Our Girls Play Hockey: Life After Gold: Haley Scamurra’s Wild Return to the PWHL

Hello, hockey friends and families around the world. Welcome back to another

edition of Our Girls Play Hockey. It's Lee with Haley Scamora here today. We are back to our Day in the

Life series. With Haley, we've been following her through her PWHL season, her Olympic

journey that led to a gold medal, just the life of being Haley Scamora, which has accelerated a lot lately.

So when we left last, when we left you last, all right, last time we had this

conversation,

fresh off the gold medal victory, we went through the Olympics. For those of you

listening, make

sure you go back and listen to that one if you haven't. Really, all of the hosts on

the show just

gushed over you the entire time. It was awesome. We all felt pretty good. I

remember after that

episode, Haley, uh Christie casciano one of our co-hosts called me and she goes

that was so fun

that was so great like we we talked to a real gold medalist and to which Christie i

said Christie

you've been the news lady for like 25 years she was just very happy so today we're

gonna be um

talking about kind of the post olympic thing it's been what two three weeks now so

it's been about

three weeks since since you won um so we'll do this kind of chronologically right

yeah so You come

back from the Olympics. You're there for a few more days. You get the closing

ceremonies. You're

back in the United States. The first thing you're met with, you were in the middle

of this when we

were recording, is three PWHL games in a row. And not just any games.

You win these three games. You go to the top of the standings. Like real playoff

implications in

these games. Big games against big teams. Walk us through how you go from the

greatest moment of

your life. to i've got to get back into game mode right now playing with my

opponents against my

teammates so forth and so on it was insane we literally had one day off when we

got back from our

crazy travel day and then i had to leave two days later for new york so i had to

unpack repack do

laundry all that fun stuff uh a little bit of a hit back to reality for sure um but then

on top of

that it's like especially after winning the gold medal so many people are reaching

out wanting totalk wanting to interview wanting to podcast like all these different things i'm

trying to feel

that while also dealing with my schedule uh so it was a lot um we had like one

practice and

literally left the next day and that first game i was like It was the weirdest out-of-

body

experience because I wasn't really fully rested, hadn't really recovered from jet

lag. Like, you

can kind of tell it was everyone's first game in a while or you had just come back

from the

Olympics. Like, it was a wild game. But I was very proud of our team. We did great.

You played in

New York, correct, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, in New York. And they had beaten

you two times in a

row prior to that, too. So this is the game you won. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, we

played great.

We found a way to kind of battle through, like, the first game. Rust, if you will.

Yeah. But then right before that, I actually had a request to do the Kelly Clarkson

show because

it's filmed in New York. And I was like, of course. So I had to pack for that. I stayed

a little

bit longer, like the next day after a game to do that with our PR guy. And that was

the most

incredible experience ever. We're going to get into that. Yeah. and like i kind of

jumped ahead a

little bit no no it's good it's good i i want to i want to preface just to give people an

idea how

busy you were so first off let me ask this question yeah like when you when i don't

know if you had

your us phone over in italy like like i mean after the game let's just go after the

game i didn't

ask this how many missed texts like how many texts or calls did you have on your

phone hundreds

like hundreds of messages on either text message or Instagram or Facebook like

so many and as I

kind of talked about in the previous episode I'm like a toxic replier back like I

literally sat on

the bus And wrote thank you to so many people because I really hate having my

notifications up on

my phone. So I tried to respond to as many people as I could that night. So I didn't

have anything

lingering the next day. But then again, like it was coming through all the time. Like I

was getting

messages. Even today, I'm still getting messages like, hey, I didn't want tobombard you at the

time, but congrats, you know. So it's pretty crazy. It's really incredible.

I'm glad to know that hell for me is unread messages. I'm not the only person that

feels like that

little red circle with a number is hell. So that's good to know. What's funny about

us,

right, is like, you know, obviously we texted a little bit. What my gauge was, and I

told our crew

this, I said, when Haley responds with a full sentence to you, she's ready to talk. If

you're

getting two words, she's fine. She's going to respond to you. But when you get a

sentence back,

that means things have calmed down a little bit. That is so true. And again, just to

let the

audience know how crazy things were. And we love this. We had a recording set

for our show.

