Aug. 27, 2024

Our Girls Play Hockey - Debunking 5 Myths About Women’s Hockey with Hannah Beckman

In this episode of Our Girls Play Hockey, we dive deep into five common myths about women’s hockey with our expert guest, Hannah Beckman. Hannah, a skater for the Puerto Rican National Ice Hockey Team and recent graduate from Utica University, where she served as Director of Operations for their NCAA women’s program, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the conversation.

Together, we discuss and debunk the myths that have long surrounded women’s hockey, shedding light on the realities of the game and how it’s evolving. From the false notion that women’s hockey isn’t competitive, to misconceptions about body types needed to play the sport, this episode is packed with insights that will not only challenge outdated beliefs but also inspire those involved in the game to push for a better environment and experience for everyone.

Whether you’re a player, parent, coach, or fan, this episode is sure to provide valuable perspectives on the current state and future of women’s hockey. Don’t miss this engaging discussion with Hannah Beckman as we break down these myths and explore what it takes to thrive in the world of women’s hockey.

Myths Busted:

1.Myth 1: Women’s hockey isn’t competitive.

2.Myth 2: You have to play boys’ hockey to get noticed.

3.Myth 3: There’s no future in women’s hockey.

4.Myth 4: Girls need a certain body type to succeed in hockey.

5.Myth 5: Coaching girls is harder than coaching boys.

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00:51 - Debunking Myths in Women's Hockey

09:39 - Evolution of Women's Hockey Contact

14:56 - Benefits of Girls Hockey Showcases

25:02 - Future in Girls Hockey Myth

30:09 - Future of Women's Hockey Development

43:50 - Body Image and Mindset in Hockey

57:10 - Coaching Girls vs. Boys

01:01:15 - Coaching Boys and Girls Equally

01:08:16 - Effective Coaching Communication and Relationship-Building

WEBVTT

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Hello hockey friends and families around the world and welcome back to another edition of our new series, our Girls Play Hockey.

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I'm Lee Elias and I'm joined by Mike Bonelli and the newest addition to our hosting team, sherry Hudspeth from the Vegas Golden Knights.

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Our goal with this show is to tackle the topics and discussions surrounding girls' youth hockey, to better the game for everyone and, if you are involved in hockey in any way, we're going to provide value and insight to create both a better environment and experience for everyone involved.

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For this show, we introduce topics and questions to discuss, and each episode will have a featured expert panelist from around the game to engage in that discussion.

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For this episode, the topic is five myths about women's hockey, and our expert panelist is a skater for the Puerto Rican National Ice Hockey Team and a recent graduate from Utica University, where she served as the Director of Operations for their NCAA Women's Program.

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Hannah Beckman joins us today.

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Hannah, welcome to Our Girls Play Hockey.

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Hi everybody, Thank you for having me.

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I'm so excited.

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We are excited too.

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Good morning, Hannah.

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Thank you for being here.

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Good morning, thank you.

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Yeah, we're happy to have you on our new show.

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Our Girls Play Hockey.

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Before we dive into the myths Lee has told us all about you, could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and the work that you're doing with the Puerto Rico ice hockey organization and how that's growing?

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Yeah Well, a little scary what Lee has said.

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I can't wait to it's an off the air discussion.

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It's an off the air?

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Yeah, I am.

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I have the honor to be on the Puerto Rican national team.

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I've been on on the team.

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I've been a player for four years now three and a half, three and a half, four years.

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It's been crazy.

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It's been an awesome experience.

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It's obviously growing like any new organization, whether international or travel or college A lot of bumps in the road because it's new.

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So but to just be a part of the process and be a part of the journey, it's been absolutely so fun.

00:02:06.362 --> 00:02:16.010
And to just say that I'm I'm a national team member is is super cool and something I never thought I would be able to do, obviously as an American.

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And you know there was once upon a time where it was like, okay, probably not going to make team USA at any point.

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And then all of a sudden, um, you know you're going about your college career and you get a call for the Puerto Rican national team.

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So ever since I got that call it's, it's uh been a commitment of mine for for four years straight and it's been so fun and just seeing the growth and obviously the effect that um, being a Puerto Rican athlete has had on people on the Island and just people of Puerto Rican culture around around the world honestly has been so cool and and to just be a part of it it's like I kind of have to pinch myself a lot.

00:02:55.603 --> 00:03:08.524
You know what I love about that, hannah that you're bringing that up and we're starting with this is that I think the number one reaction that those of us involved in the Puerto Rican Ice Hockey Association get is there's ice hockey, you guys play ice hockey?

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And obviously the answer is yes, but what's cool about it is this does show how much the game has grown, and it actually segues perfectly into our first myth, which is that women's hockey is not competitive.

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It's competitive enough to have a Puerto Rican national team, but I do want to start here with the panel, and again, this is the obvious one to start with.

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Right that women's hockey is not competitive.

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I'll just start by saying I've seen no evidence of that being true.

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Every women's game, or even girls game I've attended has been competitive.

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So why don't we start with you two, sherry and Hannah?

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Why does that myth even exist?

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Yeah, well, I think it dispels it with the rivalry series, right, like if you look at the rivalry series between Canada and US, and I think that's the definition of competitiveness Like on the ice, the game is very physical, there's a lot of chirping going on, uh and uh, yeah.

00:04:07.403 --> 00:04:12.149
So I think this, this one's definitely a myth hannah, why don't you dive into that?

00:04:12.169 --> 00:04:15.842
you've been on the ice too yeah, I can't, I can't like stress it enough.

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It's, it's such a myth.

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Um, like you mentioned it, the rivalry series.

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That's exactly the the route I was going to go at too.

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Um, you know, team Canada and now, and team Canada versus team USA, and now, like, growing as we keep going, now it's going into Sweden, switzerland, czech, all these teams and everywhere.

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You know, I had the honor of being a part of this year's world championships, just as an intern cause.

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It was in Utica and we had that opportunity and to see it like upfront and personal, like you obviously see the competitiveness on tv and everything, but these girls are dialed like they are.

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They're working for something that goes far more than themselves and anything.

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They're working for their country.

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Uh, they're playing for their country with an absolute, huge pride on their back and their chests.

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Um, and these girls just want to go out and they want to kick some butt there.

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They're not friends on the ice.

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Obviously, all these players are are teammates, like in the PWHL or back in college, but once they have their respective nations on their chest, it's all fair game and they just put their bodies on the line.

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They put their everything online.

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It's game and they just put their bodies on the line, they put their everything online.

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It's crazy and and you can tell just how driven they are.

