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A relatable and honest podcast about the highs and lows of being a youth hockey parent. Join us as we share real stories, struggles, and wins from the rink, offering insights and support for parents navigating the world of youth hockey.
And we are live for episode two of the Crazy Hockey Dads podcast. How's it going, bud?
Scott:Everything's great. How are you, sir?
Jamie:No complaints. What's going on?
Scott:Not much. Glad to be back. Glad to get the first episode out there to the wilds.
Jamie:Yeah, it's exciting. Absolutely. It's very exciting.
Scott:Look, if nothing else is super exciting for us to be able to share our experiences with people and
Jamie:see what It's awesome. It's very cool. It's going to be a wild journey. I get more excited every, every time I start messing with stuff.
Scott:Yeah. As we keep on talking about it, different ideas.
Jamie:Yeah. It's
Scott:awesome. So much to go.
Jamie:Oh, dude. It's so cool. It's so cool watching this kind of come out of, you know, from paper and actually get put into like, and actually see it published. It's it's, it's very cool. I'm, I'm looking forward to see like where this ride's going to go.
Scott:Yeah. Cool to make stuff.
Jamie:It's very cool to make stuff. I couldn't agree with you more. So talk to me. What's going on in the hockey space? I know it's a little quiet right now, you know?
Jamie:Well, I can't say a little quiet. It's quiet game wise.
Scott:Yeah. So tryouts have come and gone, at least for me.
Jamie:Right. You're doing tune ups pre-
Scott:We went to tune ups. So we finished last season not sure if we were going to go back.
Jamie:Right. Otto was playing AAA with local Jersey club.
Scott:That's correct. Just
Jamie:to give our listeners some context.
Scott:It wasn't around the corner.
Jamie:It was definitely not around the corner.
Scott:No, no, definitely not around the corner. Yeah, it's a hall. Which played a factor into our decision. And there were several others. Ultimately we decided that after doing a year of, I don't know, it was like five hours out of our day.
Jamie:No, it was
Scott:a haul. There's no question about this.
Jamie:It's a lot.
Scott:So we made a decision to stay closer to home. But at the same time in doing so, we're also going from tier one down to tier two. So that's a change.
Jamie:And tell the audience why you're doing that. Give them some context because I'm sure other hockey parents are dealing with the same exact stuff this time of year.
Scott:Yeah. So for us, I think a lot of it has to do with building confidence at this point. Playing tier one and Otto's team finished really well overall in the overall, like my hockey rankings. And we played some really top tier teams, we beat some really great teams, we have some really good players on
Jamie:the team.
Scott:And listen, Otto still has some maturing to do. He has some ability.
Jamie:Yeah, he does. He's got a lot of ability.
Scott:He's got some ability, but I don't think that the environment this past season really brought it out of And we're looking for a different Path. Path. I guess path, let's not forget, that's one piece. The other part is that in talking to parents as I have leading up to tryouts and you have to also prioritize what's good for your family and staying closer to home was something that we thought at this point. There's plenty of years left to make big commutes.
Scott:We just thought,
Jamie:unnecessary, all things considered not necessary right now. I think you're a % correct. And I think that's something that the parents in our game don't realize early enough in their kid's journey.
Scott:Yeah. I'm one of them too, so it's very true. Yes. Yeah. And right.
Scott:So there's some things that you just don't know until you know. And if you have a kid that's been there, done that, and you're on your second kid going through the process, know a lot more obviously.
Jamie:Yeah, true.
Scott:You know, for this particular decision for us, it was a decision we could have gone back. Yeah, he was welcomed.
Jamie:He was welcomed back.
Scott:We really took it. That was a decision that wasn't made for us, which in some ways would have been not that easier. I guess it's obviously easier because you know, if someone gets cut or, you know, the decision gets made for them, but
Jamie:Yes, that was not the case in your situation. You made it for the betterment of your child and for the betterment of your family.
Scott:Exactly. We could Which
Jamie:I commend you for.
Scott:Yeah. We could have definitely gone to another organization that had a triple A team that was closer or not worth it. In my opinion, not worth it. And I've already, look, I think that it also comes down to how much fun is your kid having. And for Otto, he didn't have the most fun season, which not every season is going to be oodles and oodles of fun.
Jamie:But at this age, it still should be a lot of fun. For He's 10.
Scott:Listen, %.
Jamie:Yeah. 10 turning 11. So he's supposed to be, you're still in the fun zone.
Scott:If I said any, I fully believe that perfectly in
Jamie:that. He's two years older.
Scott:But you would agree that there are some kids that thrive under more serious circumstances. Yes. There are some?
Jamie:No question.
Scott:I guess the only point I'm trying to make is that that's not my son.
Jamie:Mine neither at the moment.
Scott:Had to prioritize an environment where we believe that it would be a little bit more fun for him also. Very
Jamie:smart. I think that's a very smart move.
Scott:And again, that's just one piece. So it's like there's multiple angles that we had to consider and look at, and this was what we decided would be best for our family.
Jamie:Listen, when your kid is having fun, Okay. And they're not taking it too. There's plenty of time for our kids to take this serious. Right. It shouldn't be a job yet.
Jamie:It should be fun. It really should be their kids playing a game, you know? So in my opinion, when the fun gets taken out of it is when I don't want to say all, but some kids, especially young ones at this age with, with, know, the lack of brain development. I think they stop, being creative. Right.
Jamie:I think their confidence levels go down. You know, there's something to be said about a kid who's always smiling on the ice. Who's constantly having a good time, you know? And it's infectious to his teammates. Right.
Jamie:I noticed with my kid last year, not this past season, the one before, when he had a rough go, he was not having fun. He came off the ice angry, whether it was practice, whether it was a game, you name it. He was ripping pissed every time he came off the ice And you could see it in his skating and his lack of, creativity. Right. You know, he stopped being creative.
Jamie:He stopped like shooting the pump between his legs. He just kind of became very robotic, you know, and not in a good way. It was not a good robotic. You know, he was, you know, he kind of, and that was one of the things he kind of fell apart because he was not having fun,
Scott:you know,
Jamie:which is why I made the move to take him out of AAA and
Scott:bring him
Jamie:to where he is now, which listen, listen, I can just speak from experience. My child this past season has thrived.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Right. So I hope it works out for you guys too. I can't imagine it won't cause I saw your, I saw him on the ice the other day and he, his smile was ear to ear.
Scott:Yes. He was definitely having fun. And I think that there will be more of that less stress too. You touched upon a few things, which I think is really important. One of them being just about the overall culture of the team, right?
Scott:And kids having fun. Absolutely. Like anything else like any other team that kind of comes from the top down. No question. Even in organizations,
Jamie:any place of work.
Scott:And so if you have a coach that is just A dick?
Jamie:Well,
Scott:sure. That's one way of putting it. It's like- beyond
Jamie:just having Overly hard.
Scott:No, but it's very hard on the kids. No question. Like calls kids out in front of their teammates. Inappropriately. Right.
Scott:And even if it's done appropriately, too much of it is gonna be exhausting for anyone, let alone young kids.
Jamie:At this age, that's tough.
Scott:A %.
Jamie:Right.
Scott:So when you were talking about Dom and the issues, he had that there are instances where it's like, you know, a kid is just, you know, too hard on themselves. Yeah. Maybe Which my kid is. Right.
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:That could be part of it. Or it could be from the coach or from the team. Yeah. So lots of stress. So lots of stress.
Scott:It can be. And this is what I was going to say was that AAA versus AA, I would be willing to bet that you'd find a lot of AAA coaches that are going to win. They prioritize winning more than they will development, not in all situations, plenty of situations. And there's certainly some that do it to a fault. Yes.
Scott:So in those types of situations also, it's going to suck the fun out of it for kids, especially if you're a bottom third player, or you're not the top one or two D pairing and you're getting passed over. You're not seeing special teams. It's hard, you know? Yeah, totally. It can be a drag.
Jamie:You know, it's funny. You know, when we put our team together, Bryce kind of gave us the model and, you know, his model was just keep rotating lines. So everybody gets PK, everybody gets power play, everybody gets to see your, so your children are all on the ice for important parts of the game. Cause if your kid's not on special teams, they're never going to understand how to do power play. They're never going to say how to do power penalty kill.
Jamie:They're not going to get that stuff, you know, three on three overtime, you name it. Right. Whatever the, whatever the situation is, you know, if you're just going put out your best players for the, you know, for the special teams, you kill development for some of those kids.
Scott:Totally. But in that conversation, I will give last year's coach a ton of credit because honestly, he probably rotated the lines more than I would if I was behind the bench. And to that end, all kids on all lines got to see playing time, PP, PK.
