes, you know, in their kid's development? 01:50:35.290 --> 01:50:36.810 Probably the car coaching. 01:50:36.970 --> 01:50:38.330 No. In 01:50:41.370 --> 01:51:16.385 some ways I can see it being positive because a coach can't give every kid individual attention all the time. So like, there are little things that of course, like a parent can help with. But if for example, as we were getting ready for Pee Wee Quebec, I had the team make a journal and we had journal pages and videos for thirty days. And it maybe ended up being more than thirty. But I didn't allow the kids to share them with their families. 01:51:16.385 --> 01:51:29.490 I'm sure their parents still snuck into them. I told the kids, we're gonna do this. Once the tournament is over, give the notebook to your parents. Let them have the videos. Share as much as you want with them. 01:51:29.490 --> 01:51:39.730 Like, share it all with them. But I didn't want them to share it with the parents leading up to it because if one parent disagreed with, like, the message that we were trying to send as a team 01:51:40.050 --> 01:51:40.290 Right. 01:51:40.290 --> 01:51:59.840 That could blow up the whole thing. Like, if we were saying, oh, you know, pass the puck, be selfless, but your parents like, no, it's all about you, you, you, and points. Like, you're not gonna get the buy in that you need. And then ultimately, like, that probably ends up bringing the individual down anyways. Uh-huh. 01:51:59.840 --> 01:52:34.000 So, like, yeah, the the parents not totally understanding the system or, like, you know, even, like, when you're making lines, like, you might have, like, a power forward with a high IQ guy and then someone that's also, a good back check or something. And you have a little bit of each with the line, but the parents don't really, they just think, oh, you put my kid on third line. No, it's not third line. It's I see this great quality in your kid and this great quality in your kid. I think it, you know, goes really well with this kid's qualities, and that's why I'm matching them together. 01:52:34.320 --> 01:52:37.520 And so I think parents get in the way of that a little bit. 01:52:37.920 --> 01:53:09.360 So some of that was, you know, like a little bit of culture and even, like, you know, regarding, like, leadership. From your perspective, like, what what makes a great teammate? And and on the other end of that, like, as far as, like, the leadership piece, like, the in your opinion, can can leadership be taught or, like, the folks that or the folks, the kids that are leading, like, the teams within, you know, Mid Fairfield, they're they're just they have they have certain attributes that, you know, they were just they're gifted, you know, as far as leaders. 01:53:10.815 --> 01:53:50.565 I think some of it definitely comes from within. Some of that could be like a cultural thing from home too. Like, they just you know, that's how they were raised, and that's the confidence they come in with. It's definitely something we're trying to teach as well. You know, we have a lot of alphas on our team, for example, but it's not always an alpha in the most positive direction, and you have to kinda guide them to what, you know, we want you to lead, and everyone looks up to you, but make sure you're doing the right thing and people aren't looking up to you as you're being a goofball and doing the wrong thing. 01:53:51.925 --> 01:54:09.165 So like, I think, you know, kind of guiding the alphas in a way that can be a positive thing because you know people do look up to them. So like, you do try to teach those kids like, hey, like, people are watching you. They're looking up to you. How can you do this in a positive way? Mhmm. 01:54:09.325 --> 01:54:11.405 There's some teaching to it for sure. 01:54:11.645 --> 01:54:20.925 Right. Right. So I'm curious. We we've had you on for an hour, which went by like nothing. We we have we have a couple more for you. 01:54:22.060 --> 01:54:36.060 But I we have I don't know why we haven't gotten into this yet. What would you say is your proudest moment on the bench to date if you had to pick one? I know you've had a bunch of them, so this is gonna be difficult for you to kinda pick one. 01:54:40.515 --> 01:55:04.100 I'd probably have to say one in Quebec. Just because of the preparation we put into that one. There was deliberate, like I said, we had that notebook. It was very deliberate preparation. There was a lot of preparation on the mental side, just mental toughness training that we went through. 01:55:04.820 --> 01:55:33.570 And just to see the kids win that one, I feel like they really, like, made a mindset and set the goal as a team. Like, nationals was great, but I honestly, we didn't put the same, like, specific effort into that one as we did Quebec. And for the kids to win Quebec after all the buildup, I was really proud of them for that one. And they grinded. I have this great clip of one of my centers. 01:55:34.335 --> 01:55:41.935 I think we had a penalty, and we were killing off, like, a six on four with, like, two minutes left in the game, and he blocked three shots in a row. 01:55:41.935 --> 01:55:42.895 Oh, that's sick. 01:55:42.895 --> 01:55:51.280 And, like, that was something we talked about, and he owned it. And, like, you know, he got sniped three times, and it was like a highlight of the tournament for me. 01:55:51.280 --> 01:55:52.080 Oh, that's awesome. And he 01:55:52.080 --> 01:55:53.280 did that. Yeah. 01:55:53.680 --> 01:55:56.960 It's fantastic. I love it. It's great. Yeah. Alright. 01:55:56.960 --> 01:56:11.065 So I have another one kinda goes, I wanna say, kinda hand in hand with it. Is one principle that you just refuse to compromise on as a coach? And you'll never and you'll never change that. 01:56:11.785 --> 01:56:37.875 Effort. Like I said, I I've always had two rules on my teams no matter how old you are, like five year old, 15 year old, and it's back check and pass the puck. And those have always been, like, the two biggest foundations. And so just, like, effort effort with the puck, effort without the puck, second efforts, third efforts, fourth efforts. You could be the worst player on the ice as long as you're busting your butt. 01:56:37.875 --> 01:56:39.635 Like, you have respect for me. 01:56:40.595 --> 01:56:42.995 And and you and impact the game too. 01:56:43.235 --> 01:56:58.140 Yeah. So I love how you just brought up not only first, but second, third, fourth efforts. You you know, for those that might not be familiar with those terms, can you just kinda, like, break that down a little bit? Like, what what you're seeing? Like, what's a first effort versus a second, third, fourth? 01:56:59.885 --> 01:57:24.830 Just like tracking pucks. Like, one one of the quotes I use with the kids, excuse my language, but it's if you fuck up, fix it. So like and and I'm guilty. Like, a lot of my players are afraid to make mistakes with me, I think it's because I'm so hard on them. But I'm trying to change in that way a little bit to help them because that's definitely my fault. 01:57:25.070 --> 01:57:49.370 But I always say, if you fuck up, fix it. You can turn the puck over a 100 times as long as if you turn it over, you are the first guy back on it to get it back. If you're gonna try to toe drag three guys, you better get that puck back after you turn it over. And you better stay on the hunt. And, you know, you're you're gonna do a high turnover, but you better back check all the way back down the ice if you're gonna make the mistake. 01:57:49.370 --> 01:57:56.905 Like, you can make the mistake, just, you know, be sure you're the you're the most standout guy that's gonna fix it. 01:57:57.065 --> 01:58:00.745 Right. Right. Yeah. Totally. No. 01:58:00.745 --> 01:58:20.470 That's awesome. And and I think that that's something that and and, you know, let me and let's let's just actually go with that, like, because something popped into my head. But okay. So kid fucked up, you know, turn over, like, you know, try to toe drag someone entering the zone, got his pocket picked, you know. So now he has to fix it, and he wasn't the hardest worker on the way back. 01:58:21.905 --> 01:58:40.700 What's it like trying to or not what's it like, but, like, kinda like what's the process of trying to work with a kid who fucked up but is having a hard time fixing whatever it is that needs to be fixed? I That's 01:58:40.700 --> 01:58:41.340 a good question. 