The Ride to The Rink: How Young Players Can Turn Their Passions Into Hockey Careers with Working in Hockey's Nick Bowins

Hello, hockey skaters and goalies around the world, and welcome to another edition of

the ride to the rink. It's Lee, Mike, and Christie here with our friend Nick, who

runs something called Working in Hockey. Now, kids, listen, if you're listening to

this show, you love the game. I'm sure you have big dreams in this game of where

you want to play and where you want to be. But something we always talk to you

about is even if you get to accomplish those dreams at some point, you got to hang

the skates up. And that's why it's so important that you find other ways to be

involved in the game of hockey aside from just playing. We all recommend that. I

will always say play as long as you possibly can, but know that there are other

skills, there are other avenues. There's other things that you can build upon to

create a lifetime in the game if that's what you wish to do. And our friend, Nick,

again, runs something called Working in Hockey. I just said that. I want you to

check it out where he finds people that work in the game. He also helps people get

work in the game. So, Nick, I want to throw it to you to the young hockey players

listening. I'm going to ask you this question. What is something they should keep in

mind if they just want to have a hockey life when it comes to skills, when it

comes to thinking, when it comes to looking to the future?

video game. It's fun. E .A. Sports employs over 15 ,000 people. Now, not all of

those are working on the NHL game, mind you, but maybe your passions lie with video

games or technology. There's jobs that can be had within hockey, within technology,

and video games. Maybe you're really good in math class. There's analytics and

statistic jobs with every single NHL team. Every single level of hockey has those

jobs. Maybe you love social media you're scrolling on TikTok a little more than mom

or dad would maybe approve of there are so many marketing and social media avenues

within the game and honestly that's probably the easiest way to create your own path

or niche within the game is through marketing there's so many amazing photographers

videographers creatives of all sorts that you know their love for the game they get

to go watch their brother or sister play and maybe experiment with filming the game

or editing a goal that your friends scored or all those different things. So for

me, I always try to tell teammates and, or sorry, kids, Lee, that talk to your

teammates about their interests, figure out what they're interested in, you know, you

build those similarities and those bonds with people and being able to kind of think

about maybe down the road, I'd love to get into something like this, whether it's

coaching or video games or analytics, there's a million ways to work within the game

of hockey. And Nick, the kids are thinking, okay, I've got my hockey skills down. I

know how to skate fast. I know how to put a puck in the net. What kind of skills

do I need if I want to succeed off the ice with a career in hockey? Absolutely.

Your coaches were right. Your coaches were right that being a leader, being a good

person in the room, getting along with your teammates, those things are so

transferable to the real world, to the business world, to life beyond the ice. I

think those are the biggest things. The captains that I had in minor hockey growing

up are some of the best and smartest business people that I know today. The people

who were leaders in the rooms, the people who brought people together when we were

at hockey tournaments playing mini sticks in the hotel hallways. Like the people who

can bring people together, who can cultivate, be leaders, those people tend to go

the furthest in the business world or the real world after hockey. So there's so

many characteristics and things that we can learn through playing sports, all the

things your coaches tell you about being a good person, trying your hardest, don't

ride the wave of emotions too much, all those different lessons that our coaches

teach us apply to life after hockey as well. You know, Nick, we love hockey people.

I think one of the things that we've loved about doing the show is anybody in the

sport of hockey that we reach out to, whether it's an NHL player, a Hall of Famer,

a GM, they're so accessible. I mean, it's actually unbelievable how accessible the

hockey world is. I'm 14, I'm 15 years old, 16 years old. You talk a little bit

about, you know, how do you access that accessibility? Like, what would you do as a

14 to 15 year old to find out about these jobs that are out there? Yeah, it's a

great question. I think first and foremost, when you know what you're interested in

or you're passionate in, tell people. And maybe that means your teammates, maybe that

means on the bus to school. You're talking about what you learned or worked on on

the weekend. Or it's just, you know, we're all on social media these days. It's

putting it in your bio. It's posting about what you're interested in. I joke with

people all the time, Mike, that there's people from my high school or university

that post, you know, the Leafs score after a Saturday night game. And I didn't know

they were a Leafs fan. But now they posted about it. And I know they're a Leafs

fan. And I'm going to connect with them over the Leafs. And we're going to talk

about, oh, my God, and we really miss Mitch Marner, whatever it is. So when you

find those interests and those passions, make sure people know about them, whether

that's publicly on social media, just with your friends, you know, on the ride to

the rink with your parents telling them, hey, I really love playing EA Sports NHL.

I think I want to get more into this. Maybe I want to start streaming it. Whatever

it may be, when you find your interests or passions, I think letting people know

about those is the most important thing you can do. That's so true, buddy. And I'll

say this too, especially the kids listening. You know, we say this a lot. You are

much more than a hockey player. It is not just okay. It is encouraged for you to

have other interests aside from just hockey. Don't get lost in the mindset that all

that matters, that all you are is a hockey player. You are so much more than that.

Remember, you're a son or a daughter. You may be a sibling. You're a friend,

all right? I love that you brought up math. I'm sure there's subjects in school

that you're excelling out that you find interesting. It's okay to explore all of

that. And if hockey is your big, grand love, which is awesome, it's all of ours,

right? You'll find a way to merge those skills into the game. But kids,

listening, you have an advantage here in listening to this show and hearing this

because there's a lot of kids who aren't hearing this. And your ability to now,

however old you are, your ability, 10, 15, whatever, to start applying this will

give you a significant advantage to pursuing it later on, right?

There's no age limit on pursuing work in hockey, but the experience you can get at

your age is very important. Nick, any final thoughts before we close this out? This

has been wonderful. No, I think that's a perfect way to sum it up, Lee. And again,

it's the characteristics, the traits, the skills you learn through being in a locker

room with your teammates, through riding the bus to a game, through sitting in the

car with your parents to a game, sitting there in the stands watching your siblings

play, all those characteristics and those lessons, those are what stick with you

after you, you know, wrap up playing. I couldn't tell you how many goals or assists

or wins we had in any single year of my career, even though that was the sole

thing we were focused on at the time. It's the lessons, the memories, the people,

the things that coaches told you, the things that parents told you after you took a

silly penalty, all those things are what stick with you the most once you're, you

know, maybe done playing the game one day. Well, that is the human experience, my

friend, and kids, you know, hopefully we can start to expand your horizon on that

as soon as possible because at the end of the day, there's no way around that. But

this has been a fantastic episode of the ride to the ring. Kids, remember, no

matter where you're at on your hockey journey. We believe in you. You should too.

For Nick, for Mike, for Christy, I'm leave. We'll see you on the next ride to the

rink. Take care, everybody.