Our Kids Play Goalie - Estela Vazquez On What It Takes to Be a Young Elite Goalie (At Just 14!)

Hello, hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome to another

episode of Our Kids

Play Goalie. First one of these we've done in a while. I'm Lee Elias, joined by my

co-hosts, Mike

Bonelli and Christie Casciano-Burns. You know, we talk a lot about youth hockey

on this show, so

today we thought it might be fun to do an episode from the source. Today's guest

is just 14 years

old, but she's already inspiring goalies everywhere and hockey players

everywhere. We're joined by

Estela Vazquez, a goaltender most currently with the Connecticut Junior Rangers.

Greenwich Country

Day School and the Puerto Rico Women's National Team, where she was named

goaltender of the

tournament at the 2025 IIHF 3-on-3 Women's Series in Buenos Aires, helping

Puerto Rico capture

gold. I feel like I've said that once or twice on this show before. Estela's story is

one of

discipline, joy, and maturity beyond her years. From starting in hockey in New York

City to

standing tall on the international stage, today we'll explore what it's like to balance

school,

elite training, and pressure. at such a young age and how she's using her success

to inspire the

next generation of goalies something that she's already doing i can speak from

personal experience

with Estela as a full disclosure one of her coaches she's an incredible human being

for her age

and we're really excited to to share her with you today and her expertise like we

said so Estela

welcome to our kids play goal thank you yeah Estela, we'd like to say

congratulations.

We're so excited you're on the show today. And we always ask our hockey players

how it all began.

So we're all curious. How did hockey come into your life? And what made you

decide to hone in on

becoming a goalie? It's a very, it's a long story, but I'll keep it short.

Basically, it all started kind of when I was watching the Rangers on TV.

And I was like, you know, this kind of looks fun. And then I was watching my dad

play a lot because

he played, he's a defenseman. So I was watching him. I also started as a

defenseman too.

And I played with the Westchester Vipers in Westchester over like 30 minutes

away from my house.And I played defense with them for a couple of years. And then I saw on NHL 15,

I was like, this goalie mode and I wanted to try it. And then I figured it out and I

was like,

whoa, I want to be like Henrik Lundqvist now. And yeah, so I gave it a try and I

really liked it.

My dad support, my parents supported me. They got me some equipment and

basically that's where I

started playing goalie. I played for Danbury hat tricks. That's my, that was my first

year as a

goalie and it was just a blast and I really wanted to continue with it.

Yeah, I know your schedule, I mean, at 14 years old, right? And I think,

you know, playing for multiple teams, you know, Lee ran down, you know, basically

the programs

you're working with. I can do it again if you want, Mike.

We don't have time. We got to try to fit this in. But Stella, can you talk about a little

bit about

your, like, I know we talked to a lot of, we work with a lot of teenagers and players

that are

going through the same. demands as you with school and travel and the national

team and your school

team and your club team. Can you just talk about what a typical week looked like

for you this

winter and describe a little bit how you manage that? Yeah,

so I originally started out in the beginning of the season. I was doing like a split

season kind of

thing with CJR, but it worked out where I didn't have to do both because it's with

my GCDS

schedule. It's we play, we practice almost every day of the week. and it would have

been a lot so

but i'd say like for gc when i was in school gcds season um it was really just like

monday i got on

the ice like after school i got on the ice with my team and then tuesday we had a

team lift after

school and then wednesday another practice or sometimes games on wednesdays

either home or away and

Thursday's another team practice, and then Friday's either a game or a practice

again.

So basically, we're kind of like, we're always on the ice either way, or we're always

getting to

hang out with the team and each other too. And then Saturday, Sunday,

you know, either a game, and then Sunday's usually a rest day, but on the ice a lot.

Yeah,

but, you know, go ahead. no i'm just going to say so we know you're a budding star

and we knowyou're a curb uh you know you've got your stuff you've got your timing together

for for academics

and maybe just like because we have you know again we have 13 14 15 year olds

and you're and you're

you are playing on teams with older uh players right and older girls i mean can you

just you are

you looking uh to them uh for a little advice or do you get do you look at seeing

how how they

manage their schedule you know to make sure you could fit in the academic piece

of of staying

eligible and and and current and keeping your gpa where it needs to be so that

you know hockey then

doesn't become a burden it actually becomes you know something you can uh you

know use to help you

manage your time yeah of course i always look up to those that are older than me

um because i know

they've been through they obviously have been through that before and um since

they've gotten far

they know how to time manage so yeah definitely look up to those that are older

than me and i feel

like you know they rain down kind of such like i i don't even know how to explain

like amazing

advice and the ones that i've talked to they've definitely um helped me kind of

time manage and

it's all working out so far for me so And we'd love to get into how you manage to

stay calm in the

net. Because really, I mean, you think about the task of a goalie takes a lot of

mental strength.

