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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.
Alright, everybody. Welcome back to episode 53 of the Crazy Hockey Dads Podcast, the unfiltered podcast for hockey parents. No politics. No sugarcoating. Just real talk for hockey parents in the trenches, buddy.
Scott:Nailed it. And, dude, you got the episode right, unlike myself.
Jamie:I was gonna say, it's all good, though. Yeah. All good. Do we have an episode?
Scott:Do we? Mean Ever.
Jamie:My goodness. My goodness gracious. Do we have an episode?
Scott:Yeah. That was a good, good job by you, sir.
Jamie:Appreciate it.
Scott:Good job by you. I know you did It what you needed to was not easy. Yeah. You were persistent.
Jamie:That goes You were That's like putting it mildly. My man. Dude, it was not easy. This was our hardest one by leaps and bounds.
Scott:Okay. Well, listen.
Jamie:This is not easy.
Scott:Listen, if you put your mind to it
Jamie:Listen. No. It it worked, but it was not easy.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:So I hope everybody enjoys it because this is he's a sick guest.
Scott:Yes. Yes. Well, how about before that? You mentioned our partners?
Jamie:Howie's which one do wanna start with? Wanna go with Howie's Hockey?
Scott:I mean, I think we always start with
Jamie:Howie's Don't we? Yeah. Howie's Hockey, Crazy 10. Go get your tape, laces, Scott's favorite, the candle, the yellow handed handled scissors, Their gear, their wax, their their laces, their love Hockey's hockey. It's it's a constant thing in my household.
Scott:Why do you call it scissors? We already had this conversation.
Jamie:We did. Because a couple podcasts ago, I said scissor I I maybe I didn't enunciate scissors well. Something along those lines.
Scott:It wasn't like an intentional
Jamie:No. Something like that. So now I say scissors. Oh. Yeah.
Jamie:The yellow hand yellow handled scissors.
Scott:Yes. That's true. You do say that.
Jamie:Yes. Okay. Just to be funny.
Scott:Okay. We got it. Scissors.
Jamie:Yeah. So Howie's Hockey, Crazy ten for a 10% discount. Go get your gear, tape, laces, whatever you need from Howie's. They have everything. And their clothes are pretty cool too.
Jamie:So Crazy Ten for Howie's Hockey for a 10% discount.
Scott:That's right. And let's shout out coach Kevin, hockeytraining.com. Love that, newest partners. Just can't say enough about this guy. If you haven't listened to the episode, go back and listen to it.
Scott:Jane, what episode number was it with coach Kevin?
Jamie:Do you remember? Was, I wanna say, 48.
Scott:Does that sound right? Well
Jamie:God. You keep talking. Love that.
Scott:Alright. Alright. So if any of it for those of you that don't know coach Kevin.
Jamie:48. Coach Kevin. Good on view. Coach Kevin.
Scott:All right. Awesome. So he's got an online platform, hockeytraining.com. And he's got an incredible library of skills training, stick handling, off ice, speed, strength, agility. If your kid wants to get quicker feet, quicker hands, stronger stride, this is the place.
Scott:Yeah. Coach Kevin runs legit virtual stick handling classes as well.
Jamie:Sounds great.
Scott:Yeah. No. So we need some more kids on there.
Jamie:We do. Yeah. And we'll post that on our social media.
Scott:The
Jamie:kids are in the stick and in glass. But Coach Kevin's got some great stuff. Great workouts. They're short. They're concise.
Jamie:They're to the point.
Scott:Yeah. Tremendous off ice programs to work on. Like I said, speed, strength, and agility that actually translates to on ice, not just for kids, for anyone out there that's playing men's league, beer league, whatever you wanna call it. It's great. There's Men's League Domination, which is a training program.
Jamie:Your favorite? My favorite.
Scott:Yep. Subscriber to Men's League Domination '23.
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:As in, like, the year 2023.
Jamie:Does he update it every year?
Scott:They come out with new additions.
Jamie:They do, don't they? Yeah. No. He's doing more and more on all this stuff, which is great,
Scott:the fact
Jamie:that he updates. Yep. Love Coach Kevin.
Scott:Definitely check out hockeytraining.com.
Jamie:Hockeytraininghq is his Instagram. Love Coach Kevin. Yeah. Yeah, next one, Titan Battle Gear. If you guys want we push on this podcast safety for our kids.
Jamie:You know, Titan Battle Gear has the safest stuff around by far as far as base layers go protecting your kids. We spend enough money on this game, so go to www.titanbattlegear.com backslash Crazy Hockey Dads and use the code Crazy Dads10 for 10% off on your Titan battle gear. Like I said, they have some of the best stuff, the best quality material for cut resistant base layers. They have awesome colors, they have awesome gear, they have their rink life gear, which is like sweatshirts and shorts. But their base layers are tremendous.
Jamie:And they're very, very cool, so the kids will like them. They have some cool colors.
Scott:One of Otto's teammates today.
Jamie:Which one do you have
Scott:on? You know, whatever's got pink at the bottom with the sleeves.
Jamie:Yeah, that's right. There's a white color. There's a White with the pink.
Scott:Yeah, yeah. I only saw like the sleeve and like the
Jamie:Yeah, I wanna say it's part of like their Miami line or something like that.
Scott:Whatever is part of.
Jamie:Yeah. That's great. Badass. They have good stuff.
Scott:Yeah. So they one of Vato's teammates had a new, new layer on this morning. It was great to see.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. Titan battle they make great stuff. They make safe stuff. You know?
Jamie:We we spend enough money in this game. We gotta protect our kids. And they look good too. So titanbattlegear.com backslash crazy hockey dads. Use the code crazy dads 10 for 10% off your Titan battle gear.
Scott:You know, go get it. And then we got athletic
Jamie:Link in the show notes.
Scott:Link in the show notes. Athletic performance insight listeners that you know at this point are probably gonna start thinking about next season as many of you are considering there's ID skates and tune up clinics and rumors and this that and the next. The other thing that managers and coaches should be thinking about is how you're gonna make your team better next year. And one of the ways to do it is with analytics and video review. Athletic Performance Insight API is a platform online where you can have your games your team's games broken down by Eric's
Jamie:That's good stuff.
Scott:Yeah. By Eric's team over there. And what you'll get in return is a dashboard with your team and by game. And you'll have all of the analytics, you know, from team stats to individual stats. You can watch video, break things down by different things, goals, saves, breakouts that, you know, failed breakouts, successful breakouts.
Scott:You name it, you can get it. And it's a great tool to help your team learn and watch to see those on ice mistakes and successes. Yeah. So anyway, coaches take a look at athleticperformanceinsight.com for your next training tool for your team.
Jamie:Alright. Mention Crazy Hockey Dads for a 10% discount.
Scott:That's it.
Jamie:Right? $100 value.
Scott:Let's go. Use it use it.
Jamie:Take that $100 and go buy some Titan battle gear.
Scott:There you go. Keep it in the keep it in the system.
Jamie:Right? Might as well.
Scott:Yeah. But listen. You can use the contact form on his website. Yes. Athleticperformanceinsight.com.
Scott:And Eric will tag a game for free and certainly be more than happy to give you a demo of the software.
Jamie:He's a great dude. Yes, he is. Definitely a great dude. And Bud, I like your threads there. Yo.
Jamie:It's 'tis the season. 'Tis the season is right.
Scott:So you get it up there. Oh, man.
Jamie:Our USA hockey gear?
Scott:Yo. Let's go, girl.
Jamie:Women's are playing They just finished playing Finland.
Scott:Yep. So what? They're two and o now.
Jamie:Yeah. They won five nothing. Right? Something like that? Five nothing?
Scott:Crushing it.
Jamie:I think five nothing. Yeah. Crushing it. I cannot wait for the men's to start.
Scott:It's going to be unreal.
Jamie:So excited. Yeah. Yes. And our guest today actually has something to do with that.
Scott:Is that what yeah. That was part of his story?
Jamie:What do you mean?
Scott:I'm joking.
Jamie:I was gonna I was gonna say, I'm like, I couldn't tell if you were being serious or not. Yeah. That was Oh, come on. I why was that? Sure.
Jamie:Yes.
Scott:It was part of his story.
Jamie:It was part of his story.
Scott:Yeah. But before we get to him, just wanna check-in because last week when we had Jimmy Dowd on
Mike:Yes.
Scott:New Jersey legend.
Jamie:That's for sure.
Scott:Yeah. We did not talk hockey, which is fine. But just wanted to check-in because I know you guys are done with games at this point.
Jamie:We are done with games. I know you guys had a game this morning. We did. We have no games. We have, this was the makeup weekend.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:So we are done. We have playoffs next week.
Scott:How'd you guys finish?
Jamie:Second in the league.
Scott:Did you?
Jamie:No. Oh, second in our division?
Scott:Yeah. I did it. Yeah.
Jamie:Whatever whatever that is. You know what I mean? So, yeah. So we're second in our division.
Scott:That. You guys you guys are better than I thought you were.
Jamie:No. We're we're we've we've we've we've a good hockey team. You know? So we are we are second in our division. I think there's, like, 36 total teams in the entire thing.
Jamie:I wanna say we're, like I'm actually looking up as we speak. But we are second in our division behind a Connecticut team. Strange, though. I don't really don't understand it because we're number two, but we beat that team twice head to head.
Scott:Yeah. Because they don't use wins and losses.
Jamie:Use the crash rating. Yeah. I which does anybody understand? It's like the cloud. Nobody understands cloud.
Scott:What cloud? The like, the Internet cloud? Yes. Or like clouds?
Jamie:No. Like, no. No. Like, the Internet cloud. Oh, no one understands Clearly, you have not seen that movie.
Jamie:Nobody understands the cloud. No.
Scott:No. I haven't. No.
Jamie:You haven't.
Scott:No. So I also don't understand the reference.
Jamie:It's okay.
Scott:I've been to the list of things I'm not sure of.
Jamie:It's okay. No, listen. It's all good. We the audience knows that your movie game is Subpar? I don't wanna say subpar, but is
Scott:It it well, it's not great.
Jamie:I mean, it's not terrible, but it's, you know, it's lacking in spaces.
Scott:Okay. Well, you know, you
Jamie:Nobody understands the cloud. Okay. Cameron Diaz. Anyway. Cameron Diaz?
Jamie:She's in the movie. Oh, gotcha. Yeah. Anyway, I wanna say it's from Sex Tape.
Scott:Is that Yeah?
Jamie:Yeah. Never seen it. Yeah. Well Clearly. That's your problem.
Jamie:Oh,
Scott:wow. If that's what you'll call it, it might not be a problem.
Jamie:It's a pretty funny movie. It was yeah. It was Sex Tape with Cameron Diaz and who else was in that? Jason Segal.
Scott:Got it.
Jamie:Yeah. It's pretty good. It's funny.
Scott:I'll be honest. Who's Jason Segal? Now I should know that,
Jamie:Yes. Damn it. If I I'm gonna show you him, and you will know who I'm talking about. Ready? You will know who I'm talking about.
Jamie:Oh my god. You have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm a 100% sure. You're fucking kidding me. Somebody please help.
Jamie:Somebody. Just please help. I don't know what else to say right now, but help. Well Anyway Yeah. Anyway.
Jamie:Moving on from
Mike:that. I saw you tonight.
Jamie:Who dad is? Really?
Scott:Not so much.
Jamie:Okay. Got it.
Scott:I mean I know who Cameron Diaz is. I saw something about Mary. Got
Jamie:it. Okay. Alright. Listen. It's alright.
Jamie:It's alright. It's all good. We forgive you.
Scott:Franks and Beans.
Jamie:Great movie. Yep. Great. Great. Great movie.
Jamie:Great movie. What did he
Scott:call it? Taupe? The color of his That was a
Jamie:Great movie, by way. We we need to go back and watch that. I need to go back and
Scott:watch that. Is that the Frank or the Bean?
Jamie:It's a
Scott:great movie. Yeah. Great, great, great.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. So he was not he was not in Something About Mary. No, but she was. She was, yes.
Jamie:Yeah. He was in, like, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Scott:Never saw it.
Jamie:It's okay. You're not missing a whole lot there.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:No, he's funny. So he was in the movie Sex Tape. Was good.
Scott:Gotcha.
Jamie:Nobody was saints in the cloud. Anyway, sorry. But, yeah, so we're done. So we finished second in our division. Congrats.
Jamie:That's great. Yeah. Sure. Okay. Yeah.
Jamie:It's fine. You know, I I know what it means, but we finished second in our division to a team that we beat twice. Yeah. So we made the playoffs, whatever that looks like. I guess we're still waiting for I guess we're playing three teams.
Jamie:We don't know who the second team is yet because I guess they're playing this weekend or something Oh, along those
Scott:because of
Mike:the second.
Jamie:Things are still being finalized. Think it's a wild card spot or something along those lines.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:So there's a total of 33 teams in the entire top to bottom.
Scott:And how many make playoffs?
Jamie:I don't know. We're fifth top to bottom. That's in the division. In our conference, we're second. We finished
Scott:That makes sense.
Jamie:Twenty nine and nine.
Scott:Oh, that's not good for you. Yeah. That's great.
Jamie:The team in front of us finished twelve and five.
Scott:They played way less games.
Jamie:Way less games.
Scott:So it was crash ratings.
Jamie:Correct. And we beat them twice. Okay. But we're still below them.
Scott:Yeah, and
Jamie:the CRACH rating, we're nowhere near them either. We're like 157, they're like two ninety five. Does anybody understand that shit? The CRACH rating? There's a formula, apparently.
Jamie:Yeah. But you need to be like a physicist. You need to be like an MIT physicist.
Scott:Do you? Is that complicated?
