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A relatable and honest podcast about the highs and lows of being a youth hockey parent. Join us as we share real stories, struggles, and wins from the rink, offering insights and support for parents navigating the world of youth hockey.
This is for the sled dogs in the trenches. Real hockey parents, real stories. The Good and the Gong Show. No filters, no sugarcoating, no politics, just straight hockey talk, and the best guests around the barn. Welcome to the Crazy Hockey Dads Podcast.
Intro:Alright, boys. Grind them corners, chirp responsibly, and bring that savage fire.
Scott:Alright, everybody. Welcome back to special edition of the Crazy Hockey Dads Podcast powered by Pacific Rank.
Jamie:Can't forget Pacific Rank.
Scott:No. The unfiltered podcast for hockey parents. No politics, no sugarcoating, just real talk for hockey parents in the trenches.
Jamie:In the trenches. See nothing?
Scott:No. I almost I almost died.
Jamie:No. I thought you were fine.
Scott:Yeah. Know. It's fine.
Shane:It's good.
Scott:Yeah. I was just confessing to Jamie how I'm pretty sure I don't have our intro memorized yet.
Shane:It's okay.
Jamie:Yeah. Really? Totally.
Scott:No. I know it's all good. Yeah. Anyway, shout out b j d, Big John Dangles.
Jamie:Shout out to Big John Dangles who does our awesome intro.
Scott:Every time I edit like our episodes together, I watch that fully at least twice.
Jamie:Isn't it great?
Scott:Yeah. Love
Jamie:it. It really is.
Scott:Yeah. Know it's awesome.
Jamie:Grows on you too.
Scott:And for anyone that hasn't is not familiar with their stuff or is only listening to his stuff or only listening to us on audio only
Jamie:How do you know he's a he?
Scott:Oh, well, because it says Big John.
Jamie:True. But you don't know who's behind the scenes. Could be a female. Okay.
Scott:Yes. I reserve or I will rephrase that.
Jamie:Yeah. I mean, it's pretty like secretive.
Scott:Oh, is it? I think so. Wow. You you you know some maybe you know some things I don't. I was just going with the obvious that big John dangles was a dude.
Scott:But I I mean, perhaps you know something I don't.
Jamie:No. It's like Kaiser Soze.
Scott:Okay. Dad, do you know
Jamie:the movie I'm talking about?
Scott:No. Not even a little bit.
Jamie:Kaiser Soze is.
Scott:No. But someone who is very mysterious, I'm sure.
Jamie:Kaiser nobody knows who Kaiser Shousei is.
Scott:Like I said, mysterious.
Jamie:From the movie Usual Suspects.
Scott:Oh, but I've seen that movie. You have? I have. Long time ago. That movie and you don't know
Jamie:the name Kaiser Shousei because he's the main main main character.
Scott:Well Because Kaiser Jose. You know?
Jamie:They say it just like the guy the guy in the hospital says it just like that.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:Yeah. And nobody knows who Kaiser So Kaiser Jose is like a mythical person. Disappears in the air. Nobody
Scott:sees him. Anybody's heard about him?
Shane:Yeah. Yeah.
Jamie:That's kinda like what BJD is. Nobody knows who he is.
Scott:Okay. Well, if mister b mister and missus BJD, I hope you will formally accept this as an apology if I have what is it like misidentified you?
Jamie:Well, yes. It's very appropriate.
Scott:Today is day and age. I I don't want to offend anyone. That's right. So, Jamie, thank you for making me think about this way too deeply. Way too much.
Scott:Yeah. That Way too much. I will never get that time back. In fact, I think we are all dumber having listened to you.
Jamie:What was that from?
Scott:From a movie that I can't remember the name.
Jamie:That last part was well done by you. That was from a movie. I can't think of it. I wanna say like Billy Madison.
Scott:Could be. Yeah. It could be. We're we're just doing was doing Billy Madison at the MO Smile event with Anthony DeLosorro. The shampoo is better.
Scott:No. The conditioner is better. But I make the hair silky and smooth.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Whatever movie that was from, that was well done by you.
Scott:Yeah. Thanks, dude. Alright. So let's let's get back on track here.
Jamie:Yeah. Should we do our
Scott:part BJD. You. That was the bottom line. Thanks, Jamie.
Jamie:Yeah. Listen. Yeah. I aim to please. So yeah.
Jamie:So partners.
Scott:Yeah. How is hockey?
Jamie:How is hockey?
Scott:Crazy 10.
Jamie:Go check out how is hockey crazy 10. Go to how is hockey and check out their tape, their laces, their gear.
Scott:Their t shirts. Their t shirts. Scott has got the Let's go.
Jamie:Faded light blue right now with the awesome Howie's Hockey logo that normally adorns my microphone.
Scott:Mhmm. But I
Jamie:don't have it now since we are on location at Princeton University at Hobie Baker Rink at Princeton University. So I don't have them with me, but go check out their tape, their laces, the candle, Scott's favorite, the scissors, the yellow handled scissors that everybody loves. Yeah. They have great stuff. Like Scott's wearing the clothes.
Jamie:They have awesome stuff. They have, like, a blacked out hoodie. That's insane. Highly recommend that. I'm looking forward to hopefully, Mason sent those to us because they are awesome looking.
Jamie:They have some new hats. They have awesome stuff. So go check out Howie's hockey. Use the discount code crazy 10 for 10% off your Howie's hockey gear.
Scott:That's it. And if you haven't hopped on to the hockeytraining.com website, you absolutely should to check out coach Kevin's library of off ice training videos for speed, strength, agility, stick handling. He's got a massive library on his website. There's also his Instagram, hockey training h q, but I highly encourage anyone that's looking to get some different reps, new reps, additional reps in on anything you can do pretty much off ice. Check out hockeytraining.com.
Jamie:And then we have Titan battle gear. So like we always say, Scott and I trust our kids in Titan battle gear. It's the best protection out there in the market. It also looks the coolest for kids and adults, not just for kids. Adults wear it too.
Jamie:I mean, you beer league players, why not protect yourself? God forbid, you get run over by a skateboard. Right? So go check it out, titanbattlegear.com, or it's in our show notes, titanbattlegear.com backslash crazy hockey dads. Use our discount code for 10% off.
Jamie:It's crazy dads 10. They have this new, new limited edition color. I call it the bomb pop. They call it frozen rocket. It's red, white, and blue.
Jamie:It's awesome. It looks like melting ice cream or melting like, a melting bomb pop. So go check it out. Titanbattlegear.com. Use code crazy dads 10.
Jamie:10% off your titan battle gear.
Scott:That's what's up. And for any coaches, managers out there that are still looking at options for video review and team analytics, you should check out athletic performance insight. Go to the contact form, fill it out, reach out to Eric. He'll be more than happy to give you a demo of the plot of the software, the platform, and you know, probably tag a game for free. So you can see what the analytics and the interface looks like on the back end once you get all the data.
Scott:But it's an amazing platform to teach your kids, you know, game situation, individual, you know, skills recap, whatever it might be. You know, everyone, you know, teams all the way down to mites up to the college level use API. So check it out athleticperformanceinsight.com.
Jamie:$100 value.
Scott:Mention Crazy Hockey Dads, a $100 value. Right. It's not just a $100 value. You have to mention the Crazy Hockey Dads.
Jamie:If you don't, no bueno.
Scott:No bueno? No.
Jamie:No. Go go mention Crazy
Scott:Hockey Dads. I hear Zamboni.
Jamie:You're 10% off. Here comes the Princeton Zamboni.
Scott:That's what's up.
Shane:So speaking
Jamie:of, we are on location. We are you can probably see it better through Scott's camera.
Scott:And Let's see if I'll pick this up. We
Jamie:are are sitting above Hobie Baker. Those of you who don't know, Hobie Baker is Princeton's ice rink. It is one of the most historic buildings probably in all of college hockey.
Scott:Now that Matthews is gone.
Jamie:Yeah. Especially now that Matthews is gone. Yeah. But it is, awesome barn to come check out for you people in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware area. Philadelphia.
Jamie:Philadelphia. Right? If you're, you know, if you're in this area or even within, like, two hours of here, you know, you should come here and check a game out when they start playing in October.
Shane:It
Jamie:is a special building. Come hang out, you know, you know, if you don't wanna drive home, there's hotels right here.
Scott:Stay downtown.
Jamie:Stay downtown because Jamie always pushes downtown.
Scott:Yo, you know what I was just thinking? I'm gonna cut you off.
Jamie:Tell me.
Scott:Do you think that the Philadelphia Flyer's color choice has anything to do with the Princeton Tigers?
Jamie:Wow. That's a very good question.
Scott:I know. I know. If I don't say so myself. The question is
Jamie:who came first?
Scott:Princeton University. Before the Flyers.
Jamie:Long before the flyers. Right? Listen, they're they only
Scott:They're close.
Jamie:Not knowing the distance, it has to
Shane:be like an
Jamie:hour. God, what's the distance in here in Philly?
Scott:God. Not far.
Jamie:An hour? I Maybe maybe a little more?
Scott:I don't know. I honestly don't know.
Jamie:Me neither, but it can't be far.
Scott:Well, like Cherry Hill is like forty minutes, I think.
Jamie:Alright. So
Scott:Maybe it's like probably
Jamie:like an hour. Be far.
Scott:Right. It's probably like an hour.
Jamie:Maybe maybe that had something to do with it. I I'd actually curious to
Scott:So I was thinking Flyers jerseys would blend in here beautifully.
Jamie:Listen. They're the exact same colors.
Scott:I know. Right? That's what I'm saying. You'd feel very at home if you were a Flyers fan.
Jamie:You would. You would feel very comfortable walking into this building. Everything is orange and black and white. No. You're right, buddy.
Jamie:It is the Flyers colors. Yeah. But it's a pretty special building. I mean, I'm just kinda looking out the window down at the rink and the Zamboni is kinda doing its rounds. And this is a it's a very cool place.
Scott:Yep. So this this is my first time here actually, believe it or not. And and I I have to say, you know, so many people, my you know, other members of my family have been down here to like just hang out, do like a day trip, and, you know, it lives up to the hype. You know how some things just don't live up to the hype? I do.
Scott:Yeah. It certainly lives up to it. I mean, the campus is beautiful, town is quaint, There's like great options for food, you know, and it's just it was it's been a great little little getaway, I guess, I could put it that way because I I actually made a video earlier. But I was just commenting on how we often talk about hanging up the skates for, you know, the spring and the summer. And now do have we you and I, you've done it once before.
Scott:I don't think I've ever done it. But, like, know, we generally talk about in the direction of it's better to hang them up and do other things than it is to be do a rigorous, like, hockey schedule. I don't think either one of us have ever been in the camp of, like, do nothing. But
Jamie:Right. Agreed.
Scott:But I was, you know, I was reflecting on on being here and just thinking to myself that, you know, look, Otto's here because he wants to be here. Right? He he it wasn't something that we, like, put on him as like, hey, dude, you know, you should do this. You know, I think we told him that Dominic was coming here. He's like, oh, I'll go.
Scott:You know what I mean? And so
Jamie:They like hanging out with their buddies.
Scott:No. A 100%. But so, so part of it's also like, he he's down here because he wants to be. And the other part of it is just like, we were able to make a day trip out of it. Your family's making a little bit a little more out of it.
Scott:But the point is like spring, summertime, especially summertime, like you can parlay some like really nice like family getaways with like, you know, one of your kids like or more than one of your kids in a hockey camp and it's It's a family thing. Right. And so I I think, you know, if you're looking for experiences like that and hockey can kind of be that vehicle, you know, to an extent so long as it's not like, you know, the one millionth time your kid's playing hockey in, like, you know, the first week once they're out of school, like, go for it. Right?
Jamie:Yeah. You know you know, I'm I'm more along the lines of, I'm not so much a spring hockey team person anymore. I used to be when Dominic was younger. I was all about, like, putting on spring teams. Right?
Jamie:Yep. Now I think it's more about the, the experience. Mhmm. Right? Like, I don't mind sleepaway hockey camps or even hockey camps in general that, you know, that you have to, you know, kinda travel to and you stay local in the area.
Jamie:Because like you said, it makes a it makes a family event out.