And we reached out like, hey, are you good for this? And I remember we could say

this now. You go,

oh, no, I have to go on Kelly Clarkson. And we ribbed you so hard. We were like, so

you're choosing

a national broadcast over our podcast today, which obviously we were happy

about.

That was so funny. I will not forget that. Thank goodness you texted me. I would

have felt terrible

if you guys were just waiting there. But like everything happened so fast. Like I

found out the day

before we left for New York that they were like requesting me because I was the

only US player who

was going to be in New York at that time. And so it just was like kismet, right? So I

was like, I

have to do this, obviously. And you guys were obviously very understanding, but it

was so funny.

I was like, whoops. Honestly, we messaged you because we figured she's got a lot

going on right

now. Let's make sure she's okay. And I'll tell the audience, Haley is such a great

person and a

great professional. You always get back to us. You always tell us what's going on.

But that week,

I was like, we need to maybe check with her. Just make sure she's okay. Look,

in addition, we will get to Kelly Clarkson. It wasn't just that. You were getting on

podcasts. You

were being interviewed on local news, big news. It was just constant, right? And

you do those

things, I think, right? So how did you A, organize all of that incoming stuff? Andthen was it just

like, let's go? You're a gamer, right? Was it just, let's do it? I literally,

the day I got back, I actually just forgot about this until now. I got back on like the

24th of

February and I had all these requests coming from our PR guy in Montreal and I go,

just book it all

today. I go, well, I'll just, I'll just crank through it. Like, why not? Yeah. And little did

I

know there was going to be more later on in life, but I thought that was going to be

it. So I was

like, just let's crank it out. So I literally had three or four interviews that day. Wow.

That I

did. So that's what Hollywood movie stars do when they're promoting a movie. So

now you know how

that feels. And you know what? Kudos to them because it takes a lot of like energy

and like, it's

it's even if it's only a 10-minute interview it's like it's still energy it's still time in

your

day it's still you know something you're preparing for you know mentally and

whatnot so um

important to kind of manage the energy during this time for sure yeah no and it

can be exhausting

uh it's always funny sometimes you get really good bloopers from celebrities when

they're in like

the 10th interview of the day uh but but good on you haley for for like doing it and

by the way you

did it so eloquently like thank you you know like When you do interviews, including

the show,

you give everything you got. It's so obvious. You know what I mean? So thank you

for that. Okay,

let's get to the big show. So you get invited on Kelly Clarkson. If Kelly Clarkson's

not cool

enough, Pink is hosting the episode. She is awesome.

Tell us everything. I'm not going to ask you. Just tell us everything from when you

got there to

hair and makeup to going on stage to, like, do you see Pink before the show? Is

Pink just sitting

there? Then she asks you questions. Tell us everything. So, like, I know this is my

first talk show

ever. Like, didn't know what to expect. You know, I get a call, like,

the day before. They want me to send pictures in. I do a pre-interview for the

interview where

they ask questions to kind of see what topics they might want to hit.

so that was like a crazy experience and then getting there we got there likeprobably two hours

before i was gonna go on air um they did hair and makeup they did um i had my

little dressing room

with a fridge stocked with drinks like with some snacks too like i didn't really have

time for that

but actually i did have a ginger ale with a straw that was fun um yeah i had to get

something i

have a picture of you doing hair and makeup having my little ginger ale but That

was really fun.

And then I didn't get to meet Pink beforehand. Wow. When you walk out there,

that's the first time

you meet her. So I literally was like, I go, do I hug her? And I also found out there

was another

host, Carrie Kenny Silver, I believe. And she was on Reno 911. She was on the show

Four Seasons.

Like, so funny. And she was also, yeah. So I go, where do I sit? Do I hug them?