Jamie:And they were all playing with different kids, just rotating next three up, next three up, next three up, that type
Scott:of stuff. Like more or less, but don't get me wrong, was times when the bench got short. But he was pretty fair with ice time, which I thought was fantastic considering the caliber of the team and what their ambitions were in terms of finishing in my hockey rankings, etcetera. So they ended up being successful. I think not just because of the rotating the kids and not having a set PP or PK or whatever the deal was, But in important moments he would put out certain kids, no doubt.
Scott:You also would not expect a coach to do otherwise, in my opinion at AAA, because if you do have ambitions and you're going after certain things and that varies from club to club.
Jamie:Right.
Scott:Right. But you know, there are moments where I think it's appropriate.
Jamie:You know, it's funny. I used to be a big believer of play the best kids, you know, in like crunch time. And I think that I've gravitated away from that. Now, listen, I'm saying that I'm saying that coming from a place where my kid used to do that. And then last year didn't get to do that.
Jamie:Right. Because he was not playing well, you know, so maybe I'm coming from the wrong angle, but, but this year he did do that, you know? But I must say our coach this year rotated, you know, he was pretty good,
Scott:you know? But let's say it's an important game and you're in the
Jamie:last playoff game or districts, that's another story.
Scott:Right. Or, or let's say it's a local rival.
Jamie:You know, I honestly don't know how I feel because again, I used to be in the camp where put your best players out there, but again, you, you, I think you're stealing it like in crunch time, last three minutes, whatever it is, but you're stealing a learning experience away from the kids that are sitting on the bench. You know, if you, if you just rotate next three up and just keep rotating next three, next three, next three, this way, different kids get to play with different people. You know, it's listen for the overall benefit of the child. I think that's a better way to do it in my opinion.
Scott:Yeah. But wouldn't wouldn't you agree that the
Jamie:development wise and talk about,
Scott:right. But if you're, if you're looking at triple a versus w tier one versus tier two, would you not expect the tier one coach
Jamie:to go for the win
Scott:to go for the win? Listen, I'm not saying every single time, but more times than a tier two coach would.
Jamie:You're a % right. I get that. But there's also a lot of kids playing tier one that shouldn't be in vice versa.
Scott:Listen, I also think there's a lot of tier one teams that shouldn't be tier one teams and on a team like We
Jamie:had a microphone malfunction. This is what happens when I'm spinning the wing nut while we're talking. My mic came out of the mount You're a wing nut. Because I was, I was spinning it. I mean, it's because my ADHD, that's me fidgeting.
Jamie:Are you surprised that my younger one has ADHD? I mean,
Scott:I'm not surprised because What's the expression? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Jamie:%.
Scott:Yeah. But as you're
Jamie:So like, yeah, go ahead. You go ahead as I fix this thing. But, but honestly though, like, I used to be, I used to be in the camp of, I really used to be in the camp of going for the win, especially at triple a, right? Because Dom came from a team that was super, super triple a, right? Like top 15 triple a in the country.
Jamie:But I have to tell you what's the point of it. Like if you're not going for districts or if you're not going for nationals, Nationals start next year. Right? So who gives a shit if your team, you know, as squirt minor or squirt major or Pee wee minor or Pee wee major, who gives a shit if your triple a team, you know, wins against the Chicago mission? Like, does it matter?
Jamie:Does it really matter where they So
Scott:much of that does
Jamie:not Right. That's my point. Like I get like the triple a is more competitive than double a, but I got to tell you, there's a lot of double a teams that'll kick the shit out of some triple a teams.
Scott:No doubt.
Jamie:Right. You know, so I don't know how I feel. Listen, when next year, when you're talking about Bantam, when you're talking about like nationals, that's probably when things change a little bit. Right. Cause then you're starting to play for like, you know, nationals are maybe a different story.
Jamie:And to be honest with you, when you're young, when you're like, you know, anything under 13, I feel that they should just rotate lines, just rotate and let people play with. And so, you know,
Scott:let's play
Jamie:different positions.
Scott:Just so we're clear, right? Let's say you have a game where you have it in the bag. Let's say you're up by, I don't know, four goals. And it's a chippy game. There's penalties and power plays on both sides.
Scott:Like in a game where you feel like you have it locked down, yeah, of course you're gonna rotate your lines to the PP and the PK, or whatever situation might come up. But let's just say you're playing against a hometown rival and it's a one nothing game and there's two minutes left.
Jamie:Listen, you
Scott:wanna stick to I don't know. Let's just say it's the middle of the season. Right? Would you try to like tie the game?
Jamie:Me as the coach or like as a parent and watching
Scott:the No, a Cause listen, I'll answer it
Jamie:in a little Listen, the competitive, my competitive juices get flowing then. And I probably would wind up going for the win, but the correct thing for the child, the kids on the ice or on the bench is to let those kids get that type of time for their overall development down as a hockey player.
Scott:I agree. I will challenge you and just say that, okay, now put yourself on that team as a kid. Don't you think there's kids, like the top kids on that team are going to be pissed they're not out there to try to win it. Selfishly, less selfishly, they want the team to win. And I would argue that there's probably even kids that are on the fringe of that team that would also want to see the team win over getting that playing time.
Jamie:I think you're probably right about that. Everything you're saying makes total sense to me. Right. But if you, but if you take the, if you zoom out and take the
Scott:zoom out, it doesn't, it doesn't matter.
Jamie:If you take the 50,000 foot view of it. Right. Right. It doesn't matter.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:But you're right. When you're in the moment and you're looking, you want to beat them. Yes.
Scott:But look, as long as you get those kids time in other instances, all I'm saying
Jamie:is that there's an
Scott:exception to
Jamie:that rule.
Scott:I agree with you. I just would call out that when we talk about differences between AAA and AA, you'd expect more of playing to win and putting your better kids out in those situations than potentially in tier two where you might have much more of a, we're just going to roll through the lines. And I think it also probably depends on how well the team's doing. Like if there's any big
Jamie:mistake, question about it. A % right. I, you know, as I, as I kind of, as this game, you know, gets kind of further and further along, you know, with me and my kid and I'm in it longer, I start gravitating toward, I start gravitating toward, not only away from winning, because that's not true, but I gravitate toward overall development. Right. And in my opinion, the most important thing for these kids, I try to instill in my kid is you need to try really hard, right?
Jamie:Cause that's just the life skill, right? Try really, hard, have fun and be a good teammate. That being a good teammate is so important. Like I love when I, when I watch like a third line kid or like a five or six, you know, like as far as, you know, D depth is concerned score. Like I love it.
Jamie:I love when the kids mob him and the kids come off the bench to mob the kid. Like that's awesome. You know? You know, and I got to tell you, we had a little bit of a, I think a come to Jesus moment with Dominic this year and listen, he's always been like a team kid and a rah rah kid, you know, but you touched before, you know, kids get frustrated, right? They get frustrated a lot.
Jamie:And, and there was a game. I remember we were down in Flemington. It was for the league playoff. Right. And he was like ripping pissed because he, he was down.
Jamie:He, he, he wanted to lead the league in points. Okay. And he had like three games left. And he was down by like, I don't know, two, two points or something like that today, but the kid was done. Dom had two more games left and this kid was finished.
Jamie:So he want, he like, he had it in his mind that he needed to lead the league in points. Right. Which is a great goal. Right. It was cool.
Jamie:But so I remember I'm watching him play and he was just trying, not trying too hard, but he was pressing. Right. He was pressing big time. And you could tell when your kid's pressing and he was getting bent out of shape and he was coming back to the bench and shaking his head. Like you tell his body language was absolutely God awful.
Jamie:It's just God awful. And I remember watching him and he was like, he was not being a good teammate. Would come to the bench and his teammates were standing by the boards, banging the boards. He would come in and just sit down, just sit behind them.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Suck. A %. Just all pissed off. Like, you know, not, not being a good teammate. Right.
Jamie:Everything, everything opposite of what I want him to be doing. Right. So I remember his buddy scores. Who's a third line kid, his buddy scores And like the whole whole bench goes nuts. And he's sitting there and I'm like, dude, what are you doing?
Jamie:And I remember watching his coach, like, like, like, like pick him up from behind, like, like, come on, like get up, like your buddy score, like let's go. You know? And he, and I gotta tell you after the game, I spoke to Dom and I said, I'm like, buddy, I'm like, you know, I'm like, listen, I'm like, you know, you know, you know, I know you're really pressing. I know you were trying hard. I knew you were super frustrated because I saw your body language.
Jamie:I saw everything. I said, but Dom, you can't do that. I go, it's a team game. I go, I go, the logo on the front is more important than the name on the back. Right.
Jamie:I go, this is a team sport. I go, there are going be times where you don't score. Like, it's just, it's part of the game. Right. And it's, as you ascend in this game and as you go up higher and higher levels, the scoring, you know, sometimes comes to a grinding halt with some people.
Jamie:I mean, look at Matthews, at Crosby, look at pick any NHL star, right? You know, there's only certain guys that put the puck in the net. Right. But, but you can make a career out of being a face off guy, being a defensive center, you know, just being a solid D man, right? Like there's other things you can do to impact the game that don't show up on the score sheet sometimes.
