Our Kids Play Hockey
Our Kids Play Hockey is a podcast that focuses on youth hockey, offering insights, stories, and interviews from the hockey community. It provides valuable advice for parents, coaches, and players, covering various aspects of the game, including skill development, sportsmanship, teamwork, and creating a positive experience for young athletes. The show frequently features guests who share their expertise and personal experiences in youth hockey, both on and off the ice.
The show features three hockey parents, who all work in the game at high levels:
- Christie Casciano-Burns - USA Hockey Columnist, Author, and WSYR Anchor
- Mike Bonelli - USA Hockey Coach and Organizational Consultant
- Lee M.J. Elias - Hockey Entrepreneur, Author, and Team Strategist
In addition to the main podcast, there are several spin-off series that dive into specific aspects of youth hockey:
1.Our Girls Play Hockey – This series highlights the growing presence of girls in hockey, addressing the unique challenges they face while celebrating their accomplishments and contributions to the sport. Each episode of Our Girls Play Hockey is also hosted by Sheri Hudspeth who is the Director, Youth Hockey Programs and Fan Development for the Vegas Golden Knights.
2.The Ride to The Rink – A shorter, motivational series designed to be listened to on the way to the rink, offering quick, inspirational tips and advice to help players and parents get into the right mindset before a game or practice.
3.Our Kids Play Goalie – This series is dedicated to young goalies and the unique challenges they face. It provides advice for players, parents, and coaches on how to support and develop young goaltenders, focusing on the mental and physical demands of the position.
Together, these shows provide a comprehensive platform for parents, players, and coaches involved in youth hockey, offering insights for all aspects of the sport, from parenting, playing, or coaching to specialized positions like goaltending.
Our Kids Play Hockey
How the Blackhawks Are Transforming Hockey Culture and Fan Engagement with Jaime Faulkner
This week's episode of "Our Kids Play Hockey" features an inspiring conversation with Jaime Faulkner, President of Business Operations for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jaime shares insights into her multifaceted role, which largely focuses on advancing the fan experience—a goal the Blackhawks' team is truly succeeding at. Jaime’s leadership and vision in a pivotal position within the Blackhawks organization highlights the evolving landscape of hockey at all levels.
Key Insights:
- The significance of evolving the fan experience, especially for families and children, to cultivate long-term supporters of the game.
- The impactful role of high-character players, like Connor Bedard, in community and youth engagement.
- The necessity for youth hockey organizations to collaborate and prioritize the best interests of kids, facilitating their growth in the sport.
- The benefits and personal rewards of being a billet family for young hockey players aiming for professional careers.
- Jaime’s personal journey and experiences that inform her innovative approach to fan engagement and community involvement.
Action Items for Listeners:
- Consider the role each member of the hockey community plays in fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment, from the youth level to the NHL.
- Encourage local hockey organizations to collaborate and share best practices for growing the sport and enhancing the fan experience.
- Explore opportunities to become a billet family, contributing to the development of young athletes both on and off the ice.
Jaime's approach to enhancing the fan experience and her commitment to the sport's growth at all levels serves as a model for innovation and inclusivity in hockey. This episode not only highlights the importance of high character within the sport but also encourages listeners to actively participate in shaping the future of hockey in their communities.
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Hello hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome to another edition of our kids play hockey, powered by NHL Sense Arena. I'm Leo Elias, with Mike Benelli and Kristi Cashano Burns, and our guest today has been with the Chicago Blackhawks organization since 2020 and is the president of business operations, where she has many responsibilities, but my favorite description of her role, which I think summed it up, is to advance the fan experience, and that is something her team is clearly succeeding at. With that said, we should note that Jamie's qualifications and experience are off the chart, and there are too many to list, but let's list a few. In 2015, jamie was named one of the sports business journals women's game changers, and she was also named to their 40 under 40 list in 2016. In 2019, she was named one of the SPJ's sports power players of the year, and the following year she was recognized by venues now as an industry all star, but those of you that work in the broadcasting and sports world, those are very prestigious honors.
Speaker 1:Sports also runs in the family. Her husband, colin, is the executive vice president, sales and marketing and chief commercial officer for the Chicago Cubs, and the two have five children Avery, blake, drew, maddie and Nolan and their family doesn't end there. They served as a billet family for several young hockey players over the years, many whom have gone on to the NHL. We are speaking to a hockey game changer today. Jamie Faulkner, welcome to, our kids play hockey.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Oh, that was good. Yeah, no, it's our pleasure to have you. I love reading intros like that. I love bringing people that are not just trailblazers but impactful in the game, and I know that our audience loves it too. And I want to start right there on that impact, jamie, you know, one of the coolest things the Blackhawks have introduced this year is this best game ever event, or I should say, events throughout the season, and we speak all the time on this show about the importance of creating that environment, a welcoming environment, an environment for hockey that anyone can jump into, and you've done it. So tell us about how this came to be and then how it may differ from other NHL team events.
Speaker 2:So we have a really special atmosphere here, just in general for Blackhawks games. I think you hear our players say that a lot. Our fans love it. It's the place to be in the wintertime. So in Chicago, if the place to be in the summertime is Wrigley Field, the place to be in the wintertime is at the United Center watching the Blackhawks, and so we already have a great environment.
Speaker 2:It's not so great for kids and I'm obviously a hockey mom.
Speaker 2:I have littles at home, so Maddie and Nolan are eight and six, so even in one of them plays hockey.
Speaker 2:But even in trying to as every parent knows, trying to bring kids to games, having them stay engaged when all they want to do is run around eat food, what we want to do is create fans out of them. Right, if that's your we have. Also, I would say, part of what makes our environment special is we have all these traditions that have been passed down from family to family to family. If we're going to put an effort into bringing new fans into the Blackhawks family, how do we start to teach those traditions to the younger kids coming into? So we looked at it as a way of how do we change the game so we stay core to who we are. If you're not coming with kids, you're still having a great time. We start to build fandom with these new little ones that are walking through the door, but also teach some of the traditions about the Blackhawks and the game of hockey, so that they're engaged as much as we can keep them engaged.
Speaker 1:No, I love that. Like I said, every community, every team is a little different. We're going to get into it a little later With the Blackhawks being an original six franchise. There's a lot of history there, there's a lot of tradition there that you can't disrupt the traditionalist fan base. I shouldn't say disrupt, it's not the right word, but you don't want to make them angry for whatever reason. You have to build new fans. But you've also taken this initiative beyond just the best game ever. You're doing animated games. You've also I've got a list of things there that you guys are doing You're trying to make a commitment to the state of Illinois to grow the game as well. Maybe dive into that as well, because I don't think people understand how much of an undertaking it is. Well, I hate to do an animated thing, but to expand into a state and make sure that hockey rings indoor, outdoor or popping up and that kids feel welcome to come. How are you pushing that forward?