So do you have any tricks or any kind of advice you'd like to share for parents

listening who are,

you know, becoming goalie parents for the first time? What would you like to share

with them? Yeah,

I think the position is definitely. a lot of you need a lot of you know um mental

strength for it

so i mean what i do to kind of calm myself before the game is i you know listen to

music i kind of

like get in the zone that way you know um making sure i'm not too scared for

whatever game and i

mean i always think about it not as like a fear of playing bad but like Like,

what if, like, I'm kind of thinking, like, the happiness and the feeling of playing

good. That way

it drives me more into playing well. And you always want to think positive on the

ice, because when

you ever think negatively, it goes bad. So, I mean, on the ice,I also keep myself calm. I say kind of these phrases, like,

you know, leave the one behind me, or, like, my go-to phrase is lock in.

So, you know, I... I say those phrases and it really like just saying a couple words

helps your

mind, like helps your mentality change so much. It's crazy to me. You know,

so I do want to talk about Argentina for a couple of minutes. And for the audience

listening, I

know you've heard some episodes from some of our players from Puerto Rico, but

I want to set this

up a little bit. So when we were preparing to create this IIHF team to go down

there, when it comes

to goaltending, we always say Puerto Rico is blessed. a lot of great goaltending

but that doesn't

mean all the goaltenders are always available so in this situation not that you were

not on the

radar but but it came to that you were going to be one of the two goalies down

there now at that

time you're 13 years old right so as a coach and this is what's cool about the show

is we can talk

about this for me i want to put you in a position to succeed right we're going to a

large place

with a home crowd of 700 people 404 and 700 people a lot of people All right.

And I'm asking you to jump into that against some of the best teams in the world

at three on three

in their home arena. Not only did you execute on that, you ended up winning goalie

of the

tournament. I know when they announced that it's not that like it was a complete

shock,

but you never know how those things are going to go. And they said your name.

And I remember we all

went, wow, like, you know, that's amazing. So I want to ask you a couple of

questions here. Right.

And I want to reiterate. This is the international stage. You are representing a

nation of people.

You have been involved with PR hockey for a long time. This is the highest level

you'd ever played

with in the program. How did you mentally, I know we talked about it, get yourself

prepared for

that before, during the tournament? And then when they said your name for the

goalie of the

tournament, I mean, what was that experience like for you? Yeah so before the

tournament I knew

that obviously I had a goalie partner because you had told me and I was just

excited to get theopportunity to play on the national team because you know I never again I've said

this a couple

times like I never thought I'd get this far in the program that quickly.

and so i was just preparing myself just happy to be there and during the

tournament i was like we

really have a chance at winning that we always had a chance because you always

go into everything

with the winner mentality that's how people win but i looked at the teams and i

looked at us and i

had faith because our team we were like during the practices i was like we're

pretty good so yeah

and um yeah during the tournament it was just great i was just thinking about you

know having the

chance of winning and um beating Argentina at home at their home and that would

have I was thinking

about that feeling and I was like oh my god that feeling would be insane and we did

it in overtime

and I was like what's what's better than that that was crazy yeah um but yeah I

think and then

after that game when I got the award I was I was I was in shock. I didn't think that I

would

actually get it because, I mean, despite my age, I just think,

like, there was so much talent on the ice, and I was in shock. I was surprised.

But it definitely, I was so humbled to get it, and I really appreciate the IHF,

you know, giving that award to me. It was great. Yeah, and I got to say this to the

people

listening. I want you to imagine your 13-year-old kid. Like being asked to play on a

national

team, right, with grown adults. Like that is what the task was for Estela,

okay? And again, you know, one of the things about this show, Estela, that I should

tell you is

that, you know, Mike says this all the time. Like if I'm picking you, I'm playing you,

right? Like

I was not comfortable picking you and saying, hey, come sit on the bench for five

games in

Argentina. Like that was not the goal. Like we played you. We tried different things.

