Summer Hockey and Why Minnesota Is the State of Hockey

In this episode, Mikki talks about the boring part of summer in the hockey world, girl's hockey in Inside Out 2, and why Minnesota is known as the State of Hockey.

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Creators & Guests

Host

HockeySheWrote

Wild Hockey Fan | Cozy Mystery Writer | Mom of 2 | MN Raised | She/Her | Hockey Takes that No One Asked For

What is Her Wild Side Hockey Podcast?

Her Wild Side combines hockey knowledge with a side of vibe checks. The weekly show will have game breakdowns, any topical news about the MN Wild, and fun things going on surrounding Wild's social media. This show aims to be informative while also sparking good conversation about the Wild and hockey in general without having to keep everything serious.

Hello!

Welcome to Her Wild Side Hockey Podcast.

I am your hostess, Miki,

aka HockeySheWrote.

And this is episode 44 of the podcast.

It's been a little bit since I recorded,

and...

That is for a couple of different reasons.

I don't know.

I have probably talked about

it before because it's a

giant part of my life.

But my son, who is now six,

he has type 1 diabetes.

He's had it practically his entire life.

And he was in the hospital.

He's fine.

We're all good.

We've moved on.

But so I just, you know,

it's always hard to do that

and then to try and get

back into the swing of things.

it always takes a few days.

And then the other thing is

kind of once I got to the

point where I'm kind of back to it,

my husband had a medical procedure.

Again, he's fine.

Everything's good.

It was something that just

needed to be done.

But yeah, so I've just been kind of,

I don't want to say floundering,

but just life has just been

real different.

And I just, I feel like I haven't had

time or motivation to do

things until today.

So surprise, here I am today.

It is a Saturday afternoon.

And honestly,

I feel like there's not a ton

of stuff going on

in the hockey world.

Um,

and obviously when I say that I'm

meaning specifically wild hockey, um,

simply because that's what I follow.

I obviously know that there are, um,

arbitration meetings, uh, coming out,

like going on starting,

I think they started today

and for the next week or so,

maybe even two weeks.

I don't remember.

Um, one of those is of interest, uh,

Connor Dewar.

I'm wearing my Dewey's shirt.

Uh, Connor Dewar did, uh,

elect to go to arbitration

for his contract with the

Toronto Maple Leafs so at

some point I don't know

what date his is but at

some point we will hear

more about that um but as

for summer hockey today was

also the NHL versus the KHL

game over in Russia but

again there were no wild

players playing in it um

know kaprizov I think well I

think that he might

actually be in russia I

think he keeps a pretty low

profile while he's there

for obvious reasons um and

thankfully I'm just

thankful that this summer

is not there's no

controversy surrounding

karel because for two

summers in a row we had

that I don't know if we

remember back first it was

the is he gonna sign is he

gonna sign here is he gonna

sign is he gonna come um

And then he signed and

arrived like the night

before training camp started.

But that was like a whole,

that was a whole summer thing.

And then the very next summer was the,

is Kirill stuck in Russia?

How's he going to get out?

And, you know,

everyone was very tight lipped about it.

And, but there's,

rumor and speculation running rampant.

So I like that.

We've gotten one picture of

him lounging on a mountain top,

a nice hilltop, dressed in camo,

and it looks like he's living his life,

which I can appreciate.

The other thing that we've

got going on is the Beauty League,

which does have some wild

players and former wild

players playing in it.

They have had two weeks now.

If you do not know what the

Beauty League is,

it is a summer hockey four

on four fundraiser, basically.

but there are six teams.

This year, four teams are men's teams,

two teams are women's teams

filled with professional hockey players.

Now there's NHL and PWHL,

but there are also college athletes, AHL,

ECHL,

trying to think of what I

think women I think you can

play over I think they

might have a league over in

sweden or something so I'm

sure some of them have

played other places but

they all come um and just

play kind of this for fun

game and tournament and it

helps raise money um for I

believe the henderson

foundation I'm gonna pause

I'm gonna look this up I

always have a fact I have

to look up hold please

Okay,

so I went to look it up and I am correct.

The Hendrickson Foundation

is one of the charities.

There are actually four charities,

which I did not realize.

