Feb. 10, 2024

Cultivating Love for Hockey Beyond the Ice: Insights from the Capitals' Youth Hockey Development Program

In this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey, we dive deep into the world of youth hockey development with Peter Robinson who is the Director of Youth Hockey Development for the Washington Capitals. With a career spanning 17 seasons with the Capitals, Peter shares his journey from a youth hockey player in Maryland to shaping the future of the sport in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) area.

Key Highlights:

Peter Robinson's Path to the Capitals: Discover how Peter's passion for hockey and his roots in Maryland led him to his dream job with the Capitals. From playing youth hockey to pursuing degrees in psychology marketing and sports marketing, Peter's journey is a testament to his dedication to the game.
Youth Hockey Development in the DMV: Learn about the Capitals' efforts to grow the game of hockey through on and off-ice programming for all skill levels. Peter discusses the impact of NHL stars like Alex Ovechkin on local youth participation and how the Capitals are working to make hockey more accessible and inclusive.
The Ovechkin Effect: Hear firsthand accounts of how Alex Ovechkin's influence extends beyond the rink into community development, including funding legacy ball hockey rinks to encourage more kids to embrace the sport.
Expanding Access to Hockey: Peter highlights the importance of introducing various forms of hockey to kids, from ice hockey to street and inline hockey, emphasizing the role of community engagement and educational programs in fostering a love for the game.
Advice for Hockey Directors: Peter shares his insights on making hockey fun and inclusive, emphasizing the long-term benefits of cultivating a passion for the sport among youth.

Join us as we explore the impactful work being done to ensure the future of hockey is bright, inclusive, and accessible to all. Whether you're a seasoned hockey family or new to the sport, this episode is packed with inspiring stories, practical advice, and a deep love for the game that unites us all.

Remember, hockey is more than just a game; it's a community that shapes lives on and off the ice. Tune in and be inspired by the power of youth hockey development!

Stay tuned for more insightful episodes of Our Kids Play Hockey, where we explore all facets of the sport from grassroots to the professional level.

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00:52 - Growing Youth Hockey With Capitals

10:17 - Growing the Game

18:05 - Youth Hockey Promotion and Lifelong Fans

29:33 - Expanding Hockey Education and Accessibility

37:19 - Expanding Hockey Engagement and Opportunities

44:38 - Increase Hockey Access, Diversity With Programs

50:19 - Fun and Inclusivity in Hockey

WEBVTT

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Hello hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome to another edition of our kids play hockey powered by NHL.

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Since arena.

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I'm Leo Elias, with Mike Benelli and Christy Cassiano Burns, and we are privileged to welcome with us today the director of youth hockey development with the Washington capitals, a team some of you may have heard from Peter Robinson.

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With the capitals, peter's role is to grow the game of hockey by providing access to the sport throughout the DC, maryland and Virginia area we will refer to that as the DMV for those of you outside the east coast today through on and off ice programming for all skill levels.

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And Pete is no stranger to the capitals.

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Prior to his role with youth hockey development, he oversaw community relations for the capitals and is currently in get this his 17th season with the organization.

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That's like a full pro career.

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You got lots to talk about today, peter.

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Welcome to our kids play hockey.

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Thank you for having me.

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I'm excited to be here.

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Hey, we're excited to have you.

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You know, pete, I got to start with this.

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17 years with an NHL club is no joke.

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Tell us about how you initially got involved with the caps and why you've made this a continued commitment.

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Yeah, you're right, it's 17 years is kind of amazing that it's gone by that quick.

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It is a dream.

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I grew up in Maryland.

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I was a capitals fan.

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I played youth hockey growing up for Montgomery youth hockey association and Chevy Chase and then played for my high school sure would high school.

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So I played all the way up until high school competitive hockey and it's just always been a part of my life.

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My dad is from Windsor, ontario, so it's just, you know, part of the part of the tradition.

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As soon as you turn two years old and you can start walking, the skates are on and you have to rank.

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So it was, it's always been a part of my life.

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This brought me so many different places and so many opportunities.

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So my my degree was in psychology marketing and then my master's was in sports marketing.

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So my ultimate goal was always to work in professional sports, with that dream being working for the Washington capitals one day, which I was lucky enough to accomplish in 2007.

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I started as a coordinator of amateur hockey and fan development, did that for seven years and then moved in the community relations role that you mentioned earlier, so that in that role I oversaw, like our player appearances are signing sessions, hospital visits, granting wishes.

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You know, engaging with the community, hockey fights cancer, some of those league platforms, but I always continued engaging and growing the office form of the game.

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And then in 2019, the Washington capitals, as an organization, decided to invest in youth hockey and the development of the sport, and we created the youth hockey development department.

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So it's myself.

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Jesse Thompson is our senior manager of youth hockey development.

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She oversees everything on ice.

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And then Andrew Nash is our manager of youth hockey development.

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He oversees everything off ice.

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So there's three of us in the department now.

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I can say it came about because you saw a need.

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What did you see and why did you decide?

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This is something that we got.

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A stark portion, yeah, it's interesting when I started in 2007,.

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You're looking at the early part of Alex Oveskin's career and a lot of interest, right, a lot of interest in the sport itself.

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When I was growing up, I think at my school, for example, I was one of three or four kids that played hockey, and when you told somebody you played hockey, instantly they'd be like what are you like Canadian?

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Or something Like why not?

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Yes, we get that all the time here too.

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And so it was always this more of a niche sport.

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It wasn't very one of the mainstream sports.

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And that started the change with Alex coming in and the popularity.

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You saw that just if you look at the graph, you saw that giant leap in registrations and participation in terms of the sport of hockey.