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Like at worlds, you know every girl, every athlete is dialed in like they're there to win and it's it's kind of like it gives you that, like God, I want to be in that stage because, like the competitiveness is just unreal, it's it's like you can just feel it in the air.

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So that's a huge myth for sure.

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I think some of the myth, oh go ahead, mike no, I was just gonna say, thankfully, I think that myth is there because of you know, a bunch of old-time hockey players that have never watched female sports hockey, volleyball, whatever it is you know.

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I think that this shift has come with the fact that you know, now dads that play competitive hockey have daughters and they're like I'm putting my daughter in this and I'm competitive and my wife's competitive and like all the people in the sport, it's the sports growing.

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So you're going to get the more competitive people getting in it and inherently, inherently, those girls are going to be more competitive, right, because they're just it's in their dna.

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But I think you know the old time uh, you know, pro hockey fan is probably the one that's saying that myth, like I would never pay for a ticket for competitive.

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You know to watch girls sports.

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But we're seeing that shift, right, the reason why you can fill an NHL arena for a PWHL game is obviously because there's a.

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There's a lot of people that don't believe that that myth is.

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They're living it.

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So I think it's just the.

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I think it's the transition of you know, moving from from one norm to to now a new generation of people coming through, and I think you know what you're doing with Puerto Rican ice hockey, what Sherry does with the NHL, like that's the kind of stuff that continues to.

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You know, break that barrier, I guess, from the people outside of the playing surface.

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Sherry, did you have something to add to that?

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Yeah, like in youth hockey too, around the rink when there's um, you know, parents deciding whether they're going to put their daughter in girls or boys hockey.

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I think it might come from that too, where it's like parents maybe feel like girls hockey is not as competitive and my daughter has to play boys hockey so she can improve and go faster.

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But now I think, as as girls and women's hockey is growing and there's more girls playing, like mike said, is like the hockey is going to be competitive right out the gate, like here with you know, learn to play.

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It's boys and girls, and then you go like into your, your continue to play program it's boys and girls and they're they're even.

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So, yeah, definitely a myth.

00:07:57.509 --> 00:08:18.324
Yeah, I think that this is a stigma to this one that's been broken heavily, especially in the last 12 months, um, and the way that women's sports has has really exploded across this country, right, the other thing, too, is that I can tell you this just from my own experience Um, I have never played hockey with a woman who was not extremely competitive.

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Number one, I have never coached a woman that was not competitive.

00:08:22.173 --> 00:08:28.086
Um, you know and and and again, when I spend time with preha team puerto rico, uh, you can see it.

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I mean the, the will to win, the will to compete, the will to get better, is is the same.

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I think also, too, that there is a stigma within this myth, um, where I hear people say, well, they can't check, and it's like, look first off if it's a rule.

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It's like look first off, if it's a rule, it's not within their control, cause if they could hit, they would.

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And the other thing too I was just going to, I was going to dive into that.

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That game's pretty wide open.

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The other thing, too, is that sometimes I don't think people look at it through both lenses.

00:08:59.256 --> 00:09:06.129
It's not like the men's game is leaning towards more contact at this point, it's actually trending the other way, right?

00:09:06.129 --> 00:09:11.068
I did want to throw it to Mike one more time because Mike, mike, mike invited me and the crew out to Hartford.

00:09:11.068 --> 00:09:16.528
He was coaching professional women's hockey and that game was just fantastic.

00:09:16.528 --> 00:09:25.205
I mean, like again and this is the earlier years of women's professional hockey, mike, so you've seen it firsthand from a bench I mean, there's no lack of competition at that level.

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No, when you're able to put two teams in in the Bridgeport, you know, the Islanders, the semi-pro facility and those women go through there and they're treated like pros and the people that come in to watch them are watching them like pros, not not like a.

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Oh, this is a novelty event.

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This is a real pro hockey game.

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Now, you know, are you going to get, are you going to get 18 000 screaming fans every single game?

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If you had an 80 game season, maybe.

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So at some point you're going to, but for right now, you know, I think everybody has to just go with the fact that it's a gross sport.

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But when you're in it, the people that are actually in the sport, when you watch the rose series, when you watch, you know, peewee, quebec girls, when you watch these rivalry series, they, they don't go in like, oh, let's just get through it and make sure we don't have a pizza party afterwards and everybody's friends, which they're going to be anyway, just like the boys, right?

00:10:17.125 --> 00:10:22.547
I mean, well, you know, and I'll tell you, I've seen, I just, and you get you talk about the body checking and the body contact.

00:10:22.547 --> 00:10:23.207
I mean, I used to.

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I watched those games as a first time, like in a pro atmosphere with competitive athletes like that female athletes.

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I was like, oh my God, like that was a check.

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Like that was like a pullout.

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Like I'm like hey, and then me, you know me, I'm like are you okay, I'm like, of course I'm okay.

00:10:41.344 --> 00:10:42.225
What the hell are you talking about?

00:10:42.225 --> 00:10:42.666
No, are you okay?

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I'm like of course.

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I'm okay.

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What the hell are you talking about?

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I think it's like you know, I think that's just getting over the fact that you're like, okay, well, this is actually these guys are.

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You know, this is a sport and it's it's a physical sport.

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And I think to your point about the men's team game coming back to the center, like the men's game getting back to.

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Let's not blow people up at center ice and the female game saying, well, we don't do that but there is listen.

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Last week I just started checking clinic for nine girls yeah, it's all girls.

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All body contact, body position, body, you know, and just knowing how to take a check, give a check and be in a clean place to separate the person from the puck, that's checking I mean.

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So I guess you, you want to define, like I think I'm, you know, an old-time nhl fans be all checkings of, you know, scott Stevens.

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That's a check, but that, but that's not.

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The game is coming to a place where your body contact and body position is certainly more important.

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And why?

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Because you want to win, you want to, you want to maintain the possession of the puck.

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And that's where I think you know, I know I get kind of knocked around a little bit by saying this puck.

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And that's where I think you know, I, I know, I, I get kind of knocked around a little bit by saying this, but that's why I have my young kids watch the female game more, because it looks more like youth hockey right than the men's game.

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It just does.

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It looks like the way you have to go in to get the puck looks more like a like like you would if you were a 16 year old male, like it just does so.

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So it's just, I try to use those because that looks like hot and plus, they're wearing masks.

00:12:08.427 --> 00:12:09.822
I mean they look like, you know, real hockey players.