Scott:Right? Absolutely.
Jamie:So it's it's it makes memories. Totally. Right? You know, whereas spring teams, you go, you do all these tournaments. I think that I don't think spring teams are very, are good for development.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Right? I I don't think that that's where you're gonna find a ton
Scott:of There's a lot more selfish play. There's not enough time to, like, necessarily get, like, team practices and all that
Jamie:other on the kids stick a lot. No. Right? Like, you know, you you do a camp, it's it's you're practicing.
Shane:Right.
Jamie:Right? It's reps. There's a lot more stick on puck time in a camp than there is in a spring team.
Scott:Sure.
Jamie:You know, so I'm I'm done with paying, like, big money for spring teams. Yep. Dominic used to be on, like, 10 spring teams.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Like, days have come and gone. This podcast has probably helped me turn that around. I would much rather do camps, especially at colleges since Dominic is kind of not there, but he's getting closer year by year. Right? You know, he still only gave me an eighth grade, so he had plenty of time, but it's an experience.
Jamie:Yeah. And you're experiencing the college atmosphere.
Scott:Yeah. You
Jamie:know? That I think is cool.
Scott:And I I will also I also agree with that a lot and in terms of look, when you talk about the college experience, now, families could do it when the kids are, like, even younger than ours. Right? But, like, if you're going around with a family, you're on a college campus Yeah. Maybe it's a campus that your kid has talked about, maybe they wanna, you know, like, maybe go there. Like, you can go there and check it out in a way that's, like, you know, well before you know, you can cover a lot of ground.
Scott:Yes. You can cover a lot of ground on different campuses. Obviously, the kids' taste may change. Right? But Of course.
Scott:Like, and also in university settings or like towns Right. You you mute yourself, buddy?
Jamie:No, I didn't.
Scott:Oh, good.
Jamie:Just making sure that it's that it's lit up.
Scott:It's not. It's not. No.
Jamie:No. It's definitely not. Not really sure why why it's not lit up. But it's working. But it's funny.
Jamie:When you plug it in with the USB c, it lights up.
Scott:Oh, maybe that's why.
Jamie:SLR, it doesn't light up.
Scott:Oh, you know what? I know why. Because I bet you the USB is sending it power. But this must be sending it power too.
Jamie:It has to be because I'm jumping here, so it's that gotta
Scott:be Yeah. There's no it's not plugged in. Wait. Hold on. Let me see.
Jamie:Yeah. No. Oh, yeah. It's XLR. Yeah.
Jamie:But that's funny because I normally I have a blue light here or a green light or whatever it comes.
Scott:I don't know, It's working. This might be the Scott show.
Shane:It's all the matter.
Jamie:It's all the matter is I'm pretty sure
Scott:it's working. It's Scott and a talking head.
Jamie:We did test it before. We did test it before and there was audio there, so we're good to go.
Scott:Okay. Wow.
Jamie:And just so all of you know, we are upgrading our audio equipment, so we are trying new things. So just bear with us while we kinda work through all this audio video stuff. We are not audio video professionals. We're just kinda figuring out.
Scott:Yeah. Well, now that there's probably some people that didn't even notice anything, I I appreciate you advising everyone that's listening now that there's stuff to look for.
Jamie:Things may sound a little different here.
Scott:No. I'm joking around here.
Jamie:It's hard to record inside, outside, on location, off location. You know, that's not easy.
Scott:Well, whole thing is a learning experience. That's for sure.
Jamie:It's not easy, by the way. Like, you and I are not like we do not go to school for like audio video. No. No? There's a lot more that goes into than just our pretty faces sitting here talking.
Scott:Oh, you are so complimentary.
Jamie:Can I tell you?
Scott:You are you know, I knew I loved you for a reason. You're such a nice guy.
Jamie:That's why you bring me
Scott:That's right. Okay.
Jamie:Oh, yeah. So so so right. So your first time here, so you you like what you see?
Scott:Oh, yeah. Absolutely. The last thing I was the last thing I was gonna say about my little college, like, touring talk was that also, you know, around college campuses, like, there's gonna be restaurants. There's gonna be some decent options in college towns. Right?
Scott:Should be. Right? So in any event, I think it's like that that's a great strategy to explore, like, you know, the country, explore colleges, you know, explore different, you know, coaches and hockey environments Yeah. As long as you're not doing it, like, every week and every week, you know, pick a couple and
Jamie:cool. But again
Scott:Go for it.
Jamie:If you wanna make a vacation out of it, like you guys went to Bled, you made a vacation out of
Scott:I will say that was
Jamie:An experience.
Scott:But like I will also say it was like an unbelievable experience.
Jamie:Yeah. Mean, listen, you're going overseas, you know, that that's like a whole another level. Right?
Shane:Yeah.
Jamie:You know, but you know, we went out to Penn State. We made it in like a little mini vacation.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:And here, we're making like a mini vacation. Right? Right. Like, again, and and and you kind of show your kids kind of what the college ish experience is like. Just to kind of, again, far away from it, but just kind of get them in the groove, Let them see what it's like, stuff like that, experience at campus, sleep in a dorm.
Jamie:Right. Right. It's good to be away from mom and dad. I think that's
Scott:huge. Totally.
Jamie:They gotta brush their teeth, comb their hair, do all the stuff they need to do. Like, for when they're when they get to be an adult. Right? Yep. I think it's good.
Jamie:And it's independent too. So the independence is huge for
Shane:the kids.
Scott:Yeah. No. It's a good no. I think it's a great experience. Great experience.
Scott:Great experience to be here. The coaching staff has been nothing but, you know, friendly and supportive of like the staff of the pod and Yeah. You know, so it's it's great to be here. And and you know, just like being in a small like such a small environment, like I just it makes me wanna like come see games here. It's you know what I mean?
Scott:Like you're just on top of the play and like you are so close and it's it's it's gotta be just unreal when this place is packed and and it gets loud. It's gotta be awesome.
Jamie:Yes. It it there's really not a bad seat in the house. You know, behind me, if you guys could see right there.
Scott:No. I don't think so. I'm really kinda
Jamie:It's kinda like over there. This is like the upper section where, you know but everywhere else down around the rink, like, there's not a bad seat in the house. Like, it's really hard to go wrong with, like, with viewing in this place. I mean, Scott pointed out the the max occupancy before. Right?
Scott:I mean Oh, yeah. It was like twenty five hundred and twenty three hundred and twenty five hundred.
Jamie:And this place gets loud because you are right on top of the ice.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:There is there's let me see here. 123456. There's like seven rows in each section, you know. So, again, like you're on top of the ice. Yeah.
Jamie:You know, and with this place, if you come for like Dartmouth, right, or something like that or like Harvard.
Scott:Tremendous.
Jamie:Oh, this place is rocking. Yes. You know? Yeah. Cool place.
Jamie:If you guys have not been down here, you gotta come check out a game. You know, come check out come bring your kid to a camp. You know, coach Sire and his staff, you know, from what we could tell, run a very cool tight ship. You know, this this program is heading in in in in the right direction. Not like don't wanna say it was heading in the wrong directions before coach Slyer took over, but he seems to have this thing kinda humming a little bit.
Scott:Yeah. You know? Yeah. I know. There's great energy.
Scott:I I mean, again, I'm not familiar, you know, like, with the program as much as you are prior prior to this now. But yeah. No. It's, like like, I'm sure that that being a university that has very, you know, they're very selective in in the Ivies, you know, and just like they they're bringing in great kids and I and I have to believe, you know, some of that, you know, just I don't know. Like some of it's gotta be infectious.
Scott:Right? And, you know, the way people carry themselves around here is just first class.
Jamie:Yeah. No. It's it's a really impressive place.
Shane:You know, I'm
Jamie:I'm thrilled that they decided to kinda like, you know, kinda do some stuff with us, you know. You know, it's it's it's gonna be really good. Listen. World New Jersey based podcast, New Jersey based hockey podcast, they are the d one hockey team in the state. You know?
Jamie:Made perfect sense to do it. Yep. You know? So, you know, I guess you guys could probably expect a lot more stuff from us, you know, and Princeton together because it's just it works.
Scott:Yeah. No. It's it's it's and it's great to, you know, be able to support, you know, your the local state like you were saying. So, you know, yeah. Yeah.
Scott:No. For sure. So, you know, I think, you know, as far as today goes, right, so part of what we're doing here is getting some some footage, some content from like a little bit of behind the scenes stuff, you know, make some more introductions, get to know some of the staff a little bit more. We'll do some interviews. Yep.
Scott:You know, still a little bit TBD on like on on who on who's the the final list is gonna be. But, you know, we're gonna get some interviews, learn a bit more about like the summer programming, you know, what that's like for, you know, from the coach's perspective, you know, like the pros and cons of all that stuff, you know, because we obviously talk about summer and spring and programs and just kinda wanna hear from a coach's perspective, like, what's their angle on it? Right? Like Yeah. What do they hope the kids take away from their week here?
Jamie:Yeah. You know? We're gonna hopefully be I spoke to Shane Talrico yesterday, one of the assistant coaches. Obviously, buddy Connor Jones, friend of the pod. Him and his brother, he's here.
Jamie:His brother's always up in Massachusetts, you know, but we're gonna see who we can get.
Scott:Yep. So it sounds like there's a game getting started behind us.
Jamie:Something's going on.
Scott:Yeah. There's something brewing on There's
Jamie:on on on Homie, that on Homie Baker Rink. Yeah. So yeah.
Scott:So let's let's let's take a moment. We'll watch some of this game and we'll circle back, you know, with the next part portion of the the episode.
Jamie:Alright.
Scott:Alright, my guy. See you. And here's where we pick up with assistant coach Shane Talrico of Princeton University.
Jamie:Here we go. But it's cool, you know. It's cool how like how people put their coaching staff together and you see the coaching trees and who worked who.
Scott:That's like a hard thing to get into, I'm assuming. Like, if you're kind of on the outside, it feels like it's a bit like a like it's very close to What? I know. Did hit record. Did?
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. I didn't realize it
Jamie:was getting better.
Scott:No. But the like, is it hard to get into like to break in the door of like some, you know, kind of click if you will? I I don't know what the right way of putting it is, but like
Jamie:No.
Scott:Think seems like, you know, people like stick to their those that are tried and true in their network.
Shane:Yeah. I think it's a it's a great question. Because I think about it a lot now too, especially like my path, especially being a division three guy, know, and and I'll be on the road or I go work in camp and there'll be times a division three guy will ask me like Yeah. How do I get in? Yeah.
Shane:And I I look at myself, I was very lucky and fortunate to, how would I say, get my foot in the door.
Scott:Sure. Yeah. I know, exactly.
Shane:So like my what my process was is like, I was finishing up my master's.
Scott:Okay.
Shane:And And where was this? This was at SUNY Potsdam.
Scott:Okay.
Shane:And they had a You
Jamie:played d three Right?
Shane:Yeah. And there was a master's program where it was a year to year. So like I'm going into my final summer and, trying to figure out what I'm doing, I'm like, I'm still not applying for teaching jobs. Like, I better figure it out and figure it out quick. Then I went and worked worked some camps and it all started with my head coach in college at the time.
Shane:And he's like, should maybe look into getting into coaching.
Scott:And just Sorry Okay. To interrupt your story, but just out of curiosity, like, what was it what did he see in you that he was like, you should consider getting into coaching? Had you expressed that interest to him separately or there was something about just like your head for the game, your passion, anything about that that he saw in you?
Shane:I I I honestly, he came to me.
Scott:Okay. I'll never forget it.
Shane:It was the beginning of a practice.
Scott:Okay.
Shane:And he said it to me and and I was like, I took it in. Mhmm. But I I would think maybe like, a, from the culture standpoint of the team, that's always been important to me.
Scott:Okay.
Shane:Like even whether it was youth hockey, juniors in the college, like being a great teammate was always important and like it's huge in college. Yeah. Sure. Like culture and identity are tied together. Right.
Shane:Right. The identity piece is your production that everybody sees. So I think that was part of it, and I think just my love for the game Yep. Of always being around the rink, like, even at it was the d three level, but like Yeah. You know, there were I had a teammate, Dylan Van Der Esh that, you know, he could have been a guy maybe that you'd say slipped through the cracks.