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So we saw a little bit of that in this market in 98 when the caps went to the finals.

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But really when Alex came on it really started to grow and we started to do stuff in the community and oftentimes it was does anybody know the capitals?

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A few kids would raise their hands.

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Or are you aware of Alex?

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Oveskin is A few kids would raise their hands.

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But the football team they always knew the back up quarterback was started.

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They knew all the players on the football team, the basketball, other sports, the baseball team.

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So it was really trying to take advantage of the excitement around Alex and the turnaround of the franchise and really paying attention to trying to create fans and grow just the awareness of the brand.

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That's kind of what the original focus of our team is.

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You know, what's funny is that?

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So I used to send my summers in Silver Spring, maryland.

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Believe it or not, pete, my grandmother lived there and it was funny because once you kind of passed through Delaware at that time in the 90s, now I was a hockey guy.

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I got to sell some names out here.

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But like, yeah, I remember Peter Bondra, joey Juno, adam Oates, obviously Dale Hunter, and.

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But you're right, you know, I remember thinking those are huge names and then Oveskin showed up.

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It was like another stratosphere of player and Alex Oveskin, who I'm already saying is the greatest goal scorer of all time, even though you know he's still right below the record, it's actually interesting to hear you talk about his effect on the game and the reverberations of what a player like that can do to change it, because, again, there was no denying him when he came in the league.

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I'm going to ask you in a minute because I know you guys have just surpassed one million students in your hockey school program.

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But since we're talking about Oveskin, I think there's a lot about Alex that a lot of people don't know.

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I was researching.

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I saw that he's funding something called the Alex Oveskin Legacy Ball Hockey Rink in the region to kind of help the grow the game.

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And, like you just said it, you started right after his arrival.

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He was drafted, I believe, in 04, but he couldn't play till 06, 07-ish because of the lockout 05, 06, yeah.

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Yeah, right, I apologize, you're right.

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05, 06 was his first season.

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Ironically enough, the Carolina Hurricanes ended up winning the cup that year, so that's even more for the kind of Southern effect, right.

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But you've witnessed firsthand that Oveskin effect and your team before the episode actually provided us some great stats that, to your point, the area has seen overall participation grow 70% since the 05, 06 season, and then this is a cool one Girl's participation has grown 140% in that time frame.

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You know, outside the DMV we see him as this mega superstar that he is.

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But tell us about him locally, right?

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Because, again, in our respective NHL cities we kind of know our athletes, right?

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Tell me about the Oveskin locally that maybe we don't see nationally.

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Yeah, it's.

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You know, it's really interesting to see him in his own community.

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I think the easiest way and most fun way to describe Alex is he is just one giant kid.

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He absolutely loves the sport of hockey.

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He loves to play.

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He's a tough kid, though.

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Yeah, he's a big, tough kid and so he loves to play it, he loves to be around it, he loves to talk about it, he loves being on the ice or in a gym with kids playing the sport.

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He just enjoys the game of hockey and that excitement is infectious and I think what you see on the ice and how excited he is when he scores a goal and how much fun he is having just being in the game.

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He's like that off the ice as well.

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He just has this infectious energy and he's always, you know, really trying to grow the game and make sure that he can share it with everybody and so that they can experience it the way that he has, because he just it's brought him so much and he enjoys the game so much.

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So, you know, those stats that you mentioned are massive, you know, at what we call the Ovi Effect, and it has been pretty impactful.

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And it's not just OV playing well and getting all these eyeballs on it, it's also a combination of OV being a mega superstar and then the organization itself investing, absolutely Making advantage of that stardom to really provide opportunities for kids to watch the game, play the game, engage with the sport, learn about it and that's kind of where we roll into that hockey school program that you mentioned.

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Yeah, pete, I work a lot with a lot of the programs up here with the Rangers and the Devils and the Islanders and a little bit of Pittsburgh and all these IGF-funded NHL grant programs.

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But you see what you've done and the success you've had because of guys like Alex Ovechkin Like I see him all over Oshah's site doing all kinds of work with Jen and we've had Jen on the show.

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Actually she talks about the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin, but can you just tell us a little bit about your players and how they've embraced this opportunity to work with you, because it's not always easy.

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Right, these are mega superstars, but we see it from the hockey side and I see it already with all the guys I work with how willing they are and how they bring great energy Like you would never know they're being.

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It's almost like they're completely volunteering to be there and give their time and they're probably some of the busiest people in professional sports.

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But can you just talk a little bit about the player and not just Alex Ovechkin?

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But I'm sure a lot of your different players help you in doing these outreach programs.

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So just talk about the difference between you seeing these hockey guys, what they really do and what kind of energy they bring to these players.

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Mike.

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It's a really good point.

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The hockey players in general and the NHL are kind of known to be these community-focused guys, and our players are no different.

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They have always been willing to help out and do appearances for us when it comes to the youth hockey side of things and helping grow the game, and of course, that's how they learned, that's how they got exposed to it as well.

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So there's so many players even going all the way back to when guys like Jay Beagle and Carl Alzner were getting called up from Hershey or Matthew Perot.

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They were getting called up from Hershey and they were even only in town for a couple of weeks playing in a few games and then they get sent back down.

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They would immediately what do we got?

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Where are we going?

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Who are we playing hockey with today?

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They were always looking for those opportunities to go engage with the community.

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Why they were here and then when they became full-time rostered players, that continued there.

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They were always looking for opportunities to be able to grow the sport.

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So they loved going to the school appearances, for example, because Pee was my favorite subject.

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I loved playing street hockey and Pee, and now I get to come here and just have 300 screaming kids in the gym going.