00:12:09.822 --> 00:12:30.793
They don't look like neanderthals out here, you know, but I think it's like you know, just I just like I love the fact that it's competitive, it's, it's the, it's the core of the game, it's like the way the game looks, like it should be played and the skill level and you guys have been a part of this the skill level every single year gets like more and more and more impressive.

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Yeah, mike, happy to hear that You're teaching girls body contact, because it's going to be interesting going forward with USA hockey, like if PWHL the very top where you're aspiring to get to is going to have body checking or have a heavy body contact competitive contact.

00:12:47.225 --> 00:12:55.769
Yes, I think that's girls yeah, but here's the problem girls, all the way through the system, have not been taught how to take a check or how to take a hit.

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So now you've gone through college, which is pretty physical, but if you're playing pro and now all of a sudden you're, you're getting blown up.

00:13:01.162 --> 00:13:02.566
You have to learn.

00:13:02.566 --> 00:13:06.221
So, like within the youth hockey, somewhere is it going to be like the boys.

00:13:06.221 --> 00:13:11.613
We're at 14, you, we start teaching how to take and take and receive a hit.

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You know so it's, unless we start implementing.

00:13:14.446 --> 00:13:18.424
Implementing that in the lower levels and and where do we do it in girls hockey.

00:13:18.424 --> 00:13:23.429
That's going to be a very interesting conversation going forward with USA hockey and I think it is just the same as the boys.

00:13:23.429 --> 00:13:51.326
It's around 14, you know when you start hitting and then you go to clinics and you start incorporating in practice and the boys games going more kind of away from it, like Mike said, is more stick on puck, more angling, and I think you see that in the women's game there's a lot more emphasis on angling because you don't have the body checking and a lot more emphasis on proper stick on puck play, and that's kind of the way that the NHL and the men's game is trending now like less blowups, rock them, sock them and just more you know finesse.

00:13:52.288 --> 00:13:52.970
Yeah, sorry, are you sure?

00:13:52.970 --> 00:13:59.446
No, no, cause I was going to say cause you know you're, you're, you're the guest, so you could speak.

00:14:00.243 --> 00:14:01.570
There's no competitive contact.

00:14:02.259 --> 00:14:04.024
Mike, I'm right here, I'm ready, mike.

00:14:04.144 --> 00:14:04.986
I'm right here, I'm ready.

00:14:04.986 --> 00:14:12.119
No, but I'm just saying, like this is where, like this is where, like maybe the conversation we'd have and it's probably we're getting to it Right, but like that, why?

00:14:12.119 --> 00:14:12.200
Why?

00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:18.245
Why parents keep their daughters in boys hockey longer, thinking it's a better way for them to learn.

00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:21.288
That's a good tease for the next myth Don't jump the gun.

00:14:21.500 --> 00:14:23.207
That's a good tease, mike.

00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:29.004
I want to hear, I want to hear about why, why that competitive one?

00:14:29.164 --> 00:14:59.230
and then we'll dive into myth number two yeah, just two like final points, like with it, like, um, the first one being like sure you said, like teaching, you know at some point in time, like you, whether it's like you 14 or at some point, like you know, when I was growing up and like learning to play hockey, like contact wasn't even in in coaches, back of their minds, right, like they obviously taught board battles, but like to a point it was, it was like okay, like we literally can't hit in girls hockey, so therefore we're not going to even touch on it for a second.

00:14:59.230 --> 00:15:16.730
Um, I saw like one video, like earlier in the off season or yeah, earlier in in the offseason, pwhl Ottawa was having a full practice based off checking and that was something that I was like look at that because it is so obvious.

00:15:16.730 --> 00:15:35.904
And with the world championships, like these girls are so physical and it was insane, like me being a D3 hockey player, like not that that's any much different hockey, but there's obviously a lot of there's a lot of competition and and girls are so riled up and it gets physical.

00:15:35.904 --> 00:15:47.104
But at that level the PWHL and the world championships, on the national teams it's like these girls are fully learning how to put their body down, how to play it?

00:15:47.104 --> 00:15:48.789
Where does it implement?

00:15:48.789 --> 00:15:52.261
Where is the right time for me to, okay, play the body rather than the puck?

00:15:52.582 --> 00:16:05.913
And it was so fascinating because I was in the stands at one point for one game and this guy turned around to me and he was like and Mike, you touched on it a little bit, the older generation of the girls aren't as competitive the older generation.

00:16:05.913 --> 00:16:08.726
This guy turned around to me and he said you want to know something?

00:16:08.726 --> 00:16:21.567
It was my first time at a really high, competitive women's hockey game and I want to come to more because the girls are not hitting as much and they're making actual plays.

00:16:21.567 --> 00:16:28.019
The guys sometimes, especially like in u18 or something, guys are so focused on.

00:16:28.019 --> 00:16:31.166
Okay, guys coming down on me, far, far blue line.

00:16:31.166 --> 00:16:32.730
I'm here, the boards are there.

00:16:32.730 --> 00:16:36.928
I'm gonna just deck them so I can get the puck rather in women's hockey.

00:16:37.250 --> 00:16:43.046
This girl is, okay, I'm gonna make enough body contact, but then I'm gonna go right for the puck and try to get it to my D partner.

00:16:43.446 --> 00:16:45.068
So it's like fascinating with.

00:16:45.068 --> 00:16:59.123
That's why also, women's hockey is growing with how competitive in just hockey skill set, because they are, because it wasn't always checking, checking, checking for girls hockey and women's hockey.

00:16:59.123 --> 00:17:07.825
You kind of have to always learn how to make the quick plays and the higher level that I see these women are at the play is just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

00:17:07.825 --> 00:17:11.633
It's so fast and it's like whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on.

00:17:11.633 --> 00:17:39.491
And it's like, now that checking is involved, these girls are becoming so smart with how they're going to maneuver their bodies and then the puck in in a blink of an eye and I think it's like so fascinating and I definitely like agree with Sherry, like, like with these girls, like I think there has to be at some point in time maybe USA hockey can implement okay same thing we were doing with little boys and check clinics and learning hey, if you see numbers, do not hit the player when you're in front of the boards.

00:17:39.491 --> 00:17:43.325
You kind of have to implement that now with girls hockey.

00:17:44.446 --> 00:17:48.973
Yeah, you know, I think when it comes to the competitiveness, we can learn from each other, right?

00:17:48.973 --> 00:18:01.583
I think and that's always the approach I try and explain it to younger coaches is like you can learn from anywhere women's sports, men's sports, different sports when you take that approach of an educational background towards it, it's always better.