Jamie:I've actually never looked into it, but I'm assuming it's It's
Scott:quite similar to my hockey rankings. Like the algorithm that they Probably.
Jamie:Yeah. It's probably not that.
Scott:Considers like your strength of schedule Yeah. Goal differential
Jamie:Probably.
Scott:Wins losses.
Jamie:I would think so, yes. But I would think most people don't have the time or the patience to go do that.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:Some do. I'm not one of those people. No. Are you?
Scott:You know, when I paid attention to my hockey rankings much more closely
Jamie:Right.
Scott:I read into it.
Jamie:You did? Yeah. See, I have zero interest.
Scott:I didn't try to figure out how to do the math, but I read into the details to get a little more familiar.
Jamie:Okay, fair. I have zero interest in actually giving a shit as to why it is the way it is. Just tell me where I need to bring my kid and what time and I'm good. You know I mean?
Scott:I'm with you on that.
Jamie:That's kind of where I am.
Scott:I don't tell me that we're gonna be in the playoffs.
Jamie:He mentioned that upstairs. I heard him say that. Said you guys are not only backing into the playoffs, but you guys are one of the last ones in.
Scott:Wow.
Jamie:Like a wild wild card spot or something like that?
Scott:I have to look into that.
Jamie:I think there's an upper and a lower, though. No?
Scott:Is it we're in the, the what do you call it?
Jamie:I don't know how that I'm I'm not even sure that's true, by the way, the upper and
Scott:the lower. In the participation trophy bracket?
Jamie:Listen. More hockey. It's all it is.
Scott:I I yeah. I guess. I mean, I guess I'll take it. Who knows?
Jamie:It's fine. Who knows? How did Otto do this morning since we don't have any games?
Scott:Otto. Yeah. He did alright.
Mike:So tell
Jamie:us how he did.
Scott:Yeah. He was it was an early game. I thought we were past these, like, 07:15AM starts. That's like Forty minutes away.
Jamie:That's like Mike stuff.
Scott:Yeah. No doubt. You know?
Jamie:Like We're not supposed to do that in thrilled about it.
Scott:I like up at like 05:10 this morning. I woke him up at 05:45. Yeah. Yeah. They won.
Scott:The team that they played is not good. No. So I'm not surprised they won. But like it's the end of the season and it's like we just keep on seeing more like the same selfish play. It's like
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:Like everyone wanted to get their goal. Everyone wanted their cookie. There was no, there's no team Yeah. Aspect to the game. Like, at this point, like, it's like, the season's so, like, you know, we're we're towards the end.
Scott:It's not over. It was towards the end, but, like, it it's it's just honestly, it's, like, really, I you know, it's frustrating to see that like certain types of like on ice behavior, if you will, are even allowed.
Jamie:Like, the You would have thought that would have been nipped These by kids
Scott:should be like, you know, like, I I don't know. We've talked about this a bunch, but if it was me, it's like, if you're not gonna pass the puck, there's your seat on the bench.
Jamie:That's right.
Scott:If you're not gonna back check hard, there's your seat on the bench. If you're not gonna be first on puck or at least make it look like you're gonna be first on puck, you can sit on the bench. Like, it's it's it's like there's no excuse to let these kids continue to have these bad habits. Like, I I it's like, it's beyond.
Jamie:You know, it's funny. It's funny to hear you say that because, so I think and I'm not making excuses for people. And I'm talking kids now. Yeah? So because they don't know any better.
Jamie:Right? So you would think that moving the hockey puck would be like a priority for any coach. Right? Like, you don't move the puck, you sit, like you said. Right?
Scott:The puck gets there faster than anyone else will.
Jamie:100%. No question about it. That's how the game works. The puck moves. So what's interesting is that can almost guarantee you this is just me speaking, but this is my thoughts that kids don't move the hockey puck because they are not sure they're ever gonna get back again.
Scott:There's definitely trust. Right. It depends like so if you're on a line Yeah. And, like, you don't trust that the kid That's right. That's on the ice with you is gonna be able to do something positive with the puck, they don't pass it.
Jamie:Right. And it's not it's it's the wrong move. It's the it's the wrong mindset. Like, you have to move the puck. Regardless of whether it comes back to you or not, you have to move it.
Jamie:Because that's how the game is played at
Scott:the upper levels. That's part of it. And the other part of it is if, like, kids see they have space Right. They'll take the space. But even if they have an open teammate who's further down the ice or in a better spot Correct.
Scott:Like just because they have the space, they'll decide to take it when it's not necessarily the right move.
Jamie:That's
Scott:right. And like ultimately, like, you know, I know a lot of these kids, they they wanna score goals. And that that's the only thing that not the only thing, but it it would just seems so evident today is that like, there's it's such an opportunity when you and I get it. It's hard when they're young, but when you're playing a team where you're clearly better than them
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:Like that's the time where you get your kids together and say, hey, listen, We're gonna work on team play. Like, we have possession more. Yeah. You're gonna have more time and space.
Jamie:Just keep going.
Scott:I want you to work on this. Yeah. Move the puck low to high in the offensive zone. Yeah. Move the puck east to west when you're, like, you know
Jamie:Listen.
Scott:In the neutral zone. Like, create space. Work it back to the d. Do you go d to d? Like, instead, you have people that
Jamie:Break the puck away.
Scott:But instead, the kids see that they're like individually better than those individuals, and they're gonna do, you know, like, try to stick handles Like, and skate
Jamie:it's Yeah. I know.
Scott:I Look, I get it. They're kids. So, yes. But I I think there's a responsibility. Like, so these kids are 11 and 12.
Jamie:No. There is. There's responsibility from the coaching staff.
Scott:From the coaching staff to be like, this is not okay. This is not the way the game of hockey is played.
Jamie:And I agree. Kids should be saying Honestly, it's it's what you're doing.
Scott:I mean, I haven't said anything all season, but like, you know, maybe I should have sooner, but like, I'm I'm I'm I mean, listen. Season's over. No. I know. But it's it's just not Yeah.
Scott:Not okay.
Jamie:The hockey puck has to move. And and if the hockey puck doesn't move at certain levels, then the I I agree. There should be somebody should to teach how it's supposed to
Scott:But here's the thing.
Jamie:Right? Because you don't want that kid going doing this their entire, you know, younger career. And then when they get to high school, they get sat down for, like, games at a time, and then that lesson's harder to learn then.
Scott:It's harder to learn it every as every season passes. But here's the thing also, right? Like even though I'm saying it like like I'm a bit like charged about this right now. But like I can tell. None of these conversations need to be in a negative way.
Jamie:No. Don't. These are they don't have These are normal conversations
Scott:because coaches are playing. Yes. It doesn't have to be like, hey 100%. You know, like, what the hell are you doing out there, kid?
Jamie:100%.
Scott:Take a seat. It's like, they're teaching moments. It's like, you know, hey. You're not wrong. Hey, Timmy.
Scott:Look. This is what I we've talked about this before. We talked about this in practice, and I already told you twice today. I need you to move the puck. You didn't move the puck on your last shift, so this is what I need you to do.
Scott:Yeah. I need you to take a seat during your next shift and I want you to watch Yes. So and so and so and so, and I want you to see how they're moving the puck.
Jamie:And the next time you get out there
Scott:Is that move that something that you can do? Yes, coach. I can do that too. Okay. Well, when you go out there, I wanna see you do that.
Scott:That's right. That's how you play the game of hockey. Correct. Oh, Billy, you know, we've talked about this for the, you know, the last couple games. You have not been back checking hard.
Scott:And what does it mean when you're not back checking hard? It means when the puck's going towards your goalie and you're still in the offensive zone, you need to skate harder, faster to get back to help your team defensively. That's right. And if you're gonna keep, like, both hands on your stick and just kind of wait to see if we they turn the puck over and
Jamie:you're And pops out.
Scott:And you're open for, like, this long stretch pass, like, that's not playing defense.
Jamie:No. It's good.
Scott:So if you're gonna keep on doing that, Billy, you know, then you're gonna be sitting on the bench because that's not how you play the team game.
Jamie:Listen. I don't disagree with you. And I and I think that some coaches don't wanna go down those roads with kids. I don't know why, but they don't. But that's their job.
Jamie:I agree with you. I I I You're gonna get You're gonna get no pushback
Scott:from either. Flat out. That's their job.
Jamie:Of course.
Scott:Of course. Parents are not paying thousands and thousands of dollars
Jamie:You're not wrong.
Scott:To not at least have a coach be willing to hold kids accountable for doing the right thing.
Jamie:Some parents are okay with their kid holding on to the hockey puck
Scott:and telling them. Okay. But that's listen. I I understand
Jamie:Those parents don't mind. I understand. That's something right. It's a 100% wrong.
Scott:Okay. But so there are some parents that if their kid is being a puck hog
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:Like, they're okay with it.
Mike:Yes. What the hell is this?
Jamie:Yeah. It's it's crazy some of the things you see. I I still see I still see at my kid's age, kids shooting the hockey puck from like outside the dots from like an just an awful angle Yeah. Instead of like moving the hockey puck. Yeah.
Jamie:I still see that. First year, Bantam.
Scott:How how many how many times do you see these really because it happens all the time in the NHL, but how many times do you see these, like, kids hang on to the puck, hang on to the puck when and then they're, like, really wide, and it's a very low angle shot.
Jamie:That's I'm saying.
Scott:Super low That's
Jamie:exactly what I'm
Scott:You know,
Jamie:there's low percentage ball falling angle kids' heads outside the dots or outside the circle And then where there's nothing to shoot at.
Scott:And then they get then they shoot the puck and then the other team ends up recovering because
Jamie:it rings around and all of a sudden, you're you're on an odd man rush.
Scott:So why are you not hanging on to the puck, making an escape turn? Like, these these are things
Jamie:even just cycling it. I mean, it's just something But even shooting kids the hockey puck awful angle.
Scott:If don't have the understand the concept of cycling.
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:Right? Because that requires coordination between multiple people.
Jamie:Yes.
Scott:Right? But as the puck carrier Yes. Like, if you get into a position where you got a really shitty angle or it is very low percentage
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:Like, I need you to peel away, head onto the puck
Jamie:Escape and
Scott:the find boards. Yeah. Find a trailer.
Jamie:The defenseman is gonna be coming to the zone or the center is gonna be coming down the ice. Somebody's gonna be open. Somebody's gonna be open. Or just roll around the back of the net for the opposite winger. Know?
Jamie:Something Right.
Scott:But just don't give it away.
Jamie:That's the thing. They take these off And it happens I've I can't even tell you how many times Mike has been open for, like, a one timer. Can't even Yeah. Tell you. I'm I'm thinking of how many one timers he's got this year.
Jamie:I'm gonna say one. Listen. I I I mean,
Scott:I I honestly, I I just I'm not I don't think my expectations are very high.
Jamie:You know, listen. It's frustrating as a parent.
Scott:Like, based on what I'm saying. You know you know what I mean? Like, I'm asking these I'm not asking coaches to work miracles.
Jamie:It's very frustrating as a parent. You know? It's very frustrating. I would love to see coaches start sitting their kids down. I would love to see that.
Jamie:I would love
Scott:to see And but, look, as a coach, right, like, that's Yeah.
Jamie:I'm not talking effort. The kids got effort, I'm all for it. Right. But, like, I'm talking, like, not moving the hockey puck
Scott:As an example.
Jamie:And and not giving effort. If you're giving effort and you make a mistake, I could fucking care less. Yeah. Don't give a shit. You know what?
Jamie:Good for you. If you're gonna make a mistake, make it going a thousand miles
Scott:a 100%.
Jamie:And the coach should not sit in by down for that. But if you're not moving the hockey puck, and you can and you should be, that's something I think is pretty sad. When I
Scott:talk with Otto sometimes
Jamie:Well, back checking, like you
Scott:Otto will get like, you know, he'll he'll hang on to the puck for like, he'll let's say he gets in the offensive zone, he gets the puck. And then sometimes, even in the defensive zone, doing on breakouts, the puck will come to him and he's very quick to pop it off his stick thinking that, like, he wants to get it, like, you know, into the know, into you the know, centering the puck to like, you know, a center that's like, you know, curling up in the defensive zone or centering the puck. Yeah. But I'm like, dude, don't just throw the puck away. The number
Jamie:Pop of possession is huge. These kids don't understand
Scott:I would much rather like have someone steal the puck from you Of course. Than you just throw it away.
Jamie:No question about it. Like They get nervous and they hot potato the puck.
Scott:Oh, okay. Okay. So fair. And I'm not saying 100% of the time, but I don't know.
Jamie:I know. No, listen, I get it. It's frustrating. Don't know how many coaches teach puck possession at a younger age. You know?
Jamie:Or, like or or, again, or passing. There's very few coaches that that
Scott:I How about this? Don't don't teach puck possession. Teach don't throw it away.
Jamie:Well, that yeah. Well, yes. But there's very few coaches that that I've seen at a young age that that will will sit you down for not for not moving the hockey puck. There's few of them.
Scott:But that shot like, that's beyond
Jamie:I know. I get I agree with you. I I think you're a 100% right.
Scott:Like, okay. If they're Or like
Jamie:poor effort level. Poor effort level, sit down. And you don't need to say anything to them. You can say you don't need to yell at them, say gently, hey, listen. Your effort on that last shift was not was not up to speed.
Jamie:Like It does. And we're gonna put you out there again. I need you to do a little more. And if you don't, I'm not talking like eight year olds either, by the way. I'm not talking like mites.
Jamie:You also to kind of give some context to this. I'm talking older kids. There's a certain age where were coaches
Scott:that I think PEE was just totally reasonable.