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That's for me to be here and I get to play street hockey and teach a kid how to hold a stick and pass and shoot.

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They absolutely love it and our players have been phenomenal and I think it really is from the top down.

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That's always been from our management on the hockey offside and our coaching staff that we've had through the years have always been really supportive of our community efforts.

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So the players themselves do that as well, and you mentioned American Special Hockey Association, for example.

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That's a partnership that Alex has had since 2014.

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And just celebrated 10 years involved with that organization and the impact that he has made.

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It's not just about the funds, maybe, that he's raised or the funds that he's donated.

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It's the awareness.

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So many more people in this country are aware of special hockey and that it is an option for kids to play because of Alex and the eyeballs that he brings.

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So they realize that the impact that they can make is also on the awareness and the attention outside of them just interacting with the kids that they might see it Because it's easy for those guys to give a check, but it's really hard to show up Like it's just and I fear and I always want to get this on the record because this will be a good, ever green episode but my fear is, when I watch hockey now and I watch these academies sprout up and I watch these single, focused, individualized sport instruction and the earliest specialization of kids, my fear is that we will lose that community piece.

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We'll lose that piece that a player knows they've got to give back because of like they just saw volunteer coaches, mom and dad struggling to get them to the rink, teammates that came from every socioeconomic background there is and we see it every day in this podcast talking to different people.

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It's shrinking and so your programs like yours burst that bubble a little bit.

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Like they just get in there and they say the hell, with all you specialized kids.

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We're going to go out for hundreds and hundreds of millions of kids and give an opportunity.

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I was just in a rink in the Bronx with Brian Mullen and he grew up in New York City and for a guy like that, he was literally on the rink and Lee mentioned like the ball hockey event or a rink that Alex is building.

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Like this guy is standing in a rink and he's pointing up to all the co-op buildings.

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He's like this kid live here, this kid lived there, that kid lived there.

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He goes.

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All these guys Like we laugh and everybody talks about Minnesota hockey and the great opportunities these kids get because they're on the ice all the time.

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Programs like what you're doing.

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I mean I look at the programs in New York.

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I mean there's more kids probably on that in the Bronx than the whole state of Minnesota.

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So when I see the impact that programs like yours bring, to just light the lamp of just these small, tiny percentage of the kids not that they're going to be NHL hockey players, but that they're going to be active, participating and back to those roots of being in a team, just like you said, having fun, laughing and loving the opportunity to play a sport they normally would never get to play if, in fact, this outreach didn't exist.

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Yeah, I mean you make a really good point in terms of the concentration of kids in the Bronx.

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We've you look at Lee, you mentioned our stats We've increased our and those numbers that you mentioned 70% growth and then 140% growth for the girls.

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Those are USA hockey registration numbers specifically.

00:14:12.715 --> 00:14:15.219
So those are just we're talking about just ice hockey.

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Yeah, that's crazy.

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And so that's, I think, the biggest mission that we have as a department and as an organization is that there are multiple forms of the game and it's really trying to educate people that it's not just ice hockey that is the option.

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And, like Mike you said, waking up super early or trying to find ice, or mom and dad are working jobs so you can afford the game those are all real things that apply to the sport of ice hockey.

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Ice hockey is very expensive and ice hockey can be very restrictive.

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There's a lot of hurdles to you have to overcome in order to maybe be able to access that sport.

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But street hockey and inline hockey are not so much.

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They are way more accessible and way less expensive than ice hockey itself.

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So it's really also educating that there's three or four different forms of the game.

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You need to count eSports as well.

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We consider a kid that plays eSports a hockey player and realistically, there's some kids that play NHL on PlayStation, for example, that maybe have never played hockey in real life but probably know more about the game than kids play hockey every day because they're changing lines, they're changing power, play setups, they're doing the coaching, so they know how to follow the game, they can be fans, and so it's really about accessing those different forms.

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Right, and I guess let's go a little farther into that for people who are listening.

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Organizations are listening.

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They don't have the OV factor.

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It may be not a lot of money behind them.

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What advice would you give to help grow the game?

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And, as Mike said, a lot of these programs are contracting, they're shrinking, they're disappearing, so how do we put the juice back into it?

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Yeah, that's a really good question.

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I do believe that it is different forms of the game.

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I really do believe that, like you talked about we talked about those USA Hockey stats a minute ago that's about 12 and 1 1⁄2,000 youth that are playing currently in the DMV.

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If you count all of Maryland, dc and Virginia, they have around 22,000 total USA Hockey registrations and we're at capacity.

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We have around 40 facilities, around 50 sheets of ice in our market and if we go into a school, for example, and we have 300 kids in a gym and we put on a presentation about hockey and we magically convince all 300 that they want to play hockey, we probably don't have room for them on the ice.

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There's just not enough ice for them to be able to join a team and participate.

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So really, the ultimate growth of the sport and as you want to make it bigger and also diversify it, it really has to be off ice.

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There has to be other forms of the game and you can try and create a pathway to participation on ice if that's our ultimate goal to grow ice hockey.

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But we are OK if they just stop at Street Hockey or Inline Hockey and they never move on to play that ice hockey, because they're still involved in the game, they're still engaging with our brand and the sport and they are able to watch it and follow along a little bit better.

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I don't want to gloss over what he just said.

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You said there's 50 rinks in Maryland, Washington, Virginia.

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Yeah, there's about 50 sheets of ice.

00:17:33.105 --> 00:17:36.133
Yeah, I just want to stress quickly to everybody listening.

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I want you to just think about Maryland and Virginia.