Jamie:Right. So, you know, and I think being a good teammate is huge. Like in my opinion, I think that as you get my child has aspirations to play college hockey. Okay. I keep telling him like a bud, you need to be a good teammate.
Jamie:You need to run. I go, when things go wrong for you, I go, that's when you need to be the best teammate there is because you need to contribute somewhere else when you're not, when your game is not working, something else needs to happen. Whether it's your offensive game is not working and you go, you know, play D like your hair's on fire or, you know, rah rah your team on, you know, like more than you ever have before. Like there, you need to impact the game somehow. And if your hands aren't working, your shots not there, you need to do something else to show your coach that you're going to impact the game.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:You know, so that's something that I, that I witnessed and I had a long conversation with him. He was so angry at me, Scott, like he was so mad at me. Like he was so pissed. He understood.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:But I must say ever since that conversation I had with him and I had a very calm conversation and again, was so angry. Wait,
Scott:he was angry at you for addressing Or just the whole situation hasn't My
Jamie:kid, when my kid does something wrong, ever since he was like two or three, when he does something wrong, he gets like very embarrassed. His one avalanche buddy when he was, I don't know, was probably seven and this kid was eight, you know, and, we go over to their house, they're in the next time over. Right. And we go over to the house and Dom was just playing knee hockey with the kid in the basement and he hits the kid in the nuts with the knee hockey ball. So I said to him, I go, Tom, I go, apologize.
Jamie:And he couldn't. He was so embarrassed.
Scott:And
Jamie:so like, taken back by me going, Hey bud, like apologize to your buddy. He was so like,
Scott:you felt ashamed?
Jamie:Yes. Like uncomfortable. I'm like, dude, I'm like, so, so ever since then we've talked about, listen, when you screw up, when a man screws up, the biggest thing you could do is admit that you were wrong and say you're sorry. And learn from it. Right?
Jamie:So, so ever since he's been little, mean, he, he has a very hard time when he does something wrong and somebody calls him out on it. You know, even to this day, it makes him very uncomfortable. Listen, you want to be uncomfortable. You want to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Right.
Jamie:Work towards that in life. Right. Exactly. So, but yeah, so he hits his kid in the nuts with the knee hockey ball and he was like, Dude, I'm like, don't you apologize? He's like, he couldn't do it.
Jamie:Even to this day, he's never apologized
Scott:to the kid. But it's like, you're bringing up something which I think is really interesting. And like, as you were talking this story about how he didn't cheer on like his teammate and like a % agree with you. Because similarly, I remember this was a few years ago now, but we had played like the, I don't know, they were the best team in the league at the time and we were second best or vice versa, nonetheless, we'd lost them the first time. This is the second time we're playing them.
Scott:They knew they were our toughest competition and we beat them.
Jamie:And
Scott:my son's crying after the game because he didn't score. And we won the game. I go, dude,
Jamie:you won. Why? Your whole teammates happy. What are you pissed off about?
Scott:And that's what I So I've been there, done that.
Jamie:All right. So you know what I'm talking. A hundred,
Scott:You're right. So, but here's the part about youth hockey. And we had an experience where, any event, we had an experience. But it's something he's grown out of. There's certain things that unless there's something that's a real problem with a personality or whatever it is, he's going to grow out of that.
Scott:You're going to Most of
Jamie:the time. I'm like,
Scott:yes, he's exceptions to everything. For sure.
Jamie:I'm just busting point. You're absolutely right.
Scott:But what came up for me as you're sharing this is that here's a kid who yes, should absolutely be celebrating with his team. But at the same time, I don't know, I've never been in this situation, but I could try to put myself in the skates of being a kid who's about just trying to lead the league in scoring, what an accomplishment that is how badly you want it, nervous you might be that you might not make it. Look, I'm not saying he should have done what he did, but there's part of me that's like this is the first time he's ever gone through such situation like this that probably had a lot of meaning to him. I don't want to overestimate it or underestimate it. I'm saying is that it's interesting to think about how, yes, we know what the right thing to do is.
Scott:But then when you start kind of like poking at the whys behind some of this stuff, you're like, Oh, your kid with maturity will rise to the occasion in the face of something like this. But look, let's hope that he's in a position to be the leading scorer again. Right. You know, next time if he's knocking on the door and it's not happening for him, he'll know to be more positive.
Jamie:Right. Don't know. Yeah. And ever since he's been good, don't get me wrong, you know? But it reminds me of, it reminded me of the year before when we were with that, with this, with the team that finished fifteenth of the country, it reminds me of how he was when he was not playing.
Jamie:Like he was, he was not rah rah on the bench. He was ripping pissed. He was, he was angry
Scott:because he
Jamie:wasn't getting a lot of playing time. So that was most of the second half of that season. Right. He totally changed. He was the most rah rah guy on that team the year before.
Jamie:And then that second year he was the exact opposite. And I remember, I remember a dad telling me, You know, that his kid came off out of a game and like, was talking about Dominic and he's like, yeah, he's like, he's like, know, he's like, he's like, keep telling Tom, you know, come on. Like we're only down one goal. And Dom's response to him was, what does it matter? We're not going to play anyway.
Jamie:Right. So you could see like how the frustration level of some of these kids. Right. You know, so, so that reminded when I saw him not celebrate his buddy's goal, that reminded me of that past, you know, year. Right.
Jamie:That didn't go so well, you know, now listen to his credit, he's been, he was good ever since, ever since I sat him down to have a kind of conversation with him, he, he knew he was wrong. He knew not to do any, and he's been great since. Right. So listen, learning experience like anything else. Yep.
Jamie:You know? So hopefully, hopefully he learned something and hopefully, you know, he takes something away from it and hopefully because being a good teammate, I think is pretty important.
Scott:Yes. You know? It's more than pretty important. Yeah. But it sounds like your kid's a pretty good teammate.
Jamie:When he's doing well.
Scott:So, but you know, okay.
Jamie:No, no, no. I'm just joking. But, you know, he needs to realize that, you know, you can contribute in a lot of different ways. And listen, as these kids get older, they will all figure that out. I would think at one point.
Jamie:No, listen, he, I was proud of him for, for changing his attitude after that,
Scott:which is great. But he's
Jamie:a hothead. There's no question about it. You know, he's, he's super hot. He's, he's very, the ADHD of him makes him the perfectionist. I mean, he thinks he could score on every shot.
Jamie:Like that's, that's not how life Yeah. That's not how it works. Right. Like I read a stat, something like Austin Matthews, like converts like 19% of the time, you know, as far as like how many shots actually go in, it's not a high number.
Scott:Right. Like the first measure is like shot versus shot on goal, then like on goal versus goals. The percents get small.
Jamie:It's a pretty low number, you know, and maybe 19 is wrong, but I don't think it's far off that, you know, it's, I'm pretty sure it's pretty low number. You know, so I tell him that I'm like, dude, I'm like, guy's an NHL all star stud, you know, and he doesn't, he doesn't, he's not a hundred, a % on all the shots and, you know, as far as they go to Right. You know, so, so if he's not, why should you be?
Scott:Right.
Jamie:I mean, he's playing the game at the highest level and you think you should score every single time, You know, now granted, you know, the fact that he was a triple a kid playing single a and the fact that he played single a is he was on the highest twenty twelve team. Right. He couldn't play up because those kids are checking this year. So it was, so I had to play them on this team. Right.
Jamie:So I didn't have a choice. You know, coming to this organization that that was the spot. Right. So I thought, I think,
Scott:I mean, like, just so we're clear that you could have gone to a different organization and sought out like a double A team, you want to go to this specific organization.
Jamie:Was to
Scott:your family,
Jamie:close to the house
Scott:at that organization. They did not have a AA team, which you would have been open to if they had had it. A %.
Jamie:Right. Yes. There, there was talks before the season of the team possibly playing AA and listen, all of our out of conference games were AA this year.
Scott:So you played a mix.
Jamie:We did. All of our league was single A, all of our out of conference was AA. So it was fine. Right. You know, so, you know, so, but, but what that did, I think is I think that he felt coming from the AAA world, he's like, I should score every single time.
Jamie:And that's not reality.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Even goalies at this level, I mean, we ran into some good goalies this year, like huge goalies. And I think you were saying like, or somebody was saying it, you know, the amount of like, maybe it was my buddy, Chris, maybe Chris was saying the amount of AA goalies and single A goalies and all of a sudden just pop out of nowhere is very real. Like all of a sudden goalies just, they appear and they're enormous now, You know?
Scott:So you're talking about their size, like just like kids have growth spurs and all of a sudden you have a
Jamie:much bigger person than met. The tier two world, you know, your tier two goalies, all of a sudden become like rock stars.
Scott:Oh, they kind of fall into their own. Yeah.