We split you,

both goalies, you and Kaylee. You know, you played the incredibly pivotal semifinal

to get us to

the final and played that entire game. It was a lot of responsibility and you really

stepped up to

it, right? I want to remind the audience, you know, again, Estela is so well-spoken.

She's 14

years old, right, and able to compartmentalize this type of pressure. So it's justgoing to lead me

into kind of a next question. I'll throw it back to my co-host after that. We talk a lot

about

sacrifice versus choices on this show. So something I learned early on about Estela

knowing her

for several years is that she's obsessed with this game. She loves this. She is

dedicated and

driven to become the best goalie she can possibly become. And she doesn't need

any help in terms of

that drive. It just exists in her. And we talked, Estela, about how that's really

something you

have to have if you want to succeed. So you are someone that I see at your age,

again, I don't like to call them sacrifices, making choices to further your, we'll call

it career,

right? As a goaltender. Can you talk as a 14 year old, as someone in high school,

basically of, of how your brain looks at, okay, I have a choice to do this with my

classmates or do

a goalie training session in which you often choose the goalie training session.

How does that work

in your mind? I always. i always obviously i love stepping on the ice i love knowing

that i can get

better um any chance i get on the ice and i think i've I just love those moments

because I never

you never know when your last game could be because people get people get

these injuries out of

nowhere. And it's just I want to stay healthy and I want to make sure that I'm, you

know, getting

every moment in that I can. So, you know, I kind of think about in my like during in

these

decisions, like I want to grow as a player, want to grow as an athlete. So I always

choose, you

know. the goalie clinics and then those goalie coaches you know helped me to

grow for my game and

game situations and that's just how i feel about it yeah you know speaking about

goalie coaching

and understanding that you know that's such a crucial aspect right of your

development and i think

the people uh that your parents and yourself have been you know able to surround

yourself with can

you just talk a little bit about like What do you feel? And again, you don't have to

throw any

goalie coaches under the bus. Oh, you can if you want. You don't have to yell at

you.

I've never worked as a goalie coach, by the way. So if you know what, what wouldyou, what would

you classify for yourself? Like when you're looking and you're, you're with your

teammates and your

goalie mates, you know, what would you say to a parent right now, if they're sitting

down with you

and said, well, you know, what would you consider like a really great goalie coach

for you?

I think a goalie coach that is, that can support you even if,

you know, things have went bad in a game and not say, you know, you suck. You

know, I think goalie

coaches sometimes, there's some harsh ones. I'm not throwing anyone under the

bus, but there's some

harsh ones out there. And I just feel like,

you know. You can be harsh, but you could also support the athlete and make sure,

you know, they're not there. It's a mental game, too, and I've spoken about this a

lot, too. Like,

you know, sport is 50% mental, mostly mental, and especially goalie,

the position. Like, you know, even if one word gets thrown at you that is,

especially by an adult,

It influences the athlete. And I feel like, you know, just having a supporting goalie

coach, one

that can tell you, you know, what you can improve on to help you in game

situations is one that

will help you succeed and help you, you know, achieve your goals in life. I just want

to add one

thing to this only because, you know, I think, you know, in the area we have, we

have a lot of, you

know, really a great crop of goalie coaches available. I think each, each coach

when you're

seeking. different aspects of the game could bring a different you know aspect to

their own

coaching right when you're when you're with these different groups and different

goalie coaches and

different systems i mean are you feeling like do you feel the pressure to change

your game or do

you feel like a good goalie coach is just building on what you already like to do and

what you're

already good at i think i think uh what you said After I think goalie coaches kind of

helped me

build on what I've been doing in the game. And I mean, some goalie coaches, you

know,

they've helped me like like one goalie coach that I've worked with. He kind of

helped me.

learn new skills and like kind of tweaked my game in certain because obviouslygoal in the position

like you have to there's a lot of angling involved and stuff and a lot of you know

you got to stay

square so i think you know some of these the skills that i've learned have changed

my game

completely and how i see different shots um ultimately led to more saves and i

think it's you know

they just change your perspective so much and i These goalie coaches are great

now. Like,

they're crazy, yeah. Let's also just talk about coaching for a second. Sorry, Chris,

I want to stay on this one second. Yeah, because one of my pet peeves as a coach,

and Christie,

Mike, you can join me in this. Estela, I already know where you're going to stand on

this, is

crappy practice planning where they don't think about goaltenders at all, which

boggles my mind. It

is the most important position on the ice. Why you would not even think about that

when you're

creating your practice plans. It bothers me. So I'm going to ask you kind of a two-

part question

here. Like one is in the practices, you know, I like, you know this, I like to talk to my

goalies

before practices and say, hey, does this work on the things you want to work on?