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Now, obviously, dc is in there Like that's a lot of land and that's not a lot of ranks, especially when you look at like I'm in Philadelphia, where Pennsylvania has a tremendous amount of ranks.

00:17:48.593 --> 00:17:59.663
I know that in the inner city of New York this is also an issue, but the New York area or if you're in New England, you have 50 ranks within an hour drive, right?

00:17:59.663 --> 00:18:01.797
So I just want people to understand that.

00:18:01.797 --> 00:18:02.180
Mike, go ahead.

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I just I wanted to give some perspective on that.

00:18:05.103 --> 00:18:06.127
Well, no, but you're exactly right.

00:18:06.127 --> 00:18:27.220
So I think I think you know and we're not asking Peter to solve the problems of the world here but I think I think the, I think the biggest issue right is that these, these programs are so successful that the higher groups, like the travel level and the traditional hockey market, the we'll call it squirt for Lee's sake, but 10 you, 12, you, you know, 15.

00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:33.220
Yeah, that that market hasn't caught up to the success of the learn the play and rookie league market.

00:18:33.220 --> 00:18:53.001
So we're seeing this like this, like Peter said, like yeah, we could, we can have 100% success rate, but even a 20% success rate, there isn't anywhere for the kids to go on the ice because it, just because we're still stuck in the model of well, a 10 you team has to have 13 kids on it and a goalie and they play full ice.

00:18:53.001 --> 00:19:01.835
So all of a sudden, now that eliminates like for, like Peter's group, like his, like like Peter, like a typical learn the play has like 6070 kids on the ice.

00:19:03.202 --> 00:19:03.704
And our.

00:19:03.704 --> 00:19:08.140
So, for example, our learn to play has been going on in our market since 2016.

00:19:08.140 --> 00:19:15.099
And that's one that Jesse Thompson overseas, and she's done an amazing job partnering with all of our local ranks to implement that program.

00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:19.160
It's this season it'll be in over 21 ranks throughout our market.

00:19:19.560 --> 00:19:21.284
Fantastic Congratulations on that.

00:19:21.304 --> 00:19:21.644
Thank you.

00:19:21.644 --> 00:19:23.608
I appreciate that it's it's been.

00:19:23.608 --> 00:19:34.773
It's been a great program for the NHL general, but in since 2016, we've had 8500 kids go through that program, which is an increase in participation for sure.

00:19:34.773 --> 00:19:42.126
Our all caps all her platform that is just focused on getting girls and women and females involved in the sport.

00:19:42.126 --> 00:19:53.419
The programs that we have run over the last two years if you look at the registration numbers, those programs alone account for 13% of the new female USA hockey registrations in our market.

00:19:53.419 --> 00:19:54.160
That's awesome.

00:19:54.160 --> 00:20:02.528
So those programs have an impact and they do grow, but you also have to have the facilities to grow with them, and that's why, mike, you mentioned the industry growth fund.

00:20:02.528 --> 00:20:30.859
That's why, when we initially had the opportunity to apply for grants going back to the 2013 2014 season, we wanted to focus all of our efforts on office programming, and so we started to invest in refurbishing and current and existing ball and in line ranks in our market and building new ones, and then growing and expanding our hockey school program, and since then we have invested over $3.5 million in the office game.

00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:39.507
We currently have 14 outdoor street hockey ranks at the capitals have how much money was that $3.5 million so far.

00:20:39.507 --> 00:20:43.262
Well, I mean the NHL, nhl, pa Right, so combined.

00:20:43.262 --> 00:20:44.788
That's where all that money is coming from.

00:20:45.220 --> 00:20:46.261
You know, pete, I want to dive into this.

00:20:46.261 --> 00:20:50.067
I have a lot of stuff here actually when I talk about your direct work, but.

00:20:50.067 --> 00:21:00.330
But this is a broader thing that I want to actually talk about, because when, when I was working with the league and working with some of the member clubs, one of the stats you hear a lot about is lifetime value of a fan.

00:21:00.330 --> 00:21:06.963
It's a very misunderstood stat because if you're just looking at that, you go all the all.

00:21:06.963 --> 00:21:21.800
The clubs just care about money and it's like you realize really quickly the investment that clubs, the league, the PA make into cultivating a fan and their love for the game is so much deeper than just the dollar amount.

00:21:21.800 --> 00:21:35.031
And you said in your work directly you know for Washington you're the guy I said that you said earlier about a Vechkin and his love for the game and I see that across the board with high level players that the love is an obsession.

00:21:35.031 --> 00:21:35.613
They love it.

00:21:35.613 --> 00:21:36.314
It's a passion.

00:21:36.314 --> 00:21:41.480
You can't create that for someone, but you can cultivate it Right.

00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:50.551
And it's to me the lifetime value of a fan starts with your programs, because it's all about making the kids love and fall in love with the game.

00:21:50.551 --> 00:21:52.275
And then and this is the other side of that stat.

00:21:52.275 --> 00:21:56.445
The whole hockey world works together to create new hockey fans.

00:21:56.445 --> 00:21:57.267
However they do it.

00:21:57.267 --> 00:22:01.054
You just mentioned before so many different ways kids can be involved with the game.

00:22:01.054 --> 00:22:02.342
You mentioned video games.

00:22:02.342 --> 00:22:04.785
Look, you want me to be perfectly honest.

00:22:04.785 --> 00:22:06.607
You want to learn a new sport really quick.

00:22:06.607 --> 00:22:09.011
Have your kid play that sport on on Xbox or PlayStation.

00:22:09.011 --> 00:22:10.875
They'll learn the rules in two days.

00:22:10.875 --> 00:22:12.824
Right, you have a problem with off sides?

