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
Seven-Time Stanley Cup Champion and NHL Hall Of Famer Bryan Trottier
In this inspiring episode of “Our Kids Play Hockey,” hosts Lee Elias and Mike Bonelli sit down with NHL legend & Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier. With seven Stanley Cups to his name—six as a player and one as a coach—Trottier shares his journey from a small town in Saskatchewan to the pinnacle of hockey success. He opens up about his commitment to honoring his First Nation heritage and the vital work he does to grow the game in Indigenous communities across Canada.
Trottier discusses the resilience and pride of these communities, the role hockey plays in building character, and the importance of inclusivity in the sport. This episode offers valuable insights into how hockey can shape not just players but whole communities.
Be sure to check out the powerful documentary “Hockey First Nation” mentioned in this episode, which follows Bryan on his mission to highlight the life-changing impact of hockey in Indigenous communities.
View the documentary here: https://youtu.be/E_cE_D3mhl8.
Click To Text The Our Kids Play Hockey Team!
Looking for the best gift to give your team at the end of this season? Hockey Wraparound is offering a really great Team Deal that includes 12 Wraparound (10 Hockey Wraparounds + 2 Goalie Wraparounds) plus 12 MYBALLs for just $199!
Order now at HockeyWraparound.com!
Have A Topic You Want Us To Cover? Let us know!
Please Be Sure To Subscribe & Leave A Review For Us On Apple Podcasts, doing so helps our show grow!
Follow Us On Social Media:
Hello hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome to another edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. I'm Lee Elias, with Mike Benelli, and today we have an NHL legend joining us. He has won seven Stanley Cups six as a player and one as a coach and is a current Hall of Famer, along with being ranked in the NHL Top 100 All-Time list. Boy, that's a lot of fun to say. Today, his work involves honoring his heritage and family as a member and steward for First Nation communities and, in the process, growing the game of hockey. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Brian Trottier to the show today. Brian, welcome to Our Kids Play Hockey.
Speaker 3:It's always a pleasure. You know, talking hockey is kind of in our blood, so to speak. But no, some of the work we're doing I think we're all very, very proud of. But the more kids we've got playing hockey I think the better the sport is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we both agree. I mean, that is one of the messages of the show, brian, and I want to start with this. Mike and I had the opportunity to travel with you to Northwest British Columbia a few years back. We did a little documentary We'll share that in the show notes here to do an event with the Heisler Nation, and I have described that trip to those closest to me as life-changing is that keyword I usually use on that. The resolve and kindness that I witnessed and received from those people gave me a completely new perspective on life. Could you tell our audience about the challenges that First Nation communities have faced, which is not an easy question to answer, but also how hockey serves to benefit those communities and others?
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's definitely a resilience, but there's a warmth and, I think, a welcoming whenever you visit a community and I'm always blown away at the hospitality. I'm always very respectful too of the customs and the warmth and the culture, food, just everything about it. But coming from my background, I didn't come up in a community, an Indigenous community. I come up in a very small town, village of Balmreek. The population was 250 people, but we were like the lone Indigenous family in the community and we were taught that discrimination was jealousy and we didn't have any money, we didn't have anything to be jealous about in the community and we were taught that discrimination was jealousy and we didn't have any money, we didn't have anything to be jealous about. But, you know, at three square meals a day, we had a farm with animals and we're out in the nature. We had a garden, we had all these wonderful things that the Indigenous people thrive on, which is, you know, hunting and the fishing aspect, the love of nature, you know, love of animals, just love of sport, and my family was very supportive of sport. So hockey is a vehicle that we use with the Indigenous because it is so profound and so deep in the culture of Canada, but it is an opportunity for the Indigenous folks to show their sport and their athleticism, and it's in the communities. We brought floor hockey and the ball hockey aspect of it too, so that we could get more kids included in the game. If they can't skate now, they can play floorball or they can play it on the gym, and so for us, running shoes and participating with the kids, I think, is a lot of fun for us, it's a lot of fun for the kids, it's a lot of fun for the community. You saw it firsthand with our tournament that we had at Isla, and you felt the warmth, you felt the inclusiveness, because it wasn't just for the Indigenous, they brought the community in and it was just a great energy.
Speaker 3:And so for me to be able to, like I don't know, just bring that to life for everybody and show this wonderful side of the Indigenous peoples, you know, and take the I don't know the stigmas away that you know there's alcoholism yeah, well, there's alcoholism everywhere. Yeah, there's this, that and other things yeah, well, okay, it's everywhere. But don't make that, because there's so many great things and that's the pride and that's what we try to bring to life when we come in there and let the kids, let the next generation, you know, you know, make healthy choices, stay in school, participate, have activities you know, be, be, be a good person and take pride in where you come from and all those wonderful things, and that's kind of the message we want to leave. So, you know, being able to, to do this for the last, you know, 25, 30 years of my life, you know, after I was done hockey, get more involved with john shabbat and the indigenous hockey team and now with mike and our floorball, I think all these things I think like, and these shows, like you, like you have, bring attention and bring awareness that you know there's a lot of pride in the indigenous folks out there and, uh, you know, we're sure proud of, uh, the fact that hockey can be a wonderful participant in showcasing some of their skills and their talents, whether it be art, music, whatever.
Speaker 3:But here they got sport, they got hockey. And we have the girls playing, we have kids who aren't athletic playing they be a goalie, but they're shooting a floorball and they're having a blast and so, yeah, it's wonderful that you saw it firsthand and Mike and I are doing it all the time. So, you know, it's something you don't want to get used to, but it's kind of fun when that energy is around all the time messages.
Speaker 2:Seeing Haisla and then being up in Saskatoon with you and Rich Pilon and the whole First Nations community, really came to light for me in a recent conversation we had with Kim Davis with the NHL, and that's that.
Speaker 2:You know, diversity, inclusion, access, it's the same and I think people in the US probably don't understand that cultural piece in Canada and in the communities that you've been in now as I think, the most decorated indigenous athlete in the world, basically, and you go up there and you're a superstar with these folks. But I think, more than because you were a hockey player, what I saw from those communities is that you're, you just like what we talk about in any diversity program girls. You know, whatever we're, whatever kind of community we're looking and talking to, it comes down to if you can, you can be it, if you could see it. And that's one of the conversations that really came across from Kim and I think you know when the initiatives from the NHL and I think you have embodied that watching you now for the last, I mean what? Now? It's like five, six years and you've been out of a program.
Speaker 1:You got to carry it on for the COVID yeah right, right.
Speaker 2:Then you had that one big two year one year piece. But I think, just knowing that, so talk a little bit about you know, when the kids see you, it was funny, like I got to see it firsthand, right, these kids are just like, oh my God, this is Brian Troche, and it's really more from the dads and the moms and knowing you from your NHL days, but the kids getting to see that somebody came out of, that you're in, whether it's using the floorball, being part of the hockey, just going to dinners and, like you said, the cultural piece of that and how they're all connected. And I mean I was part of all those ceremonies up there which I was like blown away by and it just really put me in a situation where I wanted to learn more and more and more about all of these communities and I think that's the whole purpose of this right well.
Speaker 3:Thanks, mike. I think you bring a lot of things um, that I think all of us see, but there's an awareness, right, and, uh, I think it's it's wonderful that the indigenous folks have this respect and pride of where they come from. You know Mother Earth, just everything that Mother Earth provides, and we get caught up in that powerful moments, right. I think the thing for me Neil, you mentioned it with the challenges is the remote communities. So I come from a remote community in Saskatchewan. I made it from a population of 250 people to Long Island population 4 million people.