01:58:41.340 --> 01:58:47.755 Yeah. I mean, it and honestly, I I would say that it's it's changed a little bit. 01:58:47.755 --> 01:58:48.795 But Sure. 01:58:48.795 --> 01:59:08.270 In general, like my philosophy is like, okay, if it's happening over and over again, and it's not getting fixed, like as far as an effort thing, then you sit a shift. Yeah. And then go back and do it again. Like, go back and try again. Like, it I try not to ever sit a kid more than, one shift. 01:59:08.510 --> 01:59:14.910 And that's not sitting because they made a mistake. It's sitting because they didn't have the effort after the mistake. 01:59:15.070 --> 01:59:15.470 Right. 01:59:15.470 --> 01:59:30.350 Right. That's like the message of trying to send that message. You're being sad at shift because of your effort. And now show me that you can retry to give that effort on the next shift. Right. 01:59:31.550 --> 01:59:56.695 It definitely worked with the older kids. I'd say the post COVID years, it's not translating as much as it did pre COVID. I don't know why that is. So I'm trying to adjust a little bit, but I'm I'm still trying to figure that out and learn from it a little bit because the the same messages and models that I was using maybe, like, six years ago aren't necessarily working now. 01:59:57.080 --> 01:59:58.520 That's always the same way. 01:59:58.600 --> 01:59:59.880 That you're you're you're 02:00:01.000 --> 02:00:04.280 pointing out COVID specifically as kind of like a like a 02:00:04.360 --> 02:00:16.475 It felt like that was like the wall and, like, pre and post. Like, there was like a different mentality in kids and, like, now you have to treat them differently almost, and what worked before isn't necessarily working now. 02:00:16.715 --> 02:00:18.395 Wow. Never a dull moment. 02:00:18.635 --> 02:00:25.090 Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. We probably could delve into an entire societal Thinking 02:00:25.090 --> 02:00:26.370 about that. Yeah. Yeah. 02:00:26.370 --> 02:00:30.690 About that. Because I I think that's probably very true, by the way. There's definitely some 02:00:30.690 --> 02:00:35.570 Accountability is much more difficult now than it was previously. 02:00:35.650 --> 02:00:43.355 Right. Interesting. Isn't that funny? I'm just I'm curious. Do you notice do you notice that with parents too by any chance? 02:00:43.355 --> 02:00:48.075 Do notice any difference in parents or just kind of on on the the kids side of that? 02:00:48.795 --> 02:00:51.595 I think it's stemming from the parents probably. 02:00:51.755 --> 02:00:51.995 Yeah. 02:00:53.490 --> 02:01:01.570 They're not really allowing the kids to fail anymore. Right. Some are. Some are great. Right. 02:01:01.570 --> 02:01:19.715 But a lot of people don't want their kid to feel pain and suffering and not in such a terrible kind of way, but like No. Adversity. They try to fix everything, but it's hard to learn if you don't make a mistake. Right? That is the only way to learn. 02:01:19.715 --> 02:01:36.045 And if you aren't allowing your kid to make a mistake or you're fixing a mistake for them, the adjustment gets a lot more difficult, and it feels like now the parents are trying to keep everything really comfortable and safe and mistake free. Yeah. So it's harder to grow. 02:01:36.525 --> 02:02:01.865 Yes, exactly. Because growth comes from failure. Right? If kids are always being kind of like let down gently, you know, I think in my opinion, you know, kids should again, just my opinion, but I think kids should experience failure and what it feels like at a young age because, you know, you don't want your kid's first time to experience failure when they're like 19, and then they don't know how to handle it. Right? 02:02:01.865 --> 02:02:12.025 Right. I mean, in my opinion, you need to figure that at a younger age because that's just how you grow and get better in anything. Right? I mean, how do you become a good member of society without that? 02:02:12.025 --> 02:02:13.545 Later and later now. 02:02:14.185 --> 02:02:14.825 Right. 02:02:14.905 --> 02:02:31.625 And more and more difficult. So it's a it's a it's a learning process for me too, and how to get through to kids in a different way now, and how to communicate with parents a little bit differently just because you can't necessarily do things the same way you did five years ago. 02:02:31.625 --> 02:02:36.025 Right. And I'm curious, Bob, Scott, before I let you jump in here, I just have one more on Yeah. 02:02:36.025 --> 02:02:36.745 No. You're good, dude. 02:02:36.745 --> 02:02:49.150 Are you noticing the same skill level with the pre and post COVID kids. So it's not a skill level thing. It's just kind of like a behavioral thing. Is are you noticing the same skill 02:02:49.150 --> 02:03:00.285 level person? Emotional thing. Right. There's a lot more, like, lack of mental toughness, I would say. 02:03:00.285 --> 02:03:02.205 A babying almost kind of of the kids. 02:03:02.205 --> 02:03:03.725 Right? Interesting. 02:03:05.245 --> 02:03:13.850 Yeah. No. It's definitely a problem. I think, you know, like, it's funny. My wife and I, we we talk about, know, and and everyone's got their thing that's more important to them or less important to them. 02:03:13.850 --> 02:03:30.155 But, like, you know, like, my wife and I, we're talking about, like, technology. My my son doesn't have a phone. He's going into seventh grade next year even though he's supposed to he's supposed to be in sixth grade. But he's going to seventh grade. And he's, like, one of the only kids in his class that doesn't have a phone. 02:03:30.315 --> 02:03:41.890 Right? And he's, like, devastated by it, but, like, we're we're we're looking around. My wife and I are like, the the bar is set so low. Like, how can he be the only kid that doesn't have a cell phone and he feels so left out? And, like, it makes it hard. 02:03:41.890 --> 02:04:00.325 But, like, with between food, technology, going outside, and, like, playing and doing whatever, I feel like the bar is so low. And, you know, it it does it. I'm all for, you know, like, pushing kids to, like, go be bored, go be uncomfortable, go outside, do the things that you don't wanna do now because it's not gonna get any easier as you get older. 02:04:00.645 --> 02:04:14.840 Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I mean, we just had a hockey like, our hockey camp that we just run, we have 35 kids and we keep them at lake houses. And basically from 4PM to 09:30PM is free time. 02:04:15.320 --> 02:04:50.035 And it's supervised, but not structured. So it's not like, hey, at five we're doing this, six we're doing that. It's like, here's a boat, here's some jet skis, here's some paddle boards, a soccer ball, grab some friends, go figure out what you're gonna do. And honestly, I think when you ask the kids, like, they have more enjoyment and memories out of that unstructured time than, like, know, being glued to a screen or being told you need to do this. Or and I think the more they can experience that, the more joy they're gonna find they can get. 02:04:50.675 --> 02:05:05.470 Sure. Yeah. It you know, it's it's funny. You know, we're talking about this because, like, you know, like, around, like, 11:00 this morning, Dominado checked into Penn State. State. 02:05:05.470 --> 02:05:10.510 That was last week. Princeton. Sorry. Penn State was last week. You can tell I'm a crazy hockey parent. 02:05:10.830 --> 02:05:45.955 So so they checked into Princeton this morning, and and we we walked them to well, we walked the the gear to to their dorm room that Otto and Dom are are sharing. And I was kinda making a joke, Danielle, because Nancy and and Orly, Scott's wife, started, like, setting up the room for the kids, putting their fan on, putting their clothes in the drawers, making the bed. And I remember saying, I said, I said, are you guys gonna set their dorm room up when they're, like, freshmen in college? I was making a joke about it because we talk about, like, the I don't wanna say the babying of kids, but, like, you need to let these kids do the shit for themselves. Right? 