00:22:12.824 --> 00:22:17.192
Have them play any show play any show, whatever right, you're going to learn the rules really quick.

00:22:17.192 --> 00:22:20.200
It's how I learned several sports right this, but by growing up by that.

00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:29.321
But it takes a really special person and a really special team to understand how to cultivate that love for the game, and you guys do that Right.

00:22:29.321 --> 00:22:36.979
So so, again, before I dive in any more stats, and again I really want to talk about this this million kids in the program, because that's a huge accomplishment we want to commend you for.

00:22:36.979 --> 00:22:48.895
But can you talk about, when you go to any event, how in your mind it's like I have to help these kids understand and love this game, because there's a higher calling here.

00:22:48.895 --> 00:22:58.122
Right, hockey is not the most popular sport in the world, like you know, when you're in the game you think it's the world, but it's so small, you know, like, when you think about it.

00:22:58.122 --> 00:23:00.548
So can you just talk about, like, the responsibility of that?

00:23:00.548 --> 00:23:01.730
That's kind of where I'm going of.

00:23:03.182 --> 00:23:04.365
Yeah, no, no, no.

00:23:04.365 --> 00:23:05.667
I see where I see we're going with it.

00:23:05.667 --> 00:23:06.609
I think it's.

00:23:06.609 --> 00:23:09.461
It's really important, you know.

00:23:09.461 --> 00:23:23.615
To go back to what you said in terms of the value of that fan right and I believe it's the Deloitte research that the NHL will quote oftentimes which is a new hockey player equates to 2.5 new hockey fans right, which I believe is a two parents and a potential sibling.

00:23:24.036 --> 00:23:24.155
Right.

00:23:24.155 --> 00:23:27.500
Or that point, by the way, right?

00:23:27.500 --> 00:23:30.086
So my dog, my dog, wears a jersey every now and then.

00:23:30.126 --> 00:23:33.122
So I'm a fan for life.

00:23:33.122 --> 00:23:33.362
Go ahead.

00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:38.579
You know.

00:23:38.579 --> 00:23:51.214
So there is a value there and it is oftentimes overlooked that there's a lot of what the organizations are doing when it comes to the youth sports perspective, and that can be across any sport the NFL, the NBA, the MLB and the NHL, even in the MLS.

00:23:51.214 --> 00:23:54.023
It is a long term investment.

00:23:54.023 --> 00:23:58.112
The ROI on what we are doing is realistically 10 to 15 years from now.

00:23:58.112 --> 00:24:03.344
You mentioned earlier when we started that I had been here for 17 seasons.

00:24:03.344 --> 00:24:17.867
I'm fortunate enough to have been here long enough where kids that did mites on ice my first or second season here are now graduated college and they are season ticket holders at the capitals and I run into them at the games and they come up and they hide in it.

00:24:17.867 --> 00:24:29.891
And that that's the long term payoff there, right, and there is a short term ROI in terms of, maybe, revenue from registration fees, which really don't bring in.

00:24:29.891 --> 00:24:33.515
Usually the registration fees pay for the program itself and that that's the ultimate goal.

00:24:33.515 --> 00:24:40.285
But you can create revenue through media value and promotion of those programs.

00:24:40.285 --> 00:24:43.867
So there there is an opportunity for immediate ROI.

00:24:43.867 --> 00:24:51.895
But realistically, we're looking at the, the, the success in the future of this organization, and we're looking 10 to 15 years from now.

00:24:51.895 --> 00:24:59.587
So a kid that's been involved, getting involved in the game, in 10 years they'll be 18 and maybe be able to make their own financial decisions in 15 years.

00:24:59.587 --> 00:25:04.154
There, in the early 20s, they're graduating college, they're going to get a job, they're going to have their own disposable income.

00:25:04.154 --> 00:25:05.820
How are they going to spend it?

00:25:05.820 --> 00:25:07.364
Where are they going to be spending their time?

00:25:07.364 --> 00:25:07.904
On the screen?

00:25:07.904 --> 00:25:22.108
Or those eyeballs going to be paying attention to hockey, or they can be paying attention to something else, and that's a big, a big focus of ours is that that we have to remember that this is a bigger picture and it's more than then it's.

00:25:22.108 --> 00:25:33.984
It's not just about us and what we're trying to accomplish here and get accolades and win awards or get kudos for the programs that we run, it out the future of the sport in the future of the team itself.

00:25:33.984 --> 00:25:38.349
And all three of us that are in the Uthake development department are from this area.

00:25:38.349 --> 00:25:40.132
This is my community, is where I grew up.

00:25:40.132 --> 00:25:41.594
My son is seven years old.

00:25:41.594 --> 00:25:42.575
He's going to play hockey.

00:25:42.575 --> 00:25:52.153
Jesse played high school hockey in this area, andrew Nash played college hockey at George Mason, so collectively the three of us have been with the Washington capitals for over 30 years.

00:25:52.153 --> 00:25:59.326
So we we really do care about the community and the brand itself and the success of the organization.

00:25:59.326 --> 00:26:11.888
So I think about what is the immediate impact of program can have, but what is the long term impact of that program can have on the community and the access to the sport, and that's really the ultimate focus when we're building something.

00:26:12.460 --> 00:26:22.230
Yeah, what I love to is the byproduct of the learn the play platform across the NHL and you talk about these million kids and thousands of new faces in the sport.

00:26:22.230 --> 00:26:28.681
One of the byproducts is these people go back out to their community and make hockey sound pretty sane, like you know.

00:26:28.681 --> 00:26:35.468
They go back out and say, oh no, no, we practice at 9am and I don't know, we got all these uniforms and the kids are on teams and I didn't have to go.