Speaker 3:And when kids can see that, okay, they're a little, a little shy, they're a little nervous to leave home. And I was. I was homesick all the time and I tell these stories and I tell them about some of the challenges I faced with no money. You know remote Saskatchewan who's going to see me. I can make it all the way to the NHL, have some fun successes, win some Stanley Cups and make some great friendships, and then I can always go home, I can always come back. You know, you can always bring these experiences back and people you become reality All of a sudden. They see you on TV, they see you on Google. They, you know they can. The internet is helpful for me because, yeah, the parents and the grandparents know me, but the youngsters don't. But they can go on the internet. They can see you, play and all of a sudden you're real, you're in front of them and you're talking to them. You're telling them some of the challenges you face, some of the same challenges that they face. You know, maybe it's lack of funds, maybe it's, you know, being remote, maybe it's you know, who am I going to play with? Not enough kids their age. And you find a way and communities do, and I'm always impressed. You know, they find ways to fundraise, they find ways to get their kids to where they got, to get going. So those things are some of the challenges they have to overcome, just like my parents did. Just like coaches finding the right coaches that support you and give you the right kind of ice time and and help you grow and skills and.
Speaker 3:But there's a lot of practice time. There's a lot, of, a lot of uh hours and hours of practice that you have to do, not just on the ice, but for me it was, you know, having a stick and a ball going down to the barn to do chores. And you know that thing bouncing around and you know, and that was fun for me, that was fun, it was just practicing my stick skills and you know, and that ball bouncing and you know my sisters and brothers being in the net and taking shots at them and you find a way and and you just find a way to keep practicing your skills. And when you get on the ice you practice your skating skills. When you don't know, don't have ice, you practice your hand skills and all those things pay off in the end.
Speaker 3:And those are the things I talk about when I get into the communities and much like I, I appreciate and respect all the things that I'm getting while I'm there the good energy, the welcome, the hospitality and the foods and all this. I want to bring something to them and I want to bring a story. I want to bring something that they can relate to and our Indigenous roots aren't that far apart. You know, talk about the foods that I grew up with my grandparents, talk about the hunting I did with my grandfather, my dad, and talk about some of the horseback riding I did and training animals and being around you know that family atmosphere, the love of family and community and those are important aspects to the Indigenous folks. I'm proud of it. I'm proud that our hockey guys in general are all about it and we see that we appreciate it and we all come from kind of similar backgrounds in a sense.
Speaker 3:But at the same time that appreciation factor, a little bit of humbleness about us but we're so team-oriented right, and I think that's kind of the common glue amongst hockey guys is is, you know, you're team oriented. It's not about me, it's about us and it's about you know my success is about team success. And, um, that's the same with the indigenous folks. It's not, they're not a me kind of people, but you know they take pride in the fact that they can bring something to the table and it's maybe it's athleticism, maybe it's strength, maybe it's, you know, their knowledge and all these things you know are powerful things that the next generation they watch and they see and they become that person.
Speaker 3:And so mentoring is a big, big factor in the Indigenous communities, much like it is for me having my parents be my mentors, having coaches, having teammates that supported me through the way through the thing. But, um, yeah, there's challenges but there's ways to overcome them and my story, I hope, helps the next generation, helps the next generation, and the more of us that get out there, the more of us that get you know more kids. And now we see the girls playing and then the girls participating. We see, you know, the the gals have been just wonderful ambassadors of the game and but at the uh, at the uh, the ladies that played the olympics and I just so proud of the hockey girls that are, that are doing it, because I have seven granddaughters and one of them's playing hockey and two of them playing soccer because of the ladies that are, that are bringing awareness that there's.
Speaker 3:These girls are very athletic and you know we want participation by everybody. We want everybody playing and you might not be athletic but you know just the fact that you're participating and you're, you're part of something is helping you or your teammates and people. Don't forget that you become a um, you know you become a factor in everybody's lives and, uh, you know that step that they might need to help them go and they'll come back and help you, maybe with, with, with your stuff, maybe you're, you're in music and you need a drummer and you're a great drummer but you'll try to be a drummer, you know, and while he's playing guitar, those things all pay off. So it's, it's uh, it's helping each other all the way through some of these challenges at the same time.
Speaker 3:You know me from remote Balmory, saskatchewan. You know the metropolis 250 people, I think it's down to 120 people, but it's uh, it's a proud place to come from. I love the people back there. It was a great place to grow up. Hockey was a big part of our fabric and still is. You know there's not a lot of kids anymore, but they find a way. They got to drive to another town. They form teams, you know, with all the local towns around there, so they have enough kids playing. I'm amazed. You know what we do as parents and grandparents to help the next generation and it's the same thing in the indigenous communities, and that's why I'm so proud of the game of hockey and I'm so proud of the people that that are involved in the game because everybody finds a way to grab a hold of the road, right.
Speaker 1:Right, brian, you know I wrote two words down here taking some notes culture and perspective. You know, and um, it's interesting because I grew up on the east coast in a big city, I went to college in a big city and then I remember when I got to my first minor league camp I was surrounded by farm kids from Canada and I had never experienced that before in my life and we had insanely different perspectives. Right when we traveled with you, I saw another perspective. You're also talking a lot about team culture, which is something that Mike and I are huge proponents of. Can we talk for a minute about the importance of getting outside your own little story, wherever it is that you're from? I don't mean you directly, I mean in general.
Speaker 1:Again, coming from a big city, you think that's the whole world.
Speaker 1:You think Philadelphia, new York City, is the universe, right, and then you meet this guy who's better than you at hockey and he's been, like you said, playing with a ball in the farmhouse, just honing his skills over the years and lifting hay, and he's a gigantic person and maybe a slower pace than I'm used to. I think part of developing great we'll say hockey players for this show is also developing great people, and I think that part of the educational value that our game provides this is both in the locker room, outside the locker room and broader is to help you get a perspective on other people's lives and again take you outside of your own little story. Can you talk about the importance of that? And please feel free to reference, from a culture standpoint, the teams that you've played for and coached, because the the coming together of those cultures, whether it be an nhl environment or a local first nation community, really is what living's about. I mean, it really is an important aspect of becoming a well-rounded person well said.
Speaker 3:I think there's a. There's a certain chemistry that has to happen to the game of hockey, right, and if one guy doesn't fit into the chemistry, he gets weeded out pretty quick and he'll weed himself out. Everybody's trying to welcome him, you're trying to include him because you need him, you, you depend on him and and, hey, bring everything you got, bring your best game, you know, bring all your skills, bring your hard work. And if he doesn't do that, he gets weeded out and there might be one aspect of it that's maybe not his fault. But if he's bringing his hard work and his best effort, that's so important and guys will embrace him as fast as they possibly can.
Speaker 3:So here I am from remote saskatchewan. Uh, clark gillies is from the big city of moose jaw. You know, he's a city kid. He didn't grow up on a farm and we had chemistry together. Why? Because I saw how all his attributes, he saw all my attributes and we worked together to make it work. Along comes mike bossy, city kid from quebec, you know, and he's, he comes from a different world. You know, he comes different culture. Um, you know, and and he brings all this goal scoring to kill and we're like, oh, let's embrace this kid because we're gonna have some fun with him and together we're gonna have even more fun. So when you have that ability to welcome, embrace, encourage and work together as a trio a line that helps Now you expand that into a team. You have the culture of the team, which is our Islanders were, you know, a hardworking team. We took pride in our power play, our special teams. We took pride in how we forechecked, how hard we backchecked and how we became defensive-minded. Then we go to Pittsburgh and we've got Mario Lemieux, yarmir Yager, we've got this ultra-skilled hockey team and we still have to maintain a sense of pride in our penalty killing, our sense of pride in defense. And so everybody's got to grab a hold of this rope and we all got to grab a hold of this culture, even though we come from different backgrounds. We also have players coming from north america, obviously us canada, then we got players coming from sweden, finland, now we got russians. We got players coming from all over the world czechoslovakia.