So you learn something new every day.

The United Heroes League is one,

which is a foundation that

works on making sports

accessible for military

children and military, I believe,

veterans also.

They also give like...

professional sports tickets

to kids of military parents

and that sort of thing.

The Hendrickson Foundation,

they raise money to help

support hockey for people

with disabilities.

So

So I believe they're tied to

like the sled hockey team,

the deaf hockey team,

deaf and hard of hearing, special hockey.

There's a host of different

teams that they help support.

The Herb Ricks Foundation,

which just kind of wants to

increase and grow the game

of hockey and also

opportunities for people to play hockey.

And Shine a Light,

which is all about erasing

the mental health stigma,

especially surrounding children.

So anyway, WD League is fun.

It supports some good causes.

It's a really fun way to see

NHL players on kind of a more

uh, personal level.

I think a lot of them will

sign autographs and stuff

as they walk in and out of the arena.

Uh, you, you get to see them on a smaller,

you know, stage kind of they,

cause four and four and

each team only has like,

sometimes they go out and

they've got four defensemen,

one goalie and, you know, eight forwards.

So, um,

just seeing them get more time on the ice.

And for the hockey players too,

first of all,

just in a sense that this is July,

this is when they're starting to,

you know, have to get back into shape,

training camp is coming in

about two months.

So they need to start

thinking about getting

their endurance back.

And I'm sure playing four

and four hockey like this

is a great way to do it.

And also a lot of them,

when they'll interview and ask like, well,

why do you do to be like,

what is the draw?

And they say like,

I'm doing it for the kids.

You know,

this is a way that even if a kid

has been to a wild game,

I would say the majority of

kids that go to wild games, you know,

they're not sitting ringside.

Here over at Bryn Mawr Arena in Edina,

they can, they can sit ringside.

They can literally like see

NHL players up close and personal.

Just, it's just a really special thing.

And it just,

it contributes to my love of

Minnesota as the state of hockey.

But like I said, other than that,

summer hockey has been pretty quiet.

That's a good thing,

because I feel like

Minnesota usually has something going on.

during summer and it's

usually something bad um so

I've just been uh oh and

one more thing about the

beauty league is that they

do play um they do stream

it on youtube with

commentators and everything

so it is free to watch and

I encourage you it's every

wednesday night and it's

just a lot of fun the

commentators are really

great and my kid is yelling

for me so hold on

The son that I previously

talked about came inside

and he had to let me know

that he has found the

perfect rock to skip on the water.

And he was saving it on the

counter for the next time

we are going to a lake or something,

I suppose.

Anyway.

Yeah, so that's summer hockey.

Like I said,

this podcast is a little bit

kind of frenetic, I guess.

Because I just...

don't have a ton of stuff.

I'm going to, however,

quickly toss up our little

Ticketmaster link.

As always,

if you are buying tickets to any

sort of show, concert, sporting event,

whatever it is,

we would love if you would

use our QR code,

which is on the screen right now,

if you're watching the

video or if you are listening

in a podcatcher,

it is a link down below in

the show notes.

So we would just love if you

would remember to use that.

And now back to our programming.

So this kind of second segment here,

I'm kind of just

spitballing some things because, again,

this summer I've really

been focusing on coming up

with some plans for the future.

both me and with my editor,

things that I hope people

would be excited to do or

might have an idea.

So one thing is the Taylor

Swift bracelets.

It's so much fun.

It's a great hobby for,

I know some people like

really love to just make

them and they're so much fun.

But I was thinking like,

are there other things that

we could trade?

Cause at first I was like, okay,

I am not very artsy craftsy.

Plus I have two kids and

they would steal all of my

beads or dump them all over the floor.

Ask me how I know.

So I was thinking like,

is there a different kind of bracelet?

And so at first I was like,

do you remember those?

Maybe I'm dating myself with this,

the Livestrong bracelets, the, you know,

like the plastic rubbery.

I know a lot of people do them,

but I thought that would

maybe be fun to like,

you gave them like custom printed.

The other thing I was

thinking of is people

really like hockey cards.

But again,

while some of them are really cool,

they do have the ones like off ice stuff,

too, or like really weird stuff.