Jamie:They figure it out and the coordination comes and they grow and they're huge. Like there were not a lot of small goalies this
Scott:year. Interesting.
Jamie:They were all very large, like very large. Like I was shocked at the size of some of the goalies. And again, if you're not picking corners, if you're not, you know, there's less, right. I mean, there's less to shoot at. Right.
Jamie:You know, so, you know, he, but he thought that he was supposed to score every single time, which is not reality.
Scott:Yeah. That's, that's a pretty lofty expectation. Kind of tamp that one down.
Jamie:Yeah. So, yeah, for you people with ADHD children, the perfectionist part of it is like a nightmare when they're young. When they're older, I'm sure it's a good thing, but when they're young, not so much.
Scott:Otto was very hard on himself also. I remember he was doing a skill session one morning and he wasn't having a great skate at all. And he was visibly crying like as he was going through the drills because he was so bent out of shape about whatever it was. And I talked to the coach after the session and this was like, this might've been when he was maybe like eight or nine.
Jamie:Right.
Scott:And the coach was like, yo, he's way too young to be grinding like this. Was like,
Jamie:I suppose- Supposed to be fun.
Scott:Yeah. But I think part of it's like just being competitive, part of it's being immature, part of it's being whatever it is. There's so many things, I've had moments where, you know, like same exact thing.
Jamie:Yeah. Listen, they'll figure it out. So kind of got off to tell me more about auto. So auto is moving from AAA to this local club, right? Which is the same building Dominic plays in.
Jamie:Yeah. So you guys excited about it?
Scott:Totally excited about it.
Jamie:He looks really happy by the way. I mean, like super happy.
Scott:Yeah. He was smiling. He was having fun. Yes he was. I think, yeah and to his credit, and I know I'm like digressing a little bit, but even last season, when he was out on the ice and this was part of when I knew he was passionate about the game or even when it was as tough as it was with the way he felt about himself and all this other stuff, there were plenty of times where you see him out on the ice and you just have a big smile.
Scott:And he was, I could just tell he was smiling because he was out on the ice and he was happy to be there.
Jamie:Yes. These kids, it doesn't take much for these kids, you know? But I got to tell you the report I got from the coach that was on the ice with his birth year the other day was pretty nice. It was a nice when he texted me that and I obviously screenshot and said it to you. I mean, that's a really nice thing.
Jamie:I mean, that's listen, he's already making a name for himself and he's been in the building for like five minutes.
Scott:Yeah. That was super nice. And the devil's advocate in me would be like, he's I get it. Like, if you didn't know him personally, he's not sending that message to anybody.
Jamie:Well, okay.
Scott:Listen, but he also didn't have to say it either. Correct. So to that end, it was a massive compliment.
Jamie:Obviously it made an, enough of an impression on him to actually reach out to me and tell me that. Absolutely. I mean, I introduced you to him for like two seconds.
Scott:Yes.
Jamie:And he remembered your kid and obviously paid attention to him when he was on the ice and, know,
Scott:that's an impression.
Jamie:And from what he was saying, he says that the team's going be pretty decent this year. That's going make you
Scott:feel good. Preliminary report is that the coach from last season was saying how the team looks like it'll be pretty consistent, which I took as like a pretty deep bench. That's nice.
Jamie:No, that's good.
Scott:And yeah, so it's exciting. It's exciting. I think, look, there was plenty of stress last year. And I guess anytime your kid's going through tough stuff, it's stressful as a parent, and it's just the season's long and there's a blah, blah, blah. And so assuming that on his new team, he'll be one of the top players.
Scott:That's the thinking that will, so as soon as that proves out and he's happy with his performance and he has some more time and space to do some things, some of that creativity will hopefully come back.
Jamie:I saw it already during the tune up. The Mohawk push. I mean, were a couple of things that this spinarama type thing. Right? I mean, was just some things that you have not seen in a while that are all of a sudden came out.
Jamie:Yes. It's funny when Dominic, when I brought Dominic, same thing happened. All of a sudden the creativity came back.
Scott:Yeah. And for me, it comes back to confidence. When you're not feeling confident or you're feeling less than your peers, like you're, when I say you, I'm talking about my son right now, but more introverted, less willing to make a mistake. Maybe that's a function of what the coach might say or the consequences feel bigger because for whatever reason, I don't know.
Jamie:Embarrassment in front of your teammates.
Scott:Potentially.
Jamie:I mean, so now he's got new kids. There's no like past history, listen, and then sometimes the change of scenery is not a bad thing.
Scott:No, no. Look, there's no, there's more upside potential upside than there is than downside. If we did the opposite and stated with the other team, I think that was more risky, all things considered right now in terms of having a season that could potentially be as fun and easier on him.
Jamie:You can always bring him back. The nice part about youth hockey is you're not stuck anywhere. Right. You can move whenever you want to move in for the parents out there. And I was telling some of the parents, you know, on our team who are, who are panicking when we were out of districts.
Jamie:Some parents in the evening when we were having some drinks in the hotel, we're panicking about like, if their kid's going to make the team or not next year. Right. And I was trying to tell them that there's always a place for your child to play. Whether you have to go down a notch or two notches or whatever it is, but there's always going to be a place for your child always.
Scott:But yeah, while true, a lot of people get crazy because they don't want their kid to go down. They don't want to be cut. They don't want to, you know
Jamie:I know.
Scott:And the thing that gets lost so often is that at the younger ages, there's so many variables that contribute to why a player may or may not be at the same level as one of his peers. And you might need to take a step backwards or take a step forward.
Jamie:Did you read the So we're talking about like going down a notch and stuff like that. There was a book that came out a couple of years ago. Do you know the book I'm talking about? It came out a couple of years ago. I want to say it was by a guy who wrote for, I want to say sports illustrated, but I don't know if that's true.
Jamie:Do you not know the book I'm talking about?
Scott:I
Jamie:don't think Oh my God, I found it. Rich Cohen's Pee Wee's. Scott, you read this? Yes, I read that. Oh, dude.
Jamie:How tremendous of a book was that? I mean, any of you who are listening, if you have not read Pee Wee's by Rich Cohen, I want to, I want to say Rich Cohen wrote for like, I'm going to botch this Chicago Tribune or like, I want to say he was, he covered the NFL for the, I don't know why I think that. But you've obviously read the book, right?
Scott:Yes. I've read the book.
Jamie:All right. So I want to say that he, he, he covered the NFL for, you know, I'm just kind of looking it up. He's, let me see, vanity fair, rolling stone. He lives in Bridgefield, right? So this is him.
Jamie:But I'm pretty sure he covered, I know, I want to say he covered for the, it was some big time, you know, he was a big time sports writer, but the guy in, and he is obviously his kid played ice hockey and he played, I want say he played single A for a team in Connecticut. I don't remember the Ridgefield.
Scott:Ridgefield bears.
Jamie:I want say the Ridgefield bears. That's right. Okay. So, all right. So it is right.
Jamie:But the book is fucking, it's phenomenal for any hockey parent. If you have not read Pee Wee's by this man, Rich Cohen, go buy it, go download it on Audible, find it someplace. Cause if you're in the hockey world, you will die reading this book. You'll die because you'll relate to, if you've been in this hockey world for more than a couple of years, you will relate to just about every single thing in this book.
Scott:Yeah. No, that was a good call out.
Jamie:Yeah. Right?
Scott:Yeah. Definitely recommended reading.
Jamie:Oh God. Now that I'm talking about it, I'm gonna go to read it again. Do you remember the part in the book where they're like, Oh my God, those AAA kids are coming. They're gonna steal all our kids' spots. And they were just coming to get like more ice time.
Jamie:Those goddamn AAA kids are coming. They're going to embarrass our children. Like it very funny to listen to him. It was very funny. I mean, the shit was tremendous.
Jamie:Again, highly recommended reading, Rich Cohen's Pee
Scott:Wee's. Second that for sure.
Jamie:Yes. Yeah. All right. So I'm excited for you
Scott:this year. So yeah, I guess to bring that full circle, changing teams, changing tier one to tier two. And the goal is to give him an environment that will hopefully be more fun. And he'll be in an environment where he'll have a little bit more time and space to be creative. And from that we'll hopefully increase his confidence and with increased confidence we'll increase compete level and with increased compete level, we'll just bring up his overall game.
Jamie:And there's plenty
Scott:of things that could deviate him from that path, but we'll see.
Jamie:Yeah, no, listen.
Scott:It looks good though. Preliminarily, it looks good.
Jamie:It'll be good to follow. And the organization is on a major upswing.
Scott:Yeah. A lot of changes there.
Jamie:Right. Major, major upswing, you know, absorbed another local organization. So the amount of kids grew exponentially in the building, absorbed a rink with it as well, but I don't think they're going to use it.
Scott:Is that true?
Jamie:I'm hearing that they're not gonna what
Scott:are they gonna do with that ice?