Speaker 3:Everybody comes from a different culture, but we all have something to bring to the table. We all have a skill, we all have a desire. Maybe it's the same desires, maybe it's a little bit different skills. Maybe it's something that, but it's chemistry. And the biggest goal is the Stanley Cup. We all want to win.
Speaker 3:So if everybody has that sense of winning is more important than just scoring a goal. Yeah, we want to score goals to help our team win. Let's all score, let's all be working hard, let's all try to defend at the same time. So when we don't have the puck, we're defending, and all those things have to gel so that you have success. So, yeah, colorado, as a coach, that's what we sell. We want to sell.
Speaker 3:Everybody has to be thinking the same thing, have that same commitment, and so they put it on our Stanley Cup ring. It's all about commitment and when everybody grabs a hold of that rope, that's when you talk about, like whether it's culture, perspective, whatever it is that chemistry in a team relates to success and you become dependable. You can't wait to get to the rink to be a part of this wonderful, wonderful atmosphere. Yeah, there's some teasing going on in the locker room. Everybody teases, but at the same time there's this tapping on the shin pads. Hey, that was a good block shot, that was a great forecheck, great pass, good goal, whatever. It is big save by the goalie. All those things are factors that bring into this success.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, like I love all this stuff, I love talking about it, when I played I didn't think about it as much, but when I became a coach I said I want to be able to communicate this to my players and I want to talk about this. And then you become a father or grandfather. Now you're talking to the next generation and I want to like kind of perfect some of these things that we all think about, like you are now, and when we're going, we're kind of shocked at like, wow, I come from a little town and I can play with a guy from Moose Jaw and a guy from Quebec and we can have success. We don't have to come from the same little town to think alike, to have the same desires, the same wants. But there's an appreciation of the skills, the chemistry that has to blend and have success. But there's also this strong desire to make sure that, hey, we're also respectful of each other. You know I would get a little angry at each other, but at the same time there's okay respect and that, hey, next time I'm open, I'll give a yell. Next time you're open, you give a yell that communication starts developing. Even that improves over time and there's a bond and a friendship that that happens.
Speaker 3:And you know, when you have success, good things, good things happen. And I'll tell you, um, we had great teams, um, with great cultures, like islanders had lr bill tory, you come here, you got bob johnson, craig patrick and scotty bowman. Uh, go to color. We got you know Pierre Lacroix, we got Bob Hartley, and, and we develop a culture. You know great leadership in a locker room Joe Sackick, patrick Waugh, ray Bork everybody's from a different area of the world, so to speak, might be you know Western Canada, eastern Canada, you got you know the influence of the Russians, and I think it's just wonderful that you can blend all of these things and have the kind of success.
Speaker 3:And hockey is wonderful that way and we all want to pull somebody into the family as fast as possible so he can contribute and be a part of everything and at the same time bring your best effort, don't just bring a half an effort. That best effort is so appreciated on every team, as you know, as mike knows, I know, but we want to tell these young kids that are learning the game you might not be the best hockey player on the team, but, boy, everybody appreciates when everybody brings their best effort. You can always be the best teammate. Everybody can aspire to be the best teammate. Okay, you're not the best hockey player, but, boy, are you ever a great teammate. You show up, you work the hardest every time you do the drills, you work, and that is the kind of thing that I think every kid can bring is their best effort all the time.
Speaker 2:So I think that's all. So I'm my head going all over the place right now, but I think you know what you're, because I just want the season to start right now. I think what you know we're getting close to you.
Speaker 1:You're itching for the season. I'll remember that.
Speaker 2:Just to hear because of the championship teams he's been on and understanding that culture is such a big piece and we're talking to youth hockey players and and moms and dads and coaches and the importance.
Speaker 2:I think, brian, really maybe you could touch on just the fact that on those teams, on every one of those teams, some, but everybody, had to play a role, and I think what happens in youth hockey today is like we don't have the opportunity with our 12u team to trade a kid in november and say, oh, I gotta trade him for somebody else.
Speaker 2:Talk about the importance at that level, at the professional hockey level, when you put together teams and won a championship at the three ice tournament, for God's sake, so you had to know, like, okay, I got to find a way quickly with a whole different group of guys that I've never coached before and make sure they understand that their role whether they're the leading goal scorer or the hardest checker or the biggest back checker or somebody making a save all need to fit in to this winning culture. It doesn't always have to be about being the first line centerman, maybe. Talk a little bit about the fact that how players can, you know, take a different role depending on what they're asked to do and how important that is for championship teams to develop.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well said, mike. I think all of us want to be the highest scorer on the team. All of us want to be the goal scorer, they want to be the playmaker, they want to be the guy in the power play, but you can't always be that guy, right? So there's a lot of roles. Everybody can grab Penalty killer, you can be a pressure guy that just puts pressure on the other team. You can be a back checker that helps the defense. I mean, you can be the guy that blocks shots. There's lots of little roles that you can play.
Speaker 3:And I think Florida like let's get away from my team for a second, let's take Florida, the most recent Stanley Cup champion, right, they were in the Stanley Cup finals the year before against Vegas and lose they go back to the drawing board. Did they give up? Or are they just? I'm sure they're just devastated. I've been there, I've lost in the finals. That's devastation. But to their credit, they went back to their drawing board. They recommitted, basically rebooted the computer, refocused themselves and said okay, here's what we have to do as a team. We got to the finals. We didn't win. Why didn't win? Why didn't we win? Because they didn't do the little things. They felt they weren't a team that did all the little things. They weren't heavy on the puck, they didn't pressure, they didn't finish your checks, they didn't do all those things. So everybody that came to that team had to buy into the culture of finish your check, don't turn away, finish your checks. Even their skill guys, even the guys that were the leading scorers, did all the little things. They maintained a sense of like okay, here's how we're going to forecheck, here's how we're going to pressure neutral zone, here's how we're going to defend in our own zone. So their systems became their focus, not just what they brought to the game on skill-wise goal scoring.
Speaker 3:Because when it was power play time, you saw the two power play units. We saw them over and over again and they were putting pucks to the net. They had the basic 10 guys that were out there for the power play, who were the penalty killers, who were their face-off guys, who were the guys that were doing all the other things. You know that that don't get on the scoreboard, but they all, they all provide a way to have the team's success. So those little mini roles, mini roles, whatever you want to call everybody can grab a hold of something and bring something to the table. If they're not scoring goals, if you're not playing on the power play, if you're not killing penalties, you got to be able to do something that that brings something, that everybody kind of rallies around and they say that guy's doing it, let's all come on, he's doing it, let's go, and that kind of rallies the whole spirit and it kind of gets the whole bench energized. And you know, like I I remember coming back to the bench sometimes and guys that were playing like three, four minutes a game were the most cheered, they were the happiest guys. They're tapping you on the shift, great shift, come on, guys, keep it.
Speaker 3:Everybody's got to kind of grab a hold of that encouraging aspect too, like you don't want to be just kind of sitting on the pine being really quiet. You've got to be an energy guy, you've got to find a way to like be a part of things. And they talk about AD Olchuk in New York Rangers and how he was that guy on the bench who was always just like so positive. Hey, we got to give really more of this and hey, give around, like those things matter. And if you're just, if you're going to be saying things, say smart things, don't be saying dumb, dumb things. Nobody likes a dumb, dumb hockey player, but we're we all have something positive to say. That's going to be encouraging, that's going to help the team win, and those encouraging, aspiring words are just as important as a goal. Believe me, they keep that energy going.