Like, I don't want to, like, you know, what if they're not huggers? Like, or is it like a

handshake? What if he tries to fight you right there? She might do that. She's

written songs about

it. No, go ahead. Like, what's going to happen, right? And then it was really sweet

because,

like, the... manager for pink kept saying like she's so excited to see you like she's

really

excited for this like yada yada yada so i was like okay like cool and so i get out

there and like i

you know you're waiting for the doors to open you're waiting behind the thing and

then it's like

all the people are there it's a live audience like 200 people like cheering for you

excited i'm

just waving you know and then pink is like bowing down to me like so is carrie and

i'm like what is

happening right now like this is crazy and then they both gave me like big hugs like

super sweet

and um i kind of was just like disassociated from like how cool the moment was i

was just like okay

there's just two people interviewing me like don't don't overthink this well

remember you're

actually the celebrity in that moment to be fair which is still so crazy to me like like

what so um

they were great it went really well um what's cool is that it's like recorded so at

least it wasn't

live like that helped a lot because at one point actually carrie's um prompter

wasn't reading and

she goes oh My question's not there. You know what I mean? So like thingshappened on the thing. So

like that kind of helped mentally as well. So you're saying this podcast has

prepared you for live

recording. Yes, exactly. So yeah, it was just amazing.

And they were so nice. And then after the interview, when the cameras were off or

whatever, like

they wanted to chat for a bit. So we were sitting there chatting and they were just

so kind. pink

was saying her son's recently into hockey so she's a hockey mom now and uh

she's like i really want

to go to a pro women's game i was like we got to get you to a pro women's game

for sure so i am

working on it i want her to go to a game so bad carrie said she was down too so

like let's get him

to a game like why not so uh they were just so nice like you know when you meet a

celebrity you

want them to be really nice right you don't want to set too high of expectations but

they were

absolutely incredible so it was such a great experience and then we went right to

the airport right

back to montreal wow well i i'll say this too like um i want to say i think pink not just

one of

the most talented female artists ever but just such a great person. I mean,

outspoken, not just about women, but just in general, in a positive way,

right? I think she's just such a great role model for young kids, as are you,

obviously. Thank you.

But it was so cool to be there. Now, do you want to meet Kelly Clarkson is the

other question I

want to ask, because obviously she wasn't there that day. I had mixed emotions

because I'm like, oh

my God, I get to meet Pink. This is incredible. But like Kelly Clarkson was like, I

loved her. Like

growing up, like I watched American Idol when she won. Like that was the first

season I watched.

Like I think she is an incredibly talented singer and like person. And so I wanted to

meet them

both. Like I was like, what the heck? But yeah, so. Again, Pink was incredible,

but I was also wanting to be Kelly Clarkson for sure. I think people underestimate.

Actually,

nobody in music underestimates Kelly Clarkson as a singer, but she's one of the

greatest vocalists

ever. Yes. Did you ever see the movie From Justin to Kelly? Were you that big of a

fan? Yeah, I

think. Okay. All right. You were probably young then, so I can see why you woulddo that. Yeah.

Yeah. A little, I think that was, wasn't that the first season of American Idol? Yes.

The first

season? Yeah, that was like the original season. Yep. Original. Yeah. This next

question I got to

ask. Pink actually asked you about it too on set. It's well documented now after the

Olympics.

There was a little bit of political drama and debacle surrounding the games. I think

you've said

all you need to say about that. Again, for the audience listening, we're not going to

dive into it.

You can go see what Haley has said and the rest of the team. What I think is really

cool, Haley, is

that the focus is now returning to you winning gold, the men winning gold,

and that USA Hockey, is on top of the world right now okay in terms of of stature

again i always

like to shout out our canadian audience we care about you deeply don't don't think

this is anything

to do with them um this is how i want to frame this question can we talk for a

minute about the

importance of keeping the focus on that and the fact that that you won the men

won the game is

growing that there's actually a responsibility with that and that's where your focus

in my opinion

i have to say that should be right now because it's It's somewhat of a once-in-a-

lifetime

accomplishment. Yeah. I think despite, like, all of that, I think it honestly just

brought more

eyes to our game. It really did. And I felt that outpouring of love and support, and I

think that's

what we've been kind of riding off of, honestly. And you can see the growth in the

game and the

numbers and the viewership and everything. Like, we have 100,000 girls registered

in USA Hockey.