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I started working for the Blackhawks. Well, even when I was not working for the Blackhawks, I lived in Chicago, I was hockey mom, so we were a bill of parent, as you had mentioned, I one of my sons well, both my sons played hockey, one more seriously than the other. The Blackhawks weren't that involved in hockey. They weren't involved. I didn't feel like they were as involved as they should be in growing the game in the state of Illinois, providing opportunities for kids to become fans of the Blackhawks. So I was really passionate about that when I came and started in this role. We believe we have an obligation as the NHL club here in our market and in the Midwest quite honestly to influence hockey in a very positive way. In order for us to be able to do that, we want to make sure that kids and their very first touch of the ice or exposure to the Blackhawks is a good one. We want to make sure that their last exposure on the ice whether you're graduating out of high school for those that are lucky enough to continue on that's great, but most kids stop playing when they go to college. But they still stay in love with the game. But we want to make sure that experience is really good and then start to work our way into the middle. And so in order to do that, we said, well, we've got to attack every part of the ecosystem. We can't just do right by the players and the families. In order for us to grow the game, in order for amateur hockey to work, we've got to have safe locker rooms. We've got to have great coaches. We have to have enough referees. We have to have rings that can stay afloat and actually operate profitably. We need to have great associations. We need to have a great governing body. So we looked at the whole ecosystem and said how do we start to get involved with every piece of that? And then also, what do we have to offer outside of that? So we wanted there to be tons of front doors where people could come and access Blackhawks hockey or hockey in general. So we actually built.
Speaker 2:The funny thing is, for us here at the Blackhawks, most of our business strategies it's like a five-year rolling strategy. So every year we add the fifth year on. For us with amateur hockey, we actually looked at it like a 10-year strategy. It's going to take a long time to change the footprint here. That's how committed we are.
Speaker 2:We are investing in a 10-year plan to try to grow the game, fix the game here in the Midwest, because we know it's important to our future fan base. But it's also like again what I said earlier it's an obligation. We have an obligation as the NHL club to do that. So we've attacked everything from best day ever, which we do five times a year here at the United Center, to how do we actually partner up with AHA, the governing body, to partnering up with everybody within that ecosystem.
Speaker 2:And then also you mentioned the animated game, like what things aren't happening today that we can add in that may generate a new fan. So we've taken everything, flipped it upside down and said how do we get involved? What's the right thing to do? But backing that is pretty serious investment. We've built out a whole group within the Blackhawks that that's their job. They wake up every single day thinking how do I grow the game of hockey, how do I get Generation Z involved, how do I get the next generation Alpha involved and how do we do it in the right way? So we're looking at everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a 10 year plan. Where are you at and how far have you come?
Speaker 2:so far? Yeah, so we're. I would say we're year two into that plan. So things that exist today that didn't happen before. So if you think just about our game we talked about the best day ever we now have a consistent product that parents can rely on and it's working on our best day. What we heard our parents say related to that was we want to bring our kids, we need to bring them on the weekends and we need earlier start times. So we worked really hard to not only create a game that was interesting for littles and kids under the age of 12 or 14, but also it had to be at the right time. We had to make it easy for a parent to be able to make the choice to come. We have to work with the league on that, and the league was fantastic about working with us on getting the ability to have those weekend dates with earlier start times, and it works. If you come into one of our best day ever games, at least 4,000 of our fans are kids.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, I mean, you can hear some energy is different.
Speaker 2:So we're seeing the impact of that. Other things we're doing is, when I talk about, like getting involved with kids, their first touch of the ice, building out our little Blackhawks program, which a lot of clubs have, which is the program that the NHL is very involved in, which gives you free hockey equipment to sign up. But what we're learning and I think any of you guys who've coached or played or parent of hockey players that's not enough. You need to get on the ice multiple times before you're ready to path into might hockey. And so we're stretching that program to say like, hey, can you repeat that program, Can you run it? Can you do three sessions of little Blackhawks before you're ready to go into some type of might program or some type of house program?
Speaker 2:So we're building that out, but we're also looking at pathing that right. So we're building an actual path. We want you to try hockey for free, then enroll in a program and then path into something. Because I think one of the things that we learned was there's a lot of great programs but you're one and done. You don't know what to do next. Like you have no idea when do I go next?
Speaker 2:And there's big gaps in those paths. So I do some type of free program, whether that's learn to skate or learn to play, and then the next ask is you need to join a program that's $3,000, four times a week on the ice. Like I love hockey, I don't even want to do that with my kids Six, seven and eight. So really creating pathing that takes you from your start all the way to the end, with our focus on high school hockey. So one of the other things we've introduced is what we call our high school rivalry series. You're taking rivals, these high schools that play each other, and we're highlighting those games. We're getting super involved in the state championship. So we're building out these program elements along the way that allow us to get involved, build relationships with this community across the board. So almost everything is new that we're doing, or we're just putting it on, you know, putting some jet fuel behind it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I can see how your input, meena Hockey Mom, is super valuable. I mean, how much did you go to the fans directly and and say, hey, what do you want from us? What do you listen to the fans? Is that really critical to your success?
Speaker 2:You have to. Yeah, you have to. I think part of our success in anything that we do is listening to the fans. I mean, we, we are the caretakers of this franchise. The franchise is owned by the fan base, and so if you walk into that with the fan first, everything else takes care of itself. And when we think about our hockey families, listening to what's important to them is driving some of the changes that we're making in the program.
Speaker 2:But we also have to like be in the ranks, right? So it's one thing to be like we're going to survey you and we're going to do a full group. Are we actually in the community? Are we of the community? We're showing up at the rings on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Are we walking the journey with these parents, these coaches, the refs? Again, we're. We're trying to look at the full ecosystem. In order for us to do really well, we have to understand like, what's it like to be a ref here? We're getting here. There's not enough. You're getting yelled at by parents, right. How do we empower you? How do we have the right coaches? So like, we're in it. So we're listening, but we're also. We have that team Ask. Their job is to be in it every single day Wow.
Speaker 3:That's such a great formula. I wish more communities would do this, Jamie let's, let's talk.
Speaker 4:You're in a great area to talk to these parents right directly here and I think when you're speaking to organizations and we know your, we know your area very well you know from a USA hockey perspective and from just a youth hockey world of having great, great youth hockey programs I mean, some of the best programs in the country you know come out of Chicago and are really killing it right at the at the AAA levels. But maybe speak to the parent that that is going from this bottled necked learn to play. You know rookie league type thing at the NHL does, which brings hundreds and hundreds of kids in and then the next year they go to their local rank and there's two squirt teams and you're like, ok, we went from, we have 140 kids and now you're telling me I have to call it down to 30. And the bottom line is it does cost money to play hockey. But maybe talk about how you in the Chicago and the NHL really help supplement that and build it into your 10-year plan in this case, that you can wait a year or two or three years and not make a profit.