Speaker 3:So I give Florida a lot of credit. Yeah, they played a great team in Edmonton. They shut down some great players with David and Dreisaitl, but they also were so focused on their team game, what they had to do with the little things, the roles that had to get done besides just scoring goals. So, yeah, you need to have your goaltender on the shin pads after a big save and those kind of things just kind of all matter and they magnify and they just kind of snowball. And so for me, yeah, roles, those little mini things that are so important to a team's success, they don't get on the scoreboard, but they are so important through a season and so just continue to be a great teammate, concentrate, focus on everything that's important aside from just working on your skills. But remember, keep working on your skills.
Speaker 1:You know, brian, these are great thoughts, I'd say. Just thinking about Florida, it's not like they were 29th in the league last year. They lost in the cup final. They were right there, they could taste it, and it was through that pain and suffering, in a relative sense, that spawned them to grow. And let's be honest about it, real growth comes from suffering. Real growth comes from when you face problems in your life. It doesn't happen when you win, right. I mean and don't get me right the euphoria of winning a championship is an amazing feeling, as you know, but the growth comes from wanting more or from other places like that.
Speaker 1:Now, the other thing, too, that you're touching on, that we have to dive into is the we over me mentality and the dropping of ego, and my belief is that ego is the enemy of evolving consciousness, and for a team to win, you have to have, as you were talking about, a collective consciousness, an understanding of we have a goal together.
Speaker 1:That's something I think that can be taught or coached more than people think. A lot of times, when I work with teams in the team building front, there's this curiosity of well team chemistry you have it or you don't, and I said I don't believe that to be true. It can be developed right, but through a process of understanding what is ego, kind of to tap this back to the First Nation communities. But the lack of ego in that community that I visited was astounding. I mean it was astounding. You could tell that these people cared about each other. They cared about me, they cared about you, they cared about their neighbors. It was a true we mindset. You know, when we equate that to hockey, it's something that can be taught. Am I correct in that assumption?
Speaker 3:I think you're 100 percent correct. I think hockey is that kind of sport that you rely on each other so much. Offensively, defensively, uh, game without the puck, game with the puck um, defensive zone, neutral zone, face-offs what's your role on face-off? We lose, win the draw, we lose the draw. What do we do? And that awareness and and that communication that's necessary, all those things develop chemistry.
Speaker 3:And if you have a coaching staff or you have a culture where you're repetitive or you're just constantly reminding guys to say, hey, here's how we do it, here's how we do it, here's how we do it, here's what you need, to concentrate a little bit more and just kind of reminders, little reminders, all the time. I think that's a big factor. You talk about ego. Well, we were brought up in a generation, obviously, and I think society looks at ego as a real negative. And you talk to some of the best, greatest hockey players in the world. I think they've got a very strong self-esteem, which is their ego. I think they've got a very strong self-esteem, which is their ego, which they control, but they use it to motivate themselves and feel that confidence that you need. You have your self-esteem, which is confidence, which is pride, which is positive, and you take that and you use that with your team and say, here, come on, guys, be a part of this wonderful thing of we, which is family, which is a team. And if you think like a family and you think you care about each other and you worry about each other and you need somebody, and you say sometimes guys need to arm around their shoulder, they're having a tough day, maybe they need a little kick in the pants and say, hey, come on, let's go, we need you. Whatever it is, that kind of family atmosphere is so important in a team's ego or their team esteem, and I think individual esteem is so important.
Speaker 3:Egos are important but they got to be controlled right. You don't want someone to be all about me, the egotistical maniac, but you want to be, have a strong ego. You want to take that and use that as your self-esteem, which is positive, and everybody they feel that esteem. They feel a sense that guy's really proud of himself, like he's not an egomaniac, he's just a very confident guy, and people kind of like draw to that right the leadership that's in all of us. And leadership is wonderful. You can have one captain on a team, but I think everybody's got a little leader in them. And when you take that esteem and you use that in a positive way maybe it's your ego use it, but don't use it in a negative way. Use it to say you know what, I'm going to use that as leadership. I'm going to be a little leader on my team, I'm going to do something that's going to help our team win, and I think there's a leader in all of us.
Speaker 3:Like we, I always felt our islander team had 20 leaders. Everybody was a leader in that locker room and we encouraged everybody to say something positive. You know, do something positive. And that was important. Uh, penguins, I, we had leaders. We had captains coming from every ronnie francis, mary olivier, myself, assistant captain joy. We had captains coming from everywhere Ronnie Francis, mario Lemieux, myself, assistant captain Joey. We had captains coming from every team and we became a team of misfits, so to speak.
Speaker 3:That kind of jumped on a team with a young, jaromir Jagr and Tommy Bras. We were all ready to win, but everybody brought something, some leadership, to that team and those things are self-esteem, ego, positive. I think that's very important and sometimes people get a wrong impression of a guy. So a guy who, like Guy Lafleur or maybe Mike Bossy or some of the greatest players you know that were just goal scorers and if they didn't score didn't help the team win. Maybe they weren't the happiest but they were happy about the team winning, but they wanted to contribute. So people misread that sometimes, that, oh, he's just so upset Cause he's. No, that is a strong ego, because next game they come out and they want to pump in two or three goals, help a team win.
Speaker 3:I think that's a healthy ego. That's a healthy one, that where you're helping the team and don't misread that always try to look and say, okay, that's. And that's kind of like what all of us try to do is we all try to look at the positives of everybody that's on the team and that's respect. And if someone's having a tough day, put your arm around them. Someone needs a little encouragement. Hey, hey, we need you. Come on, let's go. That's way better than yelling. Come on, get your butt in gear. Well, that sometimes a coach can do that, but you know, not everybody has to do that.
Speaker 3:A team is all about that, that encouragement and everything that's that's important around that. So when you're building like you're, you talk about a culture and you're talking about the pride of a team. You're talking about this theme, the self-esteem of a team, team esteem and the team ego. But hey, it's really a pride and a confidence that you want to have when you step on that ice as a group. Everybody's got to look around and say, wow, we got a really good team and I'm confident today. And that's team esteem. I think that's a very important thing to build.
Speaker 2:I think it's one of the reasons why people in the hockey world and outside the hockey world reporters and people that follow hockey are shocked when they meet a professional hockey player off the ice, because they see this gladiator on the ice, they see somebody that has ego, that has this trash talking that's in your face, that's battling, that you know does has that, that I'm not going to lose attitude. And then they meet them off the ice and they can't believe this is the same person. Like it means to me, like this can't be the same person.
Speaker 2:I think in my experience with all these different sports, hockey is one of those sports that really the people, the players, are so much more approachable and so much more humble and so much more in a position of gratitude and understanding where they came from and then and what they need to do to turn that on.
Speaker 2:And I think you know and me watching you live like that's like how I look at it. I look at I go how did this guy play against this player and that player and this player? And then it can be the nicest person off the ice and put that you know ego aside, that cockiness aside, but also know how to use it in a game situation. I think that's one of the great things and a lot of the athletes we've talked to on this show about how they can turn and turn that on and turn that off and how they understand that off the ice it's over. Just like, just like why the NHL is so great that it's the only sport that shakes hands at the end of a series where four minutes ago you wanted to kill the other person and then all of a sudden you're like hugging and hey, we'll see you next year, have a great summer. And I think it's really one of those things that stands out so much in the sport of hockey.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you said very, very well, it's, it's, it's a wonderful thing about our sport is that, like you said, there's a sportsmanship. I think that transcends, I think, the gladiator side of us because, when it's all said and done, you said, hey, that was the best competition I've ever had and that's what you want. You want the other team's best game because it brings out your best game. You want to bring your best game. You know you want that high competition. And that's the adrenaline, that's the high, that's the rush of playing a sport is to give your best effort, play against the very best and win, succeed. And if you don't, go back to the drawing board and try to improve, try to see what you didn't do in order to beat him next time. And that's competition. And I think that's healthy, to be able to, like, look him in the eye after the game, shake his hand and say that was a great game and mean it. I mean that is spectacular. And so I've gone through like a lot of lines in my life where you're shaking hands, win, lose or draw, like 28 played, 18 years coach, another 10, 28 years the nhl I only won seven stanley cups. So there's more losing than winning. But I say to myself, of that ratio I can remember guys coming by me shaking my hand.