Like, that's amazing. It's the first time we've hit that number, right? So I think just

focusing on

that and then focusing on our league now.

welcoming in the new people who are watching. And, you know, we have sellout

crowds at Madison

Square Garden and TD Garden coming up. Like, I'll be at the TD Garden game. I

cannot wait. You got

to break another record. Yeah. Like, it's just, we keep breaking records. Like, you

know, it's

absolutely amazing. And I think, you know, it's so important to kind of keepfocused on it. And

then in terms of like the gold medals, like first time in history, the men and women

have won at

the same time. For us, it was the best Olympic hockey team that's been.

made like our us team was absolutely incredible we were so dominant the whole

tournament two goals

against the whole tournament um just scoring more than five goals almost every

game like you can't

make it like it's just and then like hillary breaking her records in the gold medal

game uh

breaking the olympic scoring records like just so many storylines that happened

that just show the

incredible growth of women's hockey how incredible we were how dominant we

were and so i think It's

pretty easy to kind of refocus on us. Yeah. Look, look, how about we say this too?

The positive,

there's so many positives. I mean, it's like almost unlimited amounts of positives

for both teams.

Yep. Why focus on the one negative? Like, you know, however you perceive it,

right? Like, like keep it on the positive stuff. And I'm going to say too, just echoing

you, a

hundred thousand girls signed up for USA hockey and growing. Those of you

listening know I coach a

women's team and a girls team. How about this one, Haley? First time ever, Puerto

Rico ice hockey,

over 100 female registrants. That's pretty amazing to me when you think about not

just 100 women

playing hockey, but under the Puerto Rican flag. That's pretty cool. I just got done

with a tryout

today for my girls' youth team. seeing record numbers there so the growth of the

game uh not just

the game itself but women's hockey girls hockey in general we're seeing that

boom immediately and i

think we're going to see it for a long time to come you you said it perfectly too that

um it's the

first time there's only going to be one first time that both teams win together and

that's why i

think this is you know i think again 1980 was a seminal moment in hockey i think

1998 was a big

moment in hockey. And I think nothing against 18, but 26 is going to be a major

moment when we look

at the history of USA hockey and growth of the game. And again, it doesn't matter

what country

you're from. It's good for the game, period. And I'll just say one more thing aboutwhat you said,

because I like saying it.

It's not just because it was USA. I mean that. That was the most dominant team I

have ever seen in

Olympic competition. I mean, it was everyone contributed. It was pretty amazing.

Right. Literally. Yeah. All right. Let's keep going here. So yeah. Pink Kelly Clarkson.

No big

deal. Then your hometown team called Buffalo Sabres call. Yeah. Why don't you

walk us through that

phone call and how you ended up in front of the entire crowd. So they really

wanted like me and

Winnie, both Haley win my teammate. Cause she's from Rochester, New York.

They really wanted us to

come to. Oh, and joy done. uh her brother plays for the sabers i wanted us to come

to their first

game back from the break because they were honoring tage thompson too so they

did want it to be at

the same time which would have been obviously really cool yeah however i had a

game in toronto the

exact same night so they're obviously very understanding of that they're like we

would just love to

have you at a game at some point so i'm looking at the schedule and i'm like i

really wanted to

make it work i wanted to get it done at some point soon because uh after our three

games in five

days with our team we had like a 12-day break of games We still had practices.

And so I'm looking,

I'm looking at the schedule and I'm like, okay, we have a day off here. And funny

enough, the

Sabres are playing the Washington Capitals. And my dad still lives in Buffalo and

he used to play

for the Capitals. And I was like, that'd be kind of fun. Like I could leave the day

before, right

after our practice. I can go to the game, leave the next morning, make practice the

next day. And

it was definitely worth it. However, ran into some. some snags there was an ice

storm here in

montreal so i had an eight hour delay getting to buffalo so i didn't get home until 2

30 in the

morning the day of the sabers game uh and i was under the weather a little bit so

fighting through

that but honestly so worth it like my brother who wasn't able to come to the

olympics came and

stayed with us too and he got to kind of has his olympic experience which wasreally special to

share with him and um i had some other family members and friends there as well

and uh the sabers

do like this drum thing before the game to the chant of let's go buffalo which i

didn't even know i

had to look up videos i was so nervous yeah and um they so they honored me on

the jumbotron like

right before and everyone's like standing up and clapping and like that was just

really really cool

like so incredible to kind of feel the hometown love and support and uh I actually

think I was more

nervous for the drum than I was for the Pink interview. I'm not even kidding. I was

actually like,

how do I do this? Do I hit it hard? Like, how hard do I hit the drum? Like, whatever.