Jamie:I'm fine with that. That's fine. We're you you need to start sitting kids down for not giving effort or not moving the
Scott:hockey puck. And and but part of this as from a coaching
Jamie:They perspective
Scott:will learn. Yeah. But listen.
Jamie:They will learn. Trust me.
Scott:They'll learn. Listen. As a coach, if you set those expectations early at the beginning of the season and you maintain good lines of communication with the families
Jamie:Yes.
Scott:That there's that that everyone's they're all aligned. You're telling me that there's one parent that in the beginning of the season is gonna say, like, to a coach who say as a coach, say, listen, I wanna I wanna make sure this season all of your kids develop good hockey habits that are gonna set them up
Jamie:for That's what you're paying for.
Scott:Do think any parents would be like, no, I don't want that?
Jamie:Of course not. No. That's what we're paying for. You're paying for development.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Period. You're not paying for team wins. You're not paying you're not paying for playing time. You're paying for development. Period.
Jamie:That's what you're paying for. Yeah. Right? That's what you're paying for. That's what a tuition does.
Scott:So in any event. Yeah. So I didn't see a lot of that this morning.
Jamie:I get it. It's frustrating. I think so.
Scott:It hasn't been just this morning, but
Jamie:Okay. Listen. Well, listen. Know? Right.
Jamie:So see, like I said, silly season is upon us.
Scott:It is upon us.
Jamie:Silly season is definitely upon us. There's a lot of crazy things going on. I'm hearing from a lot of different people. Yeah, man. We're in one right now.
Jamie:Or some people are in one right now.
Scott:Yeah, some people are on the outside looking in. Some people are on the inside looking out. Some people are feeling really excited about what's about to come. Some people are shitting in their pants. Some people are fucking pissed.
Scott:Everything. Like the whole gamut of things.
Jamie:You see every emotion, right? Yeah. Coming from like the lobbies of like hockey rinks.
Scott:And look at the end of the day, there's only so much that's in your control as a parent.
Jamie:That's true.
Scott:You know, and even just not, I'm not talking about right now, but like stories from last season where it's coaches will make commitments to families and players only to pull it out from underneath their feet when it comes tryout time because someone else has decided to agree to it. And and coaches also from the same way, they're like, I only trust what a family says once their check clears. So it goes both ways. You know what I mean? Like, you need I think on one hand, like coaches are trying to build like teams that are not necessarily compiled of the best players, although it's usually the criteria.
Scott:They also consider Sometimes. Consider the families.
Jamie:Although our interview today would say different.
Scott:Well, think that it's a very important part of the equation. Yes. You need the best players with the best families. Right?
Jamie:Like that's Yes. Yes. Correct. Not the best players. But
Scott:the best players with the best families.
Jamie:That's
Scott:right. So throughout that process, I mean, like, gotta cast a wide net as a coach.
Jamie:True.
Scott:Right? If you're trying to bring players in. Families are going to say one thing and then maybe do another to keep their options open.
Jamie:Yeah. You know what I mean?
Scott:Yeah. Yeah. It's both ends are playing that game of chess.
Jamie:I think that's true.
Scott:No. It's definitely true.
Jamie:I think it's true. Yeah. Listen. Yeah. No, you're not wrong.
Scott:And then you also have to be self aware about how good or not good your kid is.
Jamie:Well, yeah.
Scott:And if you lack that awareness, if you think your kid's better than he is, you're probably setting yourself up for disappointment.
Jamie:There's no question. And I think you see that time and time again, unfortunately. Probably in every sport, not just ice hockey.
Scott:No, definitely not just ice hockey.
Jamie:Yeah, listen. Like our interview, like you said today, he's like, let them have fun, watch, talk to them, let them develop, let them do their thing. Yep. You know, hopefully, they turn into a good person. Right?
Jamie:You know? I mean, it's listen. It was a good interview, though.
Scott:Yep. So drum roll.
Jamie:After you. We have USA hockey captain, Eruzione here. Yo.
Scott:Let's go.
Jamie:Raw interview. I mean, the guy was,
Scott:amazing to talk to him.
Jamie:Oh my God.
Scott:And you know, it's so interesting. It's like, and I feel like this is true like even when we talk and when you're in the thick of it and when you're in the weeds and when it's like, you know, everything like there's a magnifying glass, some of the things like, you know, so many things feel so important. And then you talk to people that are like, you know, had illustrious careers and all of the success and the achievements. And when they think about what are the most important things to get out of the experience, it's being a good person.
Jamie:It's ongoing theme. It's his experience.
Scott:It's work is developing good habits, work ethic. Treat people kindly. Be a good teammate. Work hard. Compete.
Scott:These are the things Respect. These are the things that they all believe are the most valuable. But when you're in the middle of things, it's like, no, we got to do more skating. We need to do more of this. And while it's a combination of both
Jamie:Yes, it is.
Scott:But I think people lose sight of the bigger picture.
Jamie:I think you're 100%
Scott:right away. Yes.
Jamie:The multi sport athlete, put your hockey bag away, go do something else. It'll make you a better ice hockey player by going and doing something else. Right. You know?
Scott:It's like the shortsightedness gets highlighted in a lot of these conversations.
Jamie:It does. Yeah. There's a lot of shortsightedness.
Scott:And look, I would also think I
Jamie:was shortsighted when I first got this.
Scott:Here, it
Jamie:is what it is.
Scott:My butt to this. My butt to this is like
Jamie:Not anymore, but I was.
Scott:No, but it's the same thing like with like progress. Like it's not like a straight line. No, it's not. It's not ever linear. And like, you know, when things are like, you know, even think about relationships, it's like, you know, it's you sometimes you give more than you can take and sometimes you take more than you can give.
Scott:Yeah. And I think with, you know, development, there are times where you are going to push harder on like some of these more shortsighted things. Yeah. But on aggregate, you need to be focused on what is gonna be in your kid's best interest developmentally. From being a good person, from being a hard you know, a good competitor.
Scott:Yep. You know, a good teammate. Like, are the things that look, because the truth is what? Like, how many how many players are actually gonna go to the NHL?
Jamie:Not a lot.
Scott:How many players are gonna go play division one NCAA?
Jamie:What do say? 1%?
Scott:Yeah. Whatever the percentage is. Yeah. But at the end of the day, you want your kids, if they if they are passionate about hockey, Then you want them to have the Yes. Wanna set them up to have as long a road as possible playing Yes.
Scott:The game that they And it might be club hockey.
Jamie:You wanna Yes.
Scott:Wanna might be whatever it is. So to sacrifice some of the more important things for whatever it is, chasing a letter or I don't know.
Jamie:Now listen, I think the ongoing theme of everybody we're speaking to, right? They're all saying the same things, right? It's work hard. You don't to play hockey every single day or every single month, every single Correct. Put the bag away.
Jamie:Go do something else. Just be active. Just be an athlete, right? And come back to ice hockey if you like it, obviously. But they're all saying the same thing, from Doug Christensen to Ryan Murphy to Jim Dowd to Mike Ruzione to they all say the same thing, Scott.
Jamie:I mean, we're having the same I don't want say the same conversations, but the same answer keeps popping up with everybody we speak to. Be a good person. Hopefully, hockey turns your kid into a well rounded kid so you can go out into
Scott:The real world.
Jamie:The real world and succeed.
Scott:A successful, highly functioning individual.
Jamie:Right, exactly. I mean, that's kind of what in my opinion, I think, Ice Hockey does a good job with that.
Scott:And when we were talking to him about that Really? And you say that often. And when you say that, sometimes I'm like, well, Okay. So what are the things that like would contribute to that? And and I really had a moment this morning thinking like, okay, and and this isn't a knock on any other sport but we've talked about it.
Scott:Like, there's like very early mornings. Yeah. There's very long car drives. Yeah. Like, the amount of sacrifice just to like sometimes to get to a practice or to like whatever it is like there To are a
Jamie:game, to a tournament.
Scott:Right. You're you're the travel's more. Like, it's and and the skill the prerequisite skills to be a successful hockey player, I mean, like, first of all, you need to learn how to skate. It's not a game that's played on your feet. Like There's
Jamie:no skating in baseball. There's no skating in football. There's no skating in soccer. There's no skating in
Scott:basketball. And the speed of the game, the amount of the decision making and the amount of information that needs to be processed
Jamie:such short period
Mike:of time.
Scott:It's like you need to have explosive strength and
Jamie:Ryan Murphy said something about that.
Scott:Don't
Jamie:know be with him from the New Jersey Devil Skills coach. He said the reason why we're seeing I think our question to him was, if you remember, we asked him, you were I asked him, Why is today's hockey player so goddamn good? And he said, The combination of ability, speed, stick handling and speed, and the ability to process that in such a short period of time is creating these unbelievable ice hockey players. Yeah. Which is your Maclan Celebrinis, your Conor Bedard.
Scott:I mean, it's so fast.
Jamie:They're just getting faster. It's crazy.
Scott:Yeah. It's interesting. I was listening to what used to be Power Tech Hockey, but now it's BioSteel Podcast. Those guys are great.
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:But they were talking about how they had now have an academy, BioSteel Academy. There's a lot in Canada. It's I think in Windsor or somewhere.
Jamie:Right.
Scott:Just north of the border. In any event, so they're seeing like they have like, you know, student athletes now.
Jamie:Sure.
Scott:And they're observing these kids in like academic settings as well as on the ice. Yeah. You know, and they're, you know, they have, you know, like in with hockey ability, there's different academic ability.
Jamie:Sure there is.
Scott:And there's some kids that that coach Eric was saying that like in the in the classroom setting
Jamie:Right.
Scott:Like they're no they're not slouches, but they they're not like you know jumping at you is like you know super like you know High end students. High. Right. But then he went on to say, but then you see them on the ice the intelligence that they have on the ice and the amount of information they process quickly, it's Different
Jamie:level, yeah, compared to how they are in the classroom. That's interesting.
Scott:Whether it's a different type of learning or a different part of your brain or whatever goes into
Jamie:It the probably rest is, yeah.
Scott:But he was just saying how there are some kids that are not jumping off the books as academic In the classroom. Academically, But then you see them on the ice and their like intelligent level is
Jamie:Their hockey IQ gone. Isn't that
Scott:interesting? They watch these kids who aren't like, how do they even think to do that? Or how do they even make that read? It's
Jamie:Isn't it interesting?
Scott:Very interesting.
Jamie:You know, listen, people have gifts, right? I mean, it's, you know, some people are good at, you know, studying books. Yep. Right? Some people are good at, you know, everybody has their own special superpower, I call it.
Scott:Yeah. What's your superpower?
Jamie:My ability to communicate.
Scott:Communicate? Yeah, that's your superpower?
Jamie:I have the gift of gab.
Scott:You have the gift of gab.
Jamie:I do.
Scott:That's your superpower, gab?
Jamie:That is my superpower. That's my superpower. I'm very good at that. And I'm very good at networking.
Scott:Networking?
Mike:Yeah. Oh, okay.
Jamie:Well, that's my thing.
Scott:That's good.
Jamie:Yeah. I tell Dom all the time, go, Dude, every person in this world has a superpower. You just need to find what it is and you need to make it as powerful as possible. Some people are tall, some people are short. Everybody has something different.
Jamie:Some people are fast, some people are slow, some people are strong, some people are weak. Everybody has a superpower.
Scott:Yeah. You just gotta lean into whatever it is that's yours. 100%.
Jamie:And use it to the best of your ability and it will take you places.
Scott:It will. Yeah. Alright. Well, listen, you want to kick it over to
Jamie:I do. Let's do it. Because it was a sick interview.
Scott:Let's go.
Jamie:Here we are, everybody. Mike Eruzione, USA hockey captain, nineteen eighty Olympic team. Mike Eruzione.
Scott:USA. USA.
Jamie:That's right. USA. There we go.
Scott:Alright, everybody. Welcome to the next episode of the Crazy Hockey Dads Podcast. And boy, do we have a guest for you today. Today's guest needs absolutely no introduction, but we're gonna give one anyway. Michael Ruzione, captain of the nineteen eighty US Olympic hockey team, the miracle on ice, one of the most iconic moments in sports history, hockey history for sure.
Scott:But beyond that, Mike has spent decades involved in the sport as a player, broadcaster, speaker, and ambassador, sharing lessons leadership, team culture, belief, and doing something bigger than yourself. And it's just an honor to have you on the podcast. Thanks so much for joining us today, Mike.
Mike:Thanks, Mike. Thanks for having me. Oh. Talking hot.
Scott:That's it. All it. The time.
Jamie:Time is right.
Scott:So so as we were talking just before we we got started, you know, one of the things we love to do is just kinda hear about, you know, our guests' journey into the game of the sport and just kind of what it was like, you know, kind of persevering the highs and lows and, like, what that was like from a family dynamic and maybe, like, what things worked well for you, like, what things, you know, you know, were more challenging. So, yeah, I would love to hear your journey, you know, as a youth athlete.
Mike:Well, it it's probably gonna disappoint a lot of the hockey parents out there. You know, I I I started skating. I was, I think, nine years old. They used to they used to freeze the tennis courts down the street from where I lived, and I didn't have any ice skates. But my my sister had these white figure skates that I fit into, and my friends were, you know, going down to the tennis court, so I thought, jeez, I might as well go too.
Mike:So I went down and, you know, hockey's a macho kind of game, and I was learning to skate. And the problem was these white skates had these blue pom poms on the toes because that's what my sister's figure skates were. And I'd go on and try to play or learn to play and not get cold, and I'd come home. And in those days, you could save SNH green stamps. And my mom saved up stamps, and I I got a pair of hide ice skates.
Mike:And I think I was 10, maybe maybe 10, maybe still nine. And I got the high a pair of high ice skates and took up hockey because my friends played.