Speaker 4:But the rinks have to make profits. The rinks have to stay open. They're not there to help Chicago sell tickets. They're there to keep their doors open. So maybe talk a little bit about what that infrastructure looks like so that rinks can feel really confident in the NHL clubs that listen, if you go on this journey with us, we're going to keep your dollars in your rink, we're going to keep your kids playing long term, because I would imagine that and I look at this probably a little differently A rec kid actually has more disposable income than a travel AAA family because they're not spending their money on AAA hockey.
Speaker 4:They could go to more greatest day ever events, and so maybe talk about that a little bit. For a parent that says, oh, in my community, the only step for me is to get roped in, and that's why we're on this podcast. Right, we love hockey, they love hockey, the kids love hockey, the parents love hockey. And they say, oh, but, by the way, now your whole life has to revolve around hockey and the reason you loved it is because maybe it didn't.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think part of what we're trying to do is get rid of this false narrative that you have to decide at six years old whether you're going to play hockey or not.
Speaker 2:And that the only way to play hockey is to be on the ice three, four or five days a week. So I think there's two things. One is how do we not leave these kids when they step on? We've got to be honest about the fact that it does take a while to learn the sport, just like any sport, and we need to create more of an opportunity for people to do that and not be so quick to path them up. The reason they're trying to path them up is they want the dollars.
Speaker 2:Listen, I just dealt with the situation. I have a six-year-old. He's playing house mites. He technically he's a 2017. He could go house mite next year or he could go travel mite next year. So we're faced with the decision.
Speaker 2:As a hockey parent, I know what's better for him is getting as many touches of on the ice and touches of the puck as possible, not sitting on the bench watching a full ice game play Like that's not going to help him develop and he's not going to have a lot of fun. But that's not the narrative. The narrative is if you don't play spring travel, you're not going to get on the mites, and so that is fear. There's a lot of fear, and so parents who aren't committed to hockey are like forget this, I'm going to go stick with soccer and baseball and do other things.
Speaker 2:I think the other thing, too is most of the other sports have community-based sports where you can go serious but you can also do rec play. You can practice one day a week, play a game while you're playing all your other sports. Hockey doesn't have that option either. So what we're trying to do is one change the narrative of you're not going to be left behind and if somebody's selling you that, you better take their name down, because you probably don't want to play for them down the road, because they don't have your child's best interest in mind.
Speaker 2:Two is how do we help these clubs and these rinks create programs that are community-based, where you can still if you still love hockey but you love baseball more or something's going on in that spring year and you can't commit you still can stay on the ice and play one day a week or two days a week until you're ready to commit down the road, or maybe that's all you ever do, but that should be OK, that should be good enough. So there's a lot of gaps, but I mean honestly, it's changing the narrative with these hockey clubs. It's holding coaches and clubs and club presidents accountable. The rinks aren't the problem. The hockey clubs are the problem.
Speaker 4:But how do you and I think for you you have the ability and just so people that are listening can understand the context here, the Blackhawks, like a lot of NHL clubs, have the ability to buy ice on Saturday morning from 9 to 11. And then tell a rink owner we're going to do every? To me it's crazy. We're on the East Coast here, so we do a lot of work with the Rangers and the Islanders and the Devils and I look at these rinks saying I don't understand why that $600 an hour isn't the same as the $600 you're getting from the other families, matter of fact, and the NHL club is putting maybe 100 more kids on the ice and managing it better for the long-term success of you. You, the organization that needs these kids later on and I always look at it from a point of view is listen. The Blackhawks should be selfish and say we want every kid wearing a Conor Bredar jersey and we want every kid being in a Blackhawk uniform. We want kids going to baseball practice wearing their Blackhawk hat. But I think us as parents should embrace the selfishness and say listen, they're funding this. I mean, whatever your budget is $4 or $5 million a year on building these rinks, building these programs, doing referee education, doing coaching education, giving parents the ability to say there is a time and a place to go all in. But most of us the majority, like I, actually just had a funny.
Speaker 4:I was having a conversation on the weekend. One of the guys I was having a conversation with is a graduate of the Chicago Mission program so a real high-level hockey and saying, man, I remember growing up I could play, travel hockey and still go to my rec hockey. I can still play with my friends and I never felt like, oh, they're the kids that are like something's wrong with them because they don't play hockey every day. So I think what you guys are doing with the NHL side is really so refreshing. But it's staying power right.
Speaker 4:It's like my god, can we do this for 10 years? It's hard for a parent of a six-year-old right now to see that vision right. So they get scared that. Well, it's not really my kid that's going to benefit from this. But I think the efforts of what you've done and the numbers and Lee we talked about I forget one of the guests we had on just about the amount of players that have fallen under the NHL umbrella and you'll get the statistics from a Matt Hur or something like that and say we're introducing hockey to literally thousands and thousands and thousands of more kids. Now we have to find a way to keep them if we love to support.
Speaker 1:I'll say this to both of you and you specifically, jamie, like the shared narrative. I'll never phrase that. What should be the shared narrative between the hockey organizations and NHL organizations, from kind of let's just say, 12 U Down just to give it a bracket right now, is falling in love with the game, and again, we're recording this in mid-March. I've had multiple conversations with parents about, well, what if he doesn't make the AA team next year? And I'm like that's just not where your focus should be right now. Your focus should be development, finding the team where they're going to learn the most and, above all and I've had to say this making sure your kid loves the game. And it's a shared vision, obviously for multiple reasons. One is your kid's not going to play past 18. If they hate this, they won't play past 15. From a shared vision NHL club to youth organization the more the kid loves the game, the more everybody wins later on. We don't have to explain that too much. Right, you're going to be a lifelong fan.
Speaker 1:I think people falsely assume like, oh well, he loves the game at six or he's going to love the game forever. That is not always true. I have seen kids and it's horrible watching a 16, 17, 18-year-old burnout with plenty of talent, just because no one's ever asked them. Do you want to do this? So the narrative that I'd like to see is changed and youth organizations can do this. They will say that they can't because if they don't have competitive teams at AA, no one's going to show up. I don't believe this. I think it just takes the guts of an organization to say you know what Our organization, from this age down, is all about love of the game and development, so that when your kid is 16 years old, if they have the talent, they can go in the direction of the Chicago mission or they can play in a rec league at 16. That is fun and competitive and keeps them in love with the game.