Speaker 3:I'm saying that was awesome, that was a series. Thank you for your best game. I can remember in the 70s we didn't win anything. Daryl Sittler I'm shaking his hand. I'm like Daryl, you taught me how to play a 200-foot game for 60 minutes. Every face-off was a battle, thank you. I am going like that's how you want to play. And then you play against Mark Messi and all of a sudden you're looking at him and I said that was a 200 foot game and you made every face off tough and those are the kinds of things that that that make competition great, right, and. But at the end of it, it's sportsmanship, and that's my mom talked about. Every, every coach I had talked about sportsmanship.
Speaker 3:There's rules out there. Play hard, but play within the rules. You don't want to be out there trying to maim somebody. That's not what sport's all about. You want to bump a guy off the puck. You want to take the puck away. You want to score a goal? Yeah, big deal. But that's a battle and that's a good battle. That's a wonderful battle.
Speaker 3:But keep our sticks down, you. You don't want to hurt anybody. Everybody wants to go home with two eyes. Everybody wants to go home with stitches all their teeth. But it's really kind of one of those things that competition brings up a little bit of the gladiator in us. But it's all said and done. Play within the rules, play with sportsmanship, keep your sticks down. At the end of it, everybody has greater respect for you as the sportsman who plays high, competitive hockey and doesn't play out of the rules and does stupid, crazy things. Then somebody who's out there playing recklessly and trying to win at all costs, next thing, he doesn't have any respect. That guy's like we're like oh my god, he's on my team. I don't.
Speaker 3:I'm not really really proud of that game, but all you know. But sometimes you know you got a guy out there who wants to be a little bit of a pain in the butt, All right, Well, like you know, like, okay, but don't be a big, big pain in the butt. Like, just play within rules. You know, like, because it's our sport, there's integrity in our sport and the best players in the world you look at Lemieux's and Gretzky's and Orr's, Gordie Howe, you know that's the kind of player we want to aspire to be.
Speaker 3:The Jean Beliveaux's and Stan Mikita's they played hard, they played within the rules. They weren't like 300 penalty minutes a year. They played hard. Yeah, they took a penalty here and there, but it was a good, hard penalty, it was a competitive penalty and all their stands. Accidents happen here and there, but yeah. So it's a very important point you make there, Mike, as far as, like you know, the gladiator side of the game and then the sportsmanship side of the game, and you know we're all about sportsmanship a little bit more than we are about gladiator.
Speaker 2:I think one of the best stories I've heard, or one of my favorites, is, I think, in your book All Roads Home. You might have been doing an interview on the NHL Network and you talked about the myth that I heard I heard growing up the reason the Oilers won the Stanley Cup for the first time was because they walked by the Islanders' locker room and guys are bleeding and guys are bloody noses and ice all over themselves. Wayne Gretzky is like that's what it takes to win. Maybe can you elaborate more on that story a little bit and maybe debunk some of those. But although it's a great story and a great motivator, but this is a team that beat you guys the following year, right? So maybe talk a little bit about that, because I thought that was a great story.
Speaker 3:Yeah, mike, that was a fun, fun story. But it came to bite us a little bit because, like we were, we're so respectful, right, because we knew that edmonton, so we're playing edmonton in 1983, that's all call us team, we win game four, um, and we know that they got to go by our locker room. We're presented the cup, we shake hands, we're presented on the cup on the ice, but we know that they got to go by our locker room to get to their bus, so we don't want to rub salt in their wounds. So we had a kid say actually out there, give a couple player or two comes by, just give us a heads up. It was just kind of settled down a little bit.
Speaker 3:We won't be whooping it up and, you know, just kind of like rubbing their noses in a little bit. So, yeah, a couple players would all sit down, you know. Yeah, if you guys had ice bags and that kind of stuff, yeah, there's a couple stitches here and there, black eyes, but. But you know there's some, a price you got to pay to win. And, wayne's right, you've got to pay a price to win the Stanley Cup. You know, you're blocking shots. You got to get in there, you got to get in the greasy, grimy areas and there's a price to pay to score a goal sometimes or block it and do the stuff you got to defend.
Speaker 3:Anyway, it comes back because Wayne's like that's what it takes to win the Stanley Cup. You got to do it and look, they're not even celebrating, they're all beat up, they're just like relaxing and they're trying to recover after, you know, four tough games against us and all the series they had to go through, and we're just trying to not rub salt in their wound. And when they went by, we're all like woo-hoo, we're cheering again and all of a sudden like, oh, here comes two more. And then we sit down like older boys and we just like, okay, they're gone, woo away, we go again. So it came back to bite us a little bit. But uh, wayne's version is wonderful, but I like.
Speaker 2:I like our version too a little bit, because it shows how hockey players a little maybe too respectful of the opposition because they turn around and use the ammunition against you, but uh, yeah, that's a fun story right, but it is a battle and I think just that respect and knowing that, okay, those other guys listen, you know and especially in today's game, right that that following year you might be playing with those like two or three of those guys. So it's just like, you know, it's just, it's not like when the islanders were able to keep those and even the oilers right, keeping those teams together and just changing a couple of chess pieces here and there. But us us as youth hockey coaches you know we don't get the chance to do that Like it's like okay, this is the team I got and every year it's going to be different, so I've got to learn to use that. I think that respect and discipline and having the opportunity to know that you have to be a great sport and be a good sportsman is going to get you on more teams than not and allow you to have more success going down the road, cause Leo alluded to it earlier that you know everybody's going to be good. You know, once you get to a point in your hockey career, everyone's good and what separates you from all the good players, it's what you can do for that team and that coach and a lot of the a lot of. It's going to be Holy crap, can I like, can I control this guy? Like, can I, can I depend on this person with two minutes left in the game that they're not going to take a penalty? It's going to cost us a series or embarrass me, or embarrass the organization. So I think it's really a cool.
Speaker 2:You know, I would definitely recommend like I use all roads home as a, like a coaching guide, like I think it's just you know a lot of great stories in there, but there's a lot of great lessons and things you can teach the players you're working with. You know, and to me I'm like, well, why wouldn't you want to coach, uh, or quote brian trache that's a pretty good quote in my book. So, uh, you know. So it's a, it's a good read, it's a good. I think it's a good, uh, good, opportunity to use as a, as a stepping stone. But certainly the stories you tell about where, how hard it was to get to where you got, is pretty impressive well, I appreciate.
Speaker 3:I appreciate the little punches but it is. I'm very, very proud of the book. The book is a wonderful reflection of where I come from, the family aspect of it, the team and teams I played on, the wonderful friendships and bonds I made some of the successes and accomplishments. But yeah, there's a lot of little side stories in there. I think that that a lot of people can relate to young hockey players growing up, players that are going through that, that transition from junior to pro pros that are, you know, having that, that, that moment of whether they're a player that had skill that became a checker, or you have a player that has to go through a transition to becoming like player, to coach, to manage and using all those experiences in a real positive way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I was, I was fortunate, I was surrounded by a lot of good people you know, family and and just great friends you know and mentored at a young age from. I didn't have an older brother but I went to junior hockey at Tiger Williams most penalized player in the history of the NHL and he was spectacular. But the push and pull that he and I had and the friendship we still have, I think, helped both of us through junior hockey and then at times in our life we become very important aspects because that friendship and that bond that we had at a young age, you know, transpires, become a real strong anchor in life. And so our friendships in hockey are pretty strong. And I lost two line mates, clark Gillies and Mike Bossy, recently and it's tough to say goodbye to people, people and uh, but it makes us, makes us really hold on tight to our friendships because those bonds are so precious to us, the successes we had on the ice, but it's all the stuff that you know we care about their families and that kind of stuff. So yeah it you know all roads, homes is awesome.