Do you need to

work on anything? You know, depending on the situation, obviously, if we have

things we need to

work on with the offense and defense, I'll tell you that too. That's one aspect of it.

And the

other aspect is in the games. And Mike, you brought this up too. You know, I think

part of

developing a goaltender. which can be hard for coaches, is not to panic when

things look bad.

Like I try and stay really in sync with you mentally and physically. This is all goalies,

right? Okay, if the game's a little tough, that doesn't mean I should just pull you

out of the net,

right? Like you got to go through this. You got to figure this out. Again, I don't want

to put

anybody in a position where it's going to be devastating. But like if we're down

three goals, no,

stay in. You're going to have to feel this feeling at some point and push through

that.

Specifically from a coaching standpoint, Estela, can you talk to me about practices

for head

coaches, not just goalie coaches, and then the game situations of like, you know, ifI'm

struggling, I don't always want to be pulled out of the net. I got to go through that

on my own.

Yeah, I definitely think coaches should definitely, like you are,

incorporate goalies into their practices because if you don't incorporate goalies,

they're never

going to learn what to do with the team. They're not going to grow as a team

player. and that's

crucial to the game now because goalies play the puck a lot more than they used

to and especially i

play the puck a lot and sometimes when um like coaches don't incorporate me into

the practices the

players don't know where i would be passing to so i think it's i think it's crucial and

um yeah in

the game situations where you know like let's say you're down like four goals and

you feel really

bad i feel like You know, I feel like a goalie should stay in the net for that.

They got to figure, definitely got to, what you said, got to figure it out. And they

will go

through that moment multiple times in their life. And I know I've been through that

moment a couple

times and it sucks in the moment. But, you know, just it helps you kind of grow

mentally because

you're always preparing for the next. You always want to prepare, especially when

you get a lot of

shots in those instances, like you want to prepare for the next shot and you're

you're trying to

put your mind, you know, forward, not backwards. So, yeah, I think it helps you

grow definitely as

an athlete to be down by that much. I thought I'd love to get into goalie parents if

we can.

Now, over the years, both my kids played hockey. I've seen some goalie parents

being super

supportive and kind of hands off. I've also seen goalie parents with clipboards in

their hands,

analyzing every shot, which ones they miss, where they go in, how many shots

they miss in a game,

how many shots they save. It's kind of like obsession with some goalie parents.

How much do you think it can hurt a goalie when a parent is that obsessed with

their performance,

acting as coaches rather than acting as supportive parents? We're not calling out

your dad,

by the way. Chrissy, that's a hard question. No, I'm kidding. We just throw her

down.Yeah, I mean, you can get pressure from parents, right? Yeah, you're definitely

right.

Yeah. I think, you know, some parents, obviously,

like you said, they go pretty hard on their children, especially as goalies. But I

think,

you know, it could definitely hurt the goalie because they're always thinking about,

you know. like they're never thinking about getting you know praised by their

parents because their

parents are always going to be like why didn't you save this because not every

goal is perfect

nobody's perfect um nobody can save every shot every game like you're not going

to get a shutout

every single game of your entire career so you know i mean doing like definitely

keeping track of

like certain things like if it's obviously like if it's a repetitive thing where like you're

letting in the same goals i think that's fine to point out but if it's like if it's every

goal and

it's different things i think it's easier to analyze that as the athlete more than the

parent

because you can kind of put your own i mean you can cut the athlete can kind of

put their own you

know um like mindset on it and they can kind of like see where like they messed up

where the parent

you know, could kind of point out something where maybe the goalie wasn't, you

know, they weren't

aware of it, but they maybe think that, that, that was the right choice in a way, or

like they,

you know, it's, it's kind of hard for the parents. So like, you know, I just want to

add,

I just want to add two things.

Stella, you know, we wouldn't have you on here. Like we wouldn't normally have a

14 year old on

here without their dad or mom sitting next to them and contributing, you know, in

the interview.