02:05:45.955 --> 02:06:02.830 When I see when I see a parent humping his kid's hockey bag, even at a young age, can I just tell you how many times Dominic tipped over carrying his huge hockey bag when he was like a last year mite or like a first year squirt? Like, I'm not carrying that shit. You know? Like and again 02:06:02.910 --> 02:06:07.070 There's still bantams. Their parents are packing their bags for them. Right. 02:06:07.230 --> 02:06:11.950 Listen. Fun funny you say that. Otto forgot his helmet today at Princeton. 02:06:12.275 --> 02:06:14.595 Well, listen. Danielle. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. 02:06:14.595 --> 02:06:36.730 Just just so I because I don't wanna throw my son under the bus unnecessarily. The truth of the matter is that we played in a pickup game, like a men's pickup game early that morning at, like, 06:00. And afterwards, my wife wanted a photo of the two of us on the ice, so we took our helmets off. And so he picked up his like, whenever the helmets got confused. Right? 02:06:36.730 --> 02:06:48.855 We no one neither one of us paid much attention. He just threw my helmet in his bag, and and I put his helmet in my bag, and then he didn't unpack his bag, we drove straight down to this to Princeton. So, he ended up with my helmet. So, in any event. Right. 02:06:48.855 --> 02:06:50.215 That wasn't exactly his fault. 02:06:50.215 --> 02:06:55.255 And I'm not breaking out of his chops. What I'm saying is it normally auto packs his own bag is my point. Right? 02:06:56.130 --> 02:06:57.650 Yeah. No. He normally does. Yeah. 02:06:57.650 --> 02:07:04.370 That's what I mean. Right? It's good for these kids to carry their own bag and pack their own shit. And if they forget it, it's a learning lesson. Right? 02:07:04.370 --> 02:07:07.570 Like, next time, you won't forget it, hopefully. Yeah. Right? 02:07:09.155 --> 02:07:12.995 Make a mistake. Learn from it. That's right. It's not the end of the world. Right? 02:07:12.995 --> 02:07:21.155 You you show up to a game, you forgot your skates. Right? Like, it sucks, but you're probably not gonna forget your skates ever again. 02:07:21.155 --> 02:07:24.340 That's right. Right. Exactly. It's like touching the stove. Right? 02:07:24.340 --> 02:07:29.060 You need to do it once, hopefully not twice, and you learn a lesson. Hopefully, you don't do it again. 02:07:29.140 --> 02:07:29.780 What's the saying? 02:07:29.780 --> 02:07:32.499 And it's and it's not the end of the world either. Right? Right. 02:07:32.660 --> 02:07:34.180 Yeah. If you do fuck up, you need to fix it. 02:07:34.625 --> 02:07:36.225 Yeah. That's I feel 02:07:36.225 --> 02:07:38.305 like I feel like we may need to make like t shirts. 02:07:38.305 --> 02:07:38.865 We need t 02:07:38.865 --> 02:07:43.585 shirts You know, fuck up and and and fix it, like Danielle Ward under that. I think it's pretty appropriate. 02:07:43.905 --> 02:07:51.150 Alright. Alright. So listen, we're we're gonna let's let's start to wrap this one up. Danielle, we're gonna go through some few rapid fire questions, if you don't mind. Alright? 02:07:51.150 --> 02:07:51.710 Okay. 02:07:51.710 --> 02:07:55.230 Alright. So let's finish this up. We're gonna go through a few different tops. Let's start with hockey. Okay. 02:07:55.390 --> 02:07:58.110 Keep it easy to start. Favorite hockey player growing up? 02:07:58.670 --> 02:07:59.950 Darren McCarty. 02:08:00.030 --> 02:08:05.310 Oh, nice one. Alright. Best rink in North America. 02:08:06.405 --> 02:08:13.365 I love the Mount Prospect Rink in Chicago. Have the best wood fired pizza bar 02:08:13.365 --> 02:08:18.965 of Oh, boy. Yeah. I'm sure it's better than the Armory in New Jersey. 02:08:19.080 --> 02:08:24.840 He's busting my balls, Danielle. That's Yeah. I knew when soon as you said that, I'm like, oh my god. This is totally coming to my direction Okay. 02:08:25.560 --> 02:08:30.920 Here we go. Hardest age to coach? 13. 13. Wow. 02:08:30.920 --> 02:08:36.695 Okay. Hardest age to parent too. Most most underrated hockey skill? 02:08:38.615 --> 02:08:41.975 Oh. Passing. 02:08:42.215 --> 02:08:44.055 Most overrated hockey skill? 02:08:49.230 --> 02:08:50.190 I don't know. 02:08:50.190 --> 02:08:50.590 That's a 02:08:50.590 --> 02:08:53.710 hard one. Okay. You can take a All good. Yeah. Alright. 02:08:53.950 --> 02:08:56.750 Coaching. Here we go. Loud coach or quiet coach? 02:09:01.085 --> 02:09:02.925 Trying trying to be quiet. 02:09:03.085 --> 02:09:12.045 Trying to okay. Got it. Well, this wasn't exactly didn't have to be about you necessarily, but Trying to be on Okay. The quiet Got it. Tough love or confidence builder? 02:09:13.245 --> 02:09:13.885 Tough love. 02:09:14.240 --> 02:09:19.200 Okay. Knew that was coming. Yeah. First thing you noticed about a player? 02:09:21.040 --> 02:09:21.840 Skating. 02:09:22.880 --> 02:09:24.800 Hardest conversation to have with a player? 02:09:30.175 --> 02:09:44.400 Probably when they think that they're doing something, but they're not, and there's like they get defensive in trying to explain to them that you're not attacking them, but you're actually trying to help them. 02:09:44.720 --> 02:09:46.080 Yeah. Makes sense. 02:09:46.080 --> 02:09:47.520 Welcome to parenting. 02:09:47.840 --> 02:09:53.520 Okay. Recruiter so from recruiting perspective, character or talent? 02:09:55.325 --> 02:09:56.045 Both. 02:09:56.445 --> 02:09:59.485 Good answer. Leadership or stats? 02:10:01.245 --> 02:10:01.885 Both. 02:10:01.965 --> 02:10:07.725 Alright. Good answer. Alright. And here, best best advice for a player chasing college hockey? 02:10:10.540 --> 02:10:31.315 I would say outside of putting in the effort is just being a good person and being a good teammate. People do notice how you carry yourself around the building. And Yeah. I personally, as a player, made some of those mistakes myself, and I just think that those things do go a long way. 02:10:31.475 --> 02:10:35.955 Okay. Alright. We're gonna finish it up here. Two more. Favorite music before a game? 02:10:38.440 --> 02:10:41.560 I hit hit everything. Probably, right now, house music. 02:10:41.720 --> 02:10:49.720 Alright. Let's go. Nice. Alright. And now to to finish the sentence, the best hockey parents are those who? 02:10:53.565 --> 02:10:54.605 Stay positive. 02:10:54.925 --> 02:10:57.725 Alright. That's a good one. Love it. 02:10:58.045 --> 02:11:00.445 Danielle Ward, everybody. Danielle, thank you 02:11:00.445 --> 02:11:03.725 so much for coming out of this Yeah. A 100%. 02:11:03.885 --> 02:11:05.805 Thank you, guys. Really appreciate it. 02:11:05.965 --> 02:11:06.925 Have a good night, Danielle. 02:11:07.140 --> 02:11:32.145 Alright. Alright, everybody. Welcome back from a tremendous interview with Danielle Ward of Mid Fairfield. James, dude, you know, very, very interesting to hear what it's like to be a part of, like, such a tremendous organization and to coach one of the best 20 well, best twenty twelve teams in the world Maybe ever. Probably. 02:11:32.465 --> 02:11:35.680 Yeah. Maybe Yeah. I don't know. You'd have figure that out. 02:11:35.760 --> 02:11:38.960 Ever's a long time, but it's a very it's a powerhouse right now at the moment. 02:11:38.960 --> 02:12:00.250 Yeah. And and the thing that I don't know that it struck me as like I was surprised, but, you know, a lot of times we have conversations on the podcast about, like, at the younger ages not to take it so seriously, like, let the kids be kids, like, multiple sports. And, like, Danielle talked about playing multiple sports also, but she also at the same time, she said, you know, like, we take it seriously starting from, like, the age of five. You know? And that and they they set the tone early over there. 