Speaker 3:I'm so proud of the book but you know, all of us come from somewhere. Our stories are a little bit similar but they're a little bit different. But we can all relate to everybody's stories. And when I hear players' stories coming from you know, jarmo Jagr, from Czechoslovakia to Pittsburgh, and how he was culture shocked and how he still succeeded and the stuff he did off the ice to improve himself and his English and how he improved overall as a, as a team player, not just an individual. And hear his story, it's spectacular. I love everybody's story. I, if everybody wrote a book, I'd read them all, because everybody's story is so fun and the game of hockey is so fun in general to hear. Some of those wonderful stories are sometimes funny, they're sometimes sad, but overall we all have something that we can relate to those stories. So, yeah, my, my, my story is fun, mike.
Speaker 1:You know there's a, there's a lot of gratitude. It's a word I want to tap on in this conversation to other people, to other teams, other players. We're talking handshakes, we're talking other people's stories, how gratitude plays into competition, and you kind of said it earlier that you know, thank goodness we have an opponent to challenge us. Thank goodness we can compete to learn about ourselves and learn about each other, and you had said it, even in some of the series that were won or lost, someone learned something. I was going to say, whether you like Kretzky's version of that story, your version of that story, the truth is this. That story, your version that story, the truth is this that oil, that islanders team, affected the league for for decades and generations to come. Because that story affected people, right, it set the new normal for winning the stanley cup and then the oilers obviously, uh, dynasty of their own. So let's talk for a minute about just gratitude, the importance of teaching gratitude, the importance of having gratitude, uh, not just in youth hockey. I think we're just talking generally here.
Speaker 3:Wow, it's a wonderful word and I think those of us that appreciate, those of us that take the time to thank and show the kind of gratitude, not to beat up a word but to say you know what that was spectacular, thank you. All those things matter. And I look back at my parents. You know no money, we always found ways to like have hockey equipment or stick or skates or something, the dedication I had to put forward to that. But when all of a sudden you fast forward to the Stanley Cup, which was my goal from the time I was eight years old, right Raised the Stanley Cup over my head. And that gratitude at that moment, raising the Stanley Cup over my head, was not just about my teammates and the fans of Long Island and the fans that were cheering for us, all the hockey fans. It was about those moments of gratitude, that the sacrifices my parents had to make, the sacrifices my teammates, the appreciation of all the coaches I had, players that helped me get to this moment, and that's what I reflected on from that moment I got to raise the Stanley Cup. And every time afterwards it was like thank you very much, everybody who helped me get this. This is like spectacular. So to reflect on that and then to look at like all the things I had to do in gratitude because I watched some of the best players, like from the time I was a little kid on Hockey Night in Canada, sitting in front of the TV black and white TV, snowy, you know the antenna, you know it wasn't always clear as it is today and watching Gordie Howe and Stan Makeda and John Beliveau and learning from them and appreciating what their skills and saying I'm going to go practice that. I'm going to practice that tomorrow. I'm going to practice that on the ice, I'm going to practice that next time I get on it. And then to watch the Montreal Canadiens win four consecutive Stanley Cups and me as a professional, watching them practice, how they conducted themselves, how they dressed, how they looked like champions. I'm like Blair Robinson, guy Lafleur, yvonne Cornway they look like champions, they conduct themselves in public like champions. They practice like champions. They practice like champions. So I appreciate it. And when we won, my gratitude was to Montreal because I learned from them and those creepy end of the story is learn from us. But I think we all learn from somebody.
Speaker 3:So to look back and appreciate your grandparents, your moms and dads, all where you come from, your heritage, you know, know the strength that you get from your bloodlines and my mom's Irish and she'd say you know you get your strength from your Irish. You get your athleticism from from, from your, from your first nation. You get this from your, your dad. You get this from your, your uncle. I'm like, oh, my god, like it's had a sense of pride.
Speaker 3:So those gratitudes and those, those appreciation factors, they just swell up and they help build your esteem, they help you build that confidence that you need and uh, so, yeah, never stop showing appreciation and gratitude for everybody that's helped you along the way or or what's coming around the corner. You're always learning, you're always watching you because someone's watching you. You know you can, you know you can be an example for the next person growing up, whether you're a parent or brother. Um, you know you're a student in school, you're a 12th grader, there's an eighth grader watching you and you become, you become that example.
Speaker 3:So always try to try to maintain a sense of, you know, dignity, at the same time, self-awareness and uh, apply yourself and and be the best person you can be. Like we talked about this is being, uh, a good person in the community. It's being supporting charities, supporting a friend who's in trouble, supporting because, well, I'll tell you, it's hard to ask for help, but it's also a sign of strength when you do, because if your friend asks for help, you're right there saying yeah, I'll help you if your neighbor needs help, yeah, I'll help you.
Speaker 3:So it's one of those things I had to learn the hard way. But you always say to yourself you know what there's strength in asking for help and there's also a wonderful thing that when you're a good person, you're ready to help somebody else. So, like you talked about I mean the gratitude and the appreciation comes full circle. It always comes full circle, probably comes back more than you give. When you're appreciative, you know you're showing gratitude because it comes back tenfold, a hundred fold. If you're doing, you know you're being a good. Those things keep coming back in waves and, um, you know you need help, people will rally for you. So I think it's it's a good word and I think you bring up a great point in the word gratitude, because we're all learning from something and people help us along the way and, um, so yeah, you're going to give back the same way, without even knowing it you know, brian, I want to.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you this question too. I want you to talk directly to the the youth athletes that listen to this program and we have a lot and throughout the show you've mentioned several times about how you might not have had the resources, but you were resourceful in your training as a youth hockey player, whether it was the ball in the barn or watching the TV and recognizing. That's a skill I want to work on. Today we have more training aids than anyone could ever want, but the truth is this if you're a young youth athlete, you need to be resourceful in your pursuit of becoming a better hockey player. So can you talk directly to the kids listening to this show about the importance of being resourceful and the dedication that it takes from a love of the game, creative side of the game, to become the best hockey player? In person, you can be.
Speaker 3:I'd love to. I think this is a very, very important thing, because being resourceful and creative, I think, is another thing that's in all of us. I think we can find ways, and being resourceful sometimes is not just an individual thing, it's asking. It can be a parent, it can be a teacher, it can be a friend, it can be a teammate, it can be somebody. Being resourceful is looking, watching, maybe being a little creative yourself, but also asking around and saying, man, what do I do, what do I need to do next? And somebody might have an idea for you. So yeah, resourcefulness is really important.