Scott:Sure.
Mike:We didn't have a team in my hometown, but the town next over called Revere, Mass had a had a youth hockey team, and one of my friends played for Revere. So he talked to the Revere coach and said, yeah. But, you know, if Mike wants to play, he can come and play. So I started playing for Revere. And then when I was 11 or 12, Winthrop, my hometown started a hockey program, and we used to pay 50¢ on Saturdays to go to the learn to skate up, you know, youth program.
Mike:And, I would you know, I I can remember standing out in front of my house at 06:00 or 06:30 in the morning, and somebody's parent would pick me up and take me to practice. And, that's kinda how I played hockey. And then next thing you know, when when got warm, I played baseball. Then as I got older in high school, I was actually an all state football hockey baseball player. Probably played more baseball than anything.
Mike:Oh, wow. Hockey was something you didn't hockey was something you did in the wintertime.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:Sure. And that I mean, that's kinda my my my youth as a hockey player. It wasn't anywhere near what my kids did and what my grandkids are doing now. I mean, you just, you know, you play once a week, maybe twice at best, and you played for your team town. Right.
Mike:Town team, and you played in a in a league. And it wasn't till maybe junior high school that I would play in the summertime.
Jamie:Mhmm.
Mike:And in in high school, obviously, you played maybe a little more. And then, obviously, when I was in college, you played even more than that. But, you know, I I I'm a big believer in multi sports. I I think being a baseball football player made me a better hockey player. You know, don't have the the benefits that kids have today with the roller blades and everything that they do, but but I get it.
Mike:You know, times have changed. Life has changed, but my hockey life was very simple, very basic. It wasn't anything extraordinary. Probably my parents didn't have the money, and I know it's way more expensive now than it ever was when I played. Oh my goodness.
Mike:You know, my my dad worked three jobs, my mother took care of six kids. And, you know, they would drop me off at the rink and go home, then they'd come back and get me. Or a parent would drive me to practice or a parent would drive me home because my dad was working and my mother had to stay home.
Jamie:So Right.
Mike:Very, very different time. And and I get it, and I understand that. But, know, you asked me the question about my hockey career.
Scott:Yeah.
Mike:That's that's how it started, and I'll probably bring even further than that. When I was in high school, I wanted to play football, hockey, and baseball in college. My grades weren't really good academically, and I ended up going to prep school for a year. Okay. Up in Maine, a place called Burrowick Academy, with the hopes of going to University of New Hampshire.
Mike:I wanted to go UNH, and I wanna play football, hockey, and baseball. And the football coach really liked me. I was a wide receiver, and I could run a little at that in those days. And, you know, baseball was kind of my sport.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:But UNH, the hockey coach, didn't think I was a division one player, so I had no school to go to. No. The only school that recruited me for hockey was Merrimack College, and they were division three then. They weren't division one. So I accepted a scholarship to go to Merrimack College.
Mike:You'll get a kick out of this. It was $3,500 room room board tuition.
Jamie:Oh my goodness.
Mike:While. $19.73.
Jamie:Oh my.
Mike:So I'm going to Merrimack, and I'm all set to go to Merrimack. And in the summer, I played baseball in the summer, and I got a phone call from a friend of mine who had a summer league game. They were playing in the summer league. Do you wanna play? So, you know, bunch of guys, I guess, went to The Cape for the weekend.
Mike:I said, well, you wanna I'll play. So I showed up, and I played in the game. And as it turned out, the the guy refereeing the game was this guy named Jack Parker.
Scott:Unreal.
Mike:And I didn't know who Jack Parker was. I didn't even know who the referee was. And the game was over. And this guy came over to me and said, hey. I'm Jack Parker, assistant coach at Boston University.
Mike:We have a kid from Canada decided not to come to Boston University. Would you like to come to Boston University? Wow. He said, I remember you from high school. Where'd you go last year?
Mike:So I told told him where I played at Baroque Academy. He goes, what what do you think? I says, well, make I'm gonna go home and talk to my father. I'll come to the office the next day. So I went home and told my dad the story, and he said, what do you think?
Mike:I said, dad, I'm gonna go to BU. I I can play there. I think I can play there. So I got in the car, drove to Boston University, sat with Jack Parker, told him it has to be full scholarship. I said my dad can't afford $3,500.
Mike:He goes, no. It's it's a it's a full scholarship. So I ended up at Boston University. So I try out for the varsity, and I made the varsity. I was kinda playing on the fourth line.
Mike:Wasn't playing a lot at that time, but playing, you know, a few shifts and games. And the head coach Leon Abbott, who's a great guy, but I wasn't one of Leon's guys. He got fired right before Christmas. Jack Parker became the head coach. And I went from centering the fourth line to playing left wing on the second line and and led the Terriers in goal scoring my freshman year.
Jamie:My goodness.
Mike:So so that's my hockey story.
Jamie:Isn't it funny how things happened?
Mike:Yeah. Yeah. Well, you play in a summer league game, you end up at Boston University, but I'm gonna go one step further, and then we can get into the rest of our conversation. So I go to Boston University. Obviously, had a pretty good career when I was there, and the New York Rangers had my rights.
Mike:They owned my rights. They had drafted me. So I went to camp with the New York Rangers and had a really good camp, really good tryout, and John Ferguson was the general manager. And he said, look, Mike, we really like, you know, what you got, but we're not gonna sign you to a pro contract. We still have Phyllis Phyllis Mousito was playing, then Roger Jabir.
Mike:Run Dugay actually was my roommate at at rookie camp.
Scott:Oh, very cool.
Mike:So so they had Dugay. They had Mario Marwa. They had Benoit Gosselin. They had some big draft picks, Mike Keating.
Scott:Right.
Mike:So we're not gonna sign you. So they sent me to Toledo, Ohio. So I go to Toledo. I I was paid every two weeks. I think I made $5,000 or maybe 6,000 to play for the gold diggers.
Jamie:Jeez.
Mike:We won the turn we won the turn up cup that year, which is equivalent to the Stanley Cup. I was voted the best American born rookie. I had a really good year, and I'm gonna sign with the New York Rangers. Well, John Ferguson got fired. Fred Cheryl became the general manager.
Mike:Fred Cheryl called my agent and said, look. We're not gonna sign any of Fergie's guys. Mike's free to do what he wants to do. So that's when I decided I'm gonna go to try to remain an amateur. So I went to camp with the Colorado Rockies, and they sent me to Philadelphia.
Mike:And I was playing for the Philadelphia Firebirds. And I was about to play my ninth game when I got a call from my agent, and he's spoken apparently to Herb Brooks that if I play 10 games, I'll be I'd be considered a professional. I would be a pro pro player. So I went back to Toledo with the hopes of getting invited to try out for the eighty Olympic team. So I go back to Toledo, played in Toledo, got invited to try out for the eighty Olympic team, obviously made the Olympic team, and we're having that conversation today.
Mike:But if I had never if John Ferguson never got fired, would have signed with the rangers. That's right. My career would have been. I I I think I would have been a good player. Wouldn't have been a great player, but I I would have been an NHL player probably Right.
Mike:You know, that third, fourth line player, good penalty killer, good guy in the locker room, good guy in the community.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:So that's how I ended up on the eighty Olympic team. So if you look at my Wow. Transit transaction in life, playing in the summer league game, John Ferguson getting fired, all this led to me to be on the eighty Olympic team. So my hockey experience is a hell of a lot different than kids today.
Jamie:My goodness. Is it ever? And,
Mike:you know, I I just that that's how life works. But, you know, the the game today is very different than it was when I played. And, you know, you got to be on a travel team, you got to be on a select team, got to go here, you got to go there. It's absolutely crazy. Absolutely crazy.
Jamie:You know, it's interesting that you actually bring that up. So one of the questions that we like to ask our guests, and you have grandkids that are playing. Right? So I'm curious to hear your take on the youth hockey space today compared like, you obviously just showed us what you went through. What do you think of the landscape today?
Mike:I should I should switch seats right now and have my wife sit down and tell you. He thinks it's absolutely crazy. Think my wife should have, like, five games this weekend. Yeah. Unfortunately, they play for their town team.
Mike:Right. They don't trace travel or select. They're good little players. They're not great players, although 10 year old's pretty talented. 10 year old's pretty good player.
Mike:Right. But, you know, when I go watch my gang grandkids play, I sit at on the opposite end of the building, sometimes stand in the corner by myself, and I come to watch my grandkids play. Yeah. I don't sit in the stands and scream and yell like most hockey parents. I get a kick out of it.
Mike:You know? I I stand next to somebody at, you know, maybe 10 feet away, and they're screaming and yelling. And I'm, like, saying, they can't hear you. They're yelling. Just watch just watch the game, please.
Mike:Absolutely. You have no control over what they do. And even when my own kids play, my two boys were good players. When the game was over, we talked maybe about the game and how it went, but I never ever said a damn word when they were playing. You can't control what they do.
Mike:They're they're out there doing what they're doing. You can't yell, pass the puck, Johnny. Pass the puck, Johnny, because he can't hear you. So it is it it is very, very different. But I I think, again, the cost of the game.
Mike:You know, we have user fees. I help out with our high school team. I've been doing it for forty something years as a volunteer coach.
Jamie:That's great.
Mike:And kids, you know, have to pay to be on the high school team. And you'll get that odd parent and say, hey. How come my kid's not playing? I pay just as much as the other kid does. Now the head coach has to have a discussion, and the head coach is is an excellent coach.
Mike:He's been here for a long, long time, played in the NHL, played at Boston University. And when he has a kid complaining about ice time, he sits down with the kid and says, look at it. Want you, your mother, father, to come and sit with me. We'll sit with the athletic director. We'll sit with the principal of the school, and we'll discuss the situation.
Mike:And you can't believe how many times a kilo oh, no. Never mind. That's that's okay. I I I I don't I don't need that.
Jamie:Isn't that interesting?
Mike:It's it's a way to handle it when you handle that that issue. Yep. Because sometimes it's not the kids. Sometimes it's the parent Sure. Thinking you know, my my nephew was a really good high school player, and I'm helping out the high school team.
Mike:And my sister said, how come Bobby's not on the power play? I said, because he's not that good. Right. Plain and simple. We got other people who can play in the power play, and he was a captain of the team.
Mike:He was a really good ended up playing college football college hockey, but he wasn't power play guy. Right. You know? So you gotta I had to tell my sister, he's not a power play guy.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:Oh, okay. And she walked away. But it it it is. It's it's it's not easy
Jamie:It's great.
Mike:With the parents today. And I I again, the cost of the game, the cost of skates, the stick. My grandson, we bought him a stick for Christmas. My wife and I was $300. It broke.
Mike:It broke halfway through his first game.
Jamie:I'm sure.
Mike:For real. You know? So you what I do is I go to the b u Locker Room. I work at Boston University, and I grab sticks that these guys don't use anymore. I bring them home, and I cut them in half and give them to my nephews and grandkids to play with.
Jamie:Very smart.
Mike:So so, again, I'm talking a lot, I know you guys got a lot of questions. But it is the country time. It's a different it's a different situation. I got a statistic the other day, and I don't know how exact it is, but 1% of hockey players in the world, not just The United States, in the world, 1% will play division one college hockey. Yeah.
Mike:That's not a big number. But then I'm talking Russia, Sweden, Finland. I'm talking a lot of areas.
Jamie:Absolutely.
Mike:But the odds of of that now the odds of getting a college education and playing college hockey somewhere is probably pretty good. There's a lot of great programs. You know? I I talked to someone this morning whose son's playing at at at at Bowdoin. Bowdoin's great school.
Mike:Now they're not BU, but they're awfully good, and the education is off the charts.
Jamie:Yes.
Mike:So, I mean, don't don't think your kid's gonna play in the National Hockey League. Yeah. You don't think your kid maybe can get an education and play in college somewhere, someplace, or just have fun and play the game.
Jamie:That's
Mike:right. And it's hard to explain that. Yeah. And and like I said, you can always work. You don't have to play six months, eight months a year.
Mike:You can always work on your game. My grandson's over here constantly shooting in the backyard, stick handling, doing things. You know? Not they don't have to be on the ice to work on your game.
Jamie:Yes.
Mike:And then play bait when baseball starts, they play baseball. I mean, they play football right now. You know, I'm, again, a big believer in that. I I I think kids need to get out there and and do different things. You can't you can't live a life as
Jamie:In a hockey ring.
Mike:Ten years at 10 years old or 11 years old in a hockey ring. Now get know, if you're 14 or 15 and you snug and you got some talent, okay, maybe maybe you start funneling into that into the sport a little more. Right. You know, maybe you're doing a little more because, know, you're a pretty good player now. You know, you get a chance to maybe do something, but at seven, eight, nine, 10, don't get it.
Mike:Yeah.
Jamie:That's one of the reasons we're doing this. A lot of people are saying that, you know, and we're trying to bring awareness to that. You don't need the kid doesn't need to be on the ice ten hours a week. Right?
Mike:Not at all. And and when they're on the ice, they should be at skills doing skill stuff, stick handling, skating. No no you know, small area games, you know, things that when I when I watch Boston University practice and I I work at BU, my my office is in the rink. You know, every every Monday, we have a skills it's skills day. You should see the drills these guys are doing.
Mike:And these guys, we have 19 players at Boston University who have been drafted. Yeah. Some of them are first round picks, and and and and you know what? A couple of first round picks shouldn't have been first round picks. But, you know, they're here, and they're and they're pretty talented, and they're good, but they constantly work on the skilled part of the game.
Mike:You know, skating, stick handling. The NHL today, the speed and skill is off the charts how good they are. Yep. It's it's a whole different level. And then as you get older, you get the influx of the European players now that are playing at BU.