Speaker 4:I don't buy in a nut-sick way. Parents, doesn't it? Nuts of these parents see that Like they're in the rink. All these adult males and females are playing hockey. There's one Chicago Blackhawk team and there's 9,000 adult league teams Like so there is rec hockey.
Speaker 4:So what's crazy to me is like we are giving the rec hockey just to the adults. Why aren't we giving rec hockey to a 16, 17-year-old? It's just, there could be one club, I get it, but the rest of us are rec and maybe that's a bad and maybe that's where we got to change the name right. It's not rec hockey, it's just. It's sane hockey, it's hockey that you should be able to do. And it's so frustrating for me because I see you never hear AYSO soccer players like, oh my god, I wish I could travel four hours to go play another group of six-year-olds. Like you don't hear it. Like they just say I don't know, they stink, we stink, we all stink. Let's just enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Let's stink together.
Speaker 4:Let's just stink together and not have to travel anywhere and all go to Carvel together. But I think it's like it's just, but I think. So again, I think we're I'm probably speaking from a point of view that we haven't seen this jump yet, that, jamie, that you guys are doing Like we haven't seen somebody take control of that vision and say, well, we're going to change the narrative now and you know, you might not, it might not be here for you, but it will be here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, go ahead. The hearsay I was going to say there are a lot of communities that you know, like ours. We don't have a Blackhawks leading the way, you know. So what do we do in our area? Yeah, I mean I People are rangers, people are rangers, people are rangers.
Speaker 2:Ha ha, ha Me is you know these.
Speaker 2:This institution has been around for a long time and let's say, let's just say for the Chicago land area of how hockey works, it has been handed down for a long time. There have been people who have been in it for a very long time, who don't even have kids in the sport anymore. It has to improve and evolve. It just hasn't evolved. There are also a lot of people, I think, with a good business mind, coming in saying, ok, listen, the structure's broken. We all have, if we all really have the same goals and the structure isn't working, let's fix the structure. And it's going to take us time to do it, but if we're really all committed and if we do it the right way, everybody wins. Let's change this.
Speaker 2:Those are some of the things. Again, that's why we're working with everybody. We want the rings to be profitable, but we also want clubs to be profitable, because if clubs are more profitable, they don't have to charge mites three to five grand to play. We can have a house program that allows kids to play once, twice a week, by the way, no matter what age, because the other thing where I had one kid who all he wanted to do was play hockey. I had another kid who had to make the decision and he loved hockey, but baseball was.
Speaker 2:He loved baseball more he had to give up hockey to play travel baseball Because at 12, there was no option for him to still go one day a week, two days a week, to play. We want to keep you in at all levels. We don't want to lose you at some point when you specialize. So the clubs become really important because we have to make that OK. We don't want to make OK being on the Premier Number One might team or Number One's squirt team or Pee Wee team. You do, you when you come play and we're going to offer all levels of play.
Speaker 2:But what that does from a business perspective is you have more money, right, you're getting more kids into the system and so at 12, you figure out the hockey. If you're saying you now can path into that, but you've been on the ice for a while, or if you decide it's not, you can still stay in play while you're doing something else that's more important to you. But the system is broken, the structure is broken. So why it's going to take us 10 years is because we have to actually come in and help fix the structure, which means we have to get in the business of the leagues. We have to get in the business of the governing body of A.
Speaker 2:High. But what I would say is we're bringing people together, revving really honest conversations about what's working, that's not working, putting some accountability in place and slowly starting to change how people perceive the sport or their desire to come and get an in-state. But it's a lot of work because you have to have some really hard conversations with people who are making a lot of money and they don't want to hear it. Or they don't want to change, because that's the way it's always been done.
Speaker 4:Right, but isn't the coolest part of that that you have the biggest carrot, you have the player, you have the arena. Those guys don't have that. You have Conor Bredard. You're like I can put you on the glass watching this kid warm up and that is the love, like that is where players get inspired, that is where players want to go back and do those things. And I think that's where the NHL clubs sometimes, maybe for years, haven't understood. It's not about how many corporate seats you can sell, it's how many six-year-olds you can inspire.
Speaker 4:And guess who then who's stuck with that inspiration? Mom and dad? They're like, oh crap, this kid likes hockey. This is not good like now. I got to go to the rink every weekend.
Speaker 4:But again, if you make it, if you make it where it's, it's, you know I love, but I love it and just, and so everybody in the audience knows, like, what I loved about what the NHL's initiatives are is like you know you're not. You know that no tunnels, no tolls. You know his philosophy, that that philosophy, that you know practices started, family friendly times, that 530 am 6 year old skills clinic isn't like part of the Development of this program and I used to joke all the time when that first started, like, yeah, give that to the 12 year olds, they're stuck already. Like they're not telling you they can't go, they have to go, they're in, they're in the program ready. But those, those 9 am Starts on a Saturday morning. You know, parents of older kids would have loved that opportunity and I think that's where you know, that's where you and the NHL, and in this case the Chicago Blackhawks, have the most power, because no organization has the power of that, of that organization in the, in your city.
Speaker 2:I feel like we've been really lucky. We, we went out and we've established relationships with all the ranks. We've established formal partnerships with most of the hockey clubs. We have a partnership with a high. We're bringing people together and and the good news is, everybody seems to be on board. We just somebody needed to bring everybody into the room. Right, that could say, like, listen, can we drop the egos at the door? If we do this right, it's gonna be good for everybody. Can we just do the right thing and realize we all need each other to get it done? Right? Like clubs need rinks, rinks need clubs. The governing body needs to govern properly. Right, because they're setting the leagues need clubs to be able to fill the we. We all need each other. So the.
Speaker 2:I think what's encouraging and inspiring to us is we aren't the only ones who care deeply about this game. There are the clubs, the ranks, everybody that's involved. They're involved because they care deeply about it. We can just come sort of be the conductor of bringing everybody together, getting them on the right track and getting a good path for everybody, and then let's work through these issues together. That's why we've been able to have so much movement. I'd love to say it's because we have the carrot and where the blackhawks and we got Conor Bedard. But the reality is we've made a ton of progress in two years Because people are showing up with us, because they love this game so much and they're willing to change it. They want these kids to play, they want them to stay in hockey. But again, it's just gonna take us a long time to get it done, but the commitment is there you know, jamie, I'll dive in here too.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the things we hear from Fan bases and I've been very blessed to be around the league, around the teams is that I don't think sometimes fans fully Understand the dedication that the member clubs make to their area. And I love hearing I mean really love hearing and the audience should too that well, in this area, the NHL team is leading the charge to unify everybody because that's what's best for hockey, right? And look, I understand why fans sometimes complain about ticket prices and money and things like that, but the end of the day, there is such a dedication from the member clubs and we've spoken to many of them on this show and you said earlier, I love the way you said like their job is to wake up thinking about how to expand the game. I mean, so the NHL clubs are including the Blackhawks, obviously Insanely dedicated to this right and it's it's one of those jobs and one of those initiatives where the ROI is not Apparent on a spreadsheet immediately after you do it like that.