00:26:35.468 --> 00:26:38.330
You know we have a saying up here no bridges, no tunnels, no tolls.

00:26:38.330 --> 00:26:58.488
And you know, and just you're in a rink and you feel like you're on a team and they leave because they're, they feel it's normalized, like it almost because because you talk about the ball hockey and issues and putting all those millions of dollars into refurbishing outdoor space and rinks If we did that with every community like every community I'm in anywhere has a basketball net.

00:26:58.488 --> 00:27:24.241
Everyone, everyone and everyone has a soccer field and if everyone had a hockey rink and it doesn't need to be an ice hockey rink, but if everybody had a surface that you would see kids with sticks and balls and rollerblades and and you know, you know obviously protected with their hockey wrap rounds that they would be in a situation where you know they're there, they're playing hockey and, like you said, we said all the time, hockey is hockey, you know.

00:27:24.241 --> 00:27:28.727
You know that that whole, that whole you know marketing piece is just true.

00:27:28.727 --> 00:27:35.433
Like when I leave an event like downtown Yonkers or you know inner city programming, those kids leave.

00:27:35.433 --> 00:27:37.756
It's saying, hey, mom, I just played hockey today.

00:27:37.756 --> 00:27:42.204
I didn't have to mention ice and you know you don't play hockey, you're not allowed to play hockey.

00:27:42.204 --> 00:27:42.505
That's crazy.

00:27:42.505 --> 00:27:45.107
But but then they see, and then they see and go.

00:27:45.107 --> 00:27:51.214
Well, I could play hockey in this in this market for basically under $300.

00:27:51.214 --> 00:27:55.542
I get all my equipment for free and you don't and you.

00:27:55.542 --> 00:28:04.511
So when you talk to hockey people and Pete, you're saying this to like when you see these people go through the system and now you have, you know, adults that you're interacting with.

00:28:04.511 --> 00:28:08.596
Like, my skates cost $350 and that was 10 years ago.

00:28:09.800 --> 00:28:11.584
And that doesn't exist, mike, they don't cause that much now.

00:28:11.763 --> 00:28:13.707
Well, I know I don't buy it.

00:28:13.728 --> 00:28:15.190
So I think, I think it's.

00:28:15.450 --> 00:28:16.792
I think it's like one of those things, though.

00:28:16.792 --> 00:28:31.148
But what, the what, the what, the the NHL is done and the capitals have obviously taken and blown up is getting kids on the ice at a reasonable time, a reasonable cost, giving all this access.

00:28:31.148 --> 00:28:39.884
Yes, I mean, if on your side yeah, they think fans, they're buying jerseys, they're buying season tickets, mom and dad now have to watch the game because the little kid loves it.

00:28:39.884 --> 00:28:41.746
So I go geez, now I gotta watch hockey.

00:28:41.746 --> 00:28:46.384
But, more importantly, it just for all the rest of us create the crazy hockey people.

00:28:46.384 --> 00:28:48.431
It normalizes the sport.

00:28:48.431 --> 00:28:49.819
It's like you can actually talk to people.

00:28:49.819 --> 00:28:59.729
I'm like, well, you can do it this way, or you could do it this way, but for a long time it was only one way, and that was getting the car and travel all over the place.

00:28:59.729 --> 00:29:04.147
Now you could be in one rank and play, for I mean, you're down in your area, right, peter?

00:29:04.147 --> 00:29:08.682
I mean you could play in one rank for probably two or three years straight and never leave the rank and still play for the top.

00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:11.104
No, you're absolutely right.

00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:17.548
Yeah, you should say that, Mike about a basketball court, and that's true in my neck of the woods too.

00:29:17.548 --> 00:29:20.848
Along with that now are pickleball courts.

00:29:20.848 --> 00:29:28.846
So we can somehow figure out, since you know, in pickleball is Pickle hockey, let's do it.

00:29:28.986 --> 00:29:30.984
Pickle hockey, let's do it.

00:29:31.140 --> 00:29:35.786
I think we should be inspired by that that it can happen, Because look at the craze there.

00:29:35.786 --> 00:29:38.628
We can do the same thing with floor hockey.

00:29:39.722 --> 00:29:43.690
That's a really good point and that is a different version of a paddle sport, right?

00:29:43.690 --> 00:29:51.844
So you think tennis, you think badminton, you think pickleball and then padel I know that's really popular in the New York area, so it's it's.

00:29:51.844 --> 00:29:57.028
They're just different forms of the game and I think that, mike, you make a really good point.

00:29:57.028 --> 00:30:09.749
Oftentimes the NHL or the NHL clubs or just hockey in general, ice hockey in general, I won't it's not necessarily any wrongdoing by the league or by the teams, but it's storytelling opportunities.

00:30:09.749 --> 00:30:11.867
And what is the best way to do that?

00:30:11.867 --> 00:30:19.006
When you're in the playoffs, for example, and you have a superstar player, you tell the story of them coming up through the ranks as a child and becoming a superstar.

00:30:19.006 --> 00:30:19.808
And what do you do?

00:30:19.808 --> 00:30:25.465
You talk to their parents, or you talk to them and go oh, mommy used to wake up at 3 am and drive me four hours to the rink.

00:30:25.465 --> 00:30:28.147
Those are great, heartwarming stories.

00:30:28.147 --> 00:30:35.009
But what they don't realize at the same time is for somebody that's not familiar with the sport, all you're doing is saying this sport isn't for you.

00:30:35.559 --> 00:30:38.444
Because you wake up at 3 am and you have to dive really far.

00:30:38.444 --> 00:30:43.527
Yes, exactly, it's a reinforcement of everything that they hated about hockey.