Mike:We got two Swedes. We got, you know, we got a Russian goalie, two Swedish players. So we're we're them from all over the all over the world. So you're not competing just in your community and just your town.
Jamie:That's right.
Mike:So it's hard. It's hard. And, again, the the important thing is if they have have fun. Play the game and have fun.
Jamie:If you
Mike:turn out to be a good player, be a good player. But more importantly, as I tell my grandkids all the time and I told my own kids, I don't care how many touchdowns or goals you get. Be a good person. Be a good neighbor. Be a good friend.
Mike:Be a good teammate. Be a good brother. You know? Be a
Scott:good be a good person.
Mike:Yeah. It's that's so so you know, it it's it's easy to be it's easy to be nice. It's hard to be an asshole. You gotta go out of your way to be
Jamie:a It takes yes. You
Mike:know? Yes. So so those are values that are important in life, not just not just sports. Hockey's a game. It ends.
Mike:I I even tell Charlie McEvoy's I I teach Charlie McEvoy all the time because, you know, he's a BU guy, and I I always said to Charlie, said, Charlie, know, eventually, you're gonna end up in the Monday night league. I don't know when. Yeah. You know, you may play fifteen years in the National Hockey League, but eventually, you're gonna be in the Beard League with the guys on Monday nights. Some some get there earlier than others, but
Jamie:I'm just gonna say
Mike:everyone ends up there.
Jamie:Everybody has a different path there, but everybody ends up there.
Scott:Let me Yeah. Let me ask this. So from a from a hockey perspective, obviously, the values and the life lessons that sports and hockey, you know, teach is something that, you know, we want our kids to to learn and carry with them. But, you know, you've obviously played four tremendous coaches over your lifetime, you know, Parker, Brooks, you know, you're involved with you know, you've coached yourself, you know, even with Pando now at BU and being a part of the the Terriore, you know, team. What are some hockey things, you know, that have stuck with you that these coaches have kind of instilled, like, over the years?
Scott:Like, what are some of the things that, like, you've continued to pay forward, pass down, however you wanna put it, from the different coaches that you've had along your way?
Mike:Well, the the the bottom line is a work ethic. Every one of my coaches that that I played under understood and taught us that you wanna be the best, you gotta work hard at it. It doesn't come easy. Success doesn't come easy. A couple of other things I talk about a lot of times is two words I I use, trust and respect.
Mike:As a coach, if your players don't trust you, you're in trouble. And if your players don't respect you, you're in trouble. As demanding as Herb was, as demanding as Jack Parker was, and that's how coaches coached in the seventies, it's a different era now. Don't yell at Johnny. You're gonna get in trouble.
Mike:You know?
Jamie:It's definitely different today.
Mike:Don't yell at Susan because mom mom's gonna call you tomorrow and wanna know why you're yelling at their kid. It was. Yeah. I trusted Herb. I respected Herb.
Mike:I trusted Jack Parker. I respected Jack Parker. I trusted my teammates that I played with, and I respected my teammates. You know, if you don't respect someone, you're in trouble. If you don't respect yourself, you're in respect's a big value to have.
Mike:And and I think it's an important value. And on a hockey team, it's way more important. Your best player has to be your best teammate. Mark Johnson was our best player in 1980. Mark Johnson was a great teammate.
Mike:He was and still is to this day. Look what he's done as a coach at the University of Wisconsin.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah.
Mike:So the values of of hard work and determination and respect and pride and commitment, Those are values you have to have in life, not just in sports.
Scott:Sure.
Mike:And those are values that I think I was I learned at a young age. You know? I learned about sacrifice when I'd see my dad working three jobs to give me a dollar to play hockey or get my skate shop and cost 75¢. I mean, I'm talking, you know, fifty, sixty years ago. Okay?
Mike:Yeah. I understand times have changed.
Jamie:But he was working hard for that money.
Mike:Yeah. I think that's right. And I think, you know, today's players gotta understand that hard work and dedication and support that your family and parents give you sacrifices. People who are successful, they make sacrifices. You know?
Mike:And and whether it's taking your kid to the rink every day and sitting in the stands with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate watching him or her skate, Those are sacrifices you make for your child, never never knowing they're gonna be a NHL player, but just you wanna support your children in what they do. And I I think that's a value that I saw at a at a young age. I, you know, my and, my my dad and mom didn't go to every one of my games because they were working. My mother had to stay home and take care of the kids.
Scott:Yeah.
Mike:But they were there to support me, and and you understood that. And and and that's what they're there for, to support. Not to say, you know, you should be playing more, not to say, you know, hey. You got seven goals. I said, hey.
Mike:Good, you know, good for you, but go home and do your homework. You
Jamie:know? Right.
Mike:Go home and do the things that are important. And so in in a lot of ways, those are the things that are important to me. It's simple. You know? You you can't complicate it.
Mike:You can't you can't make it bigger than it is. You know? It's still a game and it's a sport, and you're playing it and having fun doing it. But it at at some point, that game ends. And at some point, guess what?
Mike:Maybe you're not that good. That's okay. Yeah. That's alright. You know?
Mike:Maybe there are players that are better than you, but that doesn't mean they're a better person or a better kid.
Scott:Right.
Mike:You know? Study hard in school. You know, academic grades are important. Being a good person, like I said to you earlier, is important. Not how many touchdowns or goals you get.
Mike:And so you get eight goals. Alright. If you're an ass, who cares if you got eight goals?
Jamie:I agree. And we we Scott and I say all the time to the people we have on, the game of ice hockey seems to have a knack for creating good people. Right? I mean, the people that we've seen in this game, for whatever reason, it's not everybody, right? Obviously, somebody's always gonna be an asshole.
Mike:Oh, that's in every sport too.
Jamie:Yeah, exactly right. But for whatever reason, the sacrifices, the hard work, parent time, the money that we put into it, for whatever reason, it seems to create a good person at the end of the day from what I can tell. Right? Does that sound right, Mike?
Mike:It's all that matters. You know, I don't wanna be an Olympic gold medalist who's an asshole.
Jamie:Exactly.
Mike:Oh, you know, he won a gold medal. What a jerk he is. I'd I'd rather have people say, he won a gold medal. He's a nice guy. He's nice person.
Mike:Yes. That that goes hand in hand. You know? And and not only say he won a bronze medal. May hey.
Mike:Maybe he was just in a maybe he's in a high school team. They don't hey. I I feel like high school hockey with him. He's a he's a really good guy. Really nice.
Mike:Good good teammate. Good person.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:Those are far more important, you know, going out and scoring three goals and being an ass.
Scott:Sure.
Mike:Agree. Look at it.
Jamie:Now, I'm curious, your support system, when you were telling how your parents worked hard, if I'm not mistaken, you grew up in a three family house with a lot of cousins and uncles and aunts. Do you think that had something to do?
Mike:I go out my backyard, I look to the left, that's the house I grew up in.
Jamie:Oh, you're right by the house you grew up in.
Mike:Oh, yeah. I'm three houses from the house I grew up in. Wife grew up my wife grew up four houses for me.
Jamie:Oh, you're
Mike:kidding me. Son, who's a firefighter at Logan Airport, he lives directly behind me. He put a gate in as soon as he bought the house. My my my daughter lives down the street.
Jamie:Oh, so
Mike:not real. With the three boys.
Jamie:Oh, so you're in worst.
Mike:My my one son lived next to my daughter, but he moved to Connecticut because his wife wanted to be with her family. And I said to her, who moves to be with their family? So I I grew up in a three family house. My mother's brother married my father's sister.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:They lived on the third floor. My father's other sister lived on the 1st Floor, and there were 14 kids in the house that I grew up in.
Jamie:It's unbelievable.
Mike:And when my mother was pregnant, my aunts were pregnant, so I have cousins that we played sports with our whole life. We had a little yard next door, so we used to play from stickball to half ball to wiffle ball, every sport that you could imagine we played growing up. And, you know, my mother would my mother would yell out the out the window. Come on up. It's time to eat.
Jamie:Then Time to do
Mike:a job. Drop our sticks and go up and eat and then go back out and play.
Jamie:That's right.
Mike:And I get it. Today's different. I understand that. But it was great to live that life. And and and a funny story, my younger son who's now, I think, thirty, thirty eight, 37, the the the kid who's a firefighter, his senior year in high school, the starting nine on the high school baseball team were all relatives.
Mike:Wow. My my son batted first. My brother's son batted second. My cousin's son batted third. His other son batted fourth.
Mike:My sister's son batted fifth. My other cousin's son batted sixth, the other one batted seventh. And I looked at my brother one time, and I said, you know, now you know why everybody hates us. He he goes, what do you mean? He says that I said, of the nine players, seven of them came out of the three family that we grew up in.
Scott:That's unbelievable.
Mike:And then we all went on and played. My brother actually went to Holy Cross and have had 11 varsity letters at Holy Cross. Oh, wow. He played football, hockey, and baseball. He's an athletic director at Curry College here in Boston.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:My other cousins all played college football. Their kids all played college football, college hockey, college baseball. Oh, wow. So it was a very athletic and and very competitive growing up, but it was also a family that understood the values of hard work
Jamie:Yes.
Mike:And dedication. And, you know, many of them went went on to become teachers and educators in the community in the town here, and they still they still live here. I think there's 18,000 people that live in Winthrop and a 150 are related to me or my wife.
Jamie:So you're still in Winthrop? You guys are still there?
Mike:Oh, yeah. Why you know, and I've said this many times also. An athletic event obviously changed my life. Yeah. I mean, nobody's done more and and been had more fun and enjoyed more from the success of the nineteen eighty team than I have, but it shouldn't change who you are.
Mike:You know? If we lost, I'd still be living in winter. I've been with my wife for almost fifty years.
Jamie:It's great.
Mike:I'd, you know, still be together. I'd be you know, maybe I wouldn't be living in a house. Maybe I'd have an apartment. I don't know. Financially, obviously, things are great, so I can afford to do the things that I do.
Mike:Right. Maybe I'd be coaching and teaching because that's what I was you know, I was a phys ed major, and that's what I wanna do is coach and teach. And, obviously, I I work at Boston University, so I, you know, and I do coach. I hop up the high school team, but not my work is travel. I I still do a lot of speaking corporate outings and things like that.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:So, you know, why shouldn't athletic why shouldn't an athletic event change who you are?
Jamie:Well said.
Mike:And I see that sometimes. I say, oh, what happened to Billy? He used to be a really nice guy. Well, he makes a lot of money now, so he's different. I don't get that.
Mike:No.
Jamie:No. Neither do I.
Scott:Let let me add, you know, just about, like, leadership, you know, and could you just speak a little bit to, like, you you know, the athletes that you're around today, like, with high school and and to whatever extent you are with, like, Boston University. Like, the leaders on the ice that you're seeing out there today, like, what are some of the qualities that you're seeing in these kids if there's anything that might be different, you know, in these younger generations than maybe when, you know, you were on the ice. But just, you know, I think that there's a lot of a lot of kids out there that, you know, want to, you know, like, have big big dreams. Right? But then also, we talked about attitude and life skills.
Scott:But if you could just talk about leadership for a a moment, that would be really interesting
Mike:to I I get that question a lot of times. Leaders, you don't wake up in the morning and say, Hey, today I'm going
Scott:to be
Mike:a leader. Right. At 15 years old, you don't go, I'm going be a leader. I think it's part of your personality, part of who you are. To me being I I never thought I was a leader.
Mike:I just thought I was a good guy, good teammate, good friend. People respected me. That's a leader. Those are qualities of leadership. You don't have to, you know, be the guy that says this is what you should do.
Mike:That doesn't make you a leader. What makes you a leader is people respect you. People try, and I use these words all the time. People trust you, that people respect you. That's part of being a leader.
Mike:You know, I was a captain of my my high school hockey team, a captain at Boston University, captain on an Olympic team. But I've always felt I was, you know, like an Olympic team. I said I was a captain amongst captains. These guys were just great players. They were all leaders.
Mike:Mark Johnson was captain of Wisconsin. Bobby Shudder was a captain of Wisconsin. Billy Baker was captain of Minnesota. Jack O'Callaghan was a two time captain at Boston University. Yeah.
Mike:Kenny Murrow and Mark Wells were captains at Bowling Green. Mark Johnson I said my John Harrington and Mark Pavlitz were captains at Minnesota Duluth. Davey Christian, Neil Bronton, Mike Ramsey were all captains of their high school teams. So that locker room was full of captains, full of leaders.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:And and what they what the but the one quality they brought to the table was they they respected each other. We respected each other. I was the captain of the team. But it wasn't, oh, I'm the captain. This is what you do.
Mike:All of a sudden, they would be like, what happened to Mike? He's he was a nice guy. Now he's a captain, and he's an ass. So I again, I I think leadership is just a you know, having the qualities of being a good person.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:And and and people respect you. People don't respect you. You can't be a leader. Right? If people don't trust you, you can't be a leader.
Mike:Yeah. You know? Yeah. Just because you're the best player in the team doesn't mean you're a leader. Sure.
Mike:Right. I and I think sometimes they get confused with that. I'm the best player, so I'm, you know, I'm the I'm the leader. No. You're not.
Mike:You're just maybe the best player, but you're an ass.
Jamie:That's true.
Mike:Be be be the best player and a good person. Be a good teammate. Those those are those are your leaders, and those are qualities that you carry in life. Not you know? Not just sports.
Jamie:Yeah. I'm curious, what was the tryout like for that Olympic team? I know they brought in how many total people did they bring in? I know they cut it to 26 or 27 at first.
Mike:Well, had eight of us went to Colorado Springs and competed against each other over two weeks. They had a fest. They had a, like, a tournament. Like, it was called the Olympic festival. Right.