00:18:01.583 --> 00:18:03.108
But yeah, we're.

00:18:03.108 --> 00:18:05.042
I guess we're kind of like myth busters here today.

00:18:05.042 --> 00:18:09.550
So I'll just say myth one debunked, creative, it's gone.

00:18:09.550 --> 00:18:14.237
But um, I'm gonna move around here because I got several myths listed here, so I'm just gonna kind of go with the next one.

00:18:14.237 --> 00:18:15.580
That makes sense because we were teasing it.

00:18:15.580 --> 00:18:23.792
But here it is myth you're more likely to be found playing boys hockey.

00:18:24.213 --> 00:18:28.064
This is a myth and why it's a myth found.

00:18:28.064 --> 00:18:32.394
I'm assuming we're referring to, obviously, college scholarships and moving on.

00:18:32.394 --> 00:18:42.342
If you're playing on a boys varsity team, say, you're a goalie and you're playing in a high school league, like in Pittsburgh or something, people are not going to see you, we're just going to get out.

00:18:42.342 --> 00:18:57.847
But you need to be playing in these girls showcases where the college coaches are, where they can see you compete, right, like you can send video all you want, but coaches want to see you competing in person and what kind of person you are, how you act in the lobby, how you act around your parents.

00:18:57.847 --> 00:19:00.000
They need to see you and to see you.

00:19:00.280 --> 00:19:04.409
Typically, you're going to be playing girls hockey and girls hockey showcases.

00:19:04.409 --> 00:19:16.568
So if you're hiding somewhere in boys hockey, that's great, but unless, like, the word gets out about you, a coach may not have the budget within their college program to fly out and come see you wherever you are playing your boys league, right.

00:19:16.568 --> 00:19:19.826
So if you're playing on a girl's team, you're going to get to be in the showcases.

00:19:19.826 --> 00:19:48.594
You're going to get to go to girls tournaments and girls camps and be seen where these coaches are and Agreed, myth busted, I feel.

00:19:48.713 --> 00:20:00.393
I think one of the main questions few players, especially in my generation, who literally never stepped foot Like I, trained with boys, like, just like skills, um camps or whatever, but I never like played with boys.

00:20:00.393 --> 00:20:16.226
And I think right now, specifically, I think it's starting to phase out, which is so good because, exactly like Sherry said, like to get scouted by colleges and you know, I've seen it firsthand of what Utica University coaching staff does.

00:20:16.226 --> 00:20:25.329
They're going to these showcases that are all girls hockey based and it's very specific on what, where they are going, the demographic.

00:20:25.329 --> 00:20:31.769
It's not like, okay, we're going to go to mass and Connecticut and hit the tri-state area, it's not necessarily that.

00:20:31.769 --> 00:20:39.290
But there's always a list of prime showcase tournaments that college coaches are always going to attend.

00:20:39.651 --> 00:20:54.962
Beantown, which starts, I think, this week, this weekend, beantown Classic is a classic tournament that you all, colleges all throughout North America, will be attending to watch girls who want to play in college hockey.

00:20:54.962 --> 00:21:09.842
Um, another one is chs showcase that happens during the summer, again, um classic, like turkey trot, like thanksgiving tournaments, um ones in early november for christmas, and then the ones in the spring.

00:21:09.842 --> 00:21:17.954
Those start to a little phase out because all these coaches are then going to the championship showcases, like the USA Hockey, nationals, etc.

00:21:17.954 --> 00:21:34.780
But if you're not going to those tournaments, which are girls hockey, dominant girls hockey alone showcases, you are not going to get scouted by the schools that a you want or B you even think that you want.

00:21:34.780 --> 00:21:42.285
If you're going to boys hockey tournaments, you're going to have boys hockey coaches college coaches or juniors coaches.

00:21:42.726 --> 00:21:44.892
It's not going to help girls in the long run.

00:21:44.892 --> 00:21:49.128
Um, so mainly, I think there's comes to a point.

00:21:49.128 --> 00:22:06.857
I think also like at home the conversations for parents is to okay, you played hockey with boys for u8 and like u10 when it comes to u12, like you got to be all girls hockey, because if you want to get to the highest level, you have to go where you're gonna be seen.

00:22:06.857 --> 00:22:28.655
Exactly like Sherry said, like the word may get out, but coaches really rely on in person because you can hear all the words you want, you can see all the video you want, but coaches will make a decision based off of how they physically see you, because they're seeing all the behind the scenes as well, not only who you are as a player, but as a person too also too, like I've coached at post university.

00:22:28.856 --> 00:22:36.026
I was division three when I was there and we went to the Stony Creek tournament and that was over 120 college scouts.

00:22:36.026 --> 00:22:38.971
So you have club, you have D3 coaches there.

00:22:38.971 --> 00:22:46.662
All the D1 coaches are there and they're there to, you know, see the players and talk to the players or not, like when they can you know D3.

00:22:46.662 --> 00:22:50.307
So if you're not, yeah, if you're not in those tournaments, you know you're not going to be seen.

00:22:50.307 --> 00:22:54.193
If you are in those tournaments on a girls team, it's it's really going to help your chances of being seen.

00:22:54.193 --> 00:23:00.403
Also, with the tournaments, when they check in, the coaches get a list of who's committed, who's uncommitted.

00:23:00.403 --> 00:23:00.924
You know.

00:23:00.924 --> 00:23:11.810
So you may love a player and but you don't know, like, if they're committed or not with if you just found that player, so attending those tournaments as a coach too, you're going to know who's available and who's not available.

00:23:13.093 --> 00:23:18.464
Yeah, if you're a parent listening to this, I think Sherry makes a great point.

00:23:18.464 --> 00:23:21.400
Like at post-university, you know, when you're an assistant coach and you're out on the recruiting trail, you're not.

00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:32.410
If you're the men's coach and you're like at a high school boys game and you see some great female athlete, you're just it's not even in your mind to be like oh, I got to get ahold of the women's coach and tell her about this girl I just saw.

00:23:32.410 --> 00:23:33.512
Like it just doesn't happen.

00:23:33.512 --> 00:23:38.406
You know the time you don't have the inclination, like the worlds aren't colliding there.

00:23:38.500 --> 00:23:45.461
So I think that you know, every once in a while, maybe if you have a good relationship with the other staff, but really it's like listen, I'm here to look at these four players.

00:23:45.461 --> 00:23:53.523
That's like to the male, to the men's coach, that's just like, oh, wow, wow, I can't believe she's really competing against these guys.

00:23:53.523 --> 00:23:54.243
She's doing a great job.