Shane:They should have been a division one hockey player. Ended Right. Up found for whatever reason. Yeah. Ended up, playing for the Everblades and winning a championship there, and he played for a while.
Shane:Okay. So I I think those two things maybe stand out. Never really asked them.
Scott:Right. Okay.
Shane:But it got me thinking. Sure. And then you go work camps and there's other coaches there and then they bring it up and they're like, is this something you would do? And, yeah, I did a couple interviews and one of my student teachers that I finished up with while doing my masters called me and was like, hey, this junior team's looking for a coach. And I went for an interview and they offered me a position where I'd be an assistant on the top team and the head coach of the second team.
Jamie:Okay.
Shane:I couldn't have asked for a better job. Right. Really? Because you're literally recruiting, filling your own team, so you're like a general manager.
Jamie:Right.
Scott:Okay.
Shane:And then you have to win with that team.
Scott:Right. Right.
Jamie:Is it difficult to fill those rosters, by the way?
Shane:Yeah. Because then the money's playing into
Scott:it I was
Jamie:just saying because yeah.
Scott:So Oh, go ahead.
Jamie:Go I was just curious, what was that like, building your own roster? Like, was that hard?
Shane:Yeah. It was a lot. Yeah. I I say to this day, it was the hardest job I've ever had.
Jamie:Yeah. How do find hits? Like, was like the I mean, you just kinda Yeah.
Scott:What And and part of this, just for a little context, what what junior team was this? Like, where Yeah. Where were you where were you set up?
Shane:Where was the location? So it's it's changed now since then. So like, I played in the EJ Okay. Okay. In juniors.
Shane:Yep. And then it went to they changed it where it was like the USPHL premier and elite. And then right when I left to go to division three, they changed it to, the NCDC. Okay. So it's a lot different.
Shane:Like when I played in the EG, I think there was like 12 teams. And you'd have so many division one guys on like each team. Like it was there was guys leaving that league to go play division one Right. Sure. So like when I was there in Syracuse, like you're helping fill the premier team, the elite team, the U18 team, the U16 team.
Shane:So you're going through tryouts, you're going to camps, You're going to big showcases from a recruiting process. Yeah. And you're making calls.
Jamie:Wow. Find kids to put on
Shane:the roster. Yeah. Every like every day. Nonstop. So but like I said, it was unbelievable learning experience.
Shane:Looking back, like the order you get, you appreciate it even more. Right. And then that connection there helped me when I got to Skidmore College. Okay. Which I was very fortunate because it was my first college job.
Shane:Yeah. And being being in Saratoga Springs, New York is isn't a bad thing
Scott:for two No. Yeah. So like
Shane:it was, you know, Rob Hutchinson is still there. He was an alum. Okay. And, you know, the prior assistance there helped put me in an opportunity to be successful as a recruiter. Right.
Shane:And you just had to work at it and, you know, Hutch and I, like we had a great working relationship and, you know, it was an unbelievable experience.
Jamie:Yeah. Kinda cut your teeth in like college coaching, you know. And that led you to Cornell, like so how many years did you go to Skidmore?
Scott:So I
Shane:was at Syracuse for two. Okay. Skidmore for two.
Jamie:Okay.
Shane:Yep. And then I went to Cornell after that. Went to Cornell.
Jamie:Wow. Learned that path.
Scott:I learned that path. And and just as you were sharing it, so it so part of this kind of stems back, and maybe there's more to the story, but goes back to this who the the one person that you were finishing up, like, school with who said, know of a junior team that's looking for a coach. Like, that was just like right place, right time. And like, from there, it's like, you're off.
Shane:Literally called me and was like, hey, can get you an interview on a Wednesday.
Scott:And this person knew you were looking for a position. Yeah.
Shane:He was a he was a teacher. Yep. Teacher. His son just got done playing juniors there.
Scott:Okay. Okay.
Shane:Yeah. Okay. So another hockey dad.
Scott:Yep. Wow. That's unreal. Yeah.
Jamie:That's Yeah. Yeah.
Shane:And I think it was like a week process. Is that all stuff? Yeah. I went there and like I did an interview and they laid it out on what the responsibilities would be, like what everything like that. Yep.
Shane:Were like, hey, once you finish up school, I think I was done like August 1 or something, and I moved I moved to Syracuse.
Scott:Wow. Yeah. And like at at that point, did you believe like I am I'm I'm at the beginning of my career right now? Yeah. Like was it that was that clear to you at that point or like you were just kinda testing the waters to see if it was something that you might want to do?
Shane:A 100%. I I, I was like, legit, I told myself I'll give myself five years. Five years.
Jamie:Till I get it done. Yeah. Get to where you
Shane:need to. At the max, five years. And I'll be honest with you. When I went to Skidmore, so that would be my third year, I didn't even think or consider the division one level. Really?
Shane:I didn't like, I didn't just didn't know.
Jamie:What was the goal? If you're five years to do what?
Shane:At that at that point,
Scott:I wanted
Shane:to be a division three head coach. Okay.
Jamie:So you wanted to be
Scott:a division
Jamie:three, but be ahead.
Shane:Yeah. I I didn't, I didn't even think about it.
Jamie:Any specific school we had kind of in mind that was at the top of the hill?
Shane:No. Not really. Okay. But when I was it was just such a small sample at the time, and I'm like, alright, this is what my goal, like this is what You wanna be a head coach. This is what I wanna strive for.
Shane:I love college, I know that. Right. I wanna be in college, I wanna stay in college. Right. And then I went down to the coaching convention.
Shane:Mhmm. My first year, Hockey at Skidmore pushed me to go down and do that, and that changed everything for me.
Scott:Okay. Is is that the
Jamie:same place that's still like Tampa. Is it the same place every year?
Shane:Yeah. Naples.
Jamie:Oh, Naples. I'm sorry. I knew it was somewhere down there. So it's the same place every year.
Shane:Yeah. And they they give out an award for the assistant coach of the year award.
Scott:Oh,
Jamie:wow. On every level, d one, d three, or or just on on just one period?
Shane:Yeah, d one. D one. Actually, I I think d three guys as well.
Jamie:Do they Jason Tap just won recently? Correct.
Scott:Okay. Yeah. Good for you.
Shane:It or I sat down, I went there, I didn't know a lot of people. I I shared a room with two other division three guys.
Jamie:Oh, you bet.
Scott:They didn't save money
Shane:from budget. Max Mobley from Hamilton, he's now Kenesius.
Jamie:They just won a title, a d three title dispatcher Hamilton.
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. They just beat Hobart. I was at the game. They beat they beat Hobart in in overtime.
Shane:Yeah. Yeah. So he was he was at Hamilton for a while.
Jamie:Okay.
Shane:Mike Zanello was with us, he's assistant at Union. So he was at Elmira at the time as an assistant. So we were all in the same room and stuff. What changed it for me is I went to the presentation that night and the assistant coach of the year award went up there and I listened to him talk. And I'm like, I wanna do this.
Jamie:You're like, need to go to d one instead of instead of d three?
Shane:Yeah. And believe it or not, it was Ben Sire. No way.
Jamie:Oh, that's crazy.
Shane:How about that? Crazy.
Jamie:And now you're working for him.
Scott:Worked worked with him
Shane:and then worked for him.
Jamie:Wow. That's what? Right. You worked in at Cornell. Right?
Shane:Yeah. It was crazy. They all walked in together. I'll never forget it. From Shaif, they walked in with their wives and girl the now wives at the time.
Shane:And I'm like, Toph was with him. Yes. And I'm like, this is awesome. Like, they're they're coming in together. I'm like, this is a d one staff, like
Jamie:Yeah. And like, I gotta up my Yeah. My standards just went up a whole
Shane:another level. Yeah. And I'm like, you're Then you start researching other division one assistants and it's like, alright, maybe I can do this.
Jamie:So who do look into? What other d one assistants you look into? And are they heads now? Maybe not yet?
Shane:Jared DeMichael's always been around. I always look at guys that work the d there's a lot of guys that whether they play d one or d three, they work division three. Yeah. Sean Flanagan. Yeah.
Shane:Okay. Sure. Right? He worked he worked at Hobart. Jared DeMichael, I I think started out at school school in Rochester area.
Shane:Okay. It's not coming to me right now.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. That's alright.
Shane:RPI? No. No. Division three school.
Scott:Oh, that's in Albany. Oh, okay. Okay.
Jamie:But right area, not far
Shane:from here. Yeah. But that was a big thing. Started seeing guys that they started out, like they got their starts at the division three level. Sure.
Jamie:Right.
Shane:And you learn a ton there because it's usually the assistant and the head coach.
Scott:Right. There's less resources, less personnel. Yeah. You're doing everything. Right.
Jamie:Yeah. A friend of of of the podcast, Alec Marsh, who was who was my son's coach down at the Rockets and he ran the ex Hockey Academy down there. Last year, he was the Hobart assistant.
Shane:Got the
Jamie:Hobart job under under Sean Flanagan's uncle. Yep. Who still runs the program.
Scott:Yep.
Jamie:What a wagon of a program he's got there. Right? Yeah.
Scott:Mean, Homar's got an
Jamie:unbelievable program. And Alec, normally those those d those d three assistants Yeah.
Shane:Normally get Yeah. There's a ton of
Jamie:them. Position one is the coaching jobs. But Alec just got a job at Penn State, so now he's at Penn State.
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. That's like a normal progression.
Shane:Williams is a big one. Yes. Williams had a ton of guys.
Scott:Yep. Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. It's it's like I
Scott:feel like I've someone mentioned that also, specifically about Williams. I've heard that before. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.
Jamie:It's pretty wild the the path that not it's funny. We talked about the path that kids take. Yeah. Yeah. To like college, d one, d three, whatever whatever it is or whatever their path is.
Jamie:Right? It's funny to hear like the coaching path. Yeah. Right? Let alone like the player path.
Shane:Yeah. Look, we actually talked about that in camp today this morning.
Jamie:Oh, you did?
Shane:I talked to you Oh,
Scott:that's the cool.
Shane:Yeah. Because coaches are no different than the players. Sure. Exactly what you said, like. Yeah.
Shane:And I actually used myself as an example. I was like, if you go on research me, like my path is different than other coaches. Right. And it is what it is. Like that's that's part of it.
Shane:And I'm no different than them. Right. And I talked I had that conversation with like, you have to have like the tunnel and stay on that path Right. To be successful. And like sometimes things aren't gonna go your way, but you have to find a way to keep going, Right?
Shane:And stick to your plan. Like, talked about the huge and like the, you know, your pillars and your your values, they're young, they're young right now, but like, you start to dive into that even more. And it's important as a coach because like, I think your your values and your pillars is like the way you coach and what you believe in.
Scott:Mhmm.
Shane:And then you're you have your family and your your friends like, you know, my circle's small. Right. Yep. You know, I've had the same friends since elementary school. They're my biggest supporters, and I love
Scott:that. Right. Right.
Shane:So I think that it sticks with you.
Jamie:It does.
Scott:Yeah. So you you had mentioned earlier just as your coaching path and and you you at some point, you would you knew that the collegiate level coaching was what you wanted. Yeah. In terms of like, was it what was it about collegiate, like, hockey that you knew that was where you wanted to be? Was it like from a career perspective?
Scott:Was it just like the age group, a combination of both? Yeah.
Shane:I I would say I would say combination of both. I think the age group for sure. Because it it's different. Like we you you work I've worked these USA hockey camps the last couple of years. I think I'm like seven seven summers now.
Shane:Mhmm. And we have those conversations and it's different. There's definitely difference being a u fifteen coach versus a college coach.
Scott:Sure.
Shane:Right? It's not like the the sense part of it. It's just like there are different stages and development. They're learning different things and
Jamie:Maturity levels are different.
Shane:Yeah. And I think when you get to college, what I appreciate most is like, especially here and especially how college is right now is, I'll use last year's team for example, it was filled with great people, Great leaders and like, we talked about the finals, right? Like all I wanted was to see those guys win it.
Scott:Yeah,
Shane:exactly. Yeah, like amount of work they put in and just that bondness and stuff is I think what like it it hits you and sticks with you. It's just different.