Mike:And they divided us into four teams. Although there was a team Massachusetts, which which I didn't make, I made they put me at the at large team. So a team, a Western team, which predominantly Minnesota kids. Then there was the eastern team, predominantly Minnesota Massachusetts, Maine, kinda played Connecticut. Then there was the at large team, and then there was a Great Lakes team.
Mike:So I was at the at large team with actually, Kenny Marrow and Mark Wells were on my team at the at the Olympic trial. So we competed against each other over two weeks. They had, like, an Olympic fest a tournament. They had a gold medal game. Actually, the the the the Great Lakes team that I played on, we won we won the gold medal.
Mike:We won the tournament. And after the trial to Rover, 26 players were selected for the 80. And 26 of us went to Minnesota. We based out of Minneapolis
Jamie:Okay.
Mike:And traveled around the country. And throughout the course of our training, six players got cut. He did bring in one player during the tryout. He ended up releasing him.
Jamie:Was that Tim Harrer? Is that
Mike:Timmy Harrer, who was having a great year at the University of Minnesota. But Right. As we said to her, if if you're gonna cut me, cut me, but replace me with one of the 26. Timmy Timmy was at the tryout in Colorado Springs, and, obviously, he wasn't selected just because he's having a good college year. Shit.
Mike:We all had good college careers.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:And, eventually, you know, the last two players got cut was Jack Hughes and Ralph Cox. People talk more about Ralph. I think they were both actually cut at the same time.
Jamie:Oh, interesting. Then 20 of us
Mike:20 of us were selected to to be on the Olympic team, and the the last cut came right before we went to basically, we went to Lake Placid.
Jamie:Right. And and and that and and right before you guys went to Lake Placid, you guys played against the Russian team at Madison Square Garden. Right?
Mike:Yes. We played the Soviets in Madison Square Garden right before the Olympic games, I think two days before the Olympics and lost 10 to three.
Scott:Oh, my God.
Mike:But I got a goal. I got a goal in the game.
Jamie:You were one of one of the three?
Mike:That was one of the three.
Jamie:And that's where O'Callaghan got hurt in that game. Right?
Mike:Yes.
Jamie:Or something along those lines? Yeah. Right. Right.
Mike:Yeah. And we didn't think we didn't know what Herb was gonna do. I thought, actually, Herb was gonna cut cut Jack and bring in Jack Hughes because we didn't know if Jack could play. You know, now now we're only 19 players. And, actually, Jack only played maybe two games or maybe two and a half games, but Jack was a huge part of our locker room.
Mike:Yeah. You talk about a leader and somebody that people respected, and I think Herb felt if if he can get back to play, which he was able to, he he was valuable to our team.
Jamie:Right. Right.
Mike:Herb was that have players sometimes you have players that are important off the ice as much as on the ice.
Jamie:Sure. Yeah. Good point. Yeah. So I'm curious.
Jamie:So from what I can tell from the movie and all the documentaries I've watched on the eighty team, Did Herb play mind games with everybody? I mean, I mean, see them bringing in Timmy Horror or, you know, saying to Jim Craig, you know, I'm not sure it's your net anymore. I mean, like, was he just or or Robbie McClanahan, he he, you know, the movie, which I'm not sure if it's true, but in the movie, he he's when he gets hurt, he's like, you know, get your gear back on. Was he just playing like psychological games with you guys?
Mike:Well, he was a he was a brilliant motivator. And, yes, he did go after Robbie in the locker room, and Robbie went after him in the locker room. That was real.
Jamie:So that was wrong.
Mike:Sitting there with Mark Johnson going, he's magic looks at me and goes, one period, and he's already flipping out. But he was a great motivator. He he he was a great motivator. He he he knew what to say and who to say it to. Like like me.
Mike:You yell at me, I get mad, and I work harder. You don't have to yell at Kenny Morrow. He'll figure it out sooner or later. You don't yell at Mark Johnson. He'll figure it out.
Mike:But you can yell Jack O'Callaghan. You can yell at Phil Vercota. You can you know? He he knew what buttons to push. Players are motivated differently.
Mike:Some players need a hug. Some players you need to talk to. And and and great coaches understand that because you don't know what's going on in their head. You don't know. You know, maybe things aren't going well at home.
Mike:Maybe maybe his mom or dad are sick. Maybe there's there's other issues that are deal you're dealing with. So it's important to get to know the personalities of each player that you coach. And like I said, you yell at me. I'll I'm I'm not gonna turn around and quit.
Mike:I'm gonna I'm gonna you really I'll show you. I'll and by by her picking out is what we call his whipping boys, by doing that, he was sending a message to the team. If he's all over me and Phil and Jack and he's pissed off, hey, guys, we better pick it up. So, again, that was that was the the great part of his him as as a coach. And, again, I'll go back to trust and respect.
Jamie:Yeah.
Mike:I don't know if you've seen the HBO documentary, but it's spectacular. I mean, Netflix rather.
Jamie:I watched it last night.
Mike:It's unbelievable. So that scene in Chuck's when we're playing the checks and the kid cross checks Mark Mark Johnson, Mark actually had a slight separation of his shoulder. You saw her react on the bench, and what a great message to his team, to the players. He's got our back. As much as he was you know, as much as you doubt it sometimes Yep.
Mike:He showed right there and then that he he cared about you. And that was a subtle message to us. Makes you wanna play harder because you know he's there. So was he demanding? Absolutely.
Mike:But that's how coaches coached in that era. That's true. Deal with it. So so I I I think, you know, that that his personality, he made a decision. It was gonna be us against him.
Mike:He made that choice. I mean, after we won, he saw he didn't go on the ice and celebrate with us. If he did, it would have been, oh, now now you wanna be our friend. Now you wanna be our coach.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:But he he made that choice partly because there were nine kids in the team that played under him at the University of Minnesota.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:There were 12 kids on the team from Minnesota. And Massachusetts and Minnesota kids did not get along because of the rivalries. Wisconsin and Minnesota because of the rivalries. So Herb made a decision. It was gonna be good good cop, bad cop.
Mike:And he was the he was gonna be the ass, and Craig Patrick was gonna be the good guy. And to to unfortunately, till the day he died, Herb pretty much trade stayed true to who he was. I mean, I got to see a little different side of him when I was doing telecast for the rangers, and he was coaching the rangers. I'd, you know, spend a little more time talking with them and maybe have a beer or something.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:But I I always tell a funny story. Here I here I am at home with with three kids, and the phone would ring. This is before cell phones. And my wife would answer the phone, and she'd call me and say she'd say it's Herb. And I'm like, oh my god.
Mike:He's gonna yell at me. What did I do wrong? You know, I I got, you know, three kids in the house, and I'm worried about Herb yelling at me at my age. So Right. He still had that aura about him, but but he was a man that we truly, you know, respected and trusted.
Scott:Yeah. That's awesome. So let me ask you this. In in terms of, like, you know, your success over the years, is there any, like, you know, lesser known facts that, like, maybe don't get, like, talked about as much, like, you know, obviously, with the, you know, the the gold medal and and beating the Soviets. But in terms of just, like, hockey broadly speaking, are there any, like, lesser known things that, like, you know, you think are more important to you in terms of, like, you know, persevering, you know, continuing in your hockey journey, just continuing to make it to where you did?
Mike:Well, I I think one thing that's always missed in the shuffle is this is the Finland game.
Scott:Sure.
Mike:Everybody thought what what we talking about the whole time? The Soviet game. Yeah.
Jamie:It's true.
Mike:If we don't beat Finland, we're not having this conversation right now.
Scott:That's true. Right.
Mike:You're not calling me up and saying, hey, Mike. Jeez. If you only could have beat Finland.
Scott:Right.
Mike:You know? So people forget that. And I'm gonna give you a a statistic that I didn't know about until maybe last year. In the third period of the Olympic games, in the third period, we outscored our opponent 16 to three. That's an incredible number.
Mike:That's an incredible number. Finland didn't score in the third. The Soviets didn't score in the third. Sweden didn't score in the third. Czechoslovakia didn't score in the third.
Mike:So all the Herbie's we did, all the skating we did, all the conditioning we did Yeah. We dominated teams in the third period. Another thing you don't know going into the third period in the Finland game, we're losing two to one. I don't know how many guys in the locker room were standing up going, there's no way a bunch of Fins are keeping us from a gold medal. The best twenty minutes of hockey the best twenty minutes of hockey we played all year were the final twenty minutes against Finland.
Mike:We totally dominated the third period. We scored three goals. We win four to two. So I think a tribute to Pete you know, a little known fact, a tribute to my teammates. I mean, we didn't I mean, clearly, we didn't suck.
Mike:I mean, we could play. Right.
Jamie:No. You all could play.
Mike:Yeah. You know? And and the average age was 21 years old. It was the youngest Olympic team we'd ever put in the ice.
Scott:So Wow.
Jamie:It's
Mike:unbelievable. Youth, we used to our advantage. Our speed was incredible team speed. And here's another thing to you hockey parents at home. We would play four lines constantly, and sometimes we would play four lines in a minute and thirty seconds.
Mike:Wow. Think of that.
Jamie:Really?
Mike:You're on the ice for fifteen to twenty seconds. Gone. The only line that would stay out a little longer might have been Mark Johnson's line because Mark was so good.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:You you would your shifts might be twenty seconds long. Thirty seconds, you're out there a
Jamie:Right. My goodness.
Mike:But yeah. I mean, so those those are the, you know, little things that people people don't know. Neil Bronton, after the Olympics, went back to the University of Minnesota. He was the first recipient of the Hobie Baker for outstanding college hockey player. As you all know, Kenny Morrow went from the Olympics to four straight Stanley Cups
Jamie:Yeah.
Mike:With the islanders.
Jamie:That's right.
Mike:So so, you know, those little things, you know, that that people probably don't think about. But from the hockey standpoint, like I said to you parents at home, you're out there on the ice for a minute. You're out there way too long.
Jamie:Way too long.
Mike:We we would like I said, we rolled four lines.
Jamie:That's unbelievable. Look at that. And and you think you guys all came together because of how like you were saying, you have Wisconsin and Minnesota and Massachusetts. You think Herb just molded you guys together over that six, seven, eight month period?
Mike:Yeah. I I think so. I also I I also think anybody and you guys are in hockey. That's the mindset of a hockey player. You you you realize right away how important your teammates are.
Mike:Yeah. Hockey is a family sport.
Scott:Yeah.
Mike:You know? And and it's a bonding sport that stays with you forever. You know? It it's it's a, you know, it's a community of people that, you know, kinda go through the same things. I remember, you know, one of the great things about Jack Parker, years ago, we had a kid he recruited, and the kid was a really good player.
Mike:And he came up to visit with his dad, and Jack, you know, walked him around, talked to him. So when it was over, when the father came in, sat with Jack and said, hey. My my son's really gonna like it here. And he says, your power play. You know how you run your power play?
Mike:You know, I think he'd be perfect. And and so Jack sat with the guy and talked to the guy. And then when the the conversation was over, Jack said to him, look. If I if I end up recruiting your kid, I just want you to know this is the last time we'll talk hockey. And the guy got up and left, and Jack never recruited the kid.
Mike:Wow. Kid went somewhere else. You know what Jack's philosophy is? If you don't want the parents, you don't want the kid.
Jamie:So true, by the way.
Mike:So you parent you parents at home. It's a decision your son or daughter has to make. When I see a kid on campus and I meet meet with a lot of recruits when they come on visit, men and women for for other sports as well. The soccer coach might call me, and I meet with a kid and his parents are there. And I always say to the kid, look at if you wanna come to Boston University, you come because you wanna become.
Mike:You wanna come here. Not because mom and dad want you to come here.
Jamie:Right.
Mike:You come here because you wanna come here. Because if you're coming here because mom and dad want you here and you're not happy and you're not playing well, you're gonna complain to your parents. I told you I never shoulda came here. Yeah. You make that decision.
Mike:If this is where you wanna come, we'd love to have you, but not you know, don't come here because, you know, an aunt or uncle tells you to come here. You come here because you wanna be a terrier. You wanna play it, be you.
Scott:Right.
Mike:And, again, those, I think, messages to parents. Stay away. Let your son or daughter make the decision on what they're gonna do. Support them. Be a part of what you're doing.
Mike:But if you're not playing, don't be Kevin call the coach and say, hey. How come, you know, Susan's not on the ice? Sure.
Jamie:It happens all the time too, Mike. We see it
Mike:Well, again, the cost of the game. I'm paying a lot of money for my son and daughter to play. You know?
Scott:Right. There's an Ticks are
Mike:how much? Sticks are how much? Ice time is how much?
Jamie:Yeah. It doesn't help. It doesn't help.
Mike:It's hurting the game. You're almost you're almost recruiting kids that financially have some some background, some some you know? I'm I'm not saying everybody because there are kids who work hard and parents work hard to give that son or daughter the opportunity. They turn out to be great players, and they're playing college hockey somewhere or doing something. But you gotta understand that the price that that these parents are paying for their son or daughter to play is is is high.
Mike:It's unlike any other sport.
Scott:You know, that's what we find, like, when we we see these, like, crazy hockey parents, like, the amount of money that they pump into, like, private lessons, especially at the younger ages where, like, they they do have a lot of influence over their children. But there's a sense of, like, entitlement return on investment that they need to, like, see on the ice. And if they don't get it, they turn into, like, you know, absolutely crazy people. And it's it's just it's it's wild to see. And the number of people we've talked to just about, like, how unnecessary it is at, like, the younger ages, like, before puberty especially, is just, you know, it's it's wild.