Speaker 1:We talked about this before with other organizations. This, the stat of lifetime value of a fan, which is a very important number for NHL teams, but it takes potentially decades to build that. So you have to have the patience, you have to have the the foresight to look ahead and see the macro of these situations where so many people just see the micro Right. But I love again hearing that that you're leading the charge as the Blackhawks organization To make sure that you're unifying these groups and finding a way forward. I did want to ask this and I do have to ask a con of a dart question later, but I think we're on a good I got.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got to keep our ratings.
Speaker 4:But that's okay.
Speaker 1:Well, I had this on my my rundown. I wanted to ask this because it's the right time. You know, we have a lot of organizational leaders that listen to this show, right, and I always get the feeling when I speak to them that it's not that they don't want to do anything, it's. It's kind of a hands-tight. I don't know what to do and, like you said, well, this is what we've always done and money's coming in, so what can I do? So I actually want to pose that question to you and we're looking at this as a kind of a national way. But for the local youth hockey organizers and the leaders, what is something? It could be action items, it can be thoughts. What is something they can start to do now to better impact the future of hockey in their area?
Speaker 3:moving forward, right and Jamie, you mentioned a key obstacle Egos.
Speaker 1:They got a whole show about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I Think what has actually been beneficial is bringing clubs together. We're lucky enough we're bringing them into the room, so we're bringing the leagues and the presidents of these associations into the room together to work together, not to compete against one another. Because, again, if everybody does the Everybody does this well, there'll be more than enough kids to play Right, and there'll be more than enough kids where you don't have to drive an hour to go to practice every day because you're Five cities over right. There's gonna be a strong enough club where you live that you can stay and play One day a week, three days a week, five days a week, whatever you want to do. So that's the biggest thing I would say if you don't have your NHL club, bring you together, step out and be the leader.
Speaker 2:Drop the ego, bring all the clubs together and say are we doing what needs to be done? And you may have to do that without your governing body. We did it with a high because they were supportive, so we were able to bring a high in. We brought USA hot he and we do a summit every year where we bring these groups together and Facilitate what's our plan against our roadmap. So what do we need to do this next year what worked to last year. But you don't need the NHL club to do that. We just need and you just need a couple of presidents who are willing to say I'm going to work with others to grow this game. We will come together and figure out how to do this.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful the way you put that, and I love that you said that, because I know the people out there want to do it. You can do this, you can, you can put it forward. You know, I always say to like, even from a coaching standpoint, if we don't have an opponent, we can't play Right. So it's like you have that. You have to appreciate your, your quote-unquote competition. You know, even when you look at it from a professional sports realm, a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff that fans don't see is it doesn't help any NHL club if another one is suffering right. Like like, yeah, fans joke about it, joke clubs, the league doesn't tell us.
Speaker 2:We have to share information, to work together. Right, do it proactively, because you know what. Some clubs are gonna do it better than we do it at the blackhawks and they're willing to say like, hey, we've learned this, this is, we're gonna give you the toolkit or the way that we did it. We do some things better. We're happy to share because, again, if it's good for the NHL, it's gonna be good for everybody. Rising side of the ships right, the rising timing.
Speaker 1:Interrupt you there, I'm sorry. The rising tide lifts all ships right and and again. That's the dropping of ego, and you can sit at home and say what's easy for them to do. No, one of the reasons they're as large as they are in terms of the teams and the at the league is because they do it this way, right? It doesn't move them to hide information from each other and and you know, like, like it's supposed to be with the 50 states, there's 32 teams and 32 different opportunities to learn. So if best game ever takes off, you bet your butt You're gonna start seeing other teams mimicking that right, and I think that again, I'm saying this because it's already a proven recipe of success. It's not a pipe dream, right? It's not this far out concept that working together pays off, right, you have. You have examples of this working in the real world for sure, right, right?
Speaker 1:so I just, I just wanted to say that because I you know, I think that is one of the the best advice We've ever gotten from that question. You have to work together and, sure, compete on the ice, compete for those championships. You have to understand that if all the organizations in the area are not Constantly getting better, you know it's not gonna work long term, right. And then that's when you get all the players going to one team, and that's not good. It is not a good situation. It it feeds into the monster, right. If it feeds into the foam of well, why am I not on that? Triple a team, right, and we all have a responsibility to do that. Now again, it's not gonna take one person, it's gonna take a group. Okay, listen, and 10 years, yeah, I am gonna turn this.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna change overnight right and what I think the reason why things don't change is you do have a limited life cycle of your kid playing.
Speaker 2:So you're like, well, I don't really care about high school hockey, they're gonna play for four years and be done. So let somebody else deal with that. Right, we're here for the long haul so we can be the kids. We're here for the long haul so we can be the consistent piece to say like, hey, we're gonna come, we're gonna be walking alongside you forever. So Parents are coming in and out, hockey presidents coming in and out, coaches coming in out will be, will be the constant.
Speaker 2:But it does take time and it takes effort. If you're really serious about it, the lazy way is to not do anything and kind of up with the bad behaviors. But right, it's gonna take time and effort and again, we're really fortunate. We've got really great hockey presidents here of these clubs who get it, who want to see this for the long. They want to leave it better than they found it. And that's the big thing you got to leave it better than you found it. And if you're willing to do that, you'll make better decisions. You're gonna grow the game. You're gonna be really proud that your kid played for that club years and years ago. Because of where they are today, even if they're in a much better place than when your kid played there.
Speaker 3:And I think that's a huge problem too is because we do cycle through so much like, for example, and it for us, you know, if we see problems along the way, by the time you get to the point where you you can see some viable solutions, it's time to jump to another Organization because your kids have aged out of that group and now you're in the whole new set of Organization and parents and all that. I think that's part of the problem too is you cycle through and then if the parents with the good eyes and experience are gone and they're like, oh well, not my problem anymore On the next one, yeah yeah, and I think I think to tag on to Lee's question too about what these organizations can do, I mean you go to somebody like Jamie and say, listen, I don't have the.
Speaker 4:But like, think about a regular youth authorization. They don't have the ability, the budget, the personnel, the time to go into school parking lots and elementary schools and and rec centers and All the places. Like I used to lap all the time when you, when you're having tryouts and you and you're, you know, hey, try hockey for free, and all the banners are up in the ring, I'm like, well, everybody that's gonna try for free is already in your ring. Like you got to go to the 7,000 kids in that downtown Chicago school that have no idea that hockey even exists in their universe. So I think that is where the NHL clubs really get so much.