Scott:Right. Right.
Jamie:It also takes which is probably why that team made it as far as they did. Right? Yeah. It's the character of the of the team. I mean, that's great teams can just do things that other teams can't.
Scott:Yeah. And and you and you hear that you hear that a lot, and maybe, well, at pro level for sure, but I feel like I've listened to more collegiate coaches talk about, like, culture and winning culture. And and there's the I think, Car Carvell from, coach Carvell from UMass, you know, has a like, I don't know if it's a famous one, but a good one on there. And just from, like, your Princeton Princeton's perspective and perhaps your own, like, as you have, like, the turnover of players, like, from year over year and just to maintain that consistency. Right?
Scott:Yeah. Like, with all these different combinations of personalities. Like, what are some of the things that are most challenging about that and and and on the flip side of that, like, the rewarding piece?
Shane:Yeah. It's a great question. Well, I I I it's a little bit different for us because we we the transfer deadline for us is March 1. Mhmm. The the transfer portal opened up April 13.
Shane:We're one of few teams that really can't get a transfer.
Jamie:Because you guys are done. Right.
Scott:And in the
Shane:recruiting process, you get slots per year. Yeah. So our guys are here. So your incoming guys, you know, you like, we're bringing six guys.
Scott:Right. On the bottom. They're not there's no turnover on There's no turnover. Right. So I that that makes a huge difference.
Shane:Yeah. Huge difference. You like Right. The development piece and like Right. Right.
Shane:Right. The culture's even more here. Right? Because you're not having a guy leave halfway through the year at the end of season and maybe adding a guy like couple couple teams are adding guys right now for next year. Right.
Scott:Yeah. I'm sure they are.
Shane:You know? So it's little it's definitely different for us.
Scott:Yeah. In a a good way. In a great way. I would think. I mean, I'm looking but then on the downside, you're missing from portal opportunities, but I know that's like Yeah.
Scott:Also a somewhat different conversation with the IVs to some extent. But Yeah. Yeah. It's really interesting, you know, just on the collegiate level. Then as far as like the the expectations, like, you know, from yourself on like the upperclassmen, right?
Scott:Then we're talking right now about having, you know, six inbounds, You know, what what's the the expectation of the upperclassmen in terms of taking these kids in, teaching them the culture? Like, is that something that you lean like, the coaching staff leans heavily on the student athletes for, or is that something that's, like, coming more from the coaches?
Shane:Yeah. Like the the players protect the culture.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah.
Shane:Right? And, you know, that process has already started. Okay. That's another thing I I believe that helps us because the players know who's committed. The players are involved in the recruiting process, like when they're on campus, like the players are when they're here are around the guys just as much as we are.
Scott:Yeah. Okay.
Shane:Like on an official visit. Right. And it's it's huge because you really tell if it that guy's gonna fit in. Sure. Yeah.
Shane:And
Jamie:They're if they're meshing with the kid with the players.
Shane:Yeah. And like, you wanna stick to that that process of like, we don't want good get good kids, we want great kids. Yep. And guys that are gonna fit in here wanna be here and they're more worried about the other guys in the locker room than themselves. Right.
Shane:Right? And what's nice is like, you know, before you know it here, guys will be here mid August. Right? And then the newer guys get to see the campus. They've they've already seen it, but
Scott:Now it's
Shane:theirs. Now the older guys get to take them and Yeah.
Jamie:And show them the ropes and
Shane:Yeah.
Jamie:Them under their wing and I bet you guys have a lot of leaders in that locker room.
Shane:100%.
Jamie:Yeah. I feel like kids that wanna come here are
Scott:just They're
Jamie:kids that are built a
Scott:little different. Cut from a somewhat of a different cloth.
Jamie:Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
Scott:I would think.
Jamie:I bet you guys have a lot of I bet your leadership is not an issue, you know, in this place. Yeah. That's a is that is that an accurate statement?
Shane:I think it's accurate.
Scott:Yeah.
Shane:I think they're the saying is Princeton takes care of Princeton people. Right? And the the the thing that I love that you hear all the time, whether the guys are older now or the freshmen, they always talk about like when they when they finally step in the room when when we go to start, they don't feel like freshmen.
Scott:Right. They feel like they've been there.
Shane:Right? Because like and with the way the roster is shaked out, like shakes out, like we need those guys to put on jerseys and make an impact. Mhmm. Yeah. Where like everybody on the roster has a role and we need those guys to excel at their role.
Shane:Right. Right. On Friday and Saturday nights. Yeah. So it's it's special.
Shane:Yeah. We we have like the old traditional college way.
Jamie:Right? Yeah. Yeah, you do. It's true. And especially with things changing around you so much as far as recruiting and stuff like that goes.
Jamie:Yeah. I mean, it's kinda nice, you know, that you guys kind of always stay the same and kinda same core values and
Shane:same things.
Jamie:Yeah. Have you noticed that, speaking of the change, is it difficult to to bring kids in? Because you guys don't really use the portal and you guys are, you know, is it hard to recruit for the Ivies? I I guess you find it hard to compete with like the Notre Dame's, the Michigans of the world. Is that the BC's use has it been difficult?
Shane:I think it's fun. You do? Yeah.
Scott:Okay. Think it's fun. Yeah.
Shane:I think it's fun because like it's it's a competitive school. Right?
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah.
Shane:They're all like minded guys. They wanna be like, they don't wanna work in a business, they wanna run
Scott:the business.
Shane:They wanna be CEOs. Right. And they're competitive at everything they do. Yeah. Whether it's an on ice or an off ice activity, and that's what makes it fun, and they push one another.
Shane:Yeah. Like, it's another it's just another check on what what's special about this place. And I think what makes it fun is it's it's exciting getting in battles with other schools.
Scott:Sure.
Jamie:Recruiting battles.
Scott:Yeah. And going for those guys. Yeah.
Shane:Yeah. And it's such a special place here. And now going into my fifth year, like, you appreciate it even more. Because like when you add when you make a list of stuff that's important to you, like to me, Princeton checks the boxes. Yeah.
Shane:Right? Yes. From an academic standpoint, you have everything you need here from a hockey standpoint to The see base. The alumni, like, the area. Sure.
Scott:Yeah. Close to
Jamie:Manhattan, close to Philly. Mean, it's
Shane:The beaches.
Jamie:Yeah. Jersey Shore.
Shane:Think Guys can go golfing. They can go Yeah. Like, we got fishers that go pack on the lake here.
Jamie:I didn't even think about that. I wasn't even talking about that stuff. Right? I didn't
Scott:think That's unreal. Right.
Shane:Yeah.
Jamie:There's yeah. You could be skiing in no time.
Shane:I mean,
Jamie:it's it's, you know, I it it it's a destination. If you're an ice hockey player, right, and you want a major major major degree
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:And you can hack the academics.
Scott:There's It's a pretty sweet place to be.
Jamie:Yeah. Too many places Yeah. That, like you said, check all the boxes.
Shane:Yeah. And I think it's really helped us too with the major change.
Jamie:Oh, yeah?
Shane:Right? Because you have guys that that were playing major junior, and now they're like, okay, I still have an opportunity to fulfill my dream. I can get better. I could be I I love being with a close group. Right.
Shane:And now I have an opportunity to get a Princeton degree. Yep. That's Right? Like, what can I do to get into the school? And like, we've had conversations with kids where it hasn't worked out, and part of it is because of the academic piece, which is normal.
Shane:Yep. Yeah. But they're excited like going through that process until like we we find out like, he get in or he can't get in type thing. But it's that part of it's been that part of it's been like a lot of fun.
Scott:So so I I'm curious to know how this now I sound like you, I'm curious. Do you like getting into those, like, into the recruiting wars? Like, how does that play out? Like, is it because, like, you you'll know, like, who the other, teams that are recruiting these players, you'll know their recruiters, you're like getting on text with the other other, like, you're all like chirping over text. Is that like how this is playing out?
Shane:No. You don't get so much of that. That would
Scott:be cool. Would
Jamie:be cool.
Scott:I would
Jamie:love to
Scott:see screenshots.
Jamie:More of after.
Shane:Okay. Okay.
Scott:You guys won't
Shane:know each other. Yeah. You see a coach in a rink and it's like Yeah. Oh, dude. Man, you got me.
Shane:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You you dive in a little bit.
Shane:Yeah.
Jamie:We've heard that because like I I think it was when we interviewed Connor at ECA's Yeah. Interviewed Tapper and then we interviewed Flenny. I mean, we were kinda like kinda mentioning all all three guys in everybody else's conversation. Oh, we interviewed so and so. And they're like, oh yeah, I wanna be getting someone so you guys all know each other.
Jamie:Yeah. You know? So that was Yeah. I would think that'd be fun.
Scott:I totally.
Jamie:You know? Like, I would think that would be really like like I said, like, abstract, you're like, oh shit,
Scott:you got Yeah. But the behind the scenes, the college recruiters.
Jamie:Very fun.
Shane:Yeah. You know? Yeah.
Jamie:I can see it. But it's a small world.
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:Like I said, you guys all know each other.
Shane:Yeah. It's it's like your typical hockey, like, it's it's competitive coaches in the college hockey world,
Scott:but great
Shane:people. Right. Right. So you're competitive, but you also have relationships and that's another thing too. Like, I look at it like when we go down to convention, you go in the room with all the CAC coaches and a lot of guys have been in the league for a long time and everyone's close.
Scott:Right.
Shane:Right? And it makes it it makes it special. Another another checkbox on why it's it's fun to be in college.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Shane:Right? And then
Jamie:I'm so proud.
Shane:And then in in the off season, like, you have guys where it's like, alright, maybe you're in a rink or at a practice or, the USA festival and you're sitting there with an assistant, now you start asking questions on, you know you're not playing each other, but they might be able to give you something that can help you as a coach. Right. Little things like that.
Scott:Or maybe they give you a
Shane:piece of advice from for recruiting. Right. Then you're like, oh, okay. Well, I've never done that. I'm gonna start doing it.
Scott:Yeah. Right.
Shane:You know, so that's Continuing to learn from
Scott:those that have done it before you.
Shane:Yeah. 100%.
Jamie:The good people always try to kinda help out like that.
Shane:Yeah. You
Scott:know? For sure. We've experienced that, like, you know, just even getting to like further our network within like the hockey community. Yeah. And how, you know, obviously people like we have to pass a certain sniff test, I'm sure, but like, you know, at the end of the day, we've had like, you know, really, you know, great introductions just because people wanna see, like, the game of hockey get talked about more, get in front of more people, you know, just bring honest conversation about the game to the masses, you know, to help people navigate.
Scott:It's just it's been really amazing to see it firsthand. You know what I mean?
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. No. We've been lucky enough.
Scott:A 100%.
Jamie:Toph and and Jeff, they I mean, they didn't have to help us.
Scott:No. And and and but
Jamie:They didn't to help, but they're
Shane:Yeah. Tov will always help.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Him and his cousin. Him and Jeff are
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. They're great human beings.
Scott:I want I want to go back on something you were just talking about about like, you know, major junior in the CHL, you know, being able to make their way to college hockey, American collegiate hockey. So I know it's still early in the game, but from what you've observed, like within Princeton, right? Like, are you finding that, like, these Canadian hockey players are now looking like, now they have this new path. Is this something that's, like, very attractive to them, like, over the CHL? Or, you know, is is this or is it not necessarily, like, taking all these Canadians by storm that now that they can go play NCAA without giving, you know, like doing both.
Scott:Right? Like, are you getting a feel for, like, how it's being received on their end?
Shane:I think it's I think it's definitely attractive. Yeah. I'll go in that direction because if you think, like, originally, they made a decision where they were make looking to make a choice whether to go to NCAA or Right. Major junior route.
Scott:Right.
Shane:And I think a lot of it plays into some of it might be like where a kid doesn't wanna do the school part of it. Yep. But I think a lot of it has to do with maybe where they're from.
Scott:Okay.
Shane:Right? Where like that's what they grew up on. And like that was always the goal and the dream to go that route.
Scott:Right.