00:30:45.228 --> 00:30:47.559
Well, it's like that joke going around about you want to be a teacher.

00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:53.808
I go, hey, do you want to try to force people to learn something they don't want to learn and sit there and not get paid for it?

00:30:53.808 --> 00:30:56.228
You know it's like, yeah, I want to sign up for that.

00:30:59.746 --> 00:31:12.928
So it's really about partially how we market it and how it is promoted and how it is perceived by the community, and so that's why, in a league going to year, you wanted to talk about the hockey school program.

00:31:13.381 --> 00:31:14.707
Yeah, we really tried to focus.

00:31:14.779 --> 00:31:17.269
My background is prior to the caps coaching.

00:31:17.269 --> 00:31:19.788
I've coached and I've taught for a long time.

00:31:19.788 --> 00:31:23.045
I was a PE teacher for a few years as well, so the most.

00:31:23.105 --> 00:31:25.704
I just want to reiterate he's not kidding for the audience.

00:31:25.704 --> 00:31:26.587
I looked at your resume.

00:31:26.587 --> 00:31:28.385
I'm only interrupting you to help me even qualify.

00:31:28.385 --> 00:31:29.201
What are you about to do this?

00:31:29.201 --> 00:31:32.048
Man has coached for several years in several sports.

00:31:32.048 --> 00:31:38.326
So like he's not just saying I've coached, like you've been around the block and coaching, I just want to make sure our audience knows that.

00:31:38.780 --> 00:31:39.759
No, I appreciate that.

00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:47.550
No, it's just been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember is trying to provide kids an opportunity to play sports.

00:31:47.550 --> 00:31:48.443
I loved sports.

00:31:48.443 --> 00:31:50.646
I learned so many social skills.

00:31:50.646 --> 00:31:53.269
I learned so many different life skills through sports.

00:31:53.269 --> 00:31:56.384
I learned teamwork, I learned how to win, I learned how to lose.

00:31:56.384 --> 00:31:59.127
Most importantly, that's a big one that kids need to learn.

00:31:59.127 --> 00:32:06.426
And just the competition and if you work hard at something, you can get better and then you get rewarded for it, like that's really fun.

00:32:06.426 --> 00:32:10.585
Same thing you study really hard and you practice your math and you ace your math test.

00:32:10.585 --> 00:32:12.666
It's the same type of reward system.

00:32:12.666 --> 00:32:24.145
We're just doing it through physical activity, and the philosophy was instead of trying to take this old school way of thinking in terms of let's bring the kids to the sport.

00:32:24.145 --> 00:32:28.387
Right, we're always thinking about how do we bring kids to the ring to expose them to the sport.

00:32:28.387 --> 00:32:32.067
Let's flip it on a TED, let's bring the sport to the kids.

00:32:32.067 --> 00:32:34.587
And every kid is in school.

00:32:34.587 --> 00:32:46.266
Some kids are homeschooled, but for the most part, the majority of your kids are either in a public school or a private school, and most of those kids are learning sports for the first time through PE class and that's where they're getting exposed to them.

00:32:46.266 --> 00:32:51.505
And we realized that the biggest hurdle for that was financial.

00:32:51.505 --> 00:33:02.364
For if you go off our current stats, it costs us about $350 per school to provide them a full set of Street Hockey equipment so that they can implement Street Hockey in their PE curriculum.

00:33:02.364 --> 00:33:12.765
But if I'm a PE teacher and I have a limited budget, that $350 can probably buy enough basketballs, footballs, soccer balls and baseballs for the entire season or school year for the entire school.

00:33:12.765 --> 00:33:24.230
And if I'm not familiar with the sport and I don't really know how to teach it, why would I take that big part of my budget and invest in something that I'm not sure the kids are going to enjoy or want to engage with?

00:33:24.230 --> 00:33:29.365
So we decided to let's take the sport to the kids and go to the schools.

00:33:29.365 --> 00:33:38.424
And so, starting off in 07, when we first implemented the program, we were going to go to about 16 to 20 schools and introduce again.

00:33:38.424 --> 00:33:48.406
For the most part it was more of a media event, because we would have Mike Green and Alex Svetskin, we would have J Beagle and Matthew Perot, we would have John Carlson and Carl Alston.

00:33:48.406 --> 00:33:51.204
We'd have these players come with us, the coaches would come with us.

00:33:51.204 --> 00:33:58.806
I mean, I've probably gone into at least 50 schools with Dean Everson and taught PE classes when he was one of our assistant coaches here.

00:33:58.806 --> 00:34:03.265
So it was great to have the support of the players and the support of the coaching staff.

00:34:03.265 --> 00:34:11.646
But then when we left, if the teacher doesn't have those skills to play hockey or to teach hockey, how are they going to utilize that equipment?

00:34:11.646 --> 00:34:17.925
So I would always follow up with them and say give us a shout, give us a call, we'll come back, we'll help you implement the program.

00:34:17.925 --> 00:34:30.284
And they always called and we started to learn that, ok, it's not just the financial component of donating the equipment, it's also the education component of educating the teachers and teaching them how to play and then giving them the tools.

00:34:30.284 --> 00:34:47.509
And so what we found was, once you gave all of that to them, there was still the hurdle of, hey, this is really great, my kids are really pumped to play hockey, but I need to write a lesson plan or I need to make sure that whatever I'm teaching meets the educational standards for my school or for my county.

00:34:47.509 --> 00:34:52.168
And so that's where we really started to work on building our own curriculum.