Jamie:Cause they don't want to pay for it. Apparently the predators were paying for that ice.
Scott:They didn't Why wouldn't they pay for the ice?
Jamie:Cause they have their own building, you know? So I, from what I'm understanding is they're going to leave. But like
Scott:all the kids' tuition goes to pay for the operations of the facility or part, not all of it.
Jamie:You're not wrong, but I'm understanding that some of the mites, the practices are getting cut back. So instead of three, it's two. Don't think they're going use it.
Scott:Mites have three days of practice?
Jamie:They used to. Apparently it was a big selling feature, but apparently now it's not.
Scott:For their mites?
Jamie:For their mites. No, no. For this, for our mites, for the same That
Scott:was their selling feature?
Jamie:They had three practices. That was a selling feature to get people to come to the building. And listen, there's a huge mite program. It's a mass. And then they're absorbing this other club, which they take their mites too.
Jamie:But, from what I'm hearing, they're not going to use that other ice sheet because they don't want pay for it.
Scott:But I'm not disagreeing with you, but if the numbers make sense, the numbers make sense. So I guess I just, I guess the numbers don't make sense. Meaning like tuition, operating costs, all that
Jamie:Black bear now owns it. So, you know, there's a different, probably a different structure in the building. Right. So things are changing, you know, but I'm hearing they're not going to use the other sheet. And listen, if they don't have to, they don't have to, you know, but I think they're going to like 32 teams or something like that,
Scott:which is great.
Jamie:As long as our kids don't get shafted. That's not true actually.
Scott:Well, so I will say in all of this, so tryout fees were $200.
Jamie:Which is not what it used to be, 175, 1 hundred and Similar ish, right?
Scott:Not that I was shopping around.
Jamie:Tuition is going to go up about a thousand bucks.
Scott:Yeah, but hold on, hold on. So about the tryouts, was like, okay. Mean, it's not so much crazier than what I thought it would have been. But then we only ended up with one night of tryouts, which is fine. Don't necessarily need
Jamie:You guys only have one night?
Scott:No, there was probably three on the books.
Jamie:I think Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday if I'm on Thursday.
Scott:So they picked Otto's team the first night. So he didn't have to
Jamie:go back. Wait, did he try out already?
Scott:Yeah. Oh, you're finished.
Jamie:Oh, shit. Done. Committed. When did, what was this the other night?
Scott:Yes.
Jamie:Oh, that's what he was texting me. Oh, I thought it was a pre skate. Oh, so that was tryouts.
Scott:No, we're done.
Jamie:Oh, okay. I did not realize that. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Gotcha.
Jamie:Oh, okay. My bad. Oh, that's awesome. So you know the roster.
Scott:No, I don't.
Jamie:You don't know the roster. Gotcha. Okay. Somebody knows the roster.
Scott:Somebody knows the roster, but so I'm texting my buddy.
Jamie:Right. He knows the roster. I didn't ask him. Is he an assistant coach? Yeah.
Jamie:But I didn't ask him for the I don't blame you.
Scott:Whatever, it's fine.
Jamie:I don't need to know the roster.
Scott:I'm not
Jamie:that curious. Me neither. I understand. I don't blame you.
Scott:So I texted him and I said $200 for one skate is a little steep.
Jamie:It is steep. So you didn't go back Tuesday and Wednesday.
Scott:So I asked him, led with, is your son going to skate tonight? And this was yesterday,
Jamie:which is today too. Tonight's Wednesday. Tonight's another skate.
Scott:No? Well, if they're not done selecting the teams and telling people that they don't need to come back,
Jamie:pocketing 200. You're like, wow, that's a pretty expensive hour of ice.
Scott:That's what I said. And so I texted my buddy and I said, two hours a little steep for one skate.
Jamie:For an hour. That's very steep.
Scott:He was like, That's what I'm saying.
Jamie:Listen, you're not wrong. That is steep. That is very steep. For one night, that's steep.
Scott:For one night?
Jamie:Yeah. So wait, are you telling me they did, I understand the team has picked up the first night, but they did not have Tuesday and Wednesday?
Scott:No, they definitely had Tuesday.
Jamie:Okay. You
Scott:didn't Because there was a second skate.
Jamie:Oh, but you didn't go.
Scott:We didn't go. And I actually
Jamie:But you could have gone.
Scott:No. So then when I told him that 200 is a little steep.
Jamie:They said don't come back Tuesday and Wednesday.
Scott:Here, I'll read you my text message.
Jamie:Are you shitting me? They said don't come back. You're like, man, do I get like two thirds of my money back? By the way, you owe me like $150.
Scott:Said, Is he skating tonight? Otto said he wanted to go back. He is not. They actually asked that our team not skate so they can pick the next level of teams. I said, two Oh,
Jamie:like single A. Gotcha. Gotcha.
Scott:And I said, 200 is steep for one skate. He was like, I know, that's what I was saying.
Jamie:Yeah. I mean, technically they owe you like $134 ish, right?
Scott:Listen.
Jamie:I mean, you're never gonna see it.
Scott:No, and I'm not even gonna make a big deal over like the difference of like 50 or $30 or whatever the difference would have been. Right. All I'm saying-
Jamie:Technically it's $66 a day.
Scott:All I'm saying is that this is probably like a little foreshadowing of what's to come.
Jamie:Don't worry. They'll only pay for like one or two tournaments and you guys have to come out of pocket for a bunch more. You'll see. No, I'm just kidding. But listen, all these organizations run the same way.
Jamie:But again, now that Blackbear's involved, I
Scott:don't know that they're all run the same way.
Jamie:A lot of them are. The tryout fees are a huge moneymaker, huge, Enormous moneymaker.
Scott:But hold on. Okay. Here, how many
Jamie:classes do you think try out?
Scott:A lot. Just
Jamie:throw a number out.
Scott:I don't know.
Jamie:Me neither.
Scott:I honestly don't know.
Jamie:Say there's 30
Scott:Try for what? For an entire organization?
Jamie:Let's just say there's 32 teams.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:Times what? 18 kids ish per give or take?
Scott:Sure.
Jamie:That's five seventy six kids. And obviously there's kids that try out don't
Scott:come to the That don't make it.
Jamie:But let's just say the kids that do come to the building, right? What do think the number is?
Scott:Just tell me, I don't do math. One hundred
Jamie:and fifteen grand. Wow. Isn't that unbelievable? Like I said, trial fees are big money makers.
Scott:No doubt. But part of the kick in the pants What
Jamie:do you mean you can't pay for the other sheet of ice? Where'd that money go?
Scott:But then this particular organisation said, if you don't make tier one, okay, so I didn't try out for tier one.
Jamie:Right, you come back for tier two and you don't have to pay any more money.
Scott:No, you do.
Jamie:Stop being swear to God, you have not empty doubt.
Scott:I'm being serious.
Jamie:Wait, So you're telling me you pay $200 to try out for tier one.
Scott:Yes.
Jamie:If you don't make it, you can go to tier two tryouts and you have to put up another $50.
Scott:Yes.
Jamie:That's such horse shit. I'm telling you that is such horseshit.
Scott:Well, it's true.
Jamie:I wonder if that used to be like that or if that's a new thing.
Scott:It's probably a new thing. Wow.
Jamie:Like I said, trial fees are big money, bud.
Scott:I'm trying to see where
Jamie:exactly Huge money. Huge. And again, think about how many kids try out and don't wind up coming to
Scott:the Here, I'm going read you what it says. It says, please note the following, bullet point, bullet point, bullet point, blah, blah, blah, blah. Please note that any player that registers for tier one tryouts and is not selected must also register for tier two tryouts and pay a $50 fee in person on arrival for the tier two tryouts.
Jamie:Such garbage, such total garbage. Dude, there this, this, this game that our children love, is such a, I say it, I've been saying it for years, youth hockey is, and I'm sure it's not just youth hockey, but I could just speak on youth hockey. Youth hockey is such big business.
Scott:Sports are big business.
Jamie:They are, but the camps, the clubs, the tuitions, the power skates, the stick handling classes, the summer camps, the, I'm trying to get the gear. So, you know, the Bauer is now not owned by a family anymore. You know, it's like a private equity.
Scott:I not keep tabs on
Jamie:this Bauer was, I'm pretty sure Bauer How recent
Scott:was that?
Jamie:I think very recent. Oh. Yeah. So Bauer now is a corporation, like major, major corporation.
Scott:But I mean, it couldn't have been far from it before.
Jamie:Well, no, but I was pretty sure it was family owned before. Whereas now it's like all about the almighty dollar, which listen, I like capitalism. Have no problem with it, but my God, this game is not getting cheaper. No,
Scott:none of it is, especially when kids are expected to be professionals when they're 10.
Jamie:I mean,
Scott:you need to have the $300 stick and the $500 skates and the $200 per hour private skating coach all at the age of 10. No? Because that's what kids need.