Speaker 3:My dad was a wonderful motivator because he knew how, what the things that I wanted to do right, which was going to help me become a better hockey player again. Come on, important. My dad was was a wonderful motivator because he knew how, what the things that I wanted to do right, which was going to help me become a better hockey player again. Come on, we're going to go milk those cows. You know, milk those cows gonna be helping your wrist shot. Come on, let's carry those five gallon pails of water and oats out to the horses. We got, we got we got a garden, we got a water and I'd be like, oh man, you're building your muscles, look how strong you're going to be. Uh, put those ankle weights on. You know I'd be. I'd be running a quarter mile, half mile to do my chores and dad's like, oh my, look at the stamina you're building. But those things help motivate me, right. But there's also what was around us. I lived down in the country. I didn't have, you know, a gym down down down the street where I could go to. But if you right muscles right. So watch around, see what you can learn. You know, watch people how they're doing things and train the right way. Uh. So it was wonderful for me when I got, you know, into the, into junior hockey, to learn some of the other things that some of the other players were doing that were helping their game, and the training techniques and the coaching techniques and some of the things we learned as a team and some of the team building that we did.
Speaker 3:You know the workouts that we had sometimes in junior hockey and you can use this to minor hockey as well were team oriented. It was a team stretch. Before practice there was team. You know we called it a cycle where we had to do like calisthenics. We had to do jumping jacks, you know sit-ups, and we do that as a team, and that was team building, that we did that as a group. It wasn't like, okay, you do 50, you do 10, we all had to do 20 and then we moved to another station and it was really wonderful that we had this, this resourcefulness of a coach.
Speaker 3:We didn't have a lot of machines at the time, but we did these things that were always helping us to improve individually as a team build our muscles, build our conditioning, our stamina, do something. That's good. And we even had team skills. Sometimes we just had to take a stick hand, take a ball and a puck on a cement floor and just work on our stick handling back and forth, wide, short, forward, backwards, one hand. When we got on the ice, boom, there it was. But it was something that we could do. That was like, you know, just wasn't on the ice and it wasn't something that you know, someone said, okay, you got to do that. It was something that it's repetitive, it's muscle, what do they call that? It's kind of like you're constantly reminding your muscle.
Speaker 1:Muscle memory yeah.
Speaker 3:Muscle memory, and all of a sudden you're saying, wow, I just did that. I don't remember how, but because you practice this a thousand times, all of a sudden they can't have it in the game. So those things are so important. So when you're talking about resourcefulness, you're talking about ways to kind of improve yourself when you don't have all the things that are around you. Man, it's so good to ask for help. Look for people around. One of the most important people in my life, believe it or not, was my high school advisor. She was spectacular. You know why? Because she was the one that encouraged me to write. She says Brian, you're a really good writer, Keep writing, You've got this ability. I'm like what is that? How am I ever going to use that in life? But it's wonderful because it teaches you the skill of being able to hockey.
Speaker 3:I had a list of things that I wanted to improve on and I had another list of things that I was going to and I say to myself those writing skills were important and I hunted her down and it was really kind of fun. Her name was Mrs Ewer and now it's Lorna Crozier and she ends up being one of Canada's greatest poets and writers. But so proud of that high school connection that we had. And then to reconnect years later, uh, and find out she's had all this wonderful success that, as one of Canadians best Canada's best poets and writers to me is like wow, look at, look at the impression and the ability she had to meet, find this resource. I didn't know was going to help me later on in life, but it was so important during that aspect of my life and while I was growing. So you never know what's going to help you along the way. But we always be looking for ways to improve yourself, not just as a player, not just as a teammate, but as a person.
Speaker 2:Hey Lee, I got to go back and edit our episode on what sports help you in your sport of hockey, because I have to put in milk jug carrying stall cleaning, no milking, just milking the cows and milking cows. I didn't have those on my top 10 after soccer, tennis and lacrosse, so I'm going to have to add to this.
Speaker 1:I love that, mike. And again, just keeping this, this in line here, right, it is about looking and being creative, brian, I love that you brought up writing and that connection point of putting a connecting a pencil to your brain, as they say in hamilton, and and being able to explain that that stuff does matter on the ice, right, in terms of not just driving you but the ability to communicate, the ability to do these things. So, becoming a well-rounded human being, as you just said, is part of this process. And again, as a kid, you might say I don't have this great training aid that everyone has. You don't need it. It's a great luxury, don't get me wrong, but you don't need it. You need a floorball, a floorball stick, something you can go outside with and just practice your skill sets and build that muscle memory. Also, build your muscle memory of your mind.
Speaker 1:I love that, brian. We're getting we're getting short on time here, brian, but I did want to ask you, going back to the work you're doing with First Nations, you've got a lot of NHL alumnus, friends and people involved in this. How have they received this? You know it seems like it's been a great initiative across the league that you've started. Tell me about the friends you've created along this and the work that's being done and how people can get involved if they want to.
Speaker 3:Well, the really wonderful thing that happened to me was an invite. I got an invitation to go up to the Western Arctic. I'd never been up there it was the Indigenous North and I'd never been up there and I was like you know what? I'm going to go up to the Mackenzie Delta and take a little trip. So it was a five-day trip and we went into these really small remote communities. At Clavik, inuvikulatuck sax harbor, I'm like holy cow, is there's a little small cobalt lake. I'm like these little small communities and they are so crazed about this fun game of hockey. So I got to go in there and just have another appreciation of remote areas of canada. So not realizing that john shabbot was doing the same thing on the East Coast and Ted Nolan was doing the same thing throughout the James Bay area, I'm like wow, there's lots of us doing some of the same stuff getting into the communities, telling our story and trying to inspire the next generation of what we call student-athlete. It wasn't just hockey player, it was student-athlete. We were trying to get the kids all to participate in sport basketball, volleyball, badminton, whatever, floorball, whatever was going on at tennis. And it was really wonderful to see the reaction and the response of the teachers, the parents, the community and the invitations that came back or as invitations to go to other communities. So that was my kind of eye-opening experience because while I was playing the game, I'd get into the cities. I'd get into the inner cities in Saskatoon, I'd get into Regina, I'd get into Winnipeg, I'd get into like the bigger cities, fly in, fly out. But to get into these remote communities and fly in for three, four days and get to some of the other communities that were were local around, it was just spectacular because I found there's hockey fans all over the place. They love the game of hockey, they love our stories and there's many of us out there doing it. So now we've got Aaron Asham involved with Gino Ogic.
Speaker 3:I've done so many different trips with a lot of different guys that come from Indigenous backgrounds. Our stories are hilarious, our stories are fun, our stories are true and, yeah, we all have different, some similar challenges, but some of the same challenges and we love to share this because all of us at one point were shy, we were very homesick, we were very, very like reluctant to leave, but we did and when we were able to come back and share this experience. It inspired another generation of indigenous student athlete to leave home and go, try, go to school, go to college somewhere, go to junior hockey, go play midget hockey somewhere. You can always come home and I put that in my book and Mike, thanks for bringing up the book. But again, but it's in my book the most important words I ever heard from my, my dad, because I was going to quit hockey.
Speaker 3:I was 16 years old. Hockey wasn't fun. It was about just you know, fighting, getting beat up. I was small, I wasn't big and guys were just like every game. I was a black guy. Going to school wasn't fun and I was only playing like three, four minutes. A game was fourth liner and I didn't like it.
Speaker 3:And Tiger Williams came and pulled me back in and said I'm bringing you back to SwiftCrit. You're playing, you're going to finish the year. I'm playing left wing with you. I'm like I'm done, I'm out of here. And I kind of stuck my heels in the ground and dad looked up from his coffee and he, without yelling at me, just said you know, you can always come home. And next thing I know I was in that car and I'm like dang it, I'm back in this car and I'm tired, like hey, we're going to have one, and having Tiger's, a big brother to help me, because people stuck me alone a little bit. But those words my dad said were so important, because he didn't yell at me, he didn't scream me get your butt. He said you can always come home. Every kid should hear that. Every kid should say you know, go, try it, you can always come home. Because we're all a little bit homesick, we're all a little bit fearful to leave home and things that are, you know, familiar to us all every day. You know mom's, mom's cooking and, uh, you know, all your friends are around schools and and that kind of. But when you leave home, you come back, there's a growth in that and there's a there's a growth of confidence, there's a growth of of experience and and you bring those back and people see you differently, like, wow, you've matured, you've grown up, you're like you're, you're well. Yeah, because I've left home, you know, and I had to take care of myself, I'd get myself up, brush, you know. Then, mom, they're yelling at me, brush my teeth. You know silly things, but uh, I think every kid should hear that. So, yeah, no, it's, it's one of those things.