00:23:54.243 --> 00:23:59.385
But that's not then going to say, oh, I'm going to post this and get this girl notoriety.

00:23:59.385 --> 00:24:05.208
Go to girls programming, where the most people are going to be to see you.

00:24:05.208 --> 00:24:07.249
That's how you get found.

00:24:07.249 --> 00:24:14.010
But listen, if you're good enough at the old adage from the beginning of time, you are good enough, you will be found.

00:24:14.010 --> 00:24:17.613
So no matter what you're doing, at the end of the day people are going to find you.

00:24:18.113 --> 00:24:44.624
There's also this sorry Lee, there's also this like underlining myth as well that I've heard some people like throughout, like my career, that some girls even are like parents of players will be like, well, my daughter played boys hockey, so yeah, they'll definitely make it far.

00:24:44.624 --> 00:24:45.748
That comes with, we don't know, because that's great.

00:24:45.748 --> 00:24:49.079
You can, like Mike said, you can compete against these boys, you can skate with them, you can do all these things.

00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:50.361
That's awesome.

00:24:50.361 --> 00:25:18.063
But if you're trying to make the college hockey level and beyond, coaches want to see how you compete with the competition that you isn't gonna be on University of Wisconsin when we're playing them in in the WCHA.

00:25:18.063 --> 00:25:23.173
You know final like, you know like and it's like they want to see that's great.

00:25:23.233 --> 00:25:40.807
Because some players as well, it kind of affects their game a little bit that when they're playing boys hockey and then they transition to girls hockey, they're doing all these tendencies that are like okay, wait, like that doesn't fly in girls hockey small silly things but also like a lot of big things that really can affect your game.

00:25:41.229 --> 00:25:53.941
So if you're sticking with competition that you're never gonna see in girls hockey, that may help you with your physicality levels and your endurance and everything like that and and your puck reaction skills.

00:25:54.422 --> 00:26:00.898
But also, like you know, coaches want to see okay, can you play against people?

00:26:00.898 --> 00:26:34.713
We're going to be playing against teams, we are going to be playing, and like at these showcases like when I was at Rice Prep, you know, playing against Stansted College, they had a full roster of Wisconsin commits it's like, okay, for me that was terrifying, but like in the end that also helped me because I'm like, okay, wait, if I can go on a face off against a Wisconsin commit, that kind of gives me a little, a little leeway or a little positivity, you know for for division three III competition or what have you.

00:26:34.713 --> 00:26:50.209
So it's like you kind of have to make the decision okay, what's going to benefit me in the long run, and just at the end of the day, just saying you play boys hockey is probably not going to help you for the best, the tier one girls programs also.

00:26:50.229 --> 00:26:52.663
They're going to have people on their staff when you start getting up there.

00:26:52.663 --> 00:26:54.271
They're going to have people on their staff when you start getting up there.

00:26:54.271 --> 00:27:02.501
They're gonna have people on their staff that are well connected within the recruiting trail coaches and they typically send emails about, like this this player's doing this this month or they.

00:27:02.501 --> 00:27:09.806
They really help your chances of getting you know, promoted and stuff by uh, by just being well connected in the way, this game.

00:27:10.528 --> 00:27:16.729
I think it's also really important here that, like, again, the myth that we're busting is that you won't be found.

00:27:16.729 --> 00:27:21.520
Uh, if you, if you do this right, like, like, the be found is the key thing.

00:27:21.520 --> 00:27:39.759
The myth is not, you can't learn or or or grow from playing with boys, right and again, uh, we just did a great episode with me, bozak, all about that, right, because the journey in or out of boys hockey if you're a young lady, there is no specific path.

00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:43.109
Right, there's no answer of, like, this is the moment you need to switch.

00:27:43.109 --> 00:27:47.791
I think there's value in playing hockey period, whether it's with boys or girls.

00:27:47.791 --> 00:27:55.294
But again, for this myth that you can't be found if you don't play boys hockey, I think we've debunked that one big time.

00:27:55.294 --> 00:27:58.049
But it's important to understand the differences there.

00:27:58.049 --> 00:28:06.819
Like you know, if you have the opportunity to go out to a high level practice with anyone again, it doesn't matter to me if it's boys or girls take the opportunity to practice.

00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:07.864
Right, you're going to learn something.

00:28:07.864 --> 00:28:10.854
But if you want to be found, you have to go where you're going to be found.

00:28:10.854 --> 00:28:13.982
But if you want to be found, you have to go where you're going to be found Right, and Mike made a good point.

00:28:14.443 --> 00:28:19.423
Look like I doubt if women coaches are going to watch a game, they're not calling the men's coach either, like hey, you got to check this guy out.

00:28:19.423 --> 00:28:20.227
Like they wouldn't do that.

00:28:20.227 --> 00:28:22.343
It's a mutual respect, mike, you have something there?

00:28:22.343 --> 00:28:40.213
No, I guess I say about time, yeah, yeah, well, look, that actually leads us to our next one here, which is an interesting one for this year, specifically Myth there's no future in girls hockey.

00:28:40.233 --> 00:28:43.321
Now, this is an interesting one because 24 months ago, it's almost a different conversation.

00:28:43.321 --> 00:28:52.670
Now, I do believe this to be a myth, but we are in a renaissance right now of women's sports, where I don't know how anyone can believe that anymore, right?

00:28:52.670 --> 00:28:56.726
Also, I think, when we discuss this, we've got to discuss two things here, right?

00:28:56.726 --> 00:29:00.020
One is that there's the path of the player.

00:29:00.020 --> 00:29:06.291
There's also the path of being involved in the sport, right?

00:29:06.291 --> 00:29:11.920
Because, again, look, we say this on every show we do on our kids play hockey, our goalies play hockey, our girls play hockey.

00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:19.314
And the ride to the rink, the ROI of youth hockey, is the life skills you get to make, the people you get to meet and the person you get to become.

00:29:19.314 --> 00:29:24.491
That is the overarching golden part of playing youth sports in general.

00:29:24.491 --> 00:29:38.285
But when it comes to this show, the myth when I throw it to both of you both women who work at high levels of hockey that there's no future in women's hockey the show alone debunks it.

00:29:38.325 --> 00:29:48.709
But let's discuss it well, I'm sitting in an nhl front office right now, so if that doesn't, debunk it that there is a future for you in hockey, and I'm I work in men's hockey, right I work for the vegas golden knights.

00:29:48.729 --> 00:29:53.214
Right, there is a future for you in hockey and I'm I work in men's hockey.