Shane:But now it goes back to what we talked about earlier where it's like, okay, like, one of our guys coming in next year, for example, played major junior for four and a half years. Wow. Right? So Wow. So he went and played major junior for four and a half years, and now he has the opportunity to go the NCA route.
Scott:Sure. Which he didn't have that opportunity when he originally And he four years of eligibility.
Shane:Yep. He'll be here for four years. Right.
Jamie:Is he kind of grandfathered in to that like five for five new five for five role? Because I'm assuming he's gonna come in He'll
Shane:have he'll have four years of eligibility.
Jamie:He'll have four years of eligibility, which
Scott:is crazy because I'm assuming he's coming in
Jamie:as, like, a 22 year old.
Shane:He'll be, he'll turn he'll turn 21 as well. Yeah.
Scott:That's when they age out in 20, right, in the OHL, I think,
Shane:or the CHL? Yes. In the original final year? He was in his final year. Right.
Shane:Because he was already coming in.
Scott:So that's that's interesting. So once you age out a junior, okay, now you have like this whole other, like, version of hockey one could play if they're gonna continue their career. That makes a lot of sense. But I'm wondering also for like the younger kids, like having to make that decision. Yeah.
Scott:Don't know. It's just interesting and not knowing too much about the whole thing and how it's affecting, you know, American, you know, American universities. And like, are these, like, are a lot of these spots now being taken by Canadian players or even those maybe from further abroad, you know, from American from American kids. And I I don't know if that's that's really happening or not, but
Jamie:You know, it's interesting. I and tell me if this makes sense, Shane. Years ago, I don't think that Canadians valued the NCAA route to the NHL. Mhmm. Right?
Jamie:It was more like they went, like I said, played major junior and then tried to hook up with the HL team.
Shane:Yep.
Jamie:And in that, whatever that time span, it's called ten, fifteen years, I think you've seen kids here, the Cam McCarr's of the world, Jack, Goudreaux's. You know, the NCAA path Yeah. To the NHL, right, than it maybe was. It's funny now that the Canadians are not considered athletes, pro athletes. They can come into college and because the NIL changed everything.
Jamie:But now they can come down here, They can play and they can come down here and get a four year degree and and still make it to the NHL.
Shane:Yeah. I think I think I think a big development piece of it is in I'll use Martone for example Yeah. With the with the Flyers. Yeah. Yeah.
Shane:Like he talked about it heavily in the sense of the off ice part. In collegiate hockey because they play less games.
Scott:Right? And they're traveling less.
Shane:Right? Right. You're working out a ton. Yep. Yep.
Shane:And that part of it's help preparing you. And I think that's a big part of it for the major junior guys where like, however many years they play major junior, when they go into college and they're ready, now they can come in and play against older guys. They can get ready physically. Right? Now, like you're still focusing on the nutritionist part, you're the amount of video we do every day.
Shane:Yeah. And you add it up during the week. Not saying that's not going on, that's not what I'm getting at, but like, just the extra stuff, like the bonus part of the development piece. Yeah. But most importantly, playing against older guys.
Shane:Right. Especially in our league. Sure. Right? You know, you get an opportunity to go up and play against if you're a 19, 20 year old major junior, you're now going up against 23, 24 year olds versus 16, 17 year olds.
Scott:It's a big deal. Big deal. Right. So then previously most of those major junior guys, once they aged out of the CHL, like then what was even their path?
Shane:They would they would they'd go play CIS
Scott:or they would go play pro. Or they would try to go pro. Right. Yeah. So this effectively extends their runway to develop prior to making their pro step.
Scott:Yep. It would be the thinking there. Yep. Yeah. It's that's, you know, it's it's unbelievable.
Jamie:I'm curious to see how this new like, this new NCAA rule that they just kinda put in place or gonna put into place. This new five for five rule. Yeah. So what they're now saying is
Scott:And that's definitely happening.
Jamie:It's a 100%.
Scott:A 100% is happening. And there's there's no changes on the hockey front?
Jamie:No. What they're saying is that, well, actually I don't I want I don't wanna there might be change on the hockey front, Shane. You might know better than
Shane:mine. Yep.
Jamie:But I know that what they're saying is now that you have it's whatever comes first. Right? Either it's the it's the your clock starts the moment you step on to a college campus, right? Or the semester that starts after your nineteenth birthday. Yeah.
Jamie:Right? That's when your clock starts to run.
Shane:Right, before September 1 of your nineteenth. Correct.
Jamie:Yes, before that's that first semester, that September semester, right after your nineteenth birthday, I thought is what they said, Keith Mondillo. So the clock runs,
Scott:whether you're
Jamie:in school or not, that clock's running.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:It's it's it's wild, the the changes that are kind of going
Shane:on. Yeah.
Jamie:In college hockey, college sports period, right? It's obviously affecting
Shane:college hockey. Yeah.
Jamie:It it's gonna be interesting to see how that kind of plays itself out.
Shane:Yeah. Over the next.
Scott:Well, that's like that's an interesting question. So like, if if for Princeton Mhmm. You only have like underclassmen, like freshmen coming in. Correct. Yeah.
Scott:Right? So you're not necessarily like okay, if they're coming in as a true freshman, they have all all their years of eligibility, you'll see them through the entire program. Yep. Right? But if you have, let's say a Canadian guy that's like, you know, done some major junior, but, you know, will now at this point only have two years of eligibility, but wants to come into Princeton, you know, as a freshman.
Scott:Like, that's an interesting thought. Like, is that even something that's like, you know, are you guys even thinking about that stuff right now?
Shane:Oh yeah.
Scott:Yeah, you are. So what's, so what is like, what's the thinking on like those that don't have full eligibility?
Jamie:Yeah, had that question for somebody else. Who we
Shane:asked about? Yeah, so we're going after guys for the four years.
Scott:For the four years, yeah.
Shane:And you're looking at the clock on their birthday to win the '19.
Jamie:Right.
Shane:So if the guy's in his last year, right, and he's born before September 1, we won't be able to go in that direction.
Scott:Right. Right. It's just the that's way it shakes out.
Shane:Now if he's after September 1 Yeah. We can still get him for four years.
Jamie:Yep. Okay. You guys want four. You're not looking for a guy that went, like, two years at juniors now only has three.
Shane:Yeah. So then if you get a guy sooner Right. Right, there's different there's different avenues you can go. Yeah. Like, you might be able to get a guy that can come here for four, and then maybe he does do a five somewhere else.
Shane:Like, it's Mhmm. It's no different than what
Scott:it was because it happened. Right? Right.
Shane:Right. Like, Kevin Anderson, for example. Kevin Anderson got an extra year because he was injured his freshman year. So now he'll do his fifth year at St. Thomas.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:So he had like an eligibility waiver or
Scott:something like
Shane:He just made it. He was under, but like prior years, like guy that went did a fifth year, whether it was at Princeton or the other Ivies. Right. Right. That's the way I would look at it.
Scott:So not only from a recruiting perspective, that's gonna narrow where you're looking. Right? Or am I not thinking about that correctly?
Shane:It's it's it's making an adjustment.
Scott:Yeah. Making an adjustment. Right.
Shane:Right? You know, they wanted to go younger. Right? So like college hockey and everybody in hockey did such a great job of
Jamie:Of like raising the
Shane:ball Sticking
Jamie:together. Hell, yeah.
Shane:And fighting for it. And, that was awesome to like harness all that. Like everybody banding together to be like, this isn't just good for college hockey. This is good for youth hockey and brat, like everybody. And it was it was pretty cool seeing everybody come together and work as one.
Shane:Changed
Jamie:it. The NCAA was gonna go in one direction. College hockey got together
Shane:and they're like,
Scott:woah. No. Yeah. Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. Hockey's a little different. You have these in between Totally. High school and college, which kind of no other sport really has,
Shane:right? Yeah.
Jamie:So it's a little bit of a different animal. But you're right about that, college hockey really came together and like, you know, and it changed it, which was great. Yeah. When it first happened, a lot of us weren't sure how that was
Shane:gonna play. Yeah. Was gonna go off your high school graduation.
Scott:Exactly. Oh, it's when the clock starts.
Shane:Made us even younger.
Scott:Right. Right.
Shane:And everybody's different in development. Some guys develop later and it could affect Those late bloomers Yeah.
Jamie:Would get really hurt. That's what I thought. Yeah. I thought the late bloomers were really really gonna get kind of like screwed.
Shane:Right. Yeah.
Jamie:Which is a shame.
Scott:Yeah. So now the choice is becoming, do I play well, for any school that's only taking kids with four years of eligibility, they have a like a hard choice. Maybe it's not a hard choice, but like, you know, it's like choosing one or the other. Right? Yeah.
Scott:For the most part.
Jamie:You might have to leave high school here early and go play juniors.
Scott:If you're gonna play if you're gonna play a junior game at all. Right. Right. Right. Yeah.
Jamie:You know, that's actually a very good point. Do you see kids maybe in like Minnesota where high school hockey is really legit, right? Mhmm. But because of the new Roy, you can see kids let's say a local kid, you know, plays four years at high school. Do you think that kid will just go right into college?
Jamie:Or will he still go for like let's say he let's say he did like he was held back in kindergarten. Mhmm. Right? So he's old for his for his for his grade. Would that kid graduate as a senior?
Jamie:If he didn't go to juniors after his junior in high school and he played a senior in high school, would he go right into freshman year in college? I mean, would you advise like somebody like skip playing junior somewhere before they go into play NCAA? I don't know. I I that's like a
Scott:Yeah. Part of I
Shane:think you gotta go off your team. Right. Like if you look at if you look at us and you think about I'll I'll use us as an example, like my time here, like, Brendan Gorman came in in as an 18 year old.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:His dad.
Shane:Right?
Scott:Oh, yeah. Did. We sat down to the corner. Yeah.
Shane:So like he's an example where like Yeah. He was a guy that came in and had like you guys witnessed on me, he had a ton of success in college. Right? Yep. And that kid's gonna find a way to just keep getting better because that's the type of kid he is.
Shane:Right. And he'll he's a rink rat.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah.
Shane:Right? So, you know, I think if you're able to find a guy like that, that can push the needle
Jamie:Right.
Shane:On your team like he did Yeah. You know, then you can work with it. But it's I think you gotta pick and choose like how many of those guys because now you gotta you keep every guy you
Scott:add in that situation and you're on a young team. Right.
Jamie:Is he still here? Is he or did he graduate last year?
Shane:He graduated. I thought so. Yeah. So he'll be with, Ontario in in the American League. Okay.
Shane:You know, he he was with them for a little bit last year at the end of the year.
Jamie:Oh, he was?
Shane:Yeah. So who? That's great. He's he's in the Kings organization. Oh.
Shane:Very cool.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. That's amazing.
Jamie:We met his parents. He practiced at the Lake Placid Inn.
Scott:Yeah. We saw them on we saw them on the way out as well.
Jamie:We did. Oh, yeah.
Scott:Yeah. After the game, it was tough.
Shane:Yeah. So his his freshman year, he's actually, on a line with his brother. Oh, yeah?
Jamie:Yeah. Oh, is that right?
Shane:Yeah. If I remember, the the line was, his brother Liam, it was Gorms and, Ian Murphy. Wow. Two Gorms, two Ian's. Yep.
Shane:How about that? Yeah. So it was it was good. Yeah. And Liam Yeah.
Shane:That was my first year here. Like Liam Liam Liam had a really good year for us that year. Like I remember he was as the year progressed, like he he played physical. Like, he used his size. He bit bigger than Brennan Wright.
Shane:Right. Right. But Gorms yeah. Gorms is special.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Me family. It was fun talking to him in the lobby.
Scott:Let me ask you a question about brothers. Like what from your experience, I mean, we we you talk about them and and correct me if I'm sorry, I forget. Were you were here when they both played together or you weren't here when
Shane:they played together? So that would have been that would have been, Brendan's freshman year. Yeah. And that would have been Liam's senior year. And you were here?
Shane:I was here.
Scott:Was my first year. You so you were part of the whole thing? Because like, I know like BU might be an exception, but like they had like the Celebrini brothers on, they had the Hudson brothers on, they had McCarthy brothers on. So they've had a lot of brothers. And now the Plant brothers, all three of them were playing together in Duluth.