Speaker 4:You know you guys are doing it right, but a lot of club, you know, that's why the clubs are there. Like, go to those clubs, say, listen, I have a school I want you to do, I want to do a, you know a program at our school. Introduce an alum to our school, bring hockey, you know, into our gym, give us equipment, give us an opportunity. And if I'm a youth hockey rink owner and an organization owner, I'm like that's got to be hundreds of thousands of dollars of free advertising and Personnel that I can now leverage and I do nothing more than just open my doors for that next try hockey for free event.
Speaker 4:So I think you know and that's, I think, jamie, that's your point about well, we've never really done that, don't worry about it. We do it like we do that for you and we don't want to. You talk, your, the blackouts don't have a youth hockey organization. So these are all your kids. Like we're actually just getting them going, we're taking the training wheels off and we're letting you take them. Like that, to me, should be the first order of business for these organizations. Like, yeah, I want to be, seems so obvious.
Speaker 4:They're giving all these free kids away and all this free equipment away and all this free Opportunity.
Speaker 2:I don't need that. Y'all know it. Hockey culture is real.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, big time.
Speaker 2:We've got to have a number of really tough and honest conversations with people about Integrity, character, what they're really doing, holding them accountable. So I think it's We've got a lot of good people here, but we got a lot of bad actors, and so part of what we can address is the bad actors to really get this cleaned up, because they're they're the ones perpetuating the false narratives and we do want to do all this work to create, to create the demand to play this game. But we have to know that when we're handing, when we're doing this, we're handing a kid, a six-year-old, off to a club, right, a family off to that club, and they're going to be taking care of in the right way that there's going to be integrity and how that club is going to operate, how they operate with each other, the clubs operate with each other, how they operate with the leagues. So we take that very, very seriously. But in order to do that, you have to have some really hard conversations about behaviors that have to stop, and that's the thing the NHL club can do.
Speaker 2:That's the hard part I think for the clubs to do is you have to do with your governing body. If you have clubs that have more money and power. That's where it becomes really hard. One of the things we're trying to really actively do is weed out the bad actors because we can come in and say we're not doing it this way anymore. This is how hockey culture used to run. It's not acceptable anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that is a culture that has continually evolved and continually changed. It's one of those things too. I remember the culture when I was a youth athlete, when the game was played significantly different than it is. I mean, I think intimidation was a tactic at that time and you can imagine what kind of behavior that would breed both on and off the ice, whereas the game has evolved quite a bit now to be a little more talent-based, a little more speed-based, and I think it's better now than it was. But there's still room to grow.
Speaker 1:You talk about integrity. I think, along with integrity, high character is one of those things, and you like this segue. Speaking of high character, it is a new era for the Chicago Black Oaks. Someone who has displayed tremendous character throughout his youth career is Conor Bedard, who is finishing up right now his first season with the Black Oaks. We have to ask I mean, look, there's no way we're going to do this interview without talking about him. But I'm interested about your experiences with him, the him as a person, and how you are working with him to grow the game and what is most likely going to be a very long-term relationship.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So one of the things that we started doing. Well, one of the things I realized is, at least at the Black Oaks I don't know if this happens at other NHL teams but we want to make sure that when we put our players in positions to interact with the fan base, that it feels authentic and core to who they are. And so we sit down with our players, even our prospects, and so we did this with Conor. We've done this with all of our prospects, our vets. When they come in and we say we do a player branding exercise, like who are you, how would you describe yourself? We talk to their parents and their families and their coaches what do you really care about? And one of the things that all of them will say is they care about youth hockey. Or at least our roster will do anything, whether that's I will surprise and show up for a might practice. I will go to Boys and Girls Club where we're running floor hockey tournaments. I love that stuff, so let's get them doing that stuff. They're passionate about it.
Speaker 2:Conor's a great example, conor, but I will say this is characteristic of the roster we have today and I would say a testament to Kyle and Luke in requiring that you have as high character as you do. Competency to be either in our locker room or on our roster is. We have these kids that want to give back and these vets that want to give back and they will do whatever we ask them to do. Conor's very high character, but his parents did a great job with him, honestly. But not just Conor, kevin, alex, like I could list everybody all the way to Nick Foligno. This whole roster is willing to show it for the community, because they get it. They know how special it is to hear the anthem while they're standing on the blue line, the fans on the franchise. This roster gets it. Conor gets it. He understands. He's the face of the NHL now too. It's amazing. I forget how you you forget how you get to you and you're like oh my.
Speaker 2:God, he's 18. He's not even 19.
Speaker 1:He is young. He's a very young man.
Speaker 2:He is.
Speaker 3:We get that, it's incredible, though I mean very grounded.
Speaker 2:It's just amazing, yeah. So if we ask him to do something, he's willing. Not only is he willing to do it, he's excited to do it and he shows up and he engages and he leans in. But that's true of everybody on our roster right now. So the locker room culture that we're building is very much also very fan focused and fan first right. It's an attitude of gratitude. We're nothing without these fans.
Speaker 4:Right, they give us a chance you don't need to chime in. We don't want to cause any problem with the Cubs, but I mean hockey players are number one outreach individuals and characters. They just are.
Speaker 4:I've been around tons of pro basketball players, baseball players, football players. There's no doubt that hockey players and I think even those sports would say yeah, those guys are crazy, they'll do anything. They show up for a youth hockey weekend and then a kid like Conor Bredard, he'll actually get out there and start playing ball hockey with the kids and do it all the time.
Speaker 2:I'm going to learn with our players Kids, puppies and old people Anything can be free, like consistently possible. That's amazing, but I think how you get into the community. We focus on some of those things.
Speaker 1:Kids, puppies and old people. It's a recipe right there. Well, jamie, I'll say this too on this front and again, I'm only bringing this up for a reason, because this isn't supposed to be like a hockey ops conversation. But you know, from a hockey standing standpoint, the Blackhawks are not where they want to be right now.
Speaker 1:What I just said shows you two things one, that when you're rebuilding or in the process of growing, this is an integral part of it.
Speaker 1:It's to make sure you're connected with your community. And two and I think this speaks loudly for hockey players in general, especially professional hockey players where they are and the standings is irrelevant to the type of people they are and the character they're going to share. And that when you want to build an organization I'm not talking about the NHL when you want to build an organization youth hockey, college, junior, anything this is a huge part of it your ability to communicate, have a character, build trust with your people, whether it's parents and youth athletes or fan base right, or both in some cases. So I'm only noting that. Again, I'm not trying to make fun of the Blackhawks. I'm saying that even in a position that I think some people could look at and say well, you know, they don't even, you know who cares, right, like it's the opposite of that, the dedication, if anything, even more to that right now. So I just think that that's an amazing character study.