02:12:00.250 --> 02:12:26.290 And look, I understand the intentions of trying to cultivate a base, a core group of players from the younger ages because, you know, like, even when we're talking Evan Rodriguez, he was saying how he played with the same, I think, Toronto, maybe Marley's team for, like, seven years. Yeah. And, like, there's definitely, like, look, you when you're playing with players that you're comfortable with, like, you develop rapport, you develop like, on ice cream in air. Yeah. Yeah. 02:12:26.290 --> 02:12:40.885 And so I I think that definitely helps in terms of development when you're always playing with the same kids. But, I mean, wow. I mean, I'm for sure, that is a massive commitment playing at Mid Fairfield from the youngest of ages. 80 something games is like, wow. 02:12:40.885 --> 02:12:46.405 It's lot. It's nonstop. Yeah. Well, listen. They they they do a lot of, like, high end tournaments. 02:12:46.405 --> 02:13:01.070 And it's funny. I actually forgot to yeah. I forgot to ask her this is because we only had so much time with her, but we don't wanna keep her all night, which we probably could have. But, you know, the interesting part about it is is that when people call her for for for tournaments. Right? 02:13:02.110 --> 02:13:21.565 You know, Mid Fairfield, especially on the twelfth birth here, and I'm sure others as well, is a selling point. Right? If you're if you're a tournament company and you're trying to put a high end tournament together, you know, and you can then get Mid Fairfield on the books saying that they're coming, it's a whole lot easier to recruit everybody else to come. Right. 02:13:21.565 --> 02:13:25.210 Right? Right? Yep. It's like having like an anchor account and like a strip mall. 02:13:25.210 --> 02:13:26.010 Listen. They have 02:13:26.090 --> 02:13:29.530 You know what I mean? It's like Leverage. Build around. You build around. Yeah. 02:13:29.530 --> 02:13:46.145 Lots of leverage. In in in in in the 12 birth year for tournament wise, they have a lot of leverage. I mean, if you if you can sell to the rest of the of of the country and Canada, you know, hey, listen, you know, we're putting this high end tournament together, oh, the way, Mid Fairfield's coming. Right? That's a selling feature. 02:13:46.145 --> 02:13:54.700 Right? I mean, that's the other and then other I'm sure other teams sign on because of that. Know, no question about it. No. Listen, they're a wagon. 02:13:54.700 --> 02:14:04.775 They've been a wagon ever since mites, you know? Listen, and what's cool, I think she said they still have five kids that were there from when they were mites. 02:14:04.855 --> 02:14:05.895 Six. I think it was six. 02:14:05.895 --> 02:14:23.920 With the six? Pretty sure I know who she's talking about too. Because again, we're kind of close to the program, not being far from them and playing against them for years. But listen, she she's like I said, when I first met her, you knew that she was just cut from a different cloth. You know? 02:14:23.920 --> 02:14:31.935 She's she she she takes no shit. You know? And listen. It's it's worked for her. There's no question about it. 02:14:31.935 --> 02:14:34.975 It's hard to argue with because she's had a lot of success. 02:14:35.135 --> 02:15:00.235 Yep. You know? And she's also you know, it was interesting to hear also talk about how post COVID, like, those players are harder or Wasn't that interesting? The same the same tactic in terms of the the tough love, the, like, accountability piece, and I I for sure part interesting? For sure, she's still deploying that. 02:15:00.235 --> 02:15:08.400 But For sure. Yeah. It's it's not having necessarily the same effect Yeah. As it did with the pre COVID players. Yeah. 02:15:08.400 --> 02:15:27.255 I thought that was an interesting point of distinction. And and look, she's she's recognizing it. She's she's said, like, this is an opportunity for me to learn, and she's working on evolving and, you know, to continue the level of success. But one of the things that I've loved, and I thought it was funny because she's like, you know, and we talked about this earlier. Right? 02:15:27.255 --> 02:15:38.700 When she said something along those lines, like, this is one of the lines I use with kids on the bench. And I was like, oh, okay. What did she say with the kids? And it was like, if you fuck up, fix it. And I was like, oh, well Yeah. 02:15:38.700 --> 02:15:38.940 Was going 02:15:39.180 --> 02:15:45.675 back to the point. Telling you, t shirts. Make t shirts. T shirts. Even even just the imagery. 02:15:45.675 --> 02:15:58.580 Right? Like, you how many how many dude, can only imagine the number of, like, parents that are listening to this and being like, you know, when when my son gets his pocket picks potentially, and he doesn't hit the brakes, and then And go out 02:15:58.580 --> 02:15:58.980 to scan. 02:15:58.980 --> 02:16:05.620 Explode explode back on a back check, just kinda like looks My kid doesn't do it. Just as a helicopter turn. 02:16:05.620 --> 02:16:06.500 Yeah. Dude, 02:16:06.500 --> 02:16:21.815 like, that would so not fly on that bench at the age of five. You know what I mean? And I think it's interesting that part of part of what she's holding the kids accountable to is just like I'm sure just like the fundamentals. Right? Yes. 02:16:21.895 --> 02:16:25.895 Gotta do the little things right. Like, you get your pocket picked, you better get your ass back there. 02:16:26.310 --> 02:16:36.070 An awesome start. Yeah. Don't don't sit there and sulk about the fact that you just got till some kid just took the puck from you. Go after the kid and go after him like your hair's on fire. Right. 02:16:36.070 --> 02:16:41.670 I say to my kid all the time, my kid does not do that. My kid just gets all bent out of shape with himself because my kid's in his own head. 02:16:42.405 --> 02:16:44.645 Yeah. You know, as I'm sure a lot of kids can think sometimes. 02:16:44.645 --> 02:16:52.085 Yeah. Yeah. It's funny, Danielle. It's funny, Danielle was saying, you know, I think you asked what's the hardest hardest age to coach, and she said 13. 02:16:52.085 --> 02:16:52.885 13. Yeah. 02:16:52.885 --> 02:17:02.440 And I think I made a comment something like, yeah. And the parenting is is just as hard at that age too. My kid's 13. Alright. 13 just turned 14, but he's still a pain in the ass, and and he doesn't get it yet. 02:17:02.920 --> 02:17:07.480 Hopefully, he will at some age because if because he'll never play for Danielle if he doesn't start to get it soon. 02:17:07.960 --> 02:17:18.745 Well, I started I I was thinking about that. Or a coach like Danielle. Right. Right. And I was wondering I was wondering when when we were talking about that, and, I just lost my train of thought. 02:17:20.185 --> 02:17:20.905 Shoot. Come back. 02:17:20.905 --> 02:17:25.065 Come back. Dominic. Not going back to not going after somebody who hits his pocket pick. 02:17:26.881 --> 02:17:29.681 You know? Yeah. I definitely forgot my I lost my train of thought. 02:17:29.681 --> 02:17:32.881 That's alright. Yeah. No. She's listen. She she listen. 02:17:32.881 --> 02:17:45.375 We've I've been trying to have her on for a while, you know, so we've been going back and forth for a long time. During the season, it wasn't right, you know, because she's been super busy. So the summertime was the right time to do it, so it was perfect. Right. But yeah, no, she's fantastic. 02:17:45.375 --> 02:17:57.881 Like I said, Dom's done, you know, skills work with her for years. We used to do it early in the morning, you know, before school sometimes, you know. No. She's great. She's a she's a really, really good skills coach. 02:17:58.120 --> 02:18:17.295 She I remember she taught like angling and like, I don't want say checking, but like body bumping Body contact. If you Yeah. Yeah. You know, from a very young age where most kids were not using that, you know. Listen, she's she's a really good hockey coach, is exactly why we had her on. 02:18:17.295 --> 02:18:24.570 I mean, you you can't win BRIC and then win Pee Wee Quebec and not. And nationals too. They won nationals though. Sorry. And nationals too. 02:18:24.570 --> 02:18:37.275 Yeah. They just won nationals last year. Yeah. It was funny how she mentioned that they put more kinda like not wanna say resource, but like effort into Peewee Peewee Quebec rather than nationals. I thought that was pretty interesting. 