Jamie:I was trying to figure out how to get out of that, but I pay $200 an hour for my kid to skate.
Scott:I'm just saying.
Jamie:Like an asshole.
Scott:Like a total asshole.
Jamie:But the guy he does it with is really good.
Scott:I'm
Jamie:a bad example. I'm not a very good example.
Scott:You are, but you're not. I mean, because I think that's part of the problem with youth sports. Well, people pay
Jamie:it, especially in this area.
Scott:Listen, I've done the same things too. And I'm not doing it right now. And even though I'm not directly calling you out on that,
Jamie:I'm just pointing out, I'm part of the problem.
Scott:What I'm trying to say is that my family has been too. And it's when you look around and you see, okay, first of all, I think you have to be realistic about your kid's potential and disability. But at some point you see people around you and what they're doing and the level that their kids are playing at. If you're trying for your kid to play at the highest level or if that's your kid's dream to play at the highest level, at some point the rubber has to meet the road if you have to make up some like, and it doesn't have to be when they're 10. And I'm not even saying that.
Scott:It could be when they're 14, 15 and they can really go mental. Listen, absolutely. But I, you know, I think whatever the law of ten thousand hours is or, you know, one of those where, you know, you need reps, you need hours, you need reps.
Jamie:No, you're not, you're not wrong. And then listen, people charge what they charge because people will pay it. Right. It's, it's, you know, it's, it's just the market. The market bears what people will pay.
Scott:Some places are less expensive and you know what?
Jamie:That's I think Canada is much cheaper by the way. Like, I think,
Scott:I don't know.
Jamie:Like my buddy's playing up there right now. Hudson's dad's playing up there. And he keeps, he tells me, he's like, Jamie, it's like, it's there's ice everywhere. He's like, it's Because
Scott:of the availability.
Jamie:It's not like here. Like the ice here is scarce. And when high school comes, the ice is almost non existent around here. Right. And in Canada, it's totally different.
Jamie:And he pays like $55 for like, like a lesson, like $65. Like it's just a different world. I wonder what it's like in Minnesota. I bet it's very similar.
Scott:You know, there's, yeah, I certainly couldn't speak to any of that. I don't know.
Jamie:Me neither. But I bet it's different than it is in the Northeast.
Scott:Yes. And you know what that made me think of also when we're talking about, you know, I guess the different costs and this is, I haven't had any firsthand conversations with people, but being on the East Coast and where we're located, like there's a lot of good hockey near us. Even with Club
Jamie:wise or college wise or pro wise, like what do mean?
Scott:No, for youth hockey.
Jamie:Oh, Yeah,
Scott:club So for my son's birth year, a lot of the top 10 New England has probably half of the top 10 teams maybe. Right. Not shocking. Yeah. Or at least top 15.
Scott:Not shocking at all.
Jamie:It's like that for Dom's birthday too.
Scott:Those are close by. But if you're a team out in California, that's like, you know, a top team. First of all, you probably have to commute pretty far.
Jamie:Well, junior Kings like the Cal Bears, they have to come this way. There's no question about Listen, we played them in Tampa
Scott:A Couple Years They probably go up to Vancouver a lot, maybe. I don't know. Alberta.
Jamie:I would think so. Right? Because I mean It's
Scott:closer, but that's still like a plane ride.
Jamie:They came, we played the Cal Bears several times. We played them in Tampa and I want to say we played them again at exposure, Eastern exposure up in like the mass area. Keep, but they got on a plane. Matter of fact, it was Cal bears. Cause I remember this mother was so angry, Scott.
Jamie:She was so pissed because they flew, they flew across the country and her kid played like very little.
Scott:That's a whole
Jamie:another level of She was ripping pissed, like ripping
Scott:Could you imagine? I mean, I've gotten bent out of shape when I've driven two hours. Yeah. Let alone flown across the country.
Jamie:No question. She flew across the country and her kid barely played.
Scott:But that's like the other part. Yes, we on, we took a plane, one plane trip this past season, which, yeah, I mean, was fun. We played good teams. Where'd you guys go? Went to Ohio.
Scott:Blue jackets?
Jamie:Yeah. You know, it's funny. They kept asking us to go out there when Dom was on the Rockets, but we never went out there. We played them in Tampa. We saw them in Tampa and we saw them in Mass also.
Jamie:Now that I think about it, we saw them twice. They, they keep trying to get us to go out there. They were going to get Penns elite to go out there, but it never, and they were going to get like little Caesars to come down or like, like the junior red wings. Somebody somebody's going to come down from the Michigan area, but it never winded working out. We didn't want to go out there.
Jamie:They wanted us to come out there a bunch of times. I talked to the guy multiple times and it just didn't work.
Scott:Yeah. No, we went out there.
Jamie:Oh, that's right. You did go out forgot about it. You drove didn't you? No,
Scott:no, we flew. Not everyone flew.
Jamie:Some people drove.
Scott:Some people drove, which is like a nine hour drive, which is a lot. We drove to Pittsburgh. Yeah. But that's
Jamie:my least favorite ride. I hate that ride. Oh my God. My least favorite drive.
Scott:So we can play really good hockey showcases tournaments within a four hour drive, for
Jamie:sure. But
Scott:could you imagine trying to find that kind of talent if you're in California? I don't know, but I'm assuming It's the junior
Jamie:ducks and the cow bears and the LA junior kings. There's nobody else to play out there, I don't But
Scott:when they're traveling, I mean, there's probably a lot more plane rides. A hundred At the AAA level.
Jamie:Listen, there's no good hockey in the state of Florida. You know, we had a kid from from Fort Lauderdale on our team with the Rockets a couple of years ago.
Scott:You know, it's funny you say that because there was a kid because he flew up every weekend. Also had a twenty fourteen who coincidentally he played within Europe, showed up to one of our games against the Long Island team. Dude, what are you doing here? I was like, Oh, I play for them.
Jamie:Didn't come for no reason? Something happened? They didn't have a game, it
Scott:came out canceled? Their manager, I think They botched something? They got the times wrong. This was a Saturday game. They had games on Sunday, but the family flew in and just came from the airport on time, but the rest of the team didn't.
Scott:Anyway, so we see, what are you doing here? Oh, I play for them. You fly from Florida to play for a team in Long Island? I was like, okay. Wow, that's a massive, massive commitment.
Jamie:Oogie used to come up every weekend.
Scott:That was his name Oogie?
Jamie:Well, that was his nickname. Great.
Scott:Love it.
Jamie:Yeah, his last name is unpronounceable. Okay. I mean, I know how to pronounce it, but it's, I understand why they call him Oogie because his last name is not, it's not easy to say.
Scott:Fair.
Jamie:Yeah. And the dad's a super nice guy and the mother's super into it. Woah. Like his wife is so into it. Like, I mean, like
Scott:You got to love the passion.
Jamie:Oh, dude. I like, what was her name? Oh my God. Shit. I can't remember her name.
Jamie:Sweetheart, really, really sweetheart of a lady too. I love the dad is one of my, I really liked him a lot. It's funny. I'm the one that actually like, I don't say brought him to the team, but I was like the contact point, you know? So, you know, and then listen, and his kid can play hockey.
Jamie:You know, his kid can really play. So yeah. So if they fly up from, and now there's another kid that flies up from Florida on that same team. It's wild dude. Wild.
Jamie:I don't know.
Scott:That's like next level. I would.
Jamie:It is. There's no question about
Scott:it. That's like next, that's uncommon amongst uncommon.
Jamie:You know, it's funny. I feel like it's becoming more common. It shouldn't be, but it is. You know, it's not supposed to be, but it is. So listen, I guess it is what it is.
Jamie:And, but that's the insane game that we signed up for.
Scott:A %. You know?
Jamie:All right. So let's switch gears and let's start because we're running a little long in the tooth here, but let's start. I'm curious, you know, the Frozen Four starts tomorrow.
Scott:Let's go be you. You're to watch? Have to watch. I will be honest about my hockey watching. I generally don't watch until later in the night.
Jamie:Well, now that you
Scott:are a
Jamie:co host on a podcast, you're going to have to watch.
Scott:No, no, no. Listen, I do. Well, I haven't been watching much recently, transparency, but I often will watch the game not live. I'll watch it.
Jamie:So watch ESPN plus or something
Scott:like that? Yeah. Wherever it's recorded. But I will definitely keep tabs on BU.
Jamie:Tomorrow at 02:00.
Scott:Yeah, probably
Jamie:not Against Ohio State.
Scott:So put on your phone, have the game catch on Yeah, yeah.
Jamie:And it's a home game for Ohio State because they're playing in Toledo.
Scott:Okay, well.
Jamie:I mean, I would think that place is going to be all Ohio State out.
Scott:Well, listen, let's go Terriers.
Jamie:Listen, it's going to be interesting. I mean, Cole Hudson is one of my favorite players to watch.