00:29:53.255 --> 00:29:58.720
Right, I work for the Vegas Golden Knights right there is opportunity, although I did not make it playing professionally.

00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:01.125
There wasn't that opportunity for me when I was younger.

00:30:01.125 --> 00:30:05.567
I was a little bit older but, um, there is opportunity now for women in the game.

00:30:05.567 --> 00:30:09.742
Like you see it, with Haley Wickenheiser, she's an assistant GM with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

00:30:09.742 --> 00:30:12.347
Like Cammie Granato, there's top levels.

00:30:12.347 --> 00:30:19.488
Now you're starting to see Jess Campbell, she's an assistant coach with the Seattle Kraken, so coaching positions are becoming available.

00:30:19.488 --> 00:30:23.851
There's broadcasters a lot of great Cassie Campbell, you know Tessa Bonhomme.

00:30:23.851 --> 00:30:32.868
There's great female broadcasters and you can work in ops, you can work in sponsorship, you can work in foundation, do community stuff.

00:30:32.868 --> 00:30:39.034
A ton of doors are opening now in men's hockey and women's hockey with the pwhl.

00:30:39.034 --> 00:30:47.324
But just because you're not playing doesn't mean like you can't stay involved in the game and you don't need to be the next available olympian to work in the nhl.

00:30:47.324 --> 00:30:53.568
I didn't play in the olympics and if you have passion for the game, um, there's, there's a door that's going to open for you.

00:30:54.803 --> 00:31:06.811
Yeah, hannah, before I throw this to you, cause Sherry's a humble person, I do want to say that the one thing that she has that none of us have and most likely nobody listening to this has is a Stanley cup championship.

00:31:06.811 --> 00:31:08.280
I can't say that.

00:31:08.280 --> 00:31:09.682
I can't say I was involved in that.

00:31:09.682 --> 00:31:11.324
I can't say I had anything to do with that.

00:31:11.324 --> 00:31:19.871
Sherry, you, you can, and I encourage you all to listen to our actual, our kids play hockey episode with Sherry, where the cover image is her with the Stanley cup.

00:31:20.771 --> 00:31:20.892
Yeah.

00:31:20.892 --> 00:31:23.013
We got a beautiful gold ring to go with it.

00:31:23.013 --> 00:31:23.934
Thanks to Mr Foley.

00:31:24.315 --> 00:31:26.257
Yeah, yeah, she has a Stanley cup championship ring.

00:31:40.619 --> 00:31:41.082
I have pictures of them.

00:31:41.082 --> 00:31:43.429
Moving over to Hannah, who also has a gold medal right with the with Puerto Rico from the Latam Cup.

00:31:43.429 --> 00:31:44.290
Like you, is there future in women's hockey?

00:31:44.290 --> 00:31:44.772
What do you even ask it?

00:31:44.772 --> 00:31:44.993
It's there.

00:31:44.993 --> 00:31:45.294
No, uh, there is.

00:31:45.294 --> 00:31:45.776
You know, it's so funny.

00:31:45.776 --> 00:31:49.144
The first, the first, like time you like said the myth I thought to like, I said this to someone.

00:31:49.163 --> 00:32:18.683
It's like I'm so jealous of little girls right now because, they are like, oh, I'm getting chills, like saying it like right now, where they're looking and and with all the amazing pioneers and women who, who are in the spots where sherry you are, where hayley wickenheiser is, where all the pwhl athletes are, and the list just goes on like the girls are seeing nothing but them being able to do it.

00:32:18.683 --> 00:32:25.484
Like when I was young I was we were always saying I'm gonna play in the nhl, I'm gonna be the first female nhl player.

00:32:25.484 --> 00:32:36.621
Now it's girls are saying I'm gonna go to the pwhl, and that is so just fascinating to me and obviously I'm like beyond jealous that they have that.

00:32:36.621 --> 00:32:50.743
But, um, it's just like so fascinating that, like throughout all the different generations that are going like it's just constantly growing, like the women's sports in general are just boom, boom, boom, boom.

00:32:50.743 --> 00:32:59.106
They're like stepping up the game and stepping up the expectations almost every single season and it's so great to see.

00:32:59.106 --> 00:33:15.770
Obviously, lest we not forget, the leagues that were here before, the PWHL, which was the NWHL, was the PHF, the CWHL, the Canadian Women's Hockey League, with all the teams that of that were there.

00:33:15.770 --> 00:33:36.826
They kind of really set the precedent and and I love also always like giving them credit too, because even though we didn't have much for my generation to look up to of what we can make where we can make it, after college I did see those leagues and I grew up around those leagues and I idolized a lot of players in those leagues.

00:33:36.826 --> 00:33:55.221
One of my old coaches, who's still in the PWHL right now Madison Packer, like she's she's a pioneer that I grew up watching and she was my New Jersey Rockets U16 coach and I was so lucky to be coached by her and and to just like see her keeping on with the game and growing and doing everything.

00:33:55.964 --> 00:34:01.221
Um, just the growth is just going to go through the roof at some point and it already is up there.

00:34:01.221 --> 00:34:14.253
Um, just with the pwhl and the successes and selling out all these nhl arenas, you know like I couldn't help but get teary-eyed with um the game at scotia bank arena with pwhl toronto versus montreal.

00:34:14.253 --> 00:34:16.422
That game was absolutely sold out.

00:34:16.422 --> 00:34:17.485
The game was rocking.

00:34:17.485 --> 00:34:19.268
Um, it was so cool to see.

00:34:19.268 --> 00:34:27.443
And just the pictures of like marie philippoulin and laura stacy like looking up just in awe of like everyone there to watch women's hockey.

00:34:28.045 --> 00:34:47.791
Um, it's growing and right now women's sports in general is just becoming sport and it's not.

00:34:47.791 --> 00:34:51.815
Oh, people are talking about women's sports in general is just becoming sport and it uniforms.

00:34:51.815 --> 00:34:54.878
You know getting a paycheck for playing professional hockey.

00:34:54.878 --> 00:35:02.186
They can't do anything but aspire to be in their position and that's so cool to see.

00:35:02.186 --> 00:35:04.427
And it's just going to grow from here.

00:35:04.427 --> 00:35:15.304
I can't wait for down the line to say, now that the PWHL has like 10 teams, like I can't wait until that moment happens and I have no doubt in my mind that it probably will.

00:35:15.304 --> 00:35:22.882
So it is growing so much, like it's like an overwhelming amount that it's growing and it's so cool.