02:18:37.355 --> 02:18:43.195 Well, you know, like, But I also wonder if they had done nationals before Pee wee Quebec, it would have been the other way around. 02:18:43.195 --> 02:18:45.436 Maybe. You know? Maybe. Yep. 02:18:45.436 --> 02:18:52.350 They probably there's probably residual left over from that Pee Wee Quebec. But that was, like, years apart at the same time. Those are two years ago. No? 02:18:52.350 --> 02:18:57.551 Yeah. And I guess Pee Wee Quebec is also more like a of an all star situation. Right? 02:18:57.790 --> 02:18:58.271 That's fair. 02:18:58.271 --> 02:19:26.500 Crazy part about it is is that the teams that she normally takes to BRIC and to Peewee Quebec are for the most part, like, majority mid Fairfield with, like, a handful of kids. Like, she mentioned, like, her spring teams. They take, a 90%, you know, mid Fairfield and then, you know, a handful of kids. You know, they did the same thing for Brick, you know, and they did the same thing for Pee Wee Quebec, if I'm not mistaken. You know, it was the majority Mid Fairfield kids and, like, just like a handful of other kids. 02:19:27.060 --> 02:19:31.475 Yeah. It's almost like they take the, like, the top 10. And then 02:19:31.715 --> 02:19:34.274 And then kinda like bring some other kids in 02:19:34.435 --> 02:19:39.955 Bring some other kids in who are, like, may maybe better than their bottom Yeah. Bottom third or whatever. 02:19:40.114 --> 02:19:49.949 Yeah. Yeah. It's you know, it it what was also kinda interesting that she was mentioning, you know, the the academy that they're the kind of the academy that that they're starting over there. 02:19:49.949 --> 02:19:52.670 Oh, Breakaway or Bolts? Breakaway. Breakaway. 02:19:52.670 --> 02:19:55.630 Yeah. Yeah. So that they Bolts is their, like, spring team. 02:19:55.870 --> 02:19:58.910 The spring but it is it was called Bolt Hockey Academy. 02:19:59.550 --> 02:20:00.029 Oh, interesting. 02:20:00.350 --> 02:20:01.069 It now. 02:20:01.365 --> 02:20:04.565 Oh, okay. Alright. So the Bolts were their were their was their spring team. 02:20:04.646 --> 02:20:10.005 And maybe it's just like, you know, they call it an academy, and they just have things during the spring, summer. 02:20:10.005 --> 02:20:10.325 Right. 02:20:10.325 --> 02:20:18.600 Whatever. But, yeah, the original breakaways from but from Minnesota. Yeah. Breakaway Academy, and this is the second location. And Right. 02:20:18.600 --> 02:20:25.240 Trevor Ziegres' father his dad. Yeah. Right. He runs he runs that as well as the Mid Fairfield organization, if I'm not mistaken. 02:20:25.240 --> 02:20:27.880 Yeah. Think he's the president of Mid Fairfield on the Right. 02:20:27.880 --> 02:20:31.146 And, like yeah. And Trevor played when he was a kid from Mid Fairfield. 02:20:31.146 --> 02:20:36.825 He did. Yeah. Yeah. Matter of fact, I think I'm pretty sure our kids saw him on the ice years ago there. Oh, yeah? 02:20:36.825 --> 02:20:43.465 He was doing yeah. He was doing a workout, and he was on the ice with somebody before for a skate up at Stanford. Yeah. Yeah. No. 02:20:43.465 --> 02:20:53.750 Listen. It's listen, these academies are popping up everywhere. You and I were just talking about it off air, you know, the academy stuff. I mean, they're they're and it's not just hockey, by the way. 02:20:53.830 --> 02:20:54.229 No. I mean, 02:20:54.229 --> 02:20:57.990 they're popping up for baseball, for wrestling, for basketball, for 02:20:58.655 --> 02:20:59.615 For all the things. 02:20:59.615 --> 02:21:09.535 It's everything. They're everywhere. It's your nontraditional schooling that's popping up everywhere. You know, parents listen. Parents, you know, parents spend money on their children. 02:21:09.535 --> 02:21:21.190 Right? Which is why our kids are playing ice hockey. Right? I mean, like, you know, my parents were not spending money on on this their parents always spend money on their kids. Right? 02:21:21.350 --> 02:21:27.271 When when you talk about same level. Not to the same level. Correct. Education and sports are two totally different things. 02:21:27.271 --> 02:21:27.990 But now they're not. 02:21:29.965 --> 02:21:46.521 Well, that's what I'm saying. You know, they're they're you know, people are are are looking to better their kids, whether it's academically or athletically or maybe a combination of both these days. Yeah. You know, I don't want to say it's right or wrong. Listen, I do it. 02:21:47.160 --> 02:22:04.795 I pulled my kid out of of public at in fourth grade, and the town we're in is a is a great school district, so it's not like my kid wasn't getting good education. You know? And then it kinda it's funny part. We also kinda did it because during COVID, like, you know and this kind of pushed me into it. You know? 02:22:04.795 --> 02:22:19.609 And I don't know if I've already even said this on the podcast, but during COVID, Dominic was only going to school for like three hours a day. Right? And I thought that was unacceptable. I did not like that. I didn't like that, like and so and it was and that was okay with the state at the time. 02:22:19.609 --> 02:22:35.125 Like, that was enough to fulfill whatever they needed to fulfill. Right? So I was not okay with that. So I pulled Dominic out of school in fourth grade during COVID when I saw that he was only needed like three half a half hours a day or whatever it was. And I was like, this is ridiculous. 02:22:35.444 --> 02:22:54.050 It made me feel like public school is more like babysitting. Right? Because if you really only need like this like certain things to check off all the boxes to meet state requirements, then what the fuck are we doing? Right? Like, is the rest of it babysitting like music and art and gym and recess and lunch? 02:22:54.050 --> 02:23:05.564 So like, is it just you know, was was public school kind of like, you know, kind of put together just to, like so parents could go to work so they could have their kids? But look. It introduces kids like. 02:23:05.564 --> 02:23:19.659 Fair. But, like okay. So clearly, ice hockey isn't part of the curriculum in public school. Course. But the things that they do introduce kids to, the arts, the, you know, the other more traditional non core subjects. 02:23:19.659 --> 02:23:27.806 Sure. Right? Like, yeah, are they throwaways for kids that don't give a shit about painting or singing or like 100% there. Yeah. No doubt. 02:23:27.806 --> 02:23:28.605 I and I and I don't 02:23:28.605 --> 02:23:35.325 disagree class for somebody that's into music and art. Same idea. 100%. And recess or whatever. Right. 02:23:35.485 --> 02:23:46.600 But I'll tell you this much. Like, in terms of being exposed to that stuff Yep. Now look, is Otto gonna have a career on Broadway? Probably not. But did he But if he did, that'd be fine too. 02:23:46.600 --> 02:23:58.115 No. Right. But what I'm saying is that, like, it'd be in in the school, they had, like he he was in the choir, I think, for one year. He did at least two school plays that were, like, not part of the curriculum. 02:23:58.115 --> 02:23:58.516 So Yeah. 02:23:58.595 --> 02:24:01.955 It gave him an opportunity to do to be in different situations 02:24:02.835 --> 02:24:03.396 Of course. Learn 02:24:03.955 --> 02:24:20.170 a little bit more from different teachers Try and something out, and that's cool. So look, is it is it something that I feel is the most important for his overall development as a, like, a student? No. But, like, am I glad that he got some of that experience? Totally. 02:24:20.170 --> 02:24:22.010 Of course. You know? Course. But, yeah. Yeah. 02:24:22.010 --> 02:24:43.521 Like, at a certain point, when, you know, we talk about specialization on things, like, it's not uncommon. You know, I'm sure there's plenty of kids that well, before hockey players were going to academies that would leave to go to oh, I don't know. For academics specifically, kids would leave to go for, like, better educations in, you know, science, math, whatever. Yep. Stemmed Yeah. 02:24:43.521 --> 02:24:50.240 To go to, like, art. You know? I'm sure. You know, the arts. Like, whether it's, like, singing, dancing, acting Juilliard. 