Scott:Continue to bring in a lot of great talent, you know, and I feel like BC gets a lot of headlines, at least maybe on the national stage. But like when you look at Hockey East, like BU has over the years continuously put BU's a stud. Totally, they're a powerhouse. I mean, they have Hudson, they have Eiserman, LeChance. They've got the older Hudson.
Scott:There's two Hudson's on the Quinn.
Jamie:Right.
Scott:Quinn and then the younger Cole. Right. Cole is filthy. It
Jamie:reminds me so
Scott:much I don't know that Cole did, but Lane and I'm pretty sure that his older brother, Avalanche, they played for the avalanche.
Jamie:Is that right? Absolutely. Oh, I think you're right. I think somebody mentioned that to me recently. Was it you or somebody else, but I think you're right about that.
Jamie:When they were like U18 or something like that when they were older.
Scott:So
Jamie:are they from this area?
Scott:No, they're They're Illinois, I think.
Jamie:Oh, flew out here and they like, they billeted out here?
Scott:Yeah. Billeted.
Jamie:Yeah. What's his name?
Scott:Yes. Gotcha. Yeah.
Jamie:That's what happens when you have deep pockets.
Scott:Well, billeting is
Jamie:a thing. No, you're not
Scott:No, a %. You
Jamie:just generally don't bill it with a billionaire. It's a little different. They do it somebody's house, not in a billionaire's estate, But like I said, there's big money in this game.
Scott:There is.
Jamie:Yeah, huge money.
Scott:But yeah, no, so BU, listen, I hope they win. They have a lot of great talent and hopefully they'll bring their A game.
Jamie:All right, ready? Let's write it down. Grab that. We are going to, I'm going give you a pen. We are going to give our Frozen Four
Scott:functions. Yes.
Jamie:Okay. So let me look here. Let me up the brackets. Do you have the brackets too?
Scott:No. All right. Let me pull up brackets. I have the pen and paper. All right.
Scott:Let me pull the bracket up.
Jamie:All right. So let's do, all let's right. Let's do who comes out of the Boston College bracket. Let's see if we can get
Scott:the Let's go down the list.
Jamie:Let's go. Get the final four.
Scott:Okay. Let's go.
Jamie:So you have Boston College Bentley.
Scott:Oh, that's BC.
Jamie:Okay. And then you have Providence, Denver.
Scott:I'm going to go Denver.
Jamie:So far you and I are on the same page. The other side, we'll go down. The bottom of that bracket is Western Michigan, Minnesota state.
Scott:Western mish. Really? I'm going to go Minnesota state.
Jamie:All right. I'm just going to go against the grain. Then you have UMass Minnesota.
Scott:Oh Jesus. Gonna go Minnesota.
Jamie:Yeah. Snug Root is pretty good on that team. I'm gonna go Minnesota as well. I'm gonna go with them. I'm gonna agree with that.
Jamie:Then, all right. So so now who do we have? So we have, we have BC playing Denver on top, right? Yep. I think, didn't Denver beat BC last year in the finals?
Scott:Or we're going keep going down the side.
Jamie:Yeah. Didn't Denver beat, Oh, oh, oh, we'll go the other side. No, let's go the other side. Well, no, you're right. Here we go.
Jamie:This is the game that I'm interested in. Penn State, Maine in Allentown, PA, where I was a couple I'm going Maine.
Scott:I'm going Maine.
Jamie:Shit. I wanna pick Maine too, but I I feel like I have to pick Penn State. Shit. Alright. Maine.
Scott:Did you not look at the cover of our podcasts?
Jamie:I know. I'm picking Maine.
Scott:I mean,
Jamie:they're both
Scott:blue and white. Get it.
Jamie:Yeah. But it's Maine. You're right. The cover of it. For the, of you who do not know, we designed our logo after the Maine, the Maine colors, which was a, which is an awesome color, by the way.
Jamie:It's a six scheme.
Scott:Yep. Love it. And it's awesome.
Jamie:Alright. So we'll go alright. So we're both going main and then you got Yukon Quinnipiac.
Scott:Woah. One more time. Yukon Quinnipiac. Oh. Oh.
Scott:That's like Connecticut. Connecticut rivalry Yes, it is. I actually, this one, I don't
Jamie:know. Yukon made it to the finals.
Scott:They did.
Jamie:It was Maine against Maine.
Scott:Yep. Think. But didn't UConn BP you?
Jamie:Yes. Did they? Yep. I need to go back and look. Maybe you're right.
Jamie:All So who are you taking? UConn or Quinnipiac?
Scott:UConn.
Jamie:I'm going to take Quinnipiac. All right. So now the bottom you got Michigan state, Cornell. I'm going to take Michigan state because Isaac Howard and, and Augustine, the goalie are just way too good.
Scott:Yeah. Augustine for sure. Wouldn't, wouldn't, skip on him.
Jamie:And then you got BU Ohio State.
Scott:Oh, BU. Yeah. All day, every day.
Jamie:Alright. So now let's get back to the top. So on the top you have you have Denver, BC. I'm taking BC because my kid's favorite player is Ryan Leonard.
Scott:That's that's the reasoning based on your kid's favorite player?
Jamie:Yeah. And it's, I'm a Boston. I like Boston. I'm not, I'm a Jersey kid, but
Scott:I'm going Denver because I don't want to see BC go any further. Okay. Fair. Fair. Right.
Jamie:So on the bottom we have who we have Minnesota and the winner of Western Michigan and Minnesota state. So I'm going to say, I think Minnesota's coming out of that bracket.
Scott:Regardless of who they play. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I would probably agree with you on that.
Jamie:Right.
Scott:So I think regardless of who wins, yep. Minnesota's going.
Jamie:All right. So our frozen four is BC and Minnesota, Right?
Scott:No, you chose BC. Chose Sorry.
Jamie:That's right. My bad. My bad. Are you writing this down? Yeah.
Jamie:I'm writing it down.
Scott:All right. All right.
Jamie:So, and on the other side you got, you have Maine and the winner of Yukon Quinnipiac.
Scott:Maine, Quinnipiac. No, I had Yukon. You had Quinnipiac.
Jamie:I know. That's why I said, that's why I said,
Scott:so between those two would take Maine regardless.
Jamie:Yeah. Think Maine's coming out. Yeah. I'm with you. I think Maine's coming out over there.
Jamie:And then you have the winner of BU Michigan State.
Scott:I'm going Terriers.
Jamie:All right, I'll go Michigan State. So my final four is Michigan State, Maine, BC, and Minnesota.
Scott:Yes. Mine
Jamie:is feel like I'm very heavily
Scott:feared Mine is Minnesota, Denver, Maine, Oh, hockey east in the semis.
Jamie:You have these all written down, right? Yes. All right. So we can go back. All right.
Jamie:And I think, all right. So I, and this is just my, where I'm coming from. I think BC beats Minnesota to go to the finals. Okay.
Scott:Okay. I'm with you.
Jamie:All right. You same? You think it's going to happen too?
Scott:No, because I don't think BC is getting past Denver.
Jamie:Oh, that's right. That's right. My bad. All right. So I, and then I have, Oh, Maine, Michigan state.
Jamie:I'm going to Michigan state coming out because I coward and Augustine are so good. They're so good.
Scott:Michigan state versus BC.
Jamie:That's what I have.
Scott:Is your final.
Jamie:And I have BC winning the entire thing with Ryan Leonard putting in a goal late to go ahead. Cause the guy is so clutch, so clutch. Like he's filthy because they lost last year in the finals. So I feel like there's unfinished business and Manetian and, and gay pro. I feel like they just, I feel like they cannot lose.
Jamie:That's what I think is going happen.
Scott:That is a listen, that could very well be the, the final. Listen,
Jamie:we'll see now. All So what is yours?
Scott:All right. I had Minnesota playing Denver and Maine playing BU.
Jamie:Okay. We're so different. We have such totally different Final Fours.
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:So
Jamie:On Frozen Fours, Yeah. Alright. So who do you have? So you have Denver
Scott:Denver, Minnesota. Minnesota, BU, and Maine. Maine. Correct.
Jamie:Who's gonna win between Denver and Minnesota?
Scott:Honestly? The Denver Coach is so good. So good.
Jamie:I mean, he's
Scott:so I mean,
Jamie:he coached
Scott:He coached
Jamie:the juniors. The guy is so good. He's so good.
Scott:Alright. So He's so It's
Jamie:hard to root against that guy. And he's so young too. What's it? Eric Carl? The
Scott:cat. Yeah, I think so.
Jamie:Yeah. So good.
Scott:The cat is being tipped in Denver's favor. So we've got Denver over. So I've got Denver.
Jamie:You have Denver coming. All right. So Denver is your finalist against
Scott:the winner of BU. As, listen, as much as it pains me to say this, I just don't think I have the confidence in BU to take it all the way to the finals.