But like I was wondering,

could I make some kind of

hockey trading cards that's

more vibes based like

like a nice picture on the front,

and then on the back do, I guess that,

you know, it's hard because of copyright.

But on the back,

then it would be more like the vibe stuff,

or we could talk about, like,

Karel Kaprizov, like,

carries a tiny panda toy

around in his pocket.

And Karel Kaprizov loves

animals and once hugged a goat.

Just that's the kind of stuff,

because then that,

you could trade with people.

Yeah, so that's been the idea.

Again, where am I going with this?

I don't know.

Because again, I'm just spitballing.

That's kind of a gross way to say things.

Because like,

have you guys ever had

someone spit a spitball?

Yuck.

I've never seen someone do it during class,

which is good.

Don't do that during class.

Don't disrespect your teachers.

Because hopefully they are

respectful of you.

I usually don't drink stuff on camera,

but here I am.

The other thing that we have thought about,

my editor and I,

are possible live streams after games.

This is something I'm still

kind of thinking about

because I always am the

kind of person who I'm like,

that sounds like fun,

but who's going to tune in?

I know that's a terrible

thing to say to myself.

I do need to have more confidence.

Most of us do.

But it would be kind of fun

to be able to talk about

the game right afterwards.

Now,

I do think that my editor would want

that to be some kind of

like a subscription, like a Patreon,

but using our website.

Of course,

any subscription type thing that

I would have would be a lower cost.

Like,

I'm not going to ask for like $100 a

month or anything.

That would be really crazy.

But just...

Let me know.

I'll probably post a clip of

this part and you can comment down below.

This is most likely on Twitter.

And just let me know if

you'd be interested in that

kind of a thing.

Would you actually tune in?

Would it be worth it?

Or are there other things

that you would pay for for

a subscription?

Now I'm going to pop on the

last commercial and then I

will be back with some more ramblings.

Okay.

I'll be back in just a minute.

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Welcome back.

So first of all,

I wanted to talk about Inside Out 2.

I don't know if any of you

guys have seen that movie yet.

It's been out a couple weeks

or maybe even longer.

I took my kids to it a

couple weeks ago when they

really loved it.

But one thing I wanted to

talk about was kind of the

hockey aspect within Inside Out 2.

Because I really enjoyed how

they showcased girls hockey.

It was really fun in the

first place to just have

Riley in the first movie,

the main character Riley, play hockey.

And they didn't show a ton,

but it was just, you know,

it was a part of her life.

And that was really cool to see anyway.

But then in this movie,

they really leaned into it

where the whole storyline

was about her going to this hockey camp,

her playing hockey with her best friends,

going to this hockey camp

and then having to kind of

decide how she was going to

act because there were older,

cooler kids.

hockey players there um but

what I liked besides kind

of that little storyline

was the way that they

showed such an inclusive

hockey team um the older

group of girls that riley

is wanting to hang out with

they encompass a large

range of diversity I don't

that sounded kind of like um

mush mouth stuff.

But what I mean is there's

one girl who wears a hijab.

Um,

and the thing is like everybody in this

hockey team,

apparently they like dye a

little bit of their hair red.

Um,

so obviously she doesn't have her hair

showing,

but she still has like a red

headscarf underneath.

So, you know, she still has the red,

they've got all sorts of

different girls and the

older girl who is kind of

befriending Riley is very

open to the young players and is very,

um,

She, I don't know, she's very welcoming.

And some of the older girls

are not as much,

but she as a leader really

tries to tamp down the

meanness or the whatever,

the pettiness kind of that

can surround team dynamics.

So I just,

I really liked that they made

that choice in that I feel

like it's just a really

nice way to show that girls hockey is,

fun sport and maybe

hopefully other girls will

watch this and want to get

into hockey because that we

always want to grow the

game now that was the last

thing I had written on my

sheet but I feel like I

should go one more um I

have had this idea to do

not specifically podcasts but like

straight at videos where I

ask or I answer people's

dumb questions about hockey.

And I had some of you write

in and have like a

wonderful list of just

things that people think

they're dumb questions and

they don't want to ask them

because I'm sure I know

actually that there is a

subset of hockey fans that

would just absolutely tear people apart.