02:24:50.240 --> 02:24:58.165 Whatever it is. Well, yeah. Right. So, the idea of specializing in something in a different educational environment is so not new. Yeah. 02:24:58.165 --> 02:25:05.765 Right. Right. The amount of it that's available for sports now is, you know, it's Listen. It's it's happening fast. 02:25:05.765 --> 02:25:15.171 It's different. Right? I mean, listen. I mean, you know, so listen. It's no different than than sending your kid, you know, to a private school for academics. 02:25:15.570 --> 02:25:19.650 Right? I don't think. Right? I mean, it's you're just going to a different type of school. Right? 02:25:19.650 --> 02:25:28.655 You people know, that you send their kids to private school were hopefully looking for maybe a different type of education than they were getting in public. Right? Is that fair? Yeah. You know? 02:25:28.655 --> 02:25:51.805 I think so. And I and I also think like with the with technology and the way things have changed and like certainly COVID helped push like a a remote learning, online learning culture, which I'm not saying is a good substitute for, like, in person learning Agree. Or maybe it is. I've never done it. But I I I think that it's opened up a lot of doors and created some new options that are very good for a lot of kids. 02:25:52.364 --> 02:26:11.170 Yes. You know, it's funny. You know, being you know, as as a child myself, you know, having ADHD, and now my kid has it unfortunately, You know, I could I had a very hard time sitting still in a classroom setting. Right? So so one of the reasons and Dominic has that as well. 02:26:11.170 --> 02:26:27.375 I remember we went to see Dominic in kindergarten. He was like upside down in his chair. And my mother tells me a story of of when they went to see me at at MKA when I was in kindergarten or first grade, I was like upside down in my chair at Montclair Kimberly. My dad's like, Sue, what the fuck is going on? You know? 02:26:27.375 --> 02:26:33.621 Like, so it's very similar. So the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in that respect. Right? You know? So I can just speak for my child. 02:26:33.860 --> 02:26:45.141 My child was I don't wanna say struggling in the early grades, but like he had a hard time paying attention. Right? So when COVID hit and every kid is different. Right? You need to do what's right for your child and your family. 02:26:45.605 --> 02:26:59.480 So when COVID hit and I saw that he only needed three hours a day of academics, I was like, what the fuck? Right? So Nancy and I decided to go. And I and I and I I wanted socialization too. Right? 02:26:59.480 --> 02:27:14.425 Like, didn't want my kid to just be like sitting home for half the day, like doing like doing online. Right? Like, that that bothered me. So we moved him to an ice hockey. So we moved him to X Hockey Academy in Bridgewater where the Rockets play, and Dominic went to school there. 02:27:14.425 --> 02:27:40.050 And, you know, they were with their peers, you know, and part of what I liked was it was online schooling. We did Laurel Springs, you know, and Laurel Springs is an accredited school. If you guys look up, the academics are really good, and you can make them as rigorous as you want, which is awesome. So I really liked their the academics for Laurel Springs, but the kids got on the ice in the morning. They got off the ice, they did off ice, and then they went to the classroom. 02:27:40.355 --> 02:27:48.275 Okay? And there was a classroom with a teacher, like a real teacher. Right? So I liked that. I liked the socialization. 02:27:48.275 --> 02:28:02.160 I liked that he was still in a classroom. I would not have been okay with Dominic, and some kids did this. Some kids went to the ice in the morning, then they went to the off ice, and then they went home and did their online schooling by themselves. That I was not okay with. Right. 02:28:02.160 --> 02:28:22.326 Right? I wanted socialization. I wanted academics, and we did that from fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, and then brought Dominic back to to now he's going to that pre c academy where again, the academics are a big thing. And instead of doing hockey, they work out. They work on speed, agility, strength. 02:28:22.485 --> 02:28:34.820 Right? So I'm, again, my kid, for him to get his energy out in the morning and actually be able to sit down and do academics in the afternoon, it worked for my child. 02:28:34.899 --> 02:28:35.460 Sure. 02:28:35.540 --> 02:28:57.101 Right? Whereas my kid in a traditional public school or even a traditional private school where he would just have to sit at a desk all day long was not good for my kid at early ages. He's gotten better as he's gotten older, but still, he still has a tough time, even a pre seat. Not tough, but it's not as easy. He really has to focus on focusing. 02:28:57.101 --> 02:29:01.820 But he's capable of self regulating Now doing the 02:29:02.301 --> 02:29:12.956 he and right. As a 13 year old, just turning Yes. Know? Right. So we're talking about non traditional schooling, talking about the Breakaway Academy. 02:29:13.835 --> 02:29:22.476 I understand why some parents are gravitating away from public schools and they're gravitating towards some of these academies. 02:29:23.400 --> 02:29:42.806 Yeah. One of the things that keeps on going through my mind with that and, like, those are such interesting years for kids because they start getting exposed to a lot of different things. And I'll never forget there was a a family, a mom on one of Otto's teams when they were much younger. I don't know. Eight, nine, and much younger. 02:29:42.806 --> 02:29:45.205 They're not even that old to begin with, but a few years ago. 02:29:45.205 --> 02:29:46.005 I understand. 02:29:46.165 --> 02:29:46.325 You know 02:29:46.325 --> 02:29:46.966 what you mean? 02:29:47.125 --> 02:29:52.350 And she was just talking about, you know, all we were talking about the craziness of hockey and, 02:29:52.350 --> 02:29:52.830 like Mhmm. 02:29:52.830 --> 02:30:29.335 You know, all the travel and the this and the that and, you know, the extra practice you know, the extra clinics and lessons and whatever. And she was just saying, listen. If there's one thing I want to get out of my kids playing sports, that that keeps them away from, like, you know, certain crowds of people, like stupid street stuff, like, it keeps them out of trouble. Absolutely. And when I think about that and my own personal experience of playing ice hockey and not having many hockey players around that were taking it seriously or, you know, I I felt like I was a little isolated. 02:30:29.415 --> 02:30:58.904 And now that there's an opportunity where kids can you know, and look. When I went to high school and then when I went to college, like, I sports became a thing of the past, and then, like, I was catching up on, like, you know, the social things that I missed out on early in high school because I was, you know, playing hockey. So I think that if there's opportunities also for kids to be in environments that are very positive from, like, a physical fitness perspective, from, like, you know, the old expression, you know, show show me your five closest friends, and I'll show you your future. 02:30:59.385 --> 02:31:00.185 Your future. 02:31:00.185 --> 02:31:13.460 Yeah. You know? And, like, it it it there's a built in governor from, you know, to an extent Right. Because you never know who you know, but there's Of course. There there's not these, like, group of, like, kind of you know, it's it's harder to fall into, like, the wrong Yes. 02:31:13.460 --> 02:31:18.180 Crowd when when you're surrounded by kids who are taking athletics long 02:31:18.420 --> 02:31:20.660 minded. Mhmm. A 100%. 