Scott:That's crazy. What is it about, like, maybe, like, that brother dynamic or, you know, like, familiar relationship that, like, kind of it seems like it breeds success amongst like, you know, family. Yeah.
Shane:Kind of
Scott:like what what's it like to see like brothers, like do they have, I don't know, is it just an easier transition that they have family around them? Like, what is it about having a brother around that might make it a a a better experience?
Shane:Yeah. I just think you have that relationship where like, they probably go at it Yeah. Sometimes, but at the end of the day, there's that that love for one another like brothers. Sure. That you just have that special bond where at the
Scott:end of the day, like, they might be fighting and all of
Shane:a sudden one of them gets attacked in the corner, the other one's going in to bail them
Scott:out. Right. Right. Like that type of relationship. Yeah.
Scott:You know, it's Yeah.
Shane:You know, like I I just think like you see it where, you know, you talk to brothers, like, even younger kids now, and it's like, are you guys gonna be a package deal? And it's like, oh, yeah. Okay.
Scott:So from the recruiting perspective, it's also this comes up. That's cool. Because you you
Shane:feel like you you have to ask that and go into it. And maybe early on, they're like, ah, I don't know. And it's like Mhmm. Oh, yeah. We're definitely Yeah.
Shane:I'm not going without him type thing. Alright. Let's just get that on the table
Scott:first and foremost. Wow. Okay.
Jamie:Yeah. That's funny. Now we're talking about like parents and recruiting. So I'm curious, Shane. What what are some red flags you've seen?
Jamie:You're recruiting a kid. From the kid or from the parent? I'm curious to hear both. But things that you're going in, you're like, that that's that's not something that we want here at Princeton. From the kid or from
Shane:the from the parent? Yeah. I think from a parent aspect is when you're going through process and they start asking for specific things. Really? Like, that's one that's coming to mind.
Scott:Okay.
Shane:Where I'm Like like
Jamie:material things?
Shane:Just no. No. Just like I won't get into detail on it, but
Jamie:like no,
Shane:Like, a visit's coming up and it's like, hey, can we do this? Can we do that? And then it's like
Jamie:Oh, like things on the visit? Yeah.
Shane:And like maybe something like that. That that comes to mind where it's like because you wanna deal with the kid, right? And and especially when they're to a certain age and you want the parents involved because you wanna get to know the parents, you wanna get to know family, what they're coming from, and and that's where you really get to know the kid and the family. But that's that's one thing in particular if I remember, like, giving you one. I think I think it's really important like when you're going through a process with a kid, like you want them to open up.
Shane:Sure. I won't say it's a red flag. If they don't. Yeah. Like Right.
Shane:You gotta try to pull things out of them. You want to get them comfortable. Because at some point, like if they do come to you, then you're gonna have them on campus, you want them to be comfortable in that locker room and stuff. But I think the biggest thing is like, you do your research behind the scenes. I've called teachers before, I've called guidance counselors, I've called you have the advisors, you have their current coaches.
Shane:I'll call younger coaches. Okay. Right? Because then you get to find out more where like maybe, hey, this kid isn't what you think he
Scott:is. Mhmm. Like they see them in a different element.
Shane:Yeah. And then maybe you find out more information of like, hey, the parents did cause some problems behind the scenes. Right. Unfortunately. Yeah.
Shane:Right? And then I think you find a lot when you call a teacher.
Jamie:Oh, I'm sure.
Scott:You find a lot. Right? And when
Shane:you dive into it Yeah. Like one that comes to mind, like Yeah. Let's hear this.
Scott:It was like it was like one of
Jamie:For sure.
Shane:It was when Connor first started.
Scott:Okay. And we were riding back
Shane:in the car together and
Scott:I was like, watch this. Yeah.
Shane:Guidance I talked to the guidance counselor and I'm like, can I talk to a teacher for this person? And they were like, we'll give you this person. I'm like, how long has she been there? Like, five years. I'm like, no.
Shane:No. No. No. I
Jamie:want I need somebody that's got like 25
Scott:to 30.
Shane:I want I want the the person that's been there the longest that holds holds them accountable, like, you know, keeps keeps the guys in check. And, yeah. I think she was there for thirty five years.
Scott:Alright. And
Shane:and right off the hop, and I remember I'll never forget this, we're the car driving and she goes she's like, yeah. She's like, I've been out this for thirty five years. I don't let these guys slide on anything. I'm like, that's why I called you. Yep.
Shane:That's why I'm talking to you. And then the conversation goes, and then you find out a lot.
Jamie:Yeah. Did that happen a lot?
Shane:With the teachers?
Jamie:With anybody. With another coach you call, another teacher you call, like like you're talking to like you're talking to like you the kid can play. Yeah. Right? And then you kind of start digging into the background and you're like, shit.
Jamie:It's not gonna work for us. Sometimes. Yeah?
Shane:I think I think it hockey hockey's got good people.
Scott:Yeah. I agree
Shane:with you, for the most part. Yeah, for the most part. Right. But I just think it's it's the right thing to do where like, I'm not the only one on like, we're all on staff together. Yeah.
Shane:So if you got everybody on staff calling different peoples, like everybody knows somebody. Yeah. Where the more people you call, the more it changes And it's like, okay, this is what this is what we thought. We haven't heard anything different.
Jamie:Yeah. Okay. And you build a picture of what Yeah. It looks like by the team.
Shane:And it's like the biggest like to me, it's the biggest thing too with recruiting.
Scott:Like, you know, this is this is actually bringing up something interesting for me, not having thought about it like in such depth, but so what what if you have, like, conflicting reports? Like, what if you got, you know, a stud, you know, hockey player Yeah. Who's, like, the best teammate the coach has ever coached, you know, like, who's super coachable, like, all that stuff. But then from an academic perspective, this kid could give two shits. I mean, okay.
Scott:Granted, you're not I'm I'm exaggerating because that's not what you're having at Princeton because, like, obviously, there's a high bar. Yeah. But any red flags that you would typically that might come up for you that might cause, like, some doubt with respect to, like, the academic piece? Like how just like, how do you kind of like weigh that and like kind of sift through that?
Shane:Yes. You're asking for us in particular? Yeah. Think so.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just from like and right. And it doesn't have to be from Princeton you know, but just like generally. Right?
Scott:Because it seems like on one hand, you could have everything you want in the student athlete, but like the on the academic side, which is what you have to to also be mindful of Yep. You might not bring in to the university someone who's like, you know, checking all the boxes from a a academic or not from a grade point, but from like, you know, like a student perspective. Yeah. Like, that something that happens or or not necessarily?
Shane:So I hope I may answer your question.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. No. I'm sorry if I was confused. Was I So the first part A little bit?
Scott:Yeah. No. I'm just So
Shane:the first sorry. So the first part, the the academic piece. Yeah. So we we do have a certain thing that it's it's consistent on where where we do have to hit.
Scott:Yeah.
Shane:And I think we're I think this is where I'm gonna be able to answer is the, you know, say you're you're down to two guys for one spot. And the one kid is better academically. Yeah. Right? And the other kid is lower, but you think the other guy is definitely gonna be a better kid.
Shane:So take whichever one, but you can make it work with the class Yeah. Then you'll go with that kid.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:Doesn't necessarily have to be the higher academic kid. Right? You'll take the kid that you guys feel is
Shane:like the
Scott:better Is the better person.
Jamie:Better Right. Locker guy, the better team guy, right, that type of stuff
Shane:as opposed to. We just have to check our boxes from an academic standpoint. Totally get And then like an average amongst the we just have to hit our Right. For for the admissions process.
Scott:Got it. Yeah. Go ahead, James.
Jamie:No. I I was gonna ask this before and and you guys brought brought up again, so I just kind of jumped back into my head. So like, for college football, like Yeah. Notre Dame, right, they need they have strict standards. Whereas some of these schools will let anybody in the door, right, if you can play football, Notre Dame, Stanford.
Jamie:There's much schools out there that have certain bars kids need to hit, right? Correct. Like you guys do here. Yep. Do you guys find it I mean, probably a reason why Notre Dame and Stanford haven't won national title in a very long time, right?
Jamie:Because they just can't let anybody walk in the door. Right. Right? So I I guess the question is do you guys find that those academic pieces that your kids need to hit are a challenge, you know? I mean, not every hockey player is a four point o GPA guy, right?
Jamie:Or a Princeton, you know, type kid.
Shane:Yeah.
Jamie:You know, do and I
Scott:guess
Jamie:the do the kids seek you guys out? Versa like, because you could see a great hockey player, wow, kids stand on hockey player. But you look at his grades, maybe he's like a b minus kid.
Scott:Mhmm.
Jamie:Like, would that kid get into Princeton? Or or or would he have to be like the four point o, like 1,600 on his on his SAT kind of guy?
Shane:Yeah. He has to hit different Markers. Marks. Yeah. And I think it goes both ways.
Shane:Like, people do people do reach out. Like, you might get a call where it's like, hey, you know, such and such is is really thought about this process, and he definitely wants to go the Ivy League route. I'll use an example of a kid coming in next season, Christian Lyons, like, you know, it's it was pretty early on where, he he wanted to go the Ivy League route. Mhmm. And he could've went the scholarship route, but Ivy League is something that him and his family believed in.
Shane:And I remember we we did an unofficial visit. We did an official visit with him. High academic kid, checked the boxes, and, you know, unbelievable family and kid. Right? And we're excited to have him here.
Shane:You know, not only will the team, but like the fans that come and watch the game, like they'll enjoy them. And, you know, that's you know, so you have that part of it where you might get a call and get seeked out on it. And that was definitely one. Like, I like, we seen him live a few times and stuff, but like, you know, his adviser reaching out was a big start start to it of of the clear Okay. Like, He wants to go to the Ivy League route.
Scott:And and he was on your radar
Jamie:No. He he wasn't.
Scott:Or wasn't on your radar. Sorry.
Jamie:I think
Shane:I missed that. Seen him, but, like, we didn't Oh. Yeah. Oh, he's Like, you weren't actively recruiting him.
Jamie:Know that he was, like, wanted to
Shane:go Yeah. Definitely wanted to go Ivy League. Right.
Jamie:If if the if the adviser had never called you, would it he'd never showed up on campus?
Shane:Let's just say I I no. I don't think I don't think long term, like, I think it would have played out where it was like
Jamie:Oh, you do?
Shane:Yeah.
Jamie:You guys would have crossed paths.
Shane:But it helps it helps when you know a kid is like Right. On
Scott:that route.
Jamie:Then you can chat, hey. This this kid kid meets this box, now let's see if he meets the rest
Scott:of them. Right?
Shane:Correct,
Scott:yeah. Yeah.
Shane:Because if I remember right, his process was probably like, I remember going on an Arizona trip and I seen him then, I seen him again and then that summer. So like, I think I went in like in December, talked to his advisor, right? And then you went through the process another six months. Wow. Right?
Shane:And then, like, it wasn't a rush process, but it was a process that was worth it.
Scott:But he but he's also having conversations with other Ivies.
Shane:Correct.
Scott:Right.
Shane:And he was he was that he he definitely, if I remember, he visited other scholarship schools Right. Right. Oh, so he could
Jamie:have played division one. So he was really
Scott:like seeing all his someplace.
Shane:Correct. He
Jamie:was so he's a he's a hockey player.
Shane:Yep. Good hockey player. Yep. But a high academic kid, works out with Jeff Flavecchio. Oh, right.
Scott:That's one of
Shane:the first calls I made.
Scott:Is he
Jamie:a is he a
Scott:science kid? Yep.
Shane:Okay. Yep. Right.
Jamie:So I'm assuming the new program out there, Maryville, what's the new program called out there that's in Saint Louis?
Scott:Maryville. Oh, Maryville. Yeah.
Jamie:They were knocking on his door. Yeah.
Scott:Oh, totally. He's got like a whole like a pipeline. Yeah. Exactly.
Jamie:He's in their backyard, know. Yeah. Yeah. It it's it's fun.
Scott:So I I had a question and kinda just changing gears a little bit. And listen, I just wanna be mindful of time. I don't know what your timing is, if you're good or not. Yeah. But, okay.
