One of the most stressful moments in youth hockey doesn’t happen during a game. It happens in a tryout. Every year, young players hear words like identified, selected, and elite. Some kids get picked early and fast-tracked into special progr…
Every January, the World Junior Hockey Championship gives us a glimpse of hockey’s future. And every year, it also exposes uncomfortable truths about how the game is being developed around the world. This season, when Canada was eliminated by…
When Hockey Guilt Creeps In: Why It’s Okay to Miss Sometimes For so many families in girls hockey, the schedule alone can feel overwhelming. Practices. Games. Tournaments. Travel. Add in school, family events, other sports, and the occasional…
Mental Strength Starts Before You Hit the Ice If you’re a hockey player, chances are you’ve felt it before — that nervous feeling in your stomach on the way to the rink. Maybe it’s before a big game. Maybe it’s after a…
Reset, Refocus, Rekindle: Making the Second Half of the Hockey Season Matter The middle of the youth hockey season is a strange place. The excitement of September is long gone. The early wins or losses have settled in. Practices feel repetitive. T…
Why Mental Fitness Can’t Be an Afterthought In youth hockey, we invest enormous time and energy into physical development. We talk about skating mechanics, shot velocity, strength programs, and skills sessions. But when it comes to the mind &…
Building a Hockey Life Beyond the Ice — Lessons for Young Players For many young athletes, the dream is simple: play hockey for as long as possible. But what happens after the final buzzer sounds? What happens when the skates eventually come …
How Puerto Rico’s Women’s National Team Made History — And What Young Players Can Learn From Their Gold Medal Run When the Puerto Rico Women’s National Team stepped onto the small 3-on-3 ice surface in Buenos Aires, few coul…
Introduction: Hockey Isn’t Just a Game — It’s an Entire Ecosystem Most kids grow up dreaming of playing college hockey, the PWHL, or maybe even the NHL. But what they don’t see — because no one shows them — is th…
Train the Brain, Change the Game: How Kids Can Build Hockey IQ Every Day When parents think about helping their kids become better hockey players, the first ideas that come to mind are usually the classics: skating lessons, more reps, more shooting…
When you’re a young hockey player dreaming about playing professionally someday, it’s easy to imagine the bright lights, the jerseys, and the big games. What’s harder to picture is everything in between — the travel, the pres…
🧠 How Cognitive Training Builds Smarter, More Confident Hockey Players Featuring insights from cognitive-performance innovator Satoshi Takano Hockey parents hear it all the time: “Your kid needs more Hockey IQ.”But what does that actua…
The women’s game is changing — fast. And if you’ve watched the PWHL this season, you’ve seen it clearly: the game is faster, stronger, and more physical than ever before. On a recent episode of Our Girls Play Hockey, Lee sat…
Every hockey parent has had a moment where they look at the bench and think: Does it really take this many adults to coach a youth hockey team?For one listener, that question became impossible to ignore — and the letter he sent us started a co…
As families across the country gather for turkey, stuffing, and time together, the Our Kids Play Hockey crew is doing what they do best — sharing stories, laughter, and a whole lot of gratitude with their hockey family. In this year’s T…
Hockey Life Balance: What It Really Means for Young Athletes Finding balance between hockey, school, family, and personal life is one of the toughest challenges young athletes face. But is true balance even possible—or is it really about prio…
🚗 The Ride Home That Can Make or Break a Hockey Kid Every hockey parent knows the feeling: the game just ended, and the emotions are high. Maybe your child missed a breakaway. Maybe the team blew a lead. You start to talk — or worse, “c…
🏒 Introduction: Beyond the Puck In youth hockey, players are often taught to focus on the play right in front of them — the puck, the rush, the goal. But as Lee and Mike explain in this week’s episode of The Ride to the Rink, the real m…
Coaching Girls in Hockey: Why Words Matter More Than You Think One of the most fascinating challenges in youth hockey coaching is recognizing that how you say something can be just as important as what you say. This was at the heart of a recent Our…
🧊 The Mental Load of Being a Hockey Parent: Why You’re Not Crazy (The Hockey World Is) If you’ve ever found yourself gripping your coffee in a cold rink at 6 a.m. thinking, “Why does this feel like so much?” — this epi…
🏒 Introduction: A Modern Communication Breakdown “Okay.” “K.” “👍.”Three words — or symbols — that can cause a whole lot of confusion. In this episode of The Ride To The Rink, Mike and Lee dive into t…
What do you do when your child starts dreading the rink? In a recent Ride to the Rink episode, Olympian Hayley Scamurra and mental performance coach Nick Stoop joined Lee Elias to explore powerful lessons around mentorship, mindset, and what truly …
Teaching Kids to Communicate in Hockey: Lessons Every Parent Should Hear When your child sits on the bench or struggles to find their voice with a coach, it’s easy to jump in and “fix it.” But what if the best thing you can do is …
🎬 Tournament Time: More Than Just Games For hockey families, tournaments are more than a weekend of games — they’re where friendships are forged, lessons are learned, and core memories are made. But too often, players and parents miss o…