Mike:Yeah. I I and another kind of funny story when my son would my son who lives in Connecticut, I think Michael's 41 now, he was playing youth hockey, and I was just watching him play, and there was this one parent who was pretty vocal. And he's yelling, you know, go, Johnny. Go up to the pass the Fox Street screen. So I went over and I said said Johnny said, do me a favor.
Mike:I said, when my my son has the puck, don't be yelling at him. Don't say anything. He he one, he can't hear you. And two, he he's not gonna pass the puck because you told him to pass the puck. He's gotta pass it because he thinks that's what he's supposed to do.
Mike:So word spread when Mike's son's on the ice. Don't anybody say anything. Don't yell at me. So people would go, go, Johnny. Go, Billy.
Mike:Go pee. And then my son would have the puck. It'd be silent.
Jamie:They'd be quiet. He'd be.
Mike:Then he would pass it to Frankie and he'd go, go, Frankie. Frankie. And then Michael would get in, and would be silent.
Jamie:That's fantastic.
Mike:I nipped that in the butt right away. He said, don't yell at my son when he's playing. I'm his father. I don't yell at him.
Scott:Right.
Mike:And I don't want him passing the puck because you told him to pass the puck. He's gotta pass it because he thinks that's what he's supposed to do, not because he heard it from you.
Scott:Yeah. So how about in terms of, like, all your years at the rings, do you have any, like, ultimate crazy hockey parents story that, like, you've, like, witnessed, you know, part of them?
Mike:No. Because I don't sit with the parents.
Scott:Oh, right. Okay.
Mike:I stay by myself. My wife has told me stories, though, about, you know, some of the parents, the screaming and yelling. You know?
Jamie:Yes.
Mike:Couple of parents throw out the f bomb once in a while. I'm like, I understand they can't hear you. They're they're 50 feet or 50 yards away. You're in the stands.
Jamie:Through a pane of glass.
Mike:And, yeah, and glass, and they got helmets on.
Jamie:That's right.
Mike:So so no. I you know, when my when my even my son played high school football, I would go and sit on the other sidelines and the other team stands
Scott:Oh, really?
Mike:And sit by myself. I came to watch my son play.
Jamie:That's right.
Mike:And that's, you know, that's why I'm there. And when the game's over, if we wanna talk about the game, we can talk about the game. But if he didn't wanna talk about it, we don't talk about it. But I, you know, I would bring up points during the game after the game was over. Say, Mike, you had that one on one.
Mike:What were you thinking? And we'll talk about it. But okay. At least, you know, I was thinking of doing this. Well, at least you were thinking.
Mike:You know? Right. You didn't you know? So so those are the conversations I always have with my kids. And and and my my wife's in the other room.
Mike:She's gonna yell at me. But I was traveling, and my son Paul had a baseball game. And I I I missed the game. And I said, how'd Paul do? She goes, he hit he had three hits today.
Mike:Oh, that's great. Put him on the phone. So I get on the phone. I said, Paul, three for three. He goes, what do mean?
Mike:Mom said you had three hits. I fly out to center field. I grounded to shortstop, and I popped up. He hit the ball three times. Therefore, he had three hits.
Mike:You're right. That's the kind of parents you wanna have. Yep. Just out there supporting their son or daughter. Yes.
Mike:And if they turn out to be good players, good. Good for them. More importantly, hope they become good kids.
Scott:Yep. You know what I loved just now? Like, the way that you've been talking about your conversation with with your son is that it it was a question. Like, how'd you think you did out there? Or Yeah.
Scott:You know, like, what did you see during that play? It it wasn't, like, you know, like talking to your child. You're having a conversation about what they're seeing out there, and and, obviously, you have the experience to kinda help them out if you wanted. But like you were even just saying, like, if you wanna talk about it, we talk. If not, we didn't.
Mike:Yeah. Well, some parents didn't even play the sport.
Scott:Totally.
Mike:And now they're experts at it.
Scott:This guy right here. Play. Right.
Jamie:I I was football, basketball, baseball.
Mike:There you go. But you were an athlete, so you understand what what it's like to be an athlete. Yeah. I you know, I can't tell my son what to do on a breakaway. I can't after the game say you shoulda did this or that.
Mike:He's gonna know what he I don't know what he's thinking. I don't know what he's maybe he thought he could go top shelf and it wasn't availed. Maybe the goalie made the save. But at least he's he's thinking about doing something. And and give me your answer.
Mike:And if his answer was I thought I could do this, then okay. Maybe next time you might mind me try to do this. And and that's how it that how it ends. You cannot control once you tie their skates and out they go, you can't control a damn thing other than when the game's over, you help them take their skates off, you get in the car, you go home. Maybe stop and have a a cheeseburger somewhere.
Mike:I talk about the game. Talk about what it was like. Yeah. Are you having fun? If you're not having fun, you can't don't play the game.
Mike:If you're not if you're not enjoying it, don't play the game. Don't play don't play because mom and dad want you to play.
Jamie:That's right.
Mike:Don't play football because dad played football. If you don't like football, you don't like football.
Jamie:Yeah. Go do something else. There's plenty of other
Mike:things to Be good student. Be like, again, I'd go back to what I said. Be a good person.
Jamie:Yeah. Yeah. So It's interesting how that happens.
Mike:That's my take on life.
Scott:That's awesome.
Jamie:It's a very smart one. The a lot of people we talk to say the exact same thing. The kids need to like it, and unfortunately, Mike, a lot of parents, hockey parents, they they ruin the game for their kids.
Mike:Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's unfortunate.
Scott:Mike, we've been on the on the call for forty seven minutes. Yeah. So thank you so much for your time. I wanna be respectful of it. Really appreciate you coming on.
Scott:And really Sure. Thank you so much for sharing your your experience and and, you know, perspective on on the game with all of our listeners.
Mike:Oh, thank you. I I'm I'm sure people are gonna disagree with me, but and that's fine too. You have the right to disagree, and that's just my opinion. My opinion's not an expert opinion. Mine's my opinion's my opinion.
Mike:And if you like it, fine. If you don't, so be it.
Jamie:But thank you.
Mike:Thanks thanks for having me on, guys.
Jamie:Don't be silly. Thank you so much for doing this. We really appreciate it. Okay.
Scott:Do. So much, Mike.
Jamie:Thanks, Mike.
Scott:Alright everybody, welcome back from a legendary interview with Mike Eruzione. Well legendary for us I think I He mean he's a is a legend. But like what again just I didn't realize you know, just over the course of like,
Jamie:you
Scott:know, from a young age and just like being coached by Jack Parker and, you know, and Brooks and, you know, what for someone that, you know, was like a kid of how many and like growing up in a neighborhood
Jamie:big family.
Scott:He's just
Jamie:It's crazy. He still lives in his old neighborhood. That's also crazy. I mean, dude, he pointed to the house I was talking about. I was asking him a question about the house he grew up in and he's like, It's right there.
Jamie:He pointed to it.
Scott:Yeah, no, that's wild.
Jamie:He's like, It's right there. I was like, What? He's like, It's right here. I was like, holy shit.
Scott:But I I mean, just I
Jamie:didn't realize he was still in his the town he grew up in.
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:I didn't realize that. Did you?
Scott:No. I had no idea.
Mike:I knew
Jamie:he was in Mass somewhere. I knew he was from Mass.
Scott:Yeah. Had no idea.
Jamie:I didn't think it was the same freaking town.
Scott:Yeah. And then he's got his BU affiliate, you know, affiliation and like he's helping coach high school out there and you know, he's clearly so
Jamie:I meant to ask him if he was going to the Beanpot final on Monday night. Totally forgot to ask him. Shit.
Scott:Let's go let's go Terriers.
Jamie:Yeah. Let's go BC Junior No. Not Junior. Let's go BC
Mike:Eagles. No.
Jamie:We're BC fans in our household.
Scott:Oh, we are not.
Jamie:I know you're not because you and your wife are both graduates.
Scott:Go Terriers.
Jamie:I know. Listen, it's gonna be interesting. I think BU actually has a better hockey team this year. Yeah? I think so.
Jamie:We'll see.
Scott:I think they've been, underachieving.
Jamie:I think both teams have been have been underachieving. Yeah. I mean, Dom and I saw BC play at Providence earlier this year.
Scott:Oh, yeah. That's right.
Jamie:Good game. We we were debating going to the, to the Beanpot final.
Scott:Didn't you go last year?
Jamie:We did.
Scott:Was that when you sat, like, five rows back next to the guy that was, like, big enough to sit in five seats?
Jamie:Dude.
Scott:That was at the Beanpot, right?
Jamie:Yes, it was. I paid a lot of money to be in row five or six.
Scott:Which was
Jamie:Which is row two off the glass. Or it's row one off the glass. We were, like, front row, and I did not realize that at at I did not realize at TD Garden that row one is, like, row 6.
Scott:Right. Well, why would you?
Jamie:Exactly. So I had no idea. So I bought But you
Scott:didn't go to, like, like the map and see like where the seats were?
Jamie:So I don't think I did a Like a seat view? I don't think I did a seat view. I think I did like a section view. I figured row six, you're like decent amount off the
Scott:glass where it's like you're closed, but you're So not, like
Jamie:and you're behind the benches. I was assuming we would be high enough to see over
Scott:Right.
Jamie:The benches. I was just I but I I was clearly assumed wrong.
Scott:Yeah. You did.
Jamie:You know? It's fun. It's fun. Yeah.
Scott:100%.
Jamie:And it's funny. Jackass. I actually went back and looked. It's a great movie.
Scott:There we go.
Jamie:Great movie. Great movie. Great movie. Now you're done. You've had enough.
Jamie:Now you've
Mike:had enough.
Scott:Bitch. Totally.
Jamie:Bitch. So good. So good. The second one, I was I was a little disappointed with the second one.
Scott:I didn't watch the
Jamie:second one. I was disappointed. A lot of cameos from a lot of people.
Scott:Yes. I heard that. Actually I heard that, was like, I'm not interested.
Jamie:I was a little disappointed. Not gonna lie
Scott:to you. Did you hear that his like, was in the news recently? Like his daughter was in Chanel. Like this is such like a tabloid y thing but it popped up on my newsfeed. And so
Jamie:I did nothing. What is it?
Scott:His daughter was like in Chanel. Okay. Looking at handbags. Right. And one of like the people that worked there basically sized her up not knowing who she was.
Jamie:Like thought she was a nobody?
Scott:Like sized her up and just thought like, you know, she had no business being a She's browsing. Yeah. And like she, you know, the woman said something. So I don't know, it could be botching the story but something was said. And then I I the the way I understood the story was that she ended up calling her dad.
Scott:Adam Sandler came to the store, walked in there dressed like as he does, which is
Jamie:like Probably a Bruins jersey.
Scott:And like just like Pair
Jamie:of shorts.
Scott:Yeah. That untied shoes and like, you know Yeah. Un uncombed hair.
Jamie:I was just gonna say hair like all over the place.
Scott:And apparently, he went into the store and he bought like one of every bag. And he told the people behind the counter, you should never judge
Jamie:He's someone by the way they listen. It's not wrong. Definitely not wrong, right?
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:It's true. Definitely true.
Scott:I would have then made sure that the commission went to everyone but that woman who said something to me. If there is commission,
Mike:it's just
Jamie:a agree with that, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. No, listen. It's it's that's a a learning that's like a lesson learned.
Scott:You never know. Especially nowadays, dude.
Jamie:Dude, I had a client back in the day who was my first client ever. Can I just tell you? The man lived in a rent control apartment in the city, on Park Avenue actually. Rent controlled building. You went into because I went into his apartment.
Scott:And
Jamie:his place was when I say a total shithole, I mean a total shithole.
Scott:Like hoarder?
Jamie:Not that bad, but he collected glass paperweights. What? What? Yeah, like stuffed animals. You're talking like a 75 year old man, unmarried, but his wife lived in Brooklyn.
Scott:He brought you to his bachelor pad?
Jamie:Dude, he was my first client. I shit you not. He's married, but again, she lived in
Scott:Did you get this guy with your networking skills?
Jamie:His No, actually. So yeah, his wife, who was a Russian lady who, in my opinion, was, I thought, like a mail order bride from Moscow. Lovely lady, but they lived separately, which I guess, listen, some people do. Not exactly the norm, but some people, I guess, do it.
Scott:Sure.
Jamie:She hid her apartment, hid his apartment. And again, when I say shithole, this place was a major shithole.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:And when I went there, he would be in like and again, I'm not fucking joking. He probably weighed like five hundred pounds. No. He was super, super heavy. Four fifty, maybe.
Jamie:Maybe five hundred. He was very big. He was all of three seventy five plus.
Scott:Wow. Yeah. Should have put all of his paperweights in a bag and told him to start lifting.
Jamie:When I would a nice man, really nice man. When I would I should I should have been in his apartment to pick up a check from him.
Scott:Okay.
Jamie:And and he'd be in like
Scott:Speedo?
Jamie:He'd in like he'd be in like boxers and like a like a white T shirt. Like, a white V
Scott:neck shirt. With,
Jamie:like, like, slippers Oh, dude. You have no yes. Yes. And one of the most insane things about this gentleman, he seems worth, like, $10,000,000
Scott:No way, really? Yeah.
Jamie:No bullshit. Yeah.
Scott:That's unreal.
Jamie:He had an account with me till he passed away. Yeah.
Scott:I didn't
Jamie:I mean, is fucking unbelievable. Scott, if you would see like, you probably don't you know, we're talking about don't judge a book by its cover.
Scott:Yeah. Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:He was But I would probably judge a person by, like, their boxers in their apartment and, like
Jamie:Listen. A hard
Scott:nut I you know what I mean? Like
Jamie:It was hard. Yes. When I first walked in there, I'm like, wow. This is a fucking waste of time. But I was but I was wrong.