Speaker 4:Well, children, old people and puppies don't know what the record is.
Speaker 1:Can we add veterans into that? It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:They just want to be around these great people In our market first responders, military yeah, I mean, they are the fabric of this fan base. Right Workers in this city. Our players get that. What I would say is they understand their jobs too, whether that's their specific job on ICE, but they understand their job in being a Blackhawk, and we actually start to teach them that in development camp. So we were one of the first clubs to do a non-ICE development camp last year to teach them how to be a Blackhawk. Here's what's expected of you, that's awesome, jamie.
Speaker 4:I had a question for you so and maybe you could. I mean just speaking to you now and understanding you know Lee's bio and everything and just, you really come from a unique perspective here because you're not only a parent of children, you're a billet parent and you've seen prospect type kids come through. I mean, how does that color the way you look at fan development and outreach and the kind of programs that you want to do, just because of how close you are with the kids that are actually impacted the most by this?
Speaker 2:I mean I would say, having five kids, I understand every gen. I'm a great focus group for every generation because we're walking past. But we've seen it now. I mean it was super helpful for me coming in because I had seen, you know, jacob Slavin was our first billet kid I had seen all the way to the NHL. He's still there Also, comes from an incredible family, is as high character as he is high competent as one of the best defense men and the importance of that. And so you know I'm bringing all those experiences into how we build this out. So is our leadership team here.
Speaker 2:But I would say the same thing on the hockey side.
Speaker 2:We've got incredible hockey leadership as well.
Speaker 2:We work very closely together because we have to and we should, and so aligning aligning our objectives of what it means to be a blackhawk, but how that shows up either programmatically for our players and how Kyle thinks about what that looks like in the division, what that looks like in the development process of players, and how we think about it in the development process, you know we're dealing with the kids that are four to 18.
Speaker 2:He's dealing with them when they're 18 on, and so being consistent about what we believe to be true about that process, what's important about players, again, coaches, we've lined it up so we're consistent, right, and what he's saying and what he's delivering is no different than what we're saying. What we're delivering and what we believe to be true about how you need to show up every day, whether you're the ref, you're the coach, you're the player, you're the family, that your skill is as important as your character, whether you're six or you're 16. Those things we hold true across how both of us are building out sort of this organization and how the blackhawks are showing up.
Speaker 3:Also, jamie, you know it is women's history month and I'm just so impressed that the blackhawks have, you know, brought in a working mom. You're busy, got a lot on your plate, but your perspective is helping to shape the future of not only professional hockey but youth hockey too. Are the organizations getting better and bringing women into the fold?
Speaker 2:We've got a lot of women here. But, and I would say you know, I, when I went to the league, when I came here, my perception was the league wasn't very diverse, the blackhawks weren't very diverse, hockey wasn't diverse. I actually think that's a false narrative. I am very impressed with the diversity at the league level. We certainly are very diverse here, but diverse in thinking, whether it's gender, working parents, former military, like. The dimensions of diversity are very broad. We are very diverse and I think we're working really hard to give people opportunities to come into hockey and stay in hockey and elevate in hockey. I know what my obligation is as a female leader right, and bringing up women who may want to work in hockey at higher roles or any any sports role, but it's something that we care about deeply, not not only just how we show up here, how the league shows up, but again, we're, we're. If we believe that to be true, we're going to bring that into amateur hockey. We want just as many boys playing as we want girls playing hockey.
Speaker 3:I'm so glad you shared that, because I was also under the impression.
Speaker 2:Girls as boys or boys as girls. We want as many girls as boys because they have more boys. We have work to do, and we have work to do in Illinois to get more girls to play hockey.
Speaker 3:That will work out.
Speaker 2:But yeah, this is inspiring to know that that it's more diverse than what the narrative is out there and it really is and if it's not, quite honestly I will say like, as a parent of little kids, it's hard to be in these roles when your job is nights, weekends, holidays and have little ones right, like that's. For a working mom or dad who might be the primary parent, that's a hard decision to make because you are trading off that time with your kids. If I didn't have such a great husband who gets it and we have opposite seasons, thank goodness that allows us to figure out how it works. But yeah, I mean it's. It is far more diverse than I think we get credit for. That's great.
Speaker 2:Is your job fun? I love it. Number of times I sit in meetings and I'm like I'm so lucky to be here doing this, like I think I walk into this job every day, grateful for the people I work with, for the opportunity we have. But I think we all take it very seriously the obligation we are. Words carry weight here are actions carry weight.
Speaker 2:So we can either show up every day and do good for the sport or we can do good for ourselves. And I think one of the things we're trying to do is say the blackhawks and hockey is way bigger than any individual ego, even here in our office or in the locker room. And if we do right by the org, if we do right by the sport, everybody's going to win, and so that's sort of the approach we take.
Speaker 1:We feel the same way. I know from speaking to my team here just doing this podcast. It's like how awesome is this that we get to do this? Right? But you are segue into.
Speaker 1:Something I want to ask you, jimmy, is that. You know, look, chicago is an original six franchise. It is one of the most iconic brands in professional sports. Right Like, this goes beyond just hockey when you talk about the Chicago blackhawks. So I'm actually going to ask this question a little bit more as a hockey fan or like a hockey business fan, because you alluded to it how do you specifically take on that responsibility as a sports executive and does it influence your decision making? Because you know, look, not that every NHL club doesn't take this seriously, but look, if you're an executive with the Seattle Kraken or the Vegas Golden Knights totally different environment right now. You know, blackhawks are just short of 100 years, if I'm not mistaken. Right Like, you're just about to hit your centennial. I imagine there's a weight with that in a good way. But how do you take that on day to day?
Speaker 2:I think what I've learned is like I'm a futurist. I'm a strategist and a futurist, so taking a hundred year old franchise and figuring out how to evolve it into the future is pretty easy for me and, I think, our leadership team. I think the thing that we have to constantly hold true and keep ourselves grounded is we have an amazing fan base, globally, actually, and you can't forget where you came from, and I think that's the important thing, right. What? Honoring the people that have come before us? We are where we are today because of the rosters we had in the past Coaches. We've had the GMs, the success, the different generations of the Words family that have run this franchise. So I think learning how to balance honoring the past and where to push for the future is great. If you're the Kraken or Vegas, you don't have to worry about what happens.