And I think, you know, knowing your maturity level and I think, you know,

personally knowing you

and your family and knowing that, you know, your dad's not like on the, you know,

with the

clipboard on the, on the side of the ice, you know, you know, tracking every single

moment of your

life. I think it, you know, giving you the opportunity to make those mistakes and

putting in some

pretty high profile. positions i mean you know going off and playing for a national

team going offand playing for a prep school going off and playing for like a top youth hockey

program um you know

those are those are those are things i think parents need to evaluate and say well

is my son or

daughter is my goaltender mature enough to even handle these situations you

know before they put

you in there so i think you know i think kudos to you know what your mom and dad

have done to

prepare you you know, as far as your maturity level and your preparedness. But I

think,

you know, one of the things that Christie's saying too is, you know, one of the

aspects of that

pressure and that expectation too comes from, you know,

how you deal with and how you work with your teammates. Can you just talk a little

bit about, you

know, because I've seen it all the time, right? We see a game, the buzzer blows

and the horn goes

off and the game's over and everybody congregates to a player. You know, it often

isn't like,

you know, the goalie, right? A lot of times it is, right? If there's a big win or a

shutout,

everybody's coming in front of your bench. But if the kid scores in the corner and

the goalies are

the last ones, hey, I'm down here. Remember me? Like I made a couple of saves

early, you know, that

helped us win. Can you talk about how important it is for a goaltender, especially

at your age? um

to to have the support of your teammates and feeling like you know your

teammates have your back as

well yeah I've definitely I mean it's so important because I've definitely been in

situations where

I've kind of feel like I'm alone and it kind of and I'm spaced out between my

teammates and I feel

like it's you know it doesn't help with the sport because obviously the sport is a

team sport

you're supposed to be you know you have your teammates back they have your

back and also it's the

trust too because these girls guys whatever whoever you're playing with you know

they're they're

helping you succeed too because they have your back as defensemen, whether

it's,

you know, in the slot or they have your back as forwards where they're, you know,

getting the puck

out of the zone, you know, so it's definitely a trust thing too. I feel like goalies andtheir

teammates should be, they should have close bonds and it could also help with,

you know,

relationships too. Like you, you grow, you get friends from the sport. realistically

and,

you know, and teamwork. And I think all those main points are important to grow as

an athlete too.

Right. And also an important element is confidence. Confidence is everything,

right? As a goalie, let's talk a bit about that. What helps you build your confidence

in the net?

Um, confidence for me, I think I, well, it's also starting, you know,

just before I get on the ice, like with all the music that, that boosts my confidence

because when,

and also warming up, cause I have a certain warmup too that I do that I like to do

every game. And,

you know, some games it doesn't work out cause we get there late, but, you know,

I still try to

incorporate some aspect of my warmup to, you know, boost my confidence

because.

I feel like repetition of that warmup helps me, you know, I feel like I'm in the zone

and that's

what makes me play well. So, and that preparedness is what, you know, I feel every

time I do that.

So then that translates onto the ice when I'm, when I feel confident from those

warmups.

And I feel ready for the game. I try to get, you know, my energy up. And every time

I see a shot,

I get excited, you know, to make the next one. And that's what really drives

confidence level up

for me. I just love your attitude, Stella. It's great. It's so impressive.

You know, one of the things, you know, I noticed early on about you, and I've

probably known you

since you were, what, 12, 11, 12 years old now, which seems like years ago.

I mean, it was. uh what what i recognized in you immediately i'm not just talking as

a coach i'm

just talking as a hockey person was you had a dream you had a dream and it was

pretty obvious and i

remember i could relate to that because when i was your age i knew exactly what i

wanted to do

right that's on you if you want to be open about like your dreams and your goals

and things like

that but i do want you to talk about the power of having a goal having a dream and

how that drives

you day to day because i think um A lot of parents and kids, and we got to kind oflook at this

both ways. A lot of parents want their kids to have dreams. Right. Nothing wrong

with having

dreams. And a lot of kids want to have dreams. A lot of kids also don't have

dreams. And that's OK.

It's OK to not know what you want to be when you're 14. Right. But I do want you

to talk about the

power of like, I know what I want and I'm going to work to get that. And has that

made it easy?