Scott:So from your your coaching journey Yeah. Right? Like, I I started thinking earlier about how, you know, for players as they start playing the game, like, some are naturally gonna be forward, some are naturally defensemen, goalies, you know, maybe along the way, a forward to play defense just to get some reps in on that to see the game in a different way, vice versa. Yeah. At some point, the coach is gonna say, hey.
Scott:You you were a center today. Tomorrow, you're a left d. Right? So there's like that movement and the need for these kids to have, like, a a more well rounded games than a lot of a lot of times. For coaches.
Scott:Right? Like, we were saying earlier about, like, having specific roles, like, within the within the team. You know, you're gonna have one guy that's running d, may one one that's running power play. Throughout a coach's journey and, like, you know, whatever the end goal might be Yep. Like, is there encouragement to, like, take different parts of the bench or different aspects of the game from one year to the next, or do you just kinda stick with, like, whatever your bread and butter might be, if it's defense, if it's video review, or PK, and, like, you just kinda ride that out?
Shane:Yeah. It's a great question. Because I've I've heard of different programs where they do switch it up
Scott:Okay.
Shane:For the assistants to have that experience, to have it on the res to help them out long term. Yep. You know, I I definitely think it depends on the head coach and what they wanna do from a responsibility standpoint. I do I do think it's important the way, not not important, I I like the way how we collaborate together.
Scott:Mhmm.
Shane:In a sense of like, hey, Henny's got the d, but maybe there's something after a game on a Friday night where Benny O'Connor speaks up to help a a defenseman. Mhmm. Know? Or like, you know, Conor's working with a guy on the power play and, you know, he's helping him with that or like PK in zone, you know, Benny or myself are pointing out something that it's gonna help on the PK, but it's also gonna help him out five on five.
Scott:Right.
Shane:Yeah. You know, or, you know, it's for every position. Right? Like, you're you know, say I am talking with a goalie, but, you know, Benny Benny sees something. Right?
Shane:So maybe that day when I'm doing a video session with a goalie, then he's in on that video session because he sees something, and he can do a better job in that situation explaining it.
Scott:Okay.
Shane:So we we all work together. I I think that it just depends on staff to staff. I don't know. I have heard that where some staffs maybe a guy's ran a penalty kill for two years and then he's running the power play that year Right. To get him different experiences.
Shane:Because over time, this will be my twelfth year, I've had different responsibilities along my path. Yeah, sure. And I'm sure other guys in the same situation, guys have done way longer than I have, would say the same thing.
Scott:Right. So would it be weird if there was like a head coach at, let's just say the collegiate or even professional level that like never ran a power play? Would that be like crazy to think?
Shane:Yeah. It's a great question. Yeah.
Jamie:I'm curious.
Scott:You know what I mean?
Jamie:Yeah. Listen.
Scott:Maybe you don't need to. I I don't know. I just never it just anyway, it just got me thinking. But Yeah. So like from from your own personal development Yeah.
Scott:And like all that, is there anything in particular that like you've really enjoyed doing as an you know, in in in different positions or maybe things that like you definitely prefer not to do if you don't have to? Yeah.
Shane:Well, one one of them I haven't done in a long time is is is early on, like, I ran the d, right? So I haven't done that one in a bit. So that I've I've done the penalty kill a ton Yeah. In in in my time. You know, the one year, like, Tommy Tommy was here, I helped him with the power play.
Shane:Early on, I did do the power play, so I haven't done that in a while. I've always enjoyed the the penalty kill because, like, you're down a guy and it's like
Scott:Time to get gritty Fuck
Shane:the fuck up. Yeah. Momentum opportunity and, you know, you're no different than a player's when it when you do give up a PK goal. Mhmm. And I also think about it from a PK standpoint of, you know, from a goalie standpoint of like, you know, okay.
Shane:Well, how does this help our goalie be successful on the kill? Right. Yeah. Let's start there and build out.
Scott:Sure.
Shane:Right? And and it's only here at Princeton, though. Those are heavy conversations at the collegiate level, but also the
Jamie:At the pro level.
Shane:At the NHL level. We talk about it all the time. Right? So I I think I see it from that point of view too, but it's just it's just it's rewarding when you see the guys kill a penalty
Scott:Sure.
Shane:As a coach. Yeah. Right? You take one step at a time and and when they achieve it, it's like
Scott:Well done, boys. That.
Jamie:Totally. What's Benny like on the bench? I'm asking I'm asking for a reason. I'm curious. What's Benny like?
Scott:I think he talked about it on his his podcast. I'm the one who got the kick. What I'm asking
Jamie:because I'm pretty sure that Shane's the one that got kicked by Danny if I if I'm if I'm not mistaken.
Scott:You might be right. Yeah.
Jamie:You know, he he he I don't know what the question was that that, like, got it going. Yeah. But I appreciate he's okay. He's like, I kicked one of our assistants. Like, appreciate it.
Shane:Oh, right. He's like, shaking.
Jamie:He's like, he's been using a bank. He's kicked to me. He's like, what?
Scott:I was like, Benny, you're like a thoroughbred.
Jamie:Were you standing like, below
Shane:him or something?
Scott:Yeah. So I moved.
Shane:He was coming down
Jamie:to the
Shane:DN and I'm like, alright. I'll I'll be a good I'll be a
Scott:take one Do the right
Shane:role here. Move out
Scott:the way. Right.
Shane:Yeah. Yeah. I slid along the glass and next you know, he stops in front of me and his left leg comes back and just gets me right in the chest. I'm like, oh, we got you good.
Scott:Caught me right here. I go back. Like, is it
Jamie:just like a light?
Shane:Like, I feel like a horse. She's attack.
Jamie:I attacked him when he described it. Didn't sound like a like a karate kick.
Shane:Yeah. I can't remember if Henny saw it or not, but, like, I'm pretty sure, I wanna say Palms. Either Mike or Palms seen
Jamie:it Okay.
Shane:Our our trainer and our equipment manager. Right. But, like, I didn't say it until, like, after Yeah. It was over. Yeah.
Shane:It's an opportunity to you know
Scott:what I mean?
Shane:After a win. To
Jamie:get yeah. To break his chops
Scott:a Yeah. Little I'm like, yeah. That's why I was like, you're like a thoroughbred. Yeah.
Shane:She's like, what he's like looking at me. I'm like, you kicked me right in the chest. That's funny.
Scott:That's so funny. But,
Shane:yeah. Benny Benny's ton of energy. Right. Like hates losing, right? Yeah.
Shane:Like super competitive, but the guys feed off that. Right. Right? When he talks, they listen, you know, so, like, you know, he's the leader leader of the program and, you know, I I think guys feed off it. Mhmm.
Shane:You know, it's it's certain points of the game when you need that that momentum to kick back up. Yeah. Like, so you have that piece of it, and then when a guy needs the accountability piece, like, he's there. He's on it. He's on everything.
Shane:Yeah. And, you know, he's not only on that. He's on us too. Right?
Jamie:I can imagine.
Shane:And and not a bad way.
Jamie:No. No. No. I don't think so.
Shane:And that's that's, I mean, that in all positivity because, you know, he wants us to be successful too, no different than the guys on the on the roster. Yeah. Right. He's a guy you wanna play for for a few years.
Jamie:You you can tell. I mean, he he we've obviously, we did a whole episode with him then. I mean, he talked to us when he brought us in here, he talked to for, like, forty five minutes.
Scott:Yeah. One one of the things when he walked out to
Jamie:Generous with his time.
Scott:Yeah. He was, but also, just like the conversation that we had, which was unexpected.
Jamie:Yeah. We should
Scott:have Like one of the worst things
Jamie:the entire thing.
Shane:We should
Scott:have, which makes me think I always need to have like a mic Yeah. On But no, like passionate is something that came to mind and just hearing him talk about like the topics we were talking about. But yeah, just like a passionate guy and and it just, yeah, it must be it must be great to to have him as a leader on the team.
Shane:Yeah. Yeah. It's unbelievable. Sure. Like even even from, you know, me and him went on a recruiting trip two and a half weeks ago.
Shane:So you're staying in a hotel, you're riding in a car, you're together. And I'm driving and he's spitting off names like in the passenger seat. You got a six and a half hour drive and it's late on a Friday night, you're driving back together and that's where you can always pick up something. Especially from a guy that's done
Scott:it for a long time
Shane:and the success he's had, that's where you learn Yeah. As an assistant and like you're sitting there driving and you're like asking some questions here
Scott:and there. Getting all the details.
Jamie:Feel like a sponge. Yeah. Keep taking everything in. Yeah. You can tell he's a different type of guy.
Scott:Yeah. You know, of the things, and I'm gonna jump around a little bit more, but just something I I don't think we've talked about on the pod, but, just, with respect to kind of like the the weight training piece and like the nutrition piece here, you know, a lot, look, a lot of our listeners at this point are getting, you know, I think behind these scenes looks from like the Chiclets University and like all those things, and it's great that there's like exposure on that stuff. Yeah. But like with respect to like Princeton specifically, like on that that like weight training piece on, you know, because like, look, I think, there's some schools that just like end up producing more like players that are going to the next level. Not a knock on any other program, but, like, you know, there's surely, you know, plenty of people that have come out of Princeton and and gone to the next level as well.
Scott:No doubt. But in terms of that, like, you know, the off ice training, the the speed strength conditioning piece, like, how plus the over like, the rigorous academics. Yeah. Like, do you find, like, in in in IV environment that, like, that piece does not get as much attention perhaps as, like, other programs do, or or is that, like, there's plenty of time in the day to do all of it?
Shane:Yeah. I think I think like recently, like I think you could say that maybe just because of the like you said about like the university, like the use you said the Chiclets.
Scott:Oh, the Chiclets University. Right. Yeah. They're showing like all these all these things and like this behind it, it's like attracting people to come to like the schools and like Yeah. And it's and they're great facilities, you know, and all that stuff.
Scott:But I'm like, so I think some people that like are like learning about college, university, d one, like hockey, that not that this is necessarily the standard, but like there's enough of it out there where that's kind of commonplace. And I'm just kind of curious with respect to Princeton, like on that side of things, on like, you know, the strength training, like the off ice training, like, you know, kinda what's that like at Princeton?
Shane:Yeah. Because one one of my favorite things to do is like is you wanna see something cool as it is and this is for anybody outside of like, our hockey program, walk into a a workout. Yeah.
Scott:When you're
Jamie:a Princeton strength and conditioning guy? It's electric. Yeah.
Shane:Oh, that's awesome. Right? Like, it's it's loud. Right. Like they're soaking wet.
Scott:Right.
Shane:Yep. And they're they're laughing, they're having fun, they're pushing each other. Like they're walking up, hitting their face on the iPad because like, it's telling them to do something different than a different guy because it's it works for them individually.
Scott:Okay. Very cool. Right? And
Shane:just like the energy and enthusiasm in that gym, like, it's a good behind the scenes view of what our culture is. And it's that like compete and drive at all times and it doesn't stop. And like when it's done, the guys will go on and do their individual stuff and they'll stay longer.
Jamie:Right.
Shane:Right? And that's the thing, like, in a recruiting process, like, you know, schools we use say against us that our guys are academic guys, they're not hockey players. Like, just come and follow our guys around for a week.
Scott:Right. You'll see if they're hockey players.
Shane:Right. You'll see them in the morning, like they're doing a team dynamic and they're they're doing their team video, they got practice, they're back out for skills. You'll see guys jump back out on the ice again throughout the day. They're doing individual video. They're doing power play PK video, this is every day.
Scott:Right. They're drinking it all day.
Shane:And then he's huge on the recovery piece. Okay. So we call it spa day. Not dizzy.
Scott:Does it happen to be today,
Jamie:by the
Shane:way? I
Scott:I wouldn't mind, you know, if you're If
Shane:you got room. Dinghy Moore was just joking around down there. He was like, yeah, I just, I just got out of an ice bath.
Scott:Okay. Right? And like Chris Reininger's like, I don't know if I could
Shane:do it right next. He just got off the ice and stuff. Right.
Jamie:Is he the dude with the long hair here?
Shane:Hell, yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. I I think he has our kids, by the way.
Scott:Oh, does it? Yeah.