Anyway, I did

it. Everything was okay. You did it like a pro like you do everything else, I'm sure.

Yeah, thank

you. And so then after that, I had the interview with Marty Baran and Brian Duff,

who are like the broadcasters in the middle of the interviews. so I sat down with

them right after

the first period and then that's when whole mess of people came over to watch

and then wanted to

meet me afterwards and that was the highlight of it for sure because all these little

girls came up

to me and told me how much I inspired them and how much how like they watched

and tears in their

eyes just so excited to meet me and I don't even have words like I was just so

overcome with like

emotion and just so grateful and

all the delays and the lack of sleep for sure it was just amazing well like i'll say this

to you

like trailblazing is not easy work um and you you and all of your counterparts are

doing that right

now uh i'm gonna say again the last time we spoke it's funny because this has

developed since we

spoke i i mentioned to you that do you realize you've been part of one of the most

watched on tv

games of all time and then attended games of all time and then i was joking with

the other day well

you can add to the resume now you're gonna be on the first nationally televised

game ever. You're

doing this all before the halfway point of the year.

What else could happen? Let's just see what else could happen. You mentioned

your family.I actually want to tap in on that a little bit because we haven't discussed what is

this like for

you and your family? Are there some maybe special moments you can share about

with your dad and

with your family, your brothers, about not just winning, but just all of this?

um so two of my brothers got to come to the Olympics my mom my dad stepdad

um you know Nick was

able to come my boyfriend yeah and you know with my family like one of the cool

the coolest parts

is like against Sweden in the semi-finals I talked about this in the other episode but

like after

I scored seeing them so excited in the stands like I It was just it was like they were

on the ice

with me celebrating the goal. It was just so incredibly exciting.

And I was just so happy I got to share that with them. I don't even know how else

to describe it.

It was just so amazing. And then after winning gold, I think that was also kind of

what made it

click was seeing my family in the stand. So like I'm seeing my mom crying. I'm

seeing my brothers

like consoling her, like everyone freaking out over there. And then my dad was in

the other corner

and. his smile was just like ear to ear huge and he did like his little double wave like

this like

that's what i know he's like pure joy right like he just saw his daughter reach this

goal that like

he's helped me achieve along the way like i mean without him coaching me and

him pushing me the way

he did i wouldn't be where i am today like that's without a doubt and you know for

my mom like

without her support without her her lack of hockey knowledge to be honest like

she was by like

support system outside of that where like I didn't have to worry about hockey with

her like we

could just talk about other things and I think that balance is kind of what made me

who I am today

and what brought me to the Olympics and finally that gold medal so um yeah that

made me really

emotional and I think really hit home when I won the gold for sure yeah you know

there's so much

energy surrounding the win yeah yeah And it's unlimited.

You want to share it with everyone. It's a cool feeling, right? And I can tell you,

at least I'll say limited experience, but as a parent, I understand when we say we

live through ourkids in a lot of ways, it's true. We feel what you feel. When you're in pain, we're in

pain. But

when you're elated, we're elated. And so they might as well have been putting that

metal around all

of their necks when they put it on your neck. We joked about it. We saw what the

Wynn brothers were

like, too, for Haley and that family. I think that's one of the cooler stories. I'm

talking about

just families in general that we don't talk about. Yeah, it's a gold medal for you.

It's a gold medal for the team, a gold medal for the country. But it's also a gold

medal for so

many people surrounding your life. Again, including your mother and father who

played in the NHL.