Jamie:If Celebrini was there, I feel like you would be
Scott:If Celebrini and Hudson were there, could
Jamie:you imagine?
Scott:All three Hudson's?
Jamie:That would be like insane.
Scott:It'd be so hard to heart wants BU.
Jamie:But you're saying Maine? Are you on the black bear train? The Maine black bear train?
Scott:No. Are you going to you? I'm not giving up on my territory. I have my doubts, but BU Denver
Jamie:finals. Who wins it?
Scott:If BU makes it to the finals, they're winning the whole thing.
Jamie:Oh, okay. And who scores the final goal? Meanwhile, the dude LaChance on BU, the devil's just traded for his rights, by the way.
Scott:Like I'm looking, I'm like actually looking forward think goalie is also a devil's
Jamie:He is. Yeah. The Russian, Czechoslovakian?
Scott:I'm not sure.
Jamie:Yeah, me neither. But he's, he's shot. Like, I didn't realize who he was. Yep. Until I watched, I don't remember what game it was, but he, oh, I know what it was.
Jamie:I killed when I went to the bean pot, when I went to the BUBC game,
Scott:the pot finals. Oh yes. He was like stood on his
Jamie:He stood on his head. Totally. I mean, he was a rock star. And after that game, I found out that he was, a devil, a New Jersey devil draft pick. Meanwhile, if you go to TD Garden, I don't know if we spoke about this in the first episode.
Jamie:Don't think we did, but you go to TD Garden, you buy tickets, do not sit in Row 4. So for the bean pot, I bought tickets for Dominic. I bought center ice, like literally I was looking down the middle ice Stripe.
Scott:This is probably the reason why these tickets were available. I'm just saying.
Jamie:No, there were tickets up. Listen, you need to sit in row like six and up. There were two.
Scott:What's wrong with four?
Jamie:Because four is so it was I row four or row five? I was in row four and I'm pretty sure TD Garden, the first row off the glass is Row 4.
Scott:Because it's the benches, the player benches.
Jamie:No, same on their side, I think. So for all of you, go to TD Garden's a tremendous place to watch a hockey game in
Scott:my life.
Jamie:Phenomenal.
Scott:Agreed.
Jamie:And the Beanpot, BUBC, I highly recommend any hockey fan. If you are a hockey fan, you go to this because the atmosphere was better than most NHL games that I've seen. It was fucking awesome. Like Dominic and I loved it, but I, so I had Row 4, do not sit in row four. You cannot see shit.
Jamie:Like, like, first of all, I'm behind, I'm behind the benches and all the fucking coaches stand up.
Scott:That's what I'm saying. You were behind the benches.
Jamie:So Dominic and I, so what we actually did was we actually sat back a couple of rows.
Scott:You found seats?
Jamie:We found, don't ask how. We moved like seven times. Poof. As, because we were there for,
Scott:Oh, first and the second game?
Jamie:We were there for the first game, which was Harvard Northeastern.
Scott:Right. Right. Right.
Jamie:So the building was empty for that. I think it was a 04:00 game, 03:30, four, whatever it was. And as the BCBU game drew closer, the building starts filling up. Right. So it starts filling up, starts filling up.
Jamie:And then we, so we moved like seven times and we just happened to settle in in like row six or seven. And it was tremendous. But if I do that again, you buy tickets, you want to be like eight and back anywhere between like seven and like 15 center ice. You're phenomenal. Phenomenal.
Scott:I'm sure.
Jamie:And they were not cheap tickets by the way.
Scott:Oh, they don't sound like they would be.
Jamie:They were not cheap tickets, but it was an experience.
Scott:That's amazing.
Jamie:Yeah. Was phenomenal. Okay. All right. So, so we're good to go.
Jamie:All right. So, so you have, you have BU beating Denver in the finals.
Scott:Yep.
Jamie:All right. Listen, I like it. I like it. Mean, while Alec Marsh is going to get so angry at me that I picked against Penn state. Well, hope you listen to this podcast because Dom's one of Dom's coaches who coaches his school, played four years at Penn State and is a Penn State alumni and he is going to the game on Friday.
Scott:That's amazing.
Jamie:Yeah. The only reason I'm not going to is because my wife can't get, she's taken so many Fridays off and I feel bad going without her. Know, but anyway. All right. Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. So, all right. So that takes care of that. You want to wrap it up? You want talk about NHL?
Jamie:Mean, is it,
Scott:oh. I think we've going at a pretty good clip. Think. Yeah? Yeah.
Scott:What were you going say?
Jamie:No, I was just going to say, you know, we were talking about Lain Hudson, you know, because we're talking BU.
Scott:Oh yeah.
Jamie:I think he's going win Rookie of the Year.
Scott:Certainly looks like that could be the outcome. I will say this about him. There have been few players that I've watched and been so excited to watch them play. He's electric. He is all the things
Jamie:that
Scott:people say about him. He's so exciting to watch. Yep. Oh, there you go.
Jamie:Yeah. I have a thing with buying signed hockey pucks from like rookies. So I have Lane Hudson's rookie signed puck here with the Canadians logo. And then I have Macklin Celebrini signed Sharks puck. The only one I don't have is the guy, the kid Dustin Wolf, who's the other guy who's in the running.
Jamie:Do you know who he is? He's the goalie for, for, Calgary. This kid's going to be scary. Scary. Yes.
Jamie:In my opinion, I think Lane Hudson wins the, rookie of the year. Yeah. I mean, as
Scott:a defenseman, he's brought so much to that team. I will say he's, I mean, his point production being like quarterback in the power play.
Jamie:You see how many assists he has? I think he's got five goals and he's got like 40 something assists. Yeah. He's filthy. But, but how, how, I mean, he's, he's five nine.
Jamie:He's an undersized NHL defenseman. Who's just absolutely filthy. Yeah. And it's awesome to see an American, you know, it's just awesome to watch.
Scott:Yeah, I know he's super skilled, exciting to watch. Yeah, I watched so much BU last year because he was on the team.
Jamie:Oh dude, it was so great to watch last year. Him and Macklin were so good. You know? And like you said, I'm sorry that he didn't stay because him and his two brothers like that would have been.
Scott:So can you imagine the parents? I mean, even yes, would
Jamie:have been awesome. It's like Jack Hughes's parents.
Scott:Yeah. Right.
Jamie:Right. Like you have your three kids in the same building at the same time. I mean, that's
Scott:just crazy.
Jamie:I mean, listen, you know, but there's so many good young American hockey players coming up. It's so great to watch.
Scott:Yeah. The juniors were a terrific example of that.
Jamie:And they keep, they keep, I feel like they reload when guys go to college. Like I feel like they should reload.
Scott:I mean, they have a
Jamie:look at Eiserman, at all these kids now. I mean, it's, it's, they, it's unbelievable how USA Hockey is.
Scott:There's a ton of talent. There's a ton of talent.
Jamie:I don't want to say we've taken over the Canadians, but
Scott:No, I don't think you could ever say we took them over.
Jamie:Well, I'm talking about like We're on the same level.
Scott:Yes. We're on the same level.
Jamie:Even though we lost four nations.
Scott:Okay. But it's that could have been any given Sunday.
Jamie:No, you're right. You're right. You're absolutely right about that.
Scott:That's just the way the puck fell that night.
Jamie:Yeah. No, you're right. That's a good point. All right, good. Listen, this was a good episode.
Scott:A %.
Jamie:I mean, I think we talked about a lot of stuff, so we'll wrap it up there and we'll come back next time and I'm sure we have a lot more to talk about.
Scott:Yeah, absolutely. You'll have tryouts by then maybe?
Jamie:So tryouts for us are the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, something like that.
Scott:Okay. So not next week.
Jamie:It is fourteen, fifteen, 16, because I'm not going to last night of tryouts because we're surprised.
Scott:Oh, listen, don't even worry about it. Your team's only gonna have like half hour session
Jamie:then then seriously, I'm pay like $500
Scott:Yeah, like, no ice. Because you're U14 now, right? Or 14U? 13U. Yeah, so
Jamie:it's gonna be a 13U PO, yes, yes, exactly.
Scott:It's probably a thousand dollars for tryouts.
Jamie:So you're probably not wrong with that, but I'm not going to last
Scott:the They just ask for a highlight video.
Jamie:Because I bought Dominic tickets, exactly. Bought Dominic tickets for his birthday. His birthday is on Sunday. I bought him tickets for the Devil's Shit, who are they playing on the sixteenth? Not Blue Jackets.
Jamie:It's Jacob Marks from Bobblehead Night. Last, last game of the season. So I bought, so I bought him tickets for that. So he does not know about that by the way. So don't let that slip.
Jamie:But yeah, so, so I'm looking forward to that. So yeah, Yeah. Good episode, you know, as always, and, we'll catch you right next time. See you next time. Later.