Speaker 2:You have no hips, that's the wrong side for you, because it's harder when you go into a runner classic or something, but you have this free, open thing. You can do whatever you want. For us, we have to be really responsible to honor our history and what got us here and not completely deviate and be a franchise that's unrecognizable. So how do we take the best of what we have, add the best of what's possible, and that's striking that balance can be really hard.
Speaker 2:We are about to celebrate our centennial not here, but the year after, and as we've been planning that for a while, what are we going to honor and remember? How do we celebrate that but then also turn the chapter for what the future is? It's really about understanding the responsibility and balancing all of that, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and look, it's not easy to reinvent yourself over and over and over and over again, and I made this note earlier in the show that when you have a hundred year history, you have fans spanning generations of families and you have to cater to them as well, while also maintaining this future. So I guess I'm just trying to impress upon our audience that it's a massive responsibility and again, like you said, you're shaping hockey in a larger way. I'll also note that the Blackhawks consistently are the number one jersey, as voted all the time across all sports. I don't disagree with that.
Speaker 2:I think the number one jersey has been the number one jersey this season for the NHL.
Speaker 1:Oh, I believe, like I'm in Philadelphia, we're seeing them everywhere. And again, look, it's tough not to love that kid. Just really quick to kind of fanboy a little bit when he won the World Junior Championship and they asked him about him and his answer was about I don't want to talk about me, I want to talk about the team. As a coach and as a team builder, I love that kid.
Speaker 2:I love that kid for saying that I mean, last night we, we, we had an opportunity. We had an open net. The net was empty. He gets the puck he could have very easily. There's probably, I think, 30 something seconds left in the game. He could have very easily popped that into the net. He held onto it.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It's just sort of like he's just not about himself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But all our players had that opportunity last night and they really are. I think they really are embodying what team means and putting something bigger than themselves, making that more important, which is great. And that's really what we want to do is we grow our fan bases. You know, going back to what I said at the beginning, this franchise is owned by the fan base, so our job I wake up every day, our leaders wake up every we work for the fans Right here. In simple, so we got it. That means we have to know what they care about, which know what they want, and then we can build the programs in there that helps fans that are here today, all those day one so you're talking about that have been with us generationally, and all those new littles that are walking into ranks that we hope one day are bringing their kids to the Blackhawks.
Speaker 1:So I love that.
Speaker 2:That's, that's the job.
Speaker 1:So one last question for me, because we're kind of the top of the hour here. I want to talk about you being a billet family and not just any billet family. You mentioned before Jacob Slaven has come through your home, very prominent all-star in the NHL now. So I think it's safe to say you understand talent, you know talent. But I'm curious as a billet mom, like what's your favorite story? What have you seen like talk to the people a little bit about people who've come through your house?
Speaker 4:Sell buildings. Sell billetting. Sell bill. Sell the bill yes we need more billet. You need more billet families.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so funny because we were people thought we were a crazy to bill it and with the reason we First volunteered, just because our neighbors had these incredible kids who were like that's the type of teenager we want around our kids and we loved billeting, I mean we'd probably still do it if we lived close enough Well, I probably couldn't in that my current role but we would have done it if we lived close enough to a rank. I Think these athletes at this level have, they've got to be very good time managers. They do, even at the juniors level, have to give back. They're just modeling so many good things and at the time that we had Jacob, I had an eight, six and four year old the.
Speaker 2:The bigs were littles at that time and so the stuff that they learned from having him around the house cleaning up after himself right, I mean just even the little things were such a great example for our kids. Their family is so close to our family or they were actually my family. I couldn't go Because my kid broke his leg playing hockey. They just were out on the blockbox, went out half to stay with Jacob. But I think anytime you get really good teenagers around your kids that model sort of how to behave, and they they do have to work Really hard to be able to find all the time in and we were very fortunate we had incredible boys that really were great role models for our kids in a lot of different ways. Jacob certainly Started us off right.
Speaker 2:He was great it's tremendous building is not what I think I thought building was, or like the stories of what building was a long time ago, and I think that's because juniors is a serious business. Those kids are trying to get college scholarships. Yeah, I get opportunities. They take it very seriously, it's not, it's not a joke to them and they need really good family as they can come support them and also, like You're sending your kids away when they're 16. You want to know they're in a house, it's safe. So, as a mom, I know what it's like when you're sending your kid away at 16, because I'm on the other side of it, right? So, yeah, I would advocate be a billet. It's a great experience.
Speaker 1:That's amazing stuff. What I will say for all three of us? We hope that your son's leg is okay.
Speaker 2:He's fine. You know well, the goalie skated out as a skater, which never happened, took him out. That's how this work goes right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my Christie's.
Speaker 4:First-hand and find out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you have given us so much great advice, especially when it comes to youth hockey organizations needing to rethink and to think about their Organizations. Are they really? Do they have the kids best interests at heart? That's what it's all about. That's what it's important. So hopefully this episode will inspire the youth hockey organizations out there to To get started and to do what's right. May it may second half it overnight, as you said, but if y'all come together and come to terms and just think about the kids, what's best for the kids, that's what should come first. So thank you very much for giving us a lot to think about, jamie.
Speaker 4:Well, thanks, yeah, and I think that I think the same way too is that if you're a parent listening to this, you can be that leader. You know you could be the one saying I know organization a, you have a lot on your plate. I know you're doing else. I can help you. I have a four-year-old. I would love to see the Blackhawks in my rink. I would love to see them more involved in keeping my four-year-old here in this rink until they're eight, nine, ten, eleven years old or whatever it is. So you know, if you're that parent, that's this is a great opportunity to stop, you know, complaining and and make a change, and you haven't. If you have organizations like this at HL organizations that you can lean on Christie brings it up all the time if you have a HL Organizations that you can lean on in minor league programs and want to get into the community, step up and and you'll be amazed at how many resources are out there for you.
Speaker 1:Well, jamie, I talk a lot, but I don't I don't think I can sum this up anything better than my co-host just did, so I'll just say thank you for being here today. Wow, this is the first. It is now, jamie. Thanks for being on. We really appreciate the time today.
Speaker 2:Thanks, yeah, pretty amazing.
Speaker 3:Let me tell you what an inspiration.
Speaker 1:I. I agree it was fun, but that that is gonna do it for this episode of our kids play hockey, powered by NHL Sensory, and remember you can listen to all of our episodes at our kids play hockey comm. Before Jamie Faulkner, mike Benelli and Kristi cash and a burns. I'm Lee Elias. We will see you on the next edition of our kids play hockey. Take care everybody. We hope you enjoyed this edition of our kids play hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right now if you found value or ever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network or our website, our kids play hockey comm. Also, make sure to check out our children's book when hockey stops at when hockey stops Dot 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 play hockey and we'll see you on the next episode.