Man, that must have just been, I'd love to talk to him about it just to get his

feelings on it one

day. Maybe we'll make that happen. Yeah, maybe. I bet you. We have to get him to

work a computer

though. I don't know. Yeah, well, you might have to just sit next to him. Just be like,

remember

the Scamora. listening to is me on the show okay there's yeah no um no thanks for

asking that so

you know like in addition all this stuff um you know buffalo saber stuff by the way i

think that i

think that the bills do something with let's go buffalo too before their games so

that's that's a

pretty cool yeah um but you know also a ton of news i mean they did some

features on you with with

with nickels and yeah like are you aware of stuff like that when it's happening or

You know,

I have some family friends who like will send a lot of stuff as they see it. So that's

usually how

I find out about it because there is. so much stuff like the Nichols thing really was

really sweet

like it's where I went to high school and they interviewed all the girls there and like

how excited

they were to see me there and like she can be there I can be there like it was just

so cool it's

cool to see like kind of the reach that you have when you're in this position and I'll

also say too

you know a friend of the show you think which is a really great resource for all you

families out

there if you haven't checked out you think they do podcasts they do a lot of

content

Greg Olson, obviously famous NFL player, runs that. Check that out. But you did agreat interview

with them as well, right? Like how'd that come about? And what was your favorite

part of that

interview? They were great. Shelby interviewed me for that one. And she was so

sweet.

Like she was just very easy to talk to. It was very conversational. And it was just a

lot of fun.

It flew by.

My favorite part, we talked about the manifesting and like the whiteboard and

stuff. That was

really cool. how I wrote over it every morning. I am a gold medalist and how that

kind of helped me

keep my confidence like throughout the games. And then another great question

Shelby asked me on

the show was I like female role models I kind of had growing up and something I

hadn't really

realized until I answered the question was how important my first like female coach

was because

I've only had like male coaches in the space of hockey and and soccer. And so my

first female coach

was in high school. And I think it kind of opened my eyes to like what I could do.

later in life

because at the time there also wasn't professional hockey so I think um seeing

that was really

critical for me and and then it was something that I could maybe aspire to one day

and it kind of

like sparked that interest for me for sure in terms of like the coaching and

mentorship side of

things yeah you know I always like to to mention it because this was a realization

for me too I I

should preface it like that more often that um like don't assume people have seen

everything and

what I mean by that is until you see a woman playing pro hockey until you see a

woman coaching

until you see whatever it is for the first time uh you haven't seen it right we talked

about this

before again like my daughter watching you win a gold medal like that is a possible

future in her

mind it doesn't matter if it happens or not like it's it's happened yeah right and

again i think we

we take that for granted sometimes like look if you're a fan of the nhl you've seen

people win the

stanley cup it's that simple right yeah so so just i always just try and remind people

of that tooand it's also you know i always feel like there's a responsibility for me too when i

coach women's

hockey or girls hockey i try and find uh women coaches as well right you know if

they're available

right because i want to bring them out there too i don't think it's not just for me in

any way it's

for the girls i want them to see that Right. And I think we all play a role in enabling

each other

for that. So, yeah. All right. This next question is the last question. It's kind of a

two part

question. All right. Staying on the media front. It's maybe it's slowed down a little

bit,

but it hasn't slowed down. Like you got even more stuff coming up from interviews

and things like

that. Right. Yeah. I have a lot of like podcast requests still coming through. I've

got. yeah

interviews stuff to do back home in the summer when i'm done with like hockey

like right so much in

the works um i'm going on uh jason tardic's podcast he has a financial podcast um

he was in like

the bachelor world so i used to like love bachelor bachelorette stuff um but now he

does like um

pot like finance stuff he also has like a company that helps people with like brands

and things

like that and so that was obviously a huge connection for me Another fun thing I

actually forgot to

mention, like Rob Gronkowski made me like a little shout out video. Yeah, he did.

Because he's from

Buffalo, New York as well. So just so many like amazing, wonderful things have

been happening and

are still kind of happening. And honestly, it's just all. times i get to share the

excitement of

winning a gold medal and kind of relive it again so it's just been amazing and i'm

not taking it

for granted no it's not every day you get a gronk shout out doing a buffalo cheer

yeah i love it

all right so segueing into like this question now turning into hockey um you know

you win the gold

medal

you're with Team USA for months, right? It just kind of like stops, right? Like

what's next on the

USA hockey front? How does that work? I mean, is it right to the world

championships next year? Is

there like, are you guys going to have an off season ceremony? Like how does thiswork now? It kind

of just ends. And I think that's like the saddest part. And that's why we were kind

of like so

excited to like celebrate at the village and everything.