00:34:52.168 --> 00:35:16.009
So we wrote our own curriculum in partnership with Shape America that kind of oversees the, the curriculums for the governing body for curriculums for PE in the US, and we created this custom 80 plus page curriculum that Andrew Nash wrote and it meets every single educational standard in every single school and county in our market.

00:35:16.009 --> 00:35:26.744
So now when we go in, here's the equipment, here's the training and we're going to teach you how to play and teach the sport for the teachers, and also here's the curriculum that's already approved by your county.

00:35:26.744 --> 00:35:33.204
You've just removed all excuses and barriers and now the teachers just pump to be able to implement a new sport into their school.

00:35:34.119 --> 00:35:38.530
You know I'll tell you this too my son in this area is playing floor hockey.

00:35:38.530 --> 00:35:46.387
He plays ice hockey, plays multiple positions, but he was so excited about floor hockey at the school and they invited us to come watch.

00:35:46.387 --> 00:35:52.605
And it's funny because I don't know more than two of the kids in this floor hockey program because none of them play ice hockey and I think that that's amazing.

00:35:52.605 --> 00:36:04.322
The other cool thing about it Pete with my son and I'm just kind of a little bit of a brag, but I'm watching him help the other kids, which is like a total win for me as a dad, watching him.

00:36:04.322 --> 00:36:05.588
He is sharing the game.

00:36:05.588 --> 00:36:06.985
He's only been playing it a few years.

00:36:06.985 --> 00:36:12.684
I do want to mention this again with the hockey school program that you're talking about across DMV.

00:36:12.684 --> 00:36:15.144
It was announced in January.

00:36:15.144 --> 00:36:18.902
Tell me if I'm wrong, but you just surpassed 1 million students involved with that program.

00:36:19.967 --> 00:36:20.288
We did.

00:36:20.288 --> 00:36:25.748
We did so, as Mike was mentioning earlier, with the industry growth fund in 2014,.

00:36:25.748 --> 00:36:32.708
We started receiving grants and funding through the league and the PA to be able to invest in our hockey school program.

00:36:32.708 --> 00:36:34.346
We completely flipped it on the table.

00:36:34.346 --> 00:36:43.929
Prior to that, we would have schools reach out to us and say we would like you to come and do the assembly and introduce hockey to our school.

00:36:43.929 --> 00:36:52.646
Once we had the funding, we were able to go to the county level and say we would like to implement this across the board in every elementary middle school in your county.

00:36:52.646 --> 00:37:04.670
We have the funding to be able to purchase all the equipment, we have the staff to be able to train your teachers and we have the curriculum that's already approved by shape and it really changed the buy-in.

00:37:04.670 --> 00:37:08.130
So all these counties and all these school systems are like 100%.

00:37:08.130 --> 00:37:11.626
We are in, tell us what we can do and it just kind of took off from there.

00:37:11.626 --> 00:37:35.905
So, for example, the first partnership that we made was with the city of DC and instantly, 111 public schools in the city of DC that's, every single public elementary, middle and high school in the city of DC had our street hockey equipment, had a curriculum and we were reaching over 48,000 students in terms of introducing them to the sport of hockey, and that has just since grown.

00:37:35.905 --> 00:37:47.262
And with our partnership with Prince George's County that we announced on January 4, we are officially in over 1,600 schools and engaging with over a million students on an annual basis.

00:37:47.262 --> 00:37:49.367
That's not collectively.

00:37:49.367 --> 00:37:55.871
Every school year we have a million students picking up Washington Capital's branded street hockey stand.

00:37:56.266 --> 00:37:56.867
I didn't know that.

00:37:56.867 --> 00:37:59.534
That's amazing, wow, yeah.

00:37:59.554 --> 00:38:00.402
I appreciate you saying that.

00:38:00.402 --> 00:38:01.648
Yeah, on the blacktop, yeah.

00:38:02.184 --> 00:38:04.153
Yeah, that is an amazing stat.

00:38:04.153 --> 00:38:09.811
It just goes to show that people in your position again, and your team, what you do for the game.

00:38:09.811 --> 00:38:13.929
I think sometimes, especially in youth hockey, we don't celebrate that enough.

00:38:13.929 --> 00:38:19.248
You had spoken earlier about the long-term game plan when we were talking about fans.

00:38:19.248 --> 00:38:38.391
Right, and this is a tenure investment or more I should say the ROI comes in 10 years, right, and I think coaching, at least for me and Mike you can speak to it yourself, and Christy you as a parent when my mind was able to start thinking that way because as a younger coach, I was like right now, I've got to win, I've got to do it.

00:38:38.391 --> 00:38:44.507
And then you got older and I get older and it's much more like, wow, I really want this kid to love the game when he's 18.

00:38:44.507 --> 00:38:57.516
And whether he plays beyond 18, he can continue to love the game and maybe that the work ethic and the life lessons and everything he or she has learned over this time period will spawn them to do something that they love to the best of their ability.

00:38:57.516 --> 00:38:59.010
You brought it up earlier.

00:38:59.010 --> 00:39:00.356
I want to commend you for this too.

00:39:00.356 --> 00:39:03.507
We talk a lot about making it to the league.

00:39:03.507 --> 00:39:06.079
We always get people asking that you did that.

00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:10.373
It might not have been as a player for the Capitals, but here's a guy for our listening.

00:39:10.373 --> 00:39:12.847
Audience loves the game, grows up.

00:39:12.847 --> 00:39:16.983
You are now really supporting your community, right?

00:39:16.983 --> 00:39:18.108
I mean, we're talking about the hockey.

00:39:18.108 --> 00:39:20.663
This goes well beyond hockey what you're doing for these kids.

00:39:20.663 --> 00:39:27.271