02:31:21.035 --> 02:31:32.955 Yes. 100%. So that part of it is, like, really appealing to me. It's certainly during these younger ages, you know, because things are happening younger and younger and just what they're getting exposed to. Mhmm. 02:31:33.780 --> 02:31:35.060 You know, look, it doesn't 02:31:35.140 --> 02:31:46.740 social media, Scott. I mean, it's and I'm not and I'm not saying social media is bad. Do not get me wrong. I know that, like, it's been it's kind of a hot topic in the media these days where it's being banned in a bunch of places. You know? 02:31:47.925 --> 02:32:01.284 You know, I I think don't get me wrong. Otto does not have a phone yet. Dominic just got one this last year. He needed it for the Train Heroic app at Breezy, so we were kinda like forced to get him a phone, or he probably still would not have one yet. Right? 02:32:03.271 --> 02:32:17.590 But I think that there's as a parent, you have to monitor your kid's phone. You guys just have to. Yeah. Like, you know, so so I send Dominic a lot of good stuff on social media because there's a lot of positive that comes out of it. Right? 02:32:18.146 --> 02:32:30.545 You know? But like you said, you know, as a parent, you know, you need to pay attention to your kid. Right? You know? And it keeps them off of that shit if humanly possible. 02:32:30.545 --> 02:32:39.400 Off the video games, off social media, or off not falling with, like, a not to say a bad group because I don't wanna call any kids bad, but the wrong crowd if possible. Right? 02:32:39.960 --> 02:33:07.660 Yeah. Well, I mean, the social media aspect, we haven't really crossed that bridge yet, but I do know that, like, know, there's plenty of kids that Otto hangs out with that whether or not they have social media, I'm not sure. But in terms of, like, you know, unlimited access to the Internet, like, on their phones whenever I mean, when Otto hangs out with kids that have phones that are you know, they can use them for whatever, I I know they're sitting there scrolling through YouTube and scrolling through other things. And 02:33:07.900 --> 02:33:08.780 Of course, they are. 02:33:08.860 --> 02:33:20.675 Yeah. Look. I have a hard time stopping it myself often, you know, and a lot of times I say, I wish I didn't even have a smartphone. I'd rather go back to a dumb phone because it's so easy to get distracted. And that's part of my beef with, like, the 02:33:21.074 --> 02:33:23.075 least in how we're school district. Anything. 02:33:23.555 --> 02:33:39.081 Yeah. But, like, the the kids now, like, look, they have their own Chromebooks, at least in my it's also I just know Otto's experience so far. Like, they they keep them over the summer. They don't have to return them if they're coming back to the school. The there's no parental controls on their school issued computers. 02:33:39.240 --> 02:33:45.080 Like, do they monitor for, like, porn and, like, you know, violent criminal websites? There has 02:33:45.080 --> 02:33:51.484 to be blockers for that, buddy. For sure. But, like, my kid any corporation, there's blockers on all that stuff. Okay. They in a school. 02:33:51.484 --> 02:34:24.715 Yes. But, like, they go to YouTube, and they can just scroll through, like you can watch mountain biking all class while he's sitting in class because the kids are allowed to use their computers during And it's it's just it's crazy that for adults that the adults have a hard time going on to technology and not getting distracted. Now you want, like, a developing mind who would probably not rather be in the for some of them, don't wanna even be in the classroom to begin with, and you give them the opportunity to, like, look on the Internet all class. So Like like They're already using ChatGPT in sixth grade, seventh grade. And it's 02:34:24.715 --> 02:34:27.035 like, woah. Yeah. Like any technology. 02:34:27.150 --> 02:34:33.791 Like, what about the fundamentals? Like, you should learn how to read and write percent. And, like, you know, legibly Given. 02:34:33.870 --> 02:34:44.685 That that that's a given. There's no there's no question about that. That shit's a given. My thoughts are on listen, like any technology, you're going have your goods and your bads. Right? 02:34:44.685 --> 02:35:02.620 So as a parent, you have to monitor, because you're the parent, you have to monitor this stuff. Right? And as you know, staff in a school, they have to monitor this stuff. Like, you can't just give a kid a Chromebook and say, like, have at it. Like, there has to be some has happens. 02:35:03.260 --> 02:35:11.255 Well, that can't happen. There has to be curbs. Right? There has to be. Because there's a lot of really good things that come out of social media as well. 02:35:11.255 --> 02:35:25.950 There's lot of really good things that come out of technology. I mean, ChatGPT. I mean, now you mean, do you remember when you had to, like, research up, you know, anything for like a project back in the day? You had to go to the library, you had to look for an encyclopedia or whatever it was. Right? 02:35:26.670 --> 02:35:29.150 You know, nowadays, it's at your fingertips. 02:35:29.470 --> 02:35:40.175 That's part of the problem though, at least in my opinion. And I understand the world is changing. Like, our kids do not need to go to, like, an Encyclopedia Britannica and go to, like, volume 17 to figure out 02:35:40.175 --> 02:35:41.056 To look up secrets. 02:35:41.135 --> 02:35:56.490 In the world is, like Carmen San and do. Right? Like yeah. Or Carmen San diego. I I just there there's part of me that just like the kids, they're cheated in some ways on, like, how to negotiate learning. 02:35:57.210 --> 02:36:03.796 Right? Like, if it's just all kind of done for you and presented on a platter where you have to consume the information. Seth has done for you. 02:36:03.796 --> 02:36:22.391 It's just more accessible. Like, if you're if you do you know how I have to tell you. You know, Dominic somebody said something the other day, and Dominic just looked it up. I'll give you a perfect for instance. Nancy and I were just walking the Princeton campus this morning before you and I got on here. 02:36:22.950 --> 02:36:35.426 Okay? And we came across this building. Okay? And it said like and and this is this fucking huge building toward the back of Princeton's campus. Actually, to the back, it's kind of in the middle. 02:36:36.546 --> 02:36:46.740 And I was like it just looks like it looked like a huge home. Right? It was really cool. And I was like, what the fuck is this? Mhmm. 02:36:46.740 --> 02:37:00.855 Back in the day, I would have had to find somebody and ask them what it is. And there's a ton of history on Princeton's campus. Right? So what I did was is I walked up to it and there was a plaque on it that said Prospect was it Prospect Hall? Prospect House? 02:37:00.855 --> 02:37:17.700 Prospect Hall? I'm not sure what it was, but I think it was Prospect House. So I was like and I said to Nancy, I'm like, this had to have been like the dean the President's House at one point in time. Right? Something like So I go to I open up I open up ChatGPT or Claude, you know, and pick I mean, just pick your pick your AI browser. 02:37:17.700 --> 02:37:29.096 Right? And I was like, what is Prospect House? Right? And it came back on Princeton's campus. And it came back with this entire history of the Prospect House. 02:37:29.176 --> 02:37:55.564 It was where the president used to stay Woodrow Wilson, when he was the president of Princeton, you know, stayed there. And so my point is that that the access people have to information is so vast these days, and it's so easy to get, which is great for learning, right, for kids to learn. I learned what the Prospect House was in a second, Scott. It was phenomenal. So that part, our children are beyond lucky. 02:37:55.564 --> 02:38:04.524 Because back in the day, when you and I were like eight, if I was walking with my parents on the Princeton campus and I wasn't sure what that was, I would have had to find somebody to ask them. 02:38:05.030 --> 02:38:05.990 Or Right. 02:38:06.070 --> 02:38:30.545 Actually, don't even know how if I didn't find anybody to ask them, I would have had to go I don't even know if the Prospect House would have been in an Encyclopedia Britannica back in the day. Right? You know, so the access is wonderful, but it's the parents that have to limit because there's a lot of good that comes out of this. As a parent, you have to limit what your kids can and can't access. You're never going to be able to stop it all. 02:38:30.990 --> 02:38:48.375 Right? But that's your job as a parent to then make your children understand that there's a lot of shit that you're gonna come across too, and you need to kind of not pay attention to it. And as a parent, you need to stay on your kids because it's really hard for a nine, 10, 11, 12, 14 year old to be disciplined. 