You know, we're going to have a celebration in Vegas, I think, by Flavor Flav. That

has been very

well documented. Yeah, we will be doing that. And then, you know, hopefully

there's other things

this summer we can plan together. But like, obviously, right now, everyone's so

busy. We haven't

really gotten that far. Right, right. And then in terms of USA Hockey stuff, like we

would normally

have an August camp, but I don't know if we'll do that anymore because now

World Championships will

be in November. Right. So we actually... don't really know what's next at the

moment yeah that's

actually really weird it just is kind of ended and and now we're also starting a new

process i

guess like it's a new setup in terms of having worlds in november so maybe they'll

have camp in

october now like i don't know what it'll look like so i think we'll probably find out in

the coming

months i would imagine they're going to probably like keep in contact with us but i

don't think we

would do an august camp anymore but yeah who knows It's really interesting. So,

again, this is all

kind of flowing. It's one question here, right? In the very first Day in the Life

episode, we

talked about how, okay, this is a very unique situation now. First time it's been a

pro women's

league, into the Olympics, back to pro hockey. Again, we've talked in our Q&A

episodes about the

return of the PWHL. I think we talked about that earlier in this episode, too. But

from a

reflective standpoint, right, now you've done it, right, in terms of returned.

How are you feeling? I guess is the right question. Like being back in the PWHL

play at this point.

Returning to the PWHL, I had a feeling it would be the first game would be the

hardest game

probably. And it kind of was. I didn't feel great physically. I wasn't really fully there

mentally.

However, like I was so excited to be back with my teammates. Like, and I think

that's what kind of

showed through in the game. Like we were all so excited to be back together. And Ithink that's why

we ended up playing so well and winning that game. Right. And then from there, it

was kind of back

to business. It went really smoothly, I thought, and our team meshed incredibly

well.

And again, I think that's just the culture we've built in the room and how excited

people were to

be back together again. And those next two games, those were some of our best

games that we've

played. And so I'm really excited to see how the second half of the season goes.

And this is the

fun part, too. It's like the standings are close. Everyone's fighting for that playoff

spot. We're

playing against Boston this Sunday, and that's going to be... you know, a battle for

first at this

point of the season. And so we haven't seen each other since the beginning of the

season. So we're

really excited for that game. It's going to be a sold out crowd. And that's also been

really fun,

like having more eyes on the game and more people watching on YouTube and

being at the games in

person. And so I think there's going to be like that new excitement energy kind of

around all the

games. yeah it's been fun watching the sarcasm around the nobody watches

women's conversations now

where it's like i think it's everyone watches women's sports is more prevalent now

than anything

yeah um how many olympians were on the team Montreal was it five there were

well so there was I

want to say four or five were on team Canada playing two were coaches then there

was one from Czech

one from Germany and one from Sweden wow so yeah the full gamut there so

what did your teammates

that were not playing do while you were gone did they just practice they practiced

like the whole

time they had a fiver maybe a week break before like when we had first left yeah

but after that

they practiced every day pretty much and so kudos to them because they did an

incredible job i

think that's what we really highlighted a lot like our coaches and and the players

who are at the

olympics it was just like you could tell how hard they worked based on how well

we've done in our

first games back because we had depth scoring in all of those games i agree umand so what they did

was massive and super important to the success of our team but it it had to be

hard like to not

have games for that long and only practice like yeah it's it's difficult mentally well i

think it

says a lot about the organization and the leadership too like it's a pro pro it's a pro

team right

like yep uh and the dedication to that you know it's funny i just was thinking here

too like you

got to go back to the pro world i'm thinking about like your college teammates you

have to go back

to school that that's probably a little different like i gotta go to class now i'm a gold

medalist

i'm gonna have to skip class for a week i think i don't know if i could do it that's

crazy i might

be emailing my professors of uh yeah yeah i got the gold medal flu i need a yeah

um by the way i'm

gonna be drafted in three months five months whatever it is so um again kudos to

your collegiate

teammates as well obviously seriously Okay. So that, again,

arrives us now at the end of this question, which is we're going to look forward

PWHL-wise now.

Yeah. You vaulted yourself like the top of the standings after those three games. I

know there's

been some movement since then just because these games happen. Yep. Now you

are on a trajectory

towards the playoffs, right? So for the audience now, like I'm kind of setting up the

next day in

the life. Yeah. What are we looking forward to now in terms of the PWHL? Because,

look, Montreal is one of the favorites here, right? There's a pressure with that too.