Has it made it hard? You see where I'm going with this? Yeah, I think, you know,

having something

that you're always aiming to.

achieve helps you because of the the work you're putting in and it all kind of

translate it's kind

of like a bunch of lines connecting to one single point you know you're trying to

you're putting

all these pieces together and you realize like if I do this I could I really could

succeed and you

know having that goal is just a feeling like it's it'll be you're thinking about that like

that

great feeling and that great achievement that you want to accomplish and uh i

think you know having

a goal in life um it just drives everything that you're doing now and you see kind of

like the the

the other side of it too like you see how like everything in the process will come

together and

you're seeing you kind of see open you're kind of open-minded about it too,

because even if you

don't like going, let's say you don't like going to like a certain clinic every day, you

don't like

the people, but you know, you see how you're going to see if you have that goal,

you're going to

see how this will help you in the long run. And I think it's just, you know, it changes

your

perspective completely.

I want to ask you too about a couple of athletes that you look up to, right? I know

you're a huge

pro hockey fan. That's something we know about you. uh we know you love aaron

frankel igor

shesterkin for those of you watching this episode you can see her instagram

handle is actually

shistella which is a funny funny play on words there um what's about their games a

personality that

inspires you and and how do you learn from watching you know pro goaltendersplay i I really love,

it's mainly just Aaron Frankel and Igor Shosturkin because those are obviously the

two that are in

the top leagues. And they're two people that I really enjoy watching.

I love their style of play. And I kind of analyze what they do off the ice and what

they do on the

ice. And yes, that is kind of broad, but I mean more like... their attitude and how

they go into

things and on the ice, how that translate and how they, you know, hang out with

their teammates,

how they support each other too. And I see, and then I also, as a goalie, I see kind

of like,

I see their positioning and then I see how, you know, well their skating is.

And the skating definitely helps with, you know, the whole position because that's

basically what

you're doing as a goalie. You're skating a lot.

i just try to analyze every kind of single thing they're doing every decision they're

making and

how they're not um how they're not hesitant to make those decisions that they're

kind of they're

very active they're not passive so i feel like you know it improves my game

watching them too and i

kind of try to i know i'm not trying to be like igor not trying to be like aaron franco

i'm trying

to be myself obviously but you know I think using their not advice that they've

given me,

but using their what they're doing on the ice right now, using that is kind of helping

me improve

on what I can do in those situations. So I think, you know, watching them being

able to watch them,

too, is just it's just it's a pleasure. Yeah. You know, I'm wondering, too,

you know, as obviously as a student of the game, I mean, we've seen you, you

know, just. You know,

being able to be in a situation where you're like you're just described, you're

watching other

athletes, you're watching, you know, from the women's side and the men's side.

You know, these are

world class athletes that are that are developing habits and, you know,

developing routines and developing the things that make them or help them, you

know,

find success in the game. What do you think as you're going through this this

process right now of.

you know maturing and and and growing you know as a young lady and in the

sport of hockey are thereany um you know things that you look for as an athlete right now that you want to

make sure that

you you know uh that you're being aware of as far as overuse injuries you know

over training uh

under training you know are these things that you think about and discuss with

your goalie coaches

and your parents and your regular coaches you know just as you lay out because it

is a long You're

very at the beginning of your career. Right. Although it seems like to Lee, like you

think it

sounds like you played for 17 years, but I think it, but it's, but there's a lot, there's

a long

road. Right. And, you know, what are you doing to prepare for that road? Yeah,

definitely keeping track with my parents of how much I'm working myself.

I want to make sure, like you said, overworking. I don't want, I want to make sure

I'm not, you

know, stepping on the ice every day is great, but. I feel like it matters most what

you're doing on

the ice rather than you're just stepping on the ice. You want to make sure you're

pacing yourself

because if you overwork yourself, and I've gone through this, I've pulled my groin

almost twice.

And, you know, that was a result of me overworking myself over the spring.

And I think you just really got to pace yourself, make sure you're staying healthy,

eating

correctly.

making sure you're not, you're stretching to keeping those, you know, a healthy

body definitely

translates to, because seriously, like an injury can ruin your career. So you want to

make sure

you're. Yeah. I think, I think insert sensorina commercial here. I was just going to

say that

there's a great movie in the late 1900s that I'm sure you haven't seen called when

Harry met Sally.

yeah all right it's it's and every all the adults will know this movie right um uh not

saying

you're not an adult you know what i mean anybody over 40 knows this movie and

there's a great line

at the end of this movie where the follow me everybody the two main characters

fall in love and one

of the main characters says when you realize you want to spend the rest of your

life with somebody

you want your the rest of your life to start pretty much right away right and that

that is true ofspending your life with somebody it's also true when you realize what you want to

do Right. You

want to rush and get there as fast as possible. So I actually really love that you just

said this.