Or just not...

care enough to answer,

if that makes sense.

And I'm thinking about this,

my brother and his

ex-girlfriend went to plenty of games,

but she really didn't

understand the sport until

I went with her to a game.

And I was able to kind of

explain things to her in a

way that she understood.

Whereas I'm sure my brother did try,

but he just,

he wasn't able to kind of

break it down in a way that

she could understand.

So I want to answer anything

that people think are

stupid questions with

quotation marks around it,

because there are no stupid questions.

Hockey is very confusing.

Actually, I was going to look and see,

because like I said,

I do have them written down

because they were really just.

Like really cool ideas.

Or in just other stuff like.

weird off ice stuff that's

happened in hockey,

like the wild tarps off stuff,

how Jared Spurgeon got his number,

Sidney Crosby and his link

to banana bread,

just all of these kinds of things.

So one thing that I'm going

to answer one right now, and again,

this is not a stupid question,

but I think a lot of people

misunderstand.

And that would be,

why is Minnesota called the

state of hockey if they've

never won the Stanley Cup?

And I get it.

I really do.

I understand people's points.

But the term state of hockey

is not based on professional teams.

It is based on the fact that

We are overwhelmingly the

state that has the most

hockey players that come

out in the highest professional leagues.

Minnesota produces a lot of that.

There are people who

actually move to Minnesota

to specifically have their

children play hockey or

send them to like Shattuck St.

Mary's,

which is a private school in Faribault,

I believe,

who has a very storied hockey program.

And a lot of big names have

gone through there.

The state of hockey is

because when it comes down to it,

not only do fans fill up

the Excel Center for every

single wild game ever,

they also fill the Excel

Center for state hockey.

These are especially finals.

Two high school teams, high school,

public high school,

usually there are some private,

but public high schools

going against each other

for just for the state,

like the state title.

And they still fill the

Excel Center and watch on

TV across the world.

There is no other state that does that.

There is no other state that will

tune in from three time

zones away to watch two

high schools battle it out.

And they don't know anybody on the teams.

Because when they fill that Excel center,

that's not all just people

from their hometowns.

That's not all just friends and family.

That is people who don't

know a single person

playing in the tournament.

But they're there to witness

amazing hockey.

And I've been there.

I was a hockey cheerleader.

My hometown hockey team went

to state twice.

They didn't do well.

But even just being able to

go and to experience and to

skate on the Excel Center

ice and also skating at

Mariucci was so amazing.

So just absolutely everyone

was just awestruck.

I mean, our hometown...

actually chartered buses and

like multiple buses to

bring people to the Excel

Center to watch the hockey,

the hockey team.

And again, win or lose,

it doesn't really matter.

Obviously, everyone wants to win.

But just playing in the

tournament is amazing.

And there are

There are hockey players,

young hockey players who

they know they'll probably

never be a professional.

Right.

They probably won't even

play hockey in college,

but they know that like

they want to get to that

high school tournament.

And that's a big goal of so

many hockey players in

Minnesota because it's the tourney.

So I think it's just

important that when people bring up, OK,

you don't have the Stanley Cup.

No, you're right.

So far we haven't,

but we have hockey at so

many other different levels

that people enjoy that so

we are okay waiting for the

Stanley Cup to come when it

comes because it will come,

especially because every

summer it visits Minnesota.

Minnesota puts out so many

professional hockey players

that I'm willing to bet it

comes at least once every

single summer to Minnesota.

In fact, just yesterday,

Kyle Akposo brought it to Minnesota.

And actually,

I'm going to write down to

look that up because now I'm curious.

Minnesota hockey players

with the Stanley Cup.

Riveting content for you.

That's all I got.

I will be back once I

research the Minnesota

players with the Stanley

Cup who have brought it here.

Because now I really want to know.

I wonder,

is there a list anywhere of what

people did with the Cup?

I'm going to be doing some digging.

Anyway, until next time,

I hope we continue our

somewhat boring summer

without hockey because that

means that nobody's getting

into trouble and nobody's

having citizenship status

troubles or resigning troubles.

Until next time,

I love all of you guys and

I will see you next time.