And you've

got to maintain, I know you know this, you've got to maintain the professionalism

you've always

maintained. This gold medal cannot stop you here, right? So set us up here for the

next few months.

Yeah, so we have, it's pretty much like the second half of the season at this point.

And this is

where it gets like really crazy. We have the point system where it's three points for

a regulation

win. two for an overtime win or shootout win one for an overtime loss or shootout

loss and so the

standings change a lot like it's it's very volatile like it's crazy um you can win three

games in a

row and literally jump to first place like it's it's very awesome too at the same timeand so fun

yeah and that's what's so fun for the fans to watch too and for us to play in

because like getting

that regulation win means a lot more yeah um and so We have that.

And then playoffs, only four teams make it and we have eight teams. Right. So it's

going to be

tight. Like it's going to be a battle. And then they also have what they call the gold

plan.

So people who the teams are who are in like last place or whoever gets eliminated

first, you want

to win or get as many points as you can so that you get the first draft pick in the

next draft.

So again, like no games are easy when you're. in our season because everyone is

fighting for

something, whether it's a playoff spot or the goal plan. And so I think that part is

really cool

about our league and what makes it more exciting for fans to watch. I wish more

leagues would adopt

that. It's so smart. It's so brilliant. It's so much better than a stupid lottery that

everyone

thinks is rigged, even though it may not be. I'm just glad you brought it up

because, again, once

you're eliminated, it's not going to stop you from playing. And again, I can hear

some fans going,

well, why would players want to play hard to try and get someone that's going to

possibly replace

them? These are professional athletes. Your character matters, right?

You're not playing your butt off. You're not going to be on that team next season.

Obviously, you want to be in the playoffs. Don't get me wrong. But I love what the

PWHL has done to

create competitive balance across the league. I do have to say it. I don't know

when the next

expansion is going to be. But please look at Philadelphia. I don't know why we

haven't had a

takeover game yet. Everybody here wants a takeover game. I hope that's going to

happen next season.

Hopefully, no. Yeah, I'm going to say it. The 27th season, I don't know how it has

not happened

yet. Yeah, that is crazy. I will give, obviously, Washington a lot of credit for what

they've done.

But we have a lot of girls hockey in Philly, too. So please, I'm pleading with you.

That's not

going to be evergreen what I just said. Or maybe it'll be a fun thing to revisit. Yeah.

Hayley,another great episode. Again, I love that we're setting this up. You know the

audience is wishing

you and Montreal the best. But I'm going to tell the audience, too, again, this has

been a really

fun series. I think this will conclude our gold medal coverage for now. I'm hoping

we're going to

be talking about playoff championships and success. in the future i i know that's

uh that's got to

be where your mind's at now right that is you know we talked about manifestation

and visualization

is that where you're heading with that now yeah our whiteboard has a little flip so

on the other

side we have i'm a walter cup champion so i love it yes it is ready i love it all right

well

audience listening thank you so much again we're not done with haley by any

sense of the word we're

going to keep having great interviews great conversations uh remember if you

have a topic uh

especially in girls hockey you want us to discuss email us at team at

ourkidsplayhockey.com,

message me or message Haley on Instagram. Or remember that there's a link

accompanying the episode

in the description where you can text us. Just leave your name, where you're from,

anything you

want us to discuss. And we love hearing your questions. Again, we only put the

Q&A stuff up once

in a while because you ask at least two episodes worth of questions. Haley, thanks

so much for the

time today, as always. Yeah, thank you for having me. All right, gang, that's going

to do it for

this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. We'll see you on the next one. Our kids, our

girls play

hockey. Excuse me, I'm too used to saying that. See you next one, everyone. Have

fun. We hope you

enjoyed this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right

now if you

found value wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social

media network, or

our website, ourkidsplayhockey.com. Also, make sure to check out our children's

book, When Hockey

Stops, at whenhockeystops.com. It's a book that helps children deal with adversity

in the game and

in life. We're very proud of it. But thanks so much for listening to this edition of

Our Kids PlayHockey, and we'll see you on the next episode.

Thank you.