Jamie:He's the Green Bay kid. The kid he's he's no. No.
Shane:Chicago. Played played for Chicago.
Scott:Oh, okay.
Jamie:That's the kid where our kids were talking.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah.
Shane:Yeah. He's the most popular guy in, the cafeteria.
Scott:Oh, yeah?
Shane:They all love him.
Scott:We walk in, they're like Why is that?
Shane:He's just he's super social.
Jamie:Oh,
Shane:okay. Right? Super social.
Scott:He's Oh, I know who yeah. He's the next Hedgeman.
Shane:Yeah. Yeah. I know. He's the next Hedgeman on our team. I know.
Shane:Hedgeman that just graduated was like mister
Scott:Everybody knew that was on campus. The mayor. Mister Popular. That's unreal. But So
Jamie:Talked about him after the May 1.
Scott:Yeah. So it's it's kinda like, you know, how you do anything is how you do everything kind of thing. Right? Like, you're gonna find that same work ethic, that same, like, first class approach, like, you know, top to bottom in the Princeton, like workout facilities, dining hall, wherever they're getting their meals. Yeah.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. Makes makes total
Jamie:sense. Right. Yeah. So I'm curious. For for those who don't know much about like because we we have listeners all over the globe.
Jamie:Right? Yeah. So obviously, we're, you know, heavy in the Tri State area, but we have listeners all over The US and all over the globe. So for somebody who doesn't know anything about about Princeton and Isockey, it's a place where they they want their kid to go, you know, what would you say to the to those parents who are kinda looking their kids in, I don't know, middle school, you know, getting going into high school and they want or looking for places for the kid to be in play. What should they know about Princeton?
Jamie:Think School and the and the program.
Scott:Yeah. I think the first thing about it is like
Shane:what you're getting yourself into and it goes like for the Princeton takes care of Princeton people. I think you're surrounded by like minded people that care about you. And you're not when you come here, you're not getting recruited just for four years, you're getting recruited for the next forty years.
Scott:Yeah.
Shane:Right? Guys wanna be here. They step footed on here and they're a part of something. And it's just not about our hockey program, it's about our whole athletic department from the family culture Sure.
Jamie:Right.
Shane:Where we all take care of one another. And you're getting an academic education that's top 10 in the world. Yeah. Right? So like you talk to the kids like in in the camp today and it's like, who's your favorite baseball team?
Shane:And they're like, the New York Yankees. Well, it's like, k, you go to school here
Jamie:and Yankee I hope equivalent.
Shane:Yeah. Like, I hope you're I hope you get to play hockey as long as you can. But when it does end, one of your buddies from school might be the next GM of the New York Yankees to get you your first job. Yep. You might be sitting in a classroom beside the next president of The United States one day.
Shane:Sure. And that's where you get at this school. I think the location, it's somewhere where you wanna be for four years.
Scott:Mhmm.
Shane:And then the fun part of it is you have an opportunity to achieve your goals and dreams as a hockey player. Yeah. Surrounded by people that care for you, that are gonna look after you, and you're a part like I said, you're a part of something forever. You you see it at the reunions here when people come back. Like, you see how much people care.
Shane:Like, whether whether they were an athlete or or student here, like, people look after one another here. And that that's what separates Princeton from others is is just the people.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you this much. When we so when dropping off auto here, it's actually my first time here on campus. Yep.
Scott:And, I was probably on campus for maybe like thirty minutes, and I told my wife I wanted to get a Princeton alumni t shirt. I was like, this place is amazing. No. But in all in all seriousness, no, think that that's really, you know, really well put. Got me, you know, not only sold, but it's like, you know, you're just like reinforcing everything you talk about.
Scott:Right? Like just what goes on here and it's it's really, you know, just being a part of this and talking to you coach Tsai or being on on at Hobie, it's just like it's it's special. Yeah. Speaking
Jamie:of that, I mean, this is a selling feature all to itself. I mean Yeah. This, in my opinion, has got to be one of the top three ranks in all of college hockey.
Shane:Yeah. It's it's to me to me, it's gotta be one of the hardest places to play in college.
Scott:It must be.
Jamie:Yeah. Because you're right on top of the ice as a fan.
Shane:Like, first of all, the the visiting room.
Scott:Yeah. I love the visiting
Shane:room. Right? It's not sexy. No. But team comes in, they see that, and it's like and our guys love it.
Shane:Yeah. And our guys love playing here and playing for Princeton. Right. Right? And when this place like going fourteen two and one this past year at home was was special.
Jamie:Is that what you guys went?
Shane:Yeah. Was tremendous. Fourteen two and one. And
Jamie:I knew it was good.
Scott:I knew
Jamie:it was that good.
Shane:Yeah. You go from practice, like even trying to talk in practice, it's hard. Right. But when you get this place rocking
Scott:Oh my
Shane:goodness. It feels way bigger than what
Jamie:it is. The acoustics in here because of how it's built. I mean, the fact that the fans are like on on top of the ice.
Shane:Benches are tight.
Scott:Yep. Everything is tight. Everything is Like,
Jamie:I mean, it's so alright. So we we've heard this before, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Yeah. What is like the game to come to here? What's like the rivalry game, the game, right, for somebody that's never been here and they're gonna buy tickets to come to Princeton for the first time?
Jamie:What's like the game they should come to? Besides the station by season they should buy an entire season ticket package. But let's say it's one game, what game should it be?
Shane:It's a great question because like, we go back to other guys in college hockey. We get asked that question a lot.
Scott:Yeah.
Shane:And that's what makes our league special is because of the competitive side of it. Because you could sit there and you go Harvard, Cornell, you know, go on and on. I think right now, like, if I had to give you one team Yeah. Like that's what you're looking for. Just curious if
Scott:want team We can do it. Straight up. Okay. Alright.
Shane:And I think it's pretty clear on why. Like, they're on top right now. They won a championship.
Scott:Right.
Shane:Right. Right. They beat us in overtime. Right. You know, and, you know, you go up there, there's the tennis ball game.
Scott:Oh, right. Where they throw it. Right.
Shane:Right. Right.
Scott:So like We talked about that.
Shane:You know, we we gotta get this place rocking when Dartmouth comes here.
Scott:There we go.
Jamie:Alright. So before this season, what team would you have said? I'm just me, you wouldn't have said Dartmouth.
Scott:But you want a different answer now?
Jamie:I'm just curious. Because there's another
Scott:one But his answer wasn't good
Jamie:another one that I'm curious that that I'm curious. Cause we've had we've had this conversation with other people. So I'm curious if it's the same two
Shane:teams. And I think it I think it would be different for everybody. Right? Like Yeah. If you
Jamie:ask Yeah. If you
Shane:ask Henny Henny and Connor, they might say Q Pac. Right? Because they're Q Pac
Scott:Oh, sure. Yeah. Okay. Right?
Jamie:Yeah. But okay.
Shane:I I think one, for me and Benny, right, being guys that were at Cornell, Yeah. Like
Scott:I mean, that's what I was
Shane:talking you didn't throw it in there.
Jamie:That's what
Scott:I was expecting.
Jamie:Right? And then these fucking newspapers.
Shane:Yeah. And there's you have the respect from one agent. Like, Flanny's still there. Flanny I work with Flanny. Right.
Shane:And I have a great relationship with Flanny. Yeah. He's good. The other one that I think since I've been here, when you had all the Boston guys Mhmm. Harvard was a big one.
Scott:Oh, I'm sure. Yeah.
Shane:Harvard would be a big one.
Scott:Must have been.
Shane:But if I had if I had to give you a personal one If Yeah.
Scott:I would say Dartmouth.
Shane:Dartmouth. If you ask for the second one Cornell. Cornell. If you ask the boys, I imagine Harvard would be one or two, and I they'll they'll probably go with Dartmouth as the one.
Jamie:Yeah. Right. That's my friend. I heard Dartmouth Yeah. Point out and and Harvard does not shock me because Yeah.
Jamie:That does not shock me.
Shane:No doubt. Yeah.
Jamie:Because if if you if you look at the academic piece, right, it's always kind of like a power struggle between Princeton
Scott:Then Harvard. Harvard. Right.
Jamie:You know? So I figured Harvard was was gonna be up there too. Yeah. No, listen. Any of those games, for those of you who are listening, any of those games, buy buy tickets.
Shane:Yeah. Let's let's be here. We'll be rocking.
Scott:Yes. Yeah. Absolutely.
Jamie:Don't do not let the away team buy tickets. So we interviewed Tapper first. Yeah. And I had on.
Shane:You had
Scott:a you had your Princeton like pullover.
Jamie:Princeton three quarters of with the logo. He comes up, he's like
Scott:What are we doing? Yeah. Yeah. What are yeah. Exactly.
Scott:I gotta get
Jamie:you some green. And then it's funny. So we did so and then obviously Conor came out with this and and Flanny came out with this. Flaming and Busted by Chops about it. Obviously Conor had no problem
Scott:with it.
Shane:Yeah. Loved it.
Jamie:But then, even even after the fact, we were trying to Tap Around again to do like a full episode.
Scott:Oh, right.
Jamie:And he's like he's like, as long as you throw out that orange chubby.
Scott:I love it. Yeah.
Shane:Hey, you gotta keep the orange on.
Scott:That's it. Listen. It's never coming off this guy.
Jamie:Listen, we've been Scott knows. I I've been bringing Dominic down here six. Yeah. I I have a picture of him. I I brought him down here and he happened to, like, get sick on the way down here.
Jamie:So as like, a trooper that he that he is, but he's not feeling well. He's, laying sideways on a bench. I don't remember what game it was. Know, he's like laying sideways on a bench with his princely hat on, you know, like just during warm ups. Yeah.
Jamie:Like he was a trooper. So we've been coming down here for a long time.
Scott:Yeah. Well, I'm certainly looking forward to coming down here during the season.
Jamie:Special place.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. Well, coach, listen, thank you so much for taking so much of your time to talk with us. We really appreciate it. And then as far as anyone listening that wants to just like look a bit more into Princeton, the program, any place you direct them to Instagram or the website or where Social can you find
Shane:media is huge. I I think think going on, you know, our Instagram page, Princeton Hockey, our Twitter, I think it I think that's huge. Also on YouTube, right, they have the highlights of, you know, that's that's how I started off with with the guys today and the presentations. To give them a feel Yeah. Of, you know, what the atmosphere is like here
Scott:Yeah.
Shane:Break that down of just how much pride our our guys take in playing here at Hobie. And and just talking a little bit about who who Hobie was. Right? And so they so they know.
Scott:Mhmm.
Shane:And and not only do have that on the men's side, we got Patty Kasman
Scott:on the women's side as well. Rink.
Jamie:Holy rink. Yeah.
Shane:I think that's huge. I I think once they're they're recruitable, if they are if they do have academics, it is super helpful when when we do get emailed. Yeah. Yeah. Right?
Shane:To reach out if you are are an academic kid and you know, so we we can get we can mark you and stuff and
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Start following and see.
Shane:Yeah. And start following and see and see if you're a guy down the road.
Scott:Right. Sure.
Shane:But I think social media is the biggest biggest one for sure.
Jamie:Perfect. I keep telling Chaz that we saw him at the ETC, I'm like, you guys need to take that clip of that hit that like center ice hit.
Shane:Kevin Anderson.
Scott:Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Jamie:I was like, that should be replaying on a loop in
Scott:the building.
Shane:The picture of it is unbelievable.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah.
Shane:It's it's
Scott:it's literally amazing.
Jamie:Phenomenal play. I mean, you know, I mean, and I I mean, you saw it first. We we were right behind you seeing it firsthand. I mean, when you were in the ring, that was
Scott:That was that was something.
Jamie:I mean, the hit that started, it was just. Yeah. It was awesome. Yeah. We gotta get more
Shane:of those this year.
Scott:Yes. Here we go. Keep playing physical.
Jamie:Yes. I I have a feeling that they're gonna come.
Scott:That new D Core is gonna bring it, Yeah. We need it. Yeah. We need it.
Shane:Alright. Get them adjusted. Awesome.
Jamie:Thank you for taking time.
Scott:Alright. Thanks for Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Thank you. Alright.