Jamie:I was I was wrong. I was Luckily, did not judge the book by
Scott:its cover. Because what's that expression? The way you do anything is the way I you do mean,
Jamie:like Listen, he again, a very nice man. He's been dead for years.
Scott:But
Jamie:Jesus Christ, man. I mean, I can't even imagine.
Scott:What was his first name? Lewis. Lewis.
Jamie:Lewis David. I don't wanna say his last name. Yeah. Again, very nice man. But what a fucking shithole.
Jamie:I mean, like, it was it was
Scott:How many flights did you have to walk up?
Jamie:There was an elevator.
Scott:Oh, there was?
Jamie:Yeah. There was a it was an elevator pitch.
Scott:I was imagining just
Jamie:like No. No. He lived on, like, the 20 Somethingth Floor about True. In sweat. It was a it was Park Ave build and I'm telling you right now, they couldn't wait to get him the fuck out of that.
Scott:Oh, I'm sure.
Jamie:Wow, dude. Because this this was a Could
Scott:you smell his apartment from down the hall?
Jamie:No. No. It wasn't that bad. But he this was a major, major apartment, but he had he had lived in it for Scott, I shit you not, he had to be there for forty years. Had to be.
Scott:Maybe he was so rich Listen, because of his
Jamie:don't think that's not part of it.
Mike:You know
Jamie:what I mean? He obviously lived a very frugal lifestyle. Well, spent money, but he spent money on on Paper weights. And stuffed animals. Yeah.
Jamie:Yeah. It was pretty it was pretty pretty fucking wild, man.
Scott:That's unreal.
Jamie:I mean, it was it was but the guy was worth 10,000,000 was probably on the light side, to be totally honest with you. Yeah. He was probably worth, like, 15 to 20. And again, if you see him, the man was a fucking disaster. Disaster.
Jamie:Total fucking disaster. Again, nice man, but shit, man. Total fucking disaster.
Scott:That's wild. Yeah. Okay.
Jamie:So we're talking about not judging book by
Scott:its guy. Let's cover it. Yeah. Yeah. So how did that come up in way?
Jamie:Where are we even going with that? We were talking about, like, we we all of a sudden, like, you made the the Oh, I say the Happy Gilmore comment. I'm not even sure how we got there. I was saying something important, but we went so far off the
Scott:fucking We went
Jamie:off rails there I'm not sure where the fuck we were. I'd love to go back and, like, listen because I'm not because I'm worried to forget to say something. But, yeah, man. That was my client for you.
Scott:That's interesting. But getting back to Eruzione, what are their stats?
Jamie:Oh, we're talking about his neighborhood.
Scott:Oh, yeah.
Jamie:Right? Well, I think it was what were talking about. But the fact that he grew up with 14 brothers, sisters, cousins under the same roof and like six adults there. There were 20 people in the three family house that they lived in. That was insane.
Scott:Well, what about the part where he was saying if that don't mind my mind's already blank but if that one guy hadn't been fired.
Jamie:Dude, the way shit happened.
Scott:The way he ended up not going pro, staying in amateur and then going on. And then you know, it was also great like when he was just saying like, you know, we talked about leadership and how he was the captain of the team. He's like, I was a captain amongst captains. It wasn't like
Jamie:Yeah, that was cool.
Scott:It just he gave a ton of credit to all those
Jamie:around All those teammates.
Scott:Yeah. And I just got the chills just even thinking about it.
Jamie:That was a special team. That was a really special team. When he was saying that, I was thinking about our team USA that's over in Italy right now. Yep. And I was thinking, like, are they that dialed in?
Jamie:Are they that dialed in that that they're like that nineteen eighty Olympic team? Because listen, beating Canada is not easy. No. That's a hard fucking team to beat. And they're I would say they're more skilled on paper.
Jamie:Right?
Scott:Canada is.
Jamie:Yes. You know? So it's a very similar situation.
Scott:Jim Dowd was saying the other day when he talked about the '95, like, winning, like, cup winning team. Situation. It's like, Nedermeier.
Jamie:Devil's And
Scott:there is Stephan Richey No. There's Claude Lemieux. Like, these
Jamie:aren't Stevens and Marty Brodure.
Scott:These were Okay. Are no slouches. Marty Brodure and Scott Stevens, like, are two names that, like, a lot of people will know. More so Marty Broduren And
Jamie:Scott Nedermeier was a fan. Oh, Nedermeier, no hall of fame guys.
Scott:But what I'm saying is that these aren't the guys
Jamie:that to me. When you
Scott:think back to, like, the nineties, they're not mess may Broduren and Stevens
Jamie:like Joe Sackett. These aren't
Scott:the guys that are, like, popping up.
Jamie:That's what you know? It's it's it's Messier. Right?
Scott:Sergei Brelin was on that team, I think.
Jamie:Yeah. Yes. They that
Scott:Gandalfa was on that team?
Jamie:Gandalfa was there. They had a bunch of really, really good
Scott:hockey was on that team. Remember Mike Peluso?
Jamie:I do. He's on Savage. He's he's on the NHL network called Tango. Is he? Oh, no.
Jamie:That's rough. Sorry. It's something that I I'm not sure where Peluso is. But that's what I mean. Like, they so I'm wondering if so clearly, the nineteen eighty Olympic team was structured like that.
Scott:Clearly What do you mean like that?
Jamie:Like like the Devils team that won the Stanley Cup. They were a bunch of really good players
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:That came together, and they defied odds by by winning. Right? Like, you know, again
Scott:But then the but then also Brooks, like, coach and how he decided, like, there was and heard this before, like, you know, you had the Minnesota and the Massachusetts kids and like, you know, they were all kind of rivals and coach was like, no, you're gonna, it's like me versus them. Which He is galvanized the team How around all hating
Jamie:brilliant.
Scott:So brilliant.
Jamie:How brilliant of a strategy is that? Yeah. He did that by fucking design.
Scott:By design.
Jamie:That is wild to me that he did that by design.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:Like, that was all pre planned by him. He's because he knew he had a problem with Wisconsin and Minnesota and Massachusetts. He knew there was an issue there all over the place. And he was smart enough to pit everybody against him and said to Craig Patrick, You be their friend, I'm just gonna And dude, he fucked with them so much psychologically. I mean, the Robbie McClanahan thing in the locker room when he got hurt and the doctor said he had an upper leg contusion.
Jamie:Going after him was, again, fucking brilliant. The Jim Craig thing, when he went to Jim Craig after he gave up 10 goals against Russia, when they lost ten-three, before they went to Lake Placid, he went to he's like, Listen, I might give Janasek the net. He's like, I think we're gonna sit you down. He's like, do you mean? It's my net.
Jamie:He's like, Dude, you just left Tengals. It's anybody's But the fact that he did that to get the best out of people is fucking brilliant,
Scott:dude.
Jamie:It's brilliant. And like Mike was saying, he knew guys that he could start ribbing, so the rest of the team knew, Oh, shit, he means fucking business.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:I mean, he played so many fucking To bring in Timmy Harrer, he brought in Timmy Harrer, like, midway through They were already a family. Yep. Right? And he brings in Timmy Harrer, scoring a shitload of goals for the Gophers, And then they're all like, what the fuck? What's this dude doing here?
Jamie:Right. I mean and they were all on edge.
Scott:Right. No idea.
Jamie:Because they all thought that they could
Mike:be cut.
Scott:Right.
Jamie:So they had to give their very best, and they did give their very best.
Scott:No doubt.
Jamie:Which again, is fucking brilliant. Yeah. It was all orchestrated by Herb himself.
Scott:Yeah. That's ridiculous. It's so interesting how nowadays it's like, you hear about coaching tactics and almost often comes up with younger generations and how not everyone responds to the same kind of stimulus. And that was true back then too. But I think just culturally things are so much different where coaches probably have to wear a lot more hats than they used to.
Scott:Probably. And you probably have players that are going to like fall in line if you have someone that's such like a hard nose. But man, I tell you, like just listening to those stories and listening to how these kids came together, like, oh, unreal.
Jamie:If you guys have not seen if you hockey parents that are listening to this, if you have not seen Miracle, the movie Miracle, go watch it. And if you've not seen the Netflix documentary, which just came out last week Yeah. If you've not seen it's called Miracle, The Boys of 80. If you have not seen those two things, please go watch them.
Mike:Yeah.
Jamie:I mean, it was talk about defying odds.
Scott:Yeah. I mean To say the least. Because they got smoked by the Russians. How how long before that game?
Jamie:They three gay three days before they left for Lake Placid. They they played them in Madison Square Garden.
Scott:Yeah.
Jamie:And they lost 10
Scott:Got smoked.
Jamie:Three. And the next time they played them was in the the game They've
Scott:listening to
Jamie:It's unbelievable.
Scott:Chiclets had Callahan on.
Jamie:Jack O'Callahan. Yeah. OC?
Scott:Yeah. And and he was saying how, like, after and I forget which game or whatever it was, but the bottom line was, like, after, like, a win, he he wouldn't let the team kind of, like, ride a high. They didn't want them to go into the next game, like, kinda cocky or whatever, thinking that they were better than they were and would just be, like, hard on them and, like, skate them or make them run or whatever it was. Yeah, man. Just so that, like, he like, the boys understood
Jamie:Yeah.
Scott:That, like, just because you won doesn't mean, you know?
Jamie:Yeah. Listen, the against Norway where they tied three three in Oslo, think it was in Oslo, Norway, and that's where the famous Herbies comes from. Right? I mean, he said them in the movie, which is true to real life. He had them on the ice after the game.
Scott:So the lights went off.
Jamie:He's like, you guys don't wanna work during the game? We'll work now. Yep. And he skated the shit out of them. Yep.
Jamie:And so the fucking lights went off. Zamboni guy wanted to come on. Right? I mean, and and and and clean the ice, he's like, nope. And he skated the shit out of them.
Jamie:I mean, listen, he wanted perfection.
Scott:You should listen to this.
Jamie:Or as close to perfection as possible.
Scott:Listen to the Chicklets Because episode that just came out
Jamie:last With Dalham?
Scott:Yeah. Because he talks about that and they asked him about it and he's like, I wasn't even on the ice. He's like, it wasn't the whole team. Like not everyone And so he's like, I watched that whole thing from the stand.
Jamie:He sat there and watched that? So there were three guys like Scratch?
Scott:Well, after the game, whatever it was and he was saying how like,
Jamie:Oh, didn't know that.
Scott:How like they were about, you know, like because they were a team and they were like about to put on their gear because they knew that they were like, you know, the coach wanted them back out on the ice. And so whoever it was said, No, like, know, just let's go out there, you know, whatever.
Jamie:So they
Scott:watched that. I think there were some players that ended up didn't skate it but watched. Dude, that's crazy.
Jamie:Yeah. That's listen. I mean, it's and it it was it was a special it was a special a special team. Yeah. You know, that was a special team.
Jamie:There was some political stuff going on with the cold
Scott:on American soil and
Jamie:It was on American soil the last time that I think it was a it had to be last time late the Winter Olympics were apparently placid. I don't think you'll ever see it again either.
Scott:No. I think it was wait. Was there more than once at Lake Placid?
Jamie:I don't think so. Yeah. Wait a minute. Was it before?
Scott:I don't I don't know.
Jamie:I could've swore there was. I I wanna say it was.
Scott:You gonna look it up?
Jamie:God. You look it
Scott:Jamie, look it up.
Jamie:You want me look it up?
Scott:Hey, Jamie.
Jamie:That's Joe Rogan, isn't it?
Scott:Yeah. You can call me Joe.
Jamie:You look just like him.
Scott:Joe Rogan?
Jamie:Let me see. We're I do not look anything like Joe Rogan. No, you don't.
Scott:Not even a little.
Jamie:I could have swerved it was one in the '60s that was there. Sorry. 1932. I knew there was another one. So was 'thirty two and 'eighty.
Jamie:And I don't think you'll ever see another one there because I I don't think they have the They're the infrastructure. Infrastructure for today today's type of of of crowd.
Scott:You know what I mean?
Jamie:Yeah. I don't think so. But it'd be awesome.
Scott:Anyway, we're gonna go there soon.
Jamie:We are going to go there soon. We are gonna
Scott:be there
Jamie:for the ECAC Conference finals, which will be sick. We're gonna broadcast live from there. That's gonna be a lot of fun.
Scott:Yeah. It
Jamie:will. I'm looking forward to that. Special place.
Scott:Yes. It is.
Jamie:If you guys have not been, please go. Even if it's in the in the summertime, just go. Yeah. Yeah. Place is awesome.
Jamie:Was there once? Only once?
Scott:Yeah. When I was a kid, we played a Can Am tournament up there.
Jamie:You have not been back since?
Scott:No. I skated I skated on the rank of 80.
Jamie:Oh, interesting. Didn't realize Yeah.
Scott:I was there once, and then that's it.
Jamie:Place is awesome.
Scott:Yeah. It unfortunately, I don't have great memories. Like, not not that they were bad memories. I don't have, like
Jamie:We're gonna
Scott:have give you some new to go up there and make memories.
Jamie:Yeah. We're have to give you some new ones from from our time because I I fully expect to be invited every single year to the ECAC Conference Finals now.
Scott:Let's go.
Jamie:Yeah. It's gonna be fun, man. Alright. Looking forward to Hey. Listen.
Jamie:Good episode.
Scott:Yes. It was.
Jamie:I like it. Sick interview. It was awesome. USA.
Scott:Yes. USA.
Jamie:Here we go. And this episode's dropping one day before The US men take the ice. So let's go USA. Bring home the gold.
Scott:Let's do it. Here we go. Alright.
Jamie:Let's do buddy.