Speaker 3:I think all of us that know the game of hockey, um, and all of us that know the game of sport, we're talking about student athletes. That's what we want to. Us that know the game of sport, we're talking about student athletes. That's what we want to try. That's the message we want to bring. And I'm so proud of the Indigenous guys. We have an Indigenous hockey team.
Speaker 3:We try to find local all-stars that'll play us and we have some great games and they're good players. The young kids especially. They're great stick handlers. The old guys know how to move the puck right, know how to move the puck right. They know how the puck does all the work. But, uh, yeah, the goaltending is always improving in the communities and but we like the challenge. So there's lots of us out there, um, and I think it's really good that, uh, the nhl is supporting us a little bit more and that we're getting out to these remote communities, we're finding more sponsors and uh, so every little bit helps, right, because it's getting expensive, like. Like, it's expensive for the kids to play the game, but it's also expensive to get us there to show the kids. You know some skills and that kind of stuff. But floorball has helped.
Speaker 3:Mike, you're doing a great job with our floorball and, I think, just helping kids find their sport. Because we play badminton with the kids. We play, you know, basketball Are we the best? No, but with the kids we play, you know basketball, are we the best? No, but we have fun with these kids. We play soccer in the gym, we go outside and have all these wonderful, uh little different activities that we can perform with the kids, because we want to get them participating, we want to get them active, you know, and I think those things are all good for just athleticism, with muscle development, conditioning your heart, you know they get, they sleep better, they eat better, all those things that are important in our daily lives.
Speaker 1:Well, brian, look I'll end on saying this that you're tapping into something that's so important, and we talked about creating better people, but this is what the best part of sports in general is it's while I'm sure winning multiple Stanley Cups is the most amazing thing ever, you're dedicating your time to helping develop young people, and older people too, into better versions of themselves, and I just can't think of a better calling, and I think that is the ROI on hockey, to make it specific, but sports that's the ROI on group development activities, right Is the ability to help society become better through understanding how we can work with each other, be with each other, and you've played a major role in that, in the amount of people that you have influenced, and those people influence other people, and so forth and so on. So I just want to end this with a huge thank you, not just for your hockey life, but your life in general and the things that you've created. I also want to thank your dad for telling you you can always come home, because we might not have been here if he hadn't said that, but I want to thank you for being on here today.
Speaker 1:So much to take away. I said at the beginning of the show. Traveling with you was a life-changing experience. Shows like this are life-changing experiences for a lot of people.
Speaker 3:It's always fun for me but whenever we talk hockey. But I think for me like to share some of my experiences and and the fun stuff, the crazy stuff, there's a little tough stuff and there's nothing wrong with it. You know, we're all we're all. We're all built of different fabric. But it kind of made me who I am today. And uh, that's another reason I wrote the book was because when I was done hockey, when in hockey I was like always a little guarded right as a player and as a coach, I didn't want anybody to know what I was thinking. But now that I'm done hockey and I'm out of coaching and playing all that stuff, I'm an open book. I said, hey, I got no more secrets, I'll just tell everybody what the hell I'm thinking.
Speaker 3:But it's really kind of fun because part of our wellness, so to speak, our health, is mental health, like, like, and everybody's becoming a lot more aware of it. You know the, the challenge of, and bullying there's no place for it. You know disrespect, there's no place for it. All those things are so important in our mental wellness. But participation is so important, our mental wellness. Sitting on the sidelines, look at your phone all day is not nothing wrong for a little bit. But I'll tell you, when you're participating in something and you're active, your mental wellness goes way up. And I give a lot of credit to the First Nations and the Indigenous communities for taking, I think, giving us an opportunity as professional athletes to come into their community, share our stories, but bring the wellness up, bring that spirit, up, the energy, because when we come into it's a wonderful atmosphere and are we bringing it?
Speaker 3:We're feeling it and that's really important because we sat we're out in Grassy Narrows recently and we went, we worked in the gym with the smallest kids before long. Here come the sixth graders. Next thing you know, hey, what's going on at the gym with the smallest kids Before long. Here come the sixth graders. Next thing you know, hey, what's going on at the gym. Here come the ninth graders. Next thing you know, we had 12th graders and the teacher was saying we haven't had this much participation for a long time.
Speaker 3:So the fact that we can kind of be a magnet and draw the kids in is great. And now that the communities are becoming more, these kids are sleeping better, they eat better. If is they're becoming more, these kids are sleeping better, they eat better If they're active and they're participating. That's important to their mental wellness. They're not just sitting around, you know, as couch potatoes all day. So if we can bring some of that, so that's as important as anything else. So mental wellness, we're all about that and we're all about helping the next generation and I think everybody deserves a little bit of credit when we're all working on on on on our health.
Speaker 3:So I enjoyed being on with you guys. Thank you very much. You made it, you made me, you put my day up here. I'm feeling really good.
Speaker 1:It goes both ways, man. And remember, all roads lead home right. So just in case, if you're interested, all roads home is his book. You can get that now. It's been out for a couple of years. It's a fantastic read. We'll probably have you back on to discuss that even more in depth. And if you're more interested in the work that brian's doing, you can check out the documentary we did called heisla, first nation, available on youtube completely free. We'll make sure we share it in the show notes as well, mike.
Speaker 2:Any final words from you before I close this out now, like I said, the book a great read If you're a coach or a player or a parent. The Heisler Nation documentary is awesome and will open your eyes to you. Know those communities and the communities that are affected by you.
Speaker 2:Know any of these past practices and, I think, more importantly, on my side with Brian, I'm so appreciative of the fact that he helps me get involved with the outreach programs and using floorball for hockey and using our you know these sticks that, like Brian said, you know gets any kid. We have kids that are AAA hockey players that get out there and start dangling around and we have kids that have never touched a hockey stick in their life and they look like they can play hockey, Like they're running around, they're laughing, they're competing, they're enjoying themselves. And the coolest thing I saw when we were up in Saskatchewan was to see kids that were so shy and Brian alluded to this a little bit Like they would take a stick in the ball and go on the other side of the rink and kind of like stick handle on their own. And then they're like, hey, I can do this, I can handle this and I can do this.
Speaker 3:And then a guy like Brian comes over like hey, you got to get in here, let's go, let's get in the game.
Speaker 2:And those kids get in there and they're playing. Next thing you know it's six hours later and mom and dad are trying to grab them from the rink. So I think it's one of those things where any sport I happen to like hockey as that inclusion sport, but, you know, any sport that's so easy and so open to get involved in and and and like to Brian's point getting the kids off the couch, getting to meet new kids, getting them active. That was really a lot of the reasons why we've gotten involved so much in his initiatives is because they're all about, you know, bringing more kids into the sport and giving a healthier activity for all the kids involved. So it's been really great to be involved with him and Rich Pilon and the other NHL guys that continue to step up to the plate and give back to the sport that they started in.
Speaker 3:Well said, Mike. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, brian. Again, if you enjoyed this episode of Our Kids Play Hockey, share it with a friend, send it over to them, put it in your team communication. No-transcript. Make sure to like and subscribe right now if you found value, wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network or our website, ourkidsplayhockeycom. Also, make sure to check out our children's book when Hockey Stops at whenhockeystopscom. 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.