00:35:24.085 --> 00:35:33.891
You know, our producer Caitlin, who many of you hear us reference on the show all the time in her office, has this it's a plaque, it's like a framed picture.

00:35:33.891 --> 00:35:57.463
It says women belong in sports, and we decided when we moved into this office that that needs to be very prominently displayed so that anyone who comes in here sees that, and we're proud about that here, right, the other thing too, and I'll tell a quick story here, and this is cool, there know, there's that phrase about I wish someone would tell us that we're in the good times when we're in them, right, and it's.

00:35:57.463 --> 00:36:13.333
It's funny with women's hockey, the, the generational growth, uh, you know, I've referenced on this show many times how, um, watching the 98 women's Olympic team was my introduction to women's hockey and I was enthr right, I was in my teens at that point, but that was my introduction to it.

00:36:13.333 --> 00:36:17.643
And then, as you said, all these other leagues, all these other opportunities in college hockey have grown.

00:36:17.643 --> 00:36:19.427
That here's a cool story, though.

00:36:19.427 --> 00:36:22.782
As we said, hannah plays for the Puerto Rican national team.

00:36:22.782 --> 00:36:37.606
My daughter and my son also take part in this association at the youth levels, and I had this really awesome opportunity at one of our last events to bring all of the young ladies that we coach to meet the national team.

00:36:38.266 --> 00:36:39.847
And the challenge was kind of on me.

00:36:39.847 --> 00:36:42.489
I wanted to do a team building exercise together.

00:36:42.489 --> 00:36:49.614
But when you have, you know, collegiate and professional athletes and a seven-year-old kid, like I, figured what can we do?

00:36:49.614 --> 00:36:52.137
That's's going to, you know, work here, right?

00:36:52.137 --> 00:36:56.860
So I said, well, you know what Rock paper scissors is pretty, you know you can win that if you're seven years old.

00:36:56.860 --> 00:37:06.143
And the look on the young ladies when they were going against the team, the way they were looking at you was, I mean, it struck me.

00:37:06.143 --> 00:37:15.273
I mean again, I've seen it before and other people but what I was thinking about, hannah, was that this is the norm for them Now, this is completely the norm for them.

00:37:15.853 --> 00:37:17.876
And then I got a really great moment with my daughter.

00:37:17.876 --> 00:37:30.384
You know not, not that I was using my behind the scenes access or anything, but you were playing and I got to bring her right to the glass, right next to the bench, and you all acknowledged her coming off the ice and we high-fived her.

00:37:30.384 --> 00:37:39.865
But like we, we we always hear those stories about how the nhl player tosses the puck to the kid in the stands, and that's the moment you provided that for my daughter, right and?

00:37:39.865 --> 00:37:46.806
And whether it's team puerto rico or a pwhl team, this is now the world she's growing up in.

00:37:46.867 --> 00:37:50.860
And look, should she decide to continue to play, I mean, I don't know what the future is.

00:37:50.860 --> 00:38:02.427
I'm not putting pressure on her, but she has seen a world in which that is now the norm, and that's something we got to continually push forward across the board.

00:38:02.427 --> 00:38:07.344
It's not just in girls hockey, right that that the future is what you can see.

00:38:07.344 --> 00:38:10.010
Right, until you see it, it's not real.

00:38:10.010 --> 00:38:18.400
I think there's a there's a broad portion of the population out there that just doesn't think that way sometimes because they've been seeing it every day for their entire life.

00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:20.324
So go ahead.

00:38:20.925 --> 00:38:22.509
No, yeah, it's, I love.

00:38:22.509 --> 00:38:28.985
I mean, obviously, like I got a little chills there and I still see that moment with your little girl every day too.

00:38:28.985 --> 00:38:43.081
But you know, I thought about the times where, during the NWHL, you know, there were players giving me pucks and there was one player in particular, she gave me her stick and she signed it.

00:38:43.081 --> 00:38:57.793
And that just goes to show like, if you know, you, just, these players, if they're putting which all, almost all of these players do they put a lasting impact on these young little girls going forward.

00:38:57.793 --> 00:39:00.987
And it's just so, it's great to see.

00:39:00.987 --> 00:39:15.161
Because I always think about the quote, right, the classic quote within women's hockey and women's sports If you can see it, you can see it and it's just so fantastic, be it.

00:39:15.161 --> 00:39:31.648
And it's just so fantastic and and that's why also, a lot of times, everyone is is really pressuring the, the media coverage and the coverage of women's sports, women's hockey, um, in general, because that goes such a long way, right, like if little girls can't see them doing something they don't know if they can do it, um, that was something for my generation.

00:39:31.648 --> 00:39:36.367
We had no clue, we didn't know like not many players even, like I had teammates who, who.

00:39:36.427 --> 00:39:49.644
I say the CWHL, and they're like the what, like what that is, and I was just like you didn't know what that was, like what and um, you know, like for me, like I saw it and so I thought I could be that.

00:39:49.644 --> 00:39:55.155
And so now, with the PWHL, it's like you're scrolling on Twitter and you see it.

00:39:55.155 --> 00:40:26.440
So now this little, some little girl at home is going to see Poulin being such a pillar and a pioneer and and someone who is pushing women's hockey by just being who she is and by being the fantastic player that she is and person as well, because she is a incredible human being, um, from from just seeing her, uh, with just talking to media and talking to fans, and even she had a quick words with me and she just a quick hey, how are you doing today, like at worlds?

00:40:26.440 --> 00:40:27.664
And it's just like, wow, like that.

00:40:27.664 --> 00:40:30.440
That goes a longer way than she probably may think it does.

00:40:31.043 --> 00:41:04.400
Um, so it's like, like, it's so important right now with like coveraging and showing how much, um, women's hockey is and women's sports in general is legit, um, and so we could just keep going from there and and, yeah, these girls are going to be, you know, doing something big for little girls at home around the world yeah, before before moving to Vegas, I lived in Johnstown, pennsylvania, and I coached a 12 year old girls team with the Johnstown Warriors, and team USA came through and they were playing in Pittsburgh and we took all our girls to the game.

00:41:04.420 --> 00:41:33.150
They watched the game and then after we were fortunate enough to get like a meet and greet with some of the players, right, so they finished their workout and we had our girls all lined up, ready for them to come out of the gym and just quickly meet our players, say hi, you know, sign some stuff for them, and a bunch of them came out, but our goalie was standing at the front of the line and she was just perked up like waiting to see Maddie Rooney, just like that's the only player she wanted to see, and Maddie Rooney didn't come out of the locker room.