This is a really important message to the parents and the kids listening to. There is

a speed you

can go at. But if you push it too much, you will hurt yourself and you will stunt your

growth.

Right. And it's like, yeah, you want it to start right as right as soon as possible. But

that

journey, first off, the journey is the gift. All right. And like the older you get, the

more you

realize that. All right. But that journey is a process that you have to also embrace.

And you're

really doing that. So sorry, Christie. I just wanted to make sure. Oh, no, I thought it

was a good

reference. It's great. And I want her to continue with this good messaging, which

I'm sure she's

going to do this weekend. You're visiting a 14U team in Danbury. Right.

What else are you going to share with those kids? And I'm sure you're going to

have your medal with

you, too. I would think that I'll see that. Yeah, I think, you know.

Hanging out with them is also great because I kind of seeing since I've been on the

national team,

some of them ask about the experience and they ask about, you know,

how did you stay so, you know, composed and confident? And I just feel like

sharing that experience

definitely helps them because they want to get far into the program as well. And

they want to

succeed in pre-ha as well. So I feel like, you know. that experience being shared

helps them grow

for their goals and it helps them, you know, see also all the perspectives behind

getting that gold

medal that we just got. So I think it's great. I'm so impressed that you find the time

to do this

with your busy schedule, that it's important to stop a moment and share what

you've learned with

others to help them exceed. What a great assist you're giving to those young

players.

Yeah, Christie, I'll add to that. I'm going to say it like this. If I accomplished what

she

accomplished when I was 14, I don't think I would have done the stuff that you're

doing. I don't

think I've been going to school. I think I've been flaunting that thing. In a veryimmature way is

the way I think I would have said it. It's a big deal. We talked about choices.

You made a choice to inspire the next generation of kids. Now, one of the things

we do talk about

with the national team all the time is that responsibility. of, hey, this is not about

you or me.

It's really not even about us, right? It's about the nation, right? It's about we're

representing a

people. And you've always had a grip on that, like always, since the day I met you.

Where does that

come from, right? Can you talk a little bit about where your pride for representing

Puerto Rico

comes from? And then also how you really take that on. Again,

I can't express it to the audience enough. You take that so seriously. Whether

you're playing on a

youth team a few years ago, or a national team like you've always had pride in that

yeah i think um

well mainly for me representing is is amazing but i think also the players that i've

played with

they've definitely helped me represent even more and they they make me feel

seriously like i've

felt i've never felt more like family with a team other than you know puerto rico and

i think it's

i think representing the jersey it's not everyone says this but i think it's really key

to think

about this like you know the logo on the front is so much more important than the

name on the back

and i a hundred percent agree because you're representing all these people and

you're representing

a nation and it's just it's amazing to feel too like the feeling it's unbearable like you

seriously

like you're representing all these people and you feel it's an amazing feeling,

especially after winning that gold medal, like you accomplished so much for this

team and you don't

know, like, obviously like the, what was it? The governor of Puerto Rico order.

Yeah.

They reposted all that and it gets the word out and also helps people. I'm sure it's

definitely

helped people. get into the program too because once they hear about this you

know i mean obviously

i've spoken about this before like the main goal is to get more people to the

program and i think

that win also helped us do that too so i feel like you know representing and then

winningdefinitely helps the program grow and we're going to keep going well i can tell you

right now that

uh when the usa women won the gold medal They hit 100,000 new registered

female hockey players

right away. And we hit 100 registered female athletes right away as well,

which, for those of you listening, that's a lot of female hockey players that have

Puerto Rican

heritage or come from the island. It's an amazing number when you think. If I told

all of you

listening, oh, yeah, there's 100 women that play ice hockey that are from Puerto

Rico, you'd tell

me I'm crazy, right? But, Stella, you played a big part in that. The team has. The

entire

association has. And that's one of the fun parts is growing. And I do want to make

a note here for

everybody. And this is not so much about Puerto Rico right now. This is about

Stella's attitude,

right? She just told you that part of it is growing the program, which means

potentially bringing

in competition against herself. And she understands that. We've had conversations

about that. And

I've said it earlier in the episode. We have a lot of goalies within Puerto Rico

hockey, right?