02:38:48.375 --> 02:38:48.535 So 02:38:48.535 --> 02:38:51.175 that it's your job as a parent to kind of monitor that. 02:38:51.175 --> 02:39:07.110 Right. So but And teach them right from wrong. So part okay. And I don't disagree with anything that you just said. One thing that came to mind though is that like the one one of the downsides is the lack of socializing that happens because you don't need to talk to anyone to communicate pretty much anything nowadays. 02:39:07.110 --> 02:39:08.391 That's the parents' job. 02:39:08.550 --> 02:39:23.226 That okay. So that you're not with your kids all the time, especially once they have phones. Anyway, we you and I were even talking about, like, how, like or maybe it was my wife just, like, how rare it is that people pick up the phone and call people anymore. Right? Like, that's the thing. 02:39:23.226 --> 02:39:49.435 But what I was gonna say was, I listen. You're good about picking up the phone and calling people, but I do think it's a massive problem that, like, kids don't they don't talk to one another. They don't have conversations and look people in the eyes. Like, you hear a lot of people that are, like, our age, you know, talking about younger generations and how the way like, some of them are much more introverted, and they don't have to, like, practice not being you you know what I'm saying. 02:39:49.435 --> 02:39:54.475 Yes. Yes. If you want to, you could just stay in a shell and and and and be fine. 02:39:55.110 --> 02:40:06.230 You know? But the last hold on. The last thing I want you to say about this was that, yeah, it's the parents' responsibility, you know, you know, to police what their kids are doing, but we we have safeguards 02:40:06.390 --> 02:40:07.110 your child. 02:40:07.516 --> 02:40:14.476 But listen, we have safeguards on our on our children's devices. Their school issued devices don't have certain safeguards. 02:40:14.476 --> 02:40:15.195 That should be 02:40:15.995 --> 02:40:54.280 so, like, we don't let the kids so when my son is sitting on his computer doing homework on the couch when I can't see his screen, but I see his fingers moving quickly toggling between the game he's playing on one browser and like his works that's on another browser, it like creates a whole another level of like annoyance that's like, okay, now I have to you have to sit where I can see what's on your screen. You know? And it's just I don't know. I I I've got a lot of problems with these school issued electronic devices and the lack of or the freedom with which the kids have to use them whenever they want in school or out of school. It's just yeah. 02:40:54.280 --> 02:40:56.280 I'm not a not a fan right now. 02:40:56.440 --> 02:41:09.545 Well, listen. So, you know, it's not I can't speak to that because Dominic doesn't have a school issued. You know? All the kids have their own MacBooks or iPads or whatever they use for school. So we obviously can put curbs on that. 02:41:09.545 --> 02:41:36.306 But we we have lots of conversations with Dominic about, you know, right, wrong, you know, morals, you know, what you should be doing, what you shouldn't be doing. You know? So, you know, as a parent, you have to hope that in this, you know, highly driven age of technology and and it's changing ever so rapidly that that you have taught your kid the right way, and hopefully that they know just kinda stay away from the things that they need to stay away from. Right. Hard to do. 02:41:36.306 --> 02:41:43.586 Right? Very hard to do. Hard easy to say. Hard hard to do. But that's why as a parent, it's your job to parent. 02:41:43.985 --> 02:41:49.506 Yeah. But you also have to keep up with all this shit too as a parent. How many how many adults do you know that don't know how to fucking use JATGPT? 02:41:49.710 --> 02:42:06.206 100%. Listen. It's daunting. It it's it's it's it is not the path of least resistance for parenting. It's made parenting so much more I don't say intense or more difficult, right, than it probably was when our kids when our kids when we were kids our parents were parenting us. 02:42:06.285 --> 02:42:22.320 Because at that time, you just went out in the in the in the front yard and you hung out with your buddies on the street and you came in when it got dark. Right? Right. So again, it's a little different these days, but it's as a parent, it's your job to monitor your your your kids and what they're seeing because again, you're the parent. Right? 02:42:23.120 --> 02:42:34.815 And you need to be on top of your kids. I know it's difficult. I know it's not easy. I know it's an extra five, six, seven steps. But as a parent, it's your job to raise good human beings, and that's part of your job description right now. 02:42:35.135 --> 02:42:44.015 Whether you like it or not. You know? And it's your job as a parent to socialize your kids, which is why listen, our kids are playing ice hockey. They're out there socializing. They're at camps. 02:42:44.370 --> 02:42:53.090 Like, I would not be okay by letting my kids sit inside on a computer all day long. Right. I wouldn't be okay with it. My kid has a limit on video games. Right? 02:42:53.090 --> 02:42:58.530 I don't like video games at all. But my kid I also realized that my kid and kids in general need downtime. 02:42:59.135 --> 02:43:00.415 Without a doubt. 02:43:00.415 --> 02:43:16.440 That's important stuff for them to unwind. So when Dominic's done with homework and working out and doing whatever he needs to do for the day, he has an hour, hour and a half to unwind and do whatever he wants to do at that time. Right? You know? So, again, you have to monitor. 02:43:16.440 --> 02:43:24.440 You have to watch your kids. You know? Because if you're not doing it, nobody's doing it. Right. Alright. 02:43:24.440 --> 02:43:25.080 Well, listen. 02:43:25.080 --> 02:43:35.475 I I I agree with you, and I think we're getting a little long long here. So I was thinking about wrapping this one up. Also have to go to the doctor. Yeah. That's right. 02:43:35.475 --> 02:43:42.110 And head out shortly. But anyhow Yeah. Good stuff, dude. Likewise. Combo. 02:43:42.110 --> 02:43:54.190 Great meeting Danielle, learning more about Mid Fairfield. She's great. Great being around the Princeton campus. Moe smile. If you haven't, like, donated and you still want to, there's still an opportunity. 02:43:54.190 --> 02:44:01.735 Go to our Instagram. You can find the link in the bio. Click it. You can see how to donate. Get your children involved in Shooting for a Cure. 02:44:01.895 --> 02:44:13.510 That's still going on. Again, big thank you to all the listeners for checking us out, listening, sharing the show, all the above. I think we're in a 101 countries now, buddy. One zero one. 02:44:14.390 --> 02:44:34.115 Thank you to all of you because you guys all made that possible. So thank you. We will keep delivering, hopefully, you know, awesome, awesome content to you guys. Thank you, like Scott said, for subscribing, sharing, checking us on social media. Go check out, like Scott said, the memorial song Kettering link in our bio. 02:44:34.755 --> 02:44:41.201 Please donate if you can. Even a dollar is helpful. Yeah. It's been a ride, bud, and it's just getting started. 02:44:42.080 --> 02:44:52.916 That's it, buddy. Well, listen. Until the next episode, may you have a wonderful day. May your children may your Dominic play an excellent ice hockey. Otto as well. 02:44:53.235 --> 02:44:56.995 Yeah. You can give me the four one one on that when I see him later. 02:44:56.995 --> 02:45:00.275 Well, you'll be down here tomorrow for us to do a little recording from Princeton. 02:45:00.516 --> 02:45:04.530 Let's go. That'd be fun. Alright, dude. Have a good afternoon. I'll talk to 02:45:04.530 --> 02:45:06.450 you later, dude. Alright. See you, pal. Laters.