00:41:33.150 --> 00:41:43.384
Um, for whatever reason, I just she just didn't come out and our goalie just started bawling because all the players like Lamoureux, hillary Knight, everyone came pretty much came through, but for whatever reason, maddie didn't.

00:41:43.384 --> 00:41:45.449
The kid starts just bawling.

00:41:45.449 --> 00:41:46.672
She's like Maddie.

00:41:46.672 --> 00:41:48.262
You know, I didn't get to meet Maddie.

00:41:48.682 --> 00:42:03.557
Hillary Knight recognized this, took the kid down to the locker room, got Maddie Rooney out of the locker room and this kid got to have a very special moment and meet her hero, just privately, one-on-one, and ask some questions, and that probably changed that kid's life.

00:42:03.557 --> 00:42:04.440
You know what I mean.

00:42:04.440 --> 00:42:12.503
And then another kid like Lamereau, and for Christmas she asked for a Lamereau jersey instead of, you know, a Crosby jersey.

00:42:12.503 --> 00:42:20.813
So seeing the girls having them at the games and meeting these players and having female ambassadors, it does make an impact.

00:42:20.813 --> 00:42:21.856
It does get through to kids.

00:42:23.260 --> 00:42:27.784
Yeah, and it's something I think we all play a role in, like you said, and Helen, that's a good example of this.

00:42:27.784 --> 00:42:32.791
Just the recognition of what's happening, the recognition you can change it.

00:42:32.791 --> 00:42:35.614
The recognition of what's happening, the recognition you can change it.

00:42:35.614 --> 00:42:42.260
You know, we just again thinking broad strokes here, like I remember that story of Carrie Price and that kid in the crowd whose mother had passed away and he recognized something was wrong.

00:42:42.260 --> 00:42:47.288
We've always said it on every show Hockey players are very talented hockey players.

00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:59.552
They're also really talented people, they're really good people and we've had those people in women's hockey and it's just great now that that stage or that broadcast grows and grows and grows right.

00:42:59.552 --> 00:43:05.233
So I would say this myth was busted before we even talked about it, but we did need to talk about it.

00:43:05.233 --> 00:43:07.706
The next one we're going to do a little turn here.

00:43:07.706 --> 00:43:15.331
This is a really important one and I'm going to give this right to Sherry and Hannah, because Mike and I probably shouldn't talk too much about this one in terms of we need to listen.

00:43:15.331 --> 00:43:21.574
But the myth is this girls have to have a certain body type and mindset to play ice hockey.

00:43:22.538 --> 00:43:27.650
This is an important topic and you know, part of the reason why we're doing the show is to talk about these topics.

00:43:27.650 --> 00:43:30.387
So, parents, if you're listening, turn it up right now.

00:43:30.387 --> 00:43:49.523
If you're 15 years old, you're 16 years old turn Parents, if you're listening, turn it up right now.

00:43:49.523 --> 00:43:51.708
If you're 15 years old, you're 16 years old, turn this up right.

00:43:51.708 --> 00:43:52.429
Two hours a day.

00:43:52.429 --> 00:44:00.539
You're in the gym, maybe one or two hours a day and you're, you're putting some weight on, especially like in your bumps, like you're going to have a big bum from skating.

00:44:00.579 --> 00:44:06.985
The men have it, the women have it, but women's hockey players are not a size zero, they're not a size two.

00:44:14.280 --> 00:44:24.686
And if you look at, like you know, just society's view of women and body images that you need to be skinny and and you see a lot of girls not a lot of girls, but like I've heard the comments like in the gym where they don't want to get too muscly right and it's like if you're going to play at a high level, you need to have some muscles.

00:44:24.867 --> 00:44:45.583
And if you look at the team, usa athletes and college athletes, their body types, they have bigger shoulders, they got, they got triceps, they have abs, they have glutes, big quads and they're all sizes Like you have players that are five, 10, six foot, and then you have arguably one of the best players right now is Kendall Coyne and she's five foot two.

00:44:45.583 --> 00:44:51.105
So you know, with men's hockey, where they're like you have to be six foot two, you have to be 200 pounds.

00:44:51.105 --> 00:44:52.288
They're trying to put weight on.

00:44:52.288 --> 00:44:53.911
This is not men's hockey.

00:44:53.911 --> 00:44:56.469
The PWHL doesn't even list their height and weight.

00:44:56.469 --> 00:45:05.353
So a big myth is yeah, with body image, we have to just get away from that and have positive self-talk about body image.

00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:10.362
Yeah, I kind of agree more with Sherry's points.

00:45:10.362 --> 00:45:20.188
It's, it's tough, right, Like with with me, you know, I don't, I don't, I'm never hiding, I love working out in the gym.

00:45:20.188 --> 00:45:29.576
You know, getting stronger, especially with, like, my quads and stuff that was something that was always an issue for me and always has been is actually putting on weight.

00:45:29.576 --> 00:45:42.231
I'm a small, small girl, I'm also five, three on a good day, Um and uh, you know, no matter how much I work out and how much I I try to gain muscle, for some reason my weight doesn't change.

00:45:42.231 --> 00:45:43.998
Um, but I didn't.

00:45:43.998 --> 00:45:46.342
Personally, I didn't really let that get to me.

00:45:46.342 --> 00:45:50.831
Um, if I felt strong and if I felt I needed to get stronger than I did that.

00:45:58.260 --> 00:46:04.072
But there is a lot of, I think you know, conversations that are missed within young girl hockey players that you don't need to go into the gym or yeah, you'll get there.

00:46:04.072 --> 00:46:04.561
Maybe.

00:46:04.561 --> 00:46:06.568
Just focus on your endurance right now.

00:46:06.568 --> 00:46:20.813
Like, if you want to get to the highest level, you have to kind of just put that all aside and just just work so hard in the gym off ice training is so important and it's so crucial.

00:46:20.813 --> 00:46:45.329
And you know, Lee, you mentioned mindset of, you know playing, and I think the the biggest thing with around athletes is obviously mental health, Right, and and that goes along with our physical health as well and you know it's, it's no, it's definitely not, um, it's not like a lie that hockey in general and sports in general plays a huge mental toll on you.

00:46:45.329 --> 00:46:48.228
It does, Um, it's a, it's a tough thing.

00:46:48.228 --> 00:47:13.905
It goes with competition no-transcript, especially within, within college hockey.

00:47:13.905 --> 00:47:18.585
Who maybe will look in the mirror and be like, oh, I hate wearing dresses because my shoulders?

00:47:18.626 --> 00:47:19.949