That, again, still, I'm paying you a compliment, but for the audience, I'm trying to

make this a

bigger thing. Like, we're so competitive in this sport and pointing fingers at

everybody else. My

kid's better than your kid and all these things. There's a kid telling you, like, no, I

just want

to grow the program. All right? Because if we grow the program, everybody wins.

Man,

what a refreshing take. Right? Christie, Mike, I mean, that's pretty refreshing. We

don't hear it

enough. I think for the other goalie parents out there, too, that you and Stella

knows this.

Right. And is that you can't sharpen unless you're being sharpened. Like you have

to you have to

find competition like you have to if you really, truly. want to be the best player in

your age and

in your division and in your league and in your country then you need the other

best players

driving after you and chasing you and hunting you down and if you if you if you're

fearful of that

and you shy away from it you're just not going to be that player anyway so i thinkit's uh you know

it's and i think for goaltending it's such a another level of that because it's it's it's

not you

go into practice and if you don't have somebody breathing down your neck on the

in the other net

like you can't sharpen your own skills that that that latency uh becomes a real

detriment to your

development and i think you know the the younger you can find that out and the

younger like and

it's parents that put their children in in a team where they feel like you know the

only goalie

getting the most time is the best situation that's ultimately not going to get you

where you need

to get to because this is really the one position that you have to have that

competition really

going after you every day. And I think, Stella, I think you obviously have the

maturity to handle

that. And I think the coaching staff around you knows that the better players we

can get to compete

against her, the better we're going to make our goalie.

So, Stella, last question from us. You've been really gracious with your time on a

weekday.

When we mentioned your resume at the start of the episode, yeah, it sounds like

we were talking to

someone who's been playing for 20 years. Again, you're 14 years old, right? You've

achieved so much

already. Like, what's next? What is your goals for the next few years, both on and

off the ice?

Like, the story continues, right? Like, what's next for you? Yeah, I think my main

goal right now,

obviously, I'm in prep school. I try to keep excelling when I'm playing prep school

and embracing

every moment, growing as an athlete, maturing. Those are all main things I want to

look at in the

next couple of years. and then for college and my main goal is d1 and i want to try

to make sure i

want to make sure you know keep pacing myself not like not overworking myself

but i think just keep

growing as an athlete and growing mentally is definitely one of two of my big main

points and

obviously getting into very competitive organization is going to help me grow as

well so i think

you know and then obviously i want to i want to be able to represent um honestly i

want to go tothe pwhl too and i you know you're going to see this too but pr and the olympics

that will be you

know if if that happens that'll be amazing and i i want to i want to make sure that i

you know i'm

ready for that moment because i know college will definitely prepare me for that

too And I just

want to, you know, embrace the journey, embrace the moment, every moment I

can. But I know it's

going to be great. I love it, Stella. I mean, I love that you're not afraid to say what

you want

and that you're willing to try it. You also said in this episode that nothing's

guaranteed. Again,

I'm going to gush. It's incredible maturity for someone of your age. And again, for

the parents

listening, you know, whether your kids. sounds like this or not is okay. I always like

to say that

at the end of the episode, right? Like everyone grows at their own rate. I think it's

really

important to hear that. But Estela, you really are just a wonderful kid, period,

aside from the hockey. I want to thank you for coming on today, but I also want you

to ask Mike and

Christie, if you have any final thoughts before I close. Thank you so much for

sharing your journey

with us because it's so inspiring and you're so cool. Thank you. She's never said

that about me

ever.

I still don't know why nobody stopped by the office with the gold medal, but that's

okay. Mike,

it's right there. I got it right there hanging behind me. She's closer to me. She's

closer to me.

Okay. All right. That's an effort thing for you, Mike. Stella, thanks so much for

being here today,

kid. Thank you. Thank you so much. No, thank you. That's going to do it for this

edition of Our Kid

Plays Goalie, technically here today. Remember, if you have any questions or

thoughts or things you

want to discuss, email us at teamatourkidsplayhockey.com. And remember, with

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questions, all of it. We love hearing from you as an audience. But Forrest

ElaVazquez, KristaCasciano-Burns, Mike Bonelli, I'm Lee Elias. Practice that every once in a while.

We'll see you on

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