2024: Our Kids Play Hockey Year in Review

Join Lee Elias, Christie Casciano, and Mike Bonelli to celebrate all things "Our Kids Play Hockey" from 2024.

Reflecting on the past year, we share insights into the podcast's impressive growth, and how we've ranked in the top 10% on Buzzsprout, and reached listeners in 77 countries. This episode also highlights the top episodes that have captivated the audience, from youth hockey journeys to inspiring interviews with NHL personalities. The hosts share their personal favorites, offering a glimpse into the stories and conversations that we believe resonated most with our listeners.

Looking ahead to 2025, we also tease exciting new content, including interviews with high-profile guests and plans for merchandise.

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0:00 Intro

0:08 Welcome and Year in Review

1:33 Podcast Ranking Achievement

2:33 Global Reach and Listener Locations

5:30 Top Cities for Listeners

8:55 Top Episodes of 2024

13:26 Favorite Episodes and Highlights

20:20 Christie's Top Picks

23:06 Mike's Top Picks

28:40 Lee's Top Picks

34:37 Looking Forward to 2025

39:55 Closing Remarks

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Transcript

Christie Casciano [0:00 - 0:00]: Foreign. 

Lee MJ Elias [0:08 - 0:54]: Hello, hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome back to the end of year episode for our Kids Play hockey. It is I le Elias with Christy Cashiana Burns and Mike Benelli, and we are bringing you all the stats from the year. Today. We're going to share some of our favorite episodes. This is a great year. In the review episode, we'll call it the wraparound wrap up to end the year. Since everybody has a fancy name for these things. I have all the stats right here. If you are a faithful listener of this show, you are going to want to listen to this episode because you're going to be as amazed at these stats as we are. And there's been some changes this year from last year's stats in terms of we have a new top city. We've got a lot of listens, new top episodes. I say we jump right in. What do you guys say? You want to jump into the stats? 

Christie Casciano [0:54 - 0:55]: Let's do it. 

Lee MJ Elias [0:55 - 0:56]: Let's do it. 

Mike Bonelli [0:56 - 0:57]: All right. 

Lee MJ Elias [0:57 - 1:33]: Well, the first one is, is a really humbling one and a great one. We have ranked in the top 10% of all podcasts on Buzzsprout this year, which is our host, which is the host of many major podcasts. So we are in the top 10% of of all podcasts, and that's based on average downloads per week. So it's not just overall listens. It means on a weekly basis we have hit the top 10 and we are trending upward on that. Maybe we'll hit the top five here. We're not far off, believe it or not. So. So maybe we're in the top 6%. Who knows? But we're in the top 10%. So that's the first stat I wanted to share with everybody. 

Christie Casciano [1:34 - 1:37]: Congratulations, team, and thank you to our listeners. 

Lee MJ Elias [1:37 - 2:20]: Yeah, that means you're coming back every week, which is a good thing. That means you're finding value every week. We did 137 episodes this year, averaging. Love that they put this on here. 2.63 episodes a week. Just so you know, I'm holding up the stat sheet that that Buzzsprout gives us right here. So that's that. We used to do just 52 episodes a year. Now we're up to 137, and that includes all four shows. Our kids play hockey, Our girls play hockey. Our kids play goalie and the ride to the rink. So we're putting out a lot of content. And you're listening to it again, which is awesome. I think one of my favorite things that I Hear, my friends, is when parents come up to me and say, we listen to the ride to the rink. On the ride to the rink. Right. Which is exactly what it was intended. 

Mike Bonelli [2:20 - 2:21]: For, which is why we designed it. 

Christie Casciano [2:21 - 2:33]: For the kids, so that they could kind of get pumped up before they hit the ice or kind of give them some good lessons to think of on the way or even on the ride home from the rink. That's a good time to listen to. 

Lee MJ Elias [2:33 - 3:38]: Right? And we're looking to expand that in the coming years. We got some pretty cool, exciting projects coming for you guys. Let's talk location. Let's talk some location. So first off, I always love this stat. So podcasts are tracked on six of the seven continents. Obviously, we don't know who's listening in Antarctica. I'd like to think that we've had a listener there every once in a while, but this is a cool stat. We have had listens, significant listens on all six continents that are listed. North America, Europe, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceana, which is your Australia, New Zealand area. So we are global, my friends. We had listening listeners on six different continents, multiple countries and thousands of episodes. I'm sorry, thousands of listens in those countries. Which is amazing when you think about this is an English speaking show. So we are hitting non English speaking areas and they are listening also proving once again that in North America we need to learn more languages. Yes, absolutely. 

Mike Bonelli [3:38 - 3:39]: Embarrassing. 

Lee MJ Elias [3:39 - 3:52]: I speak English and Canadian. That's what I always tell people. All right, so amongst those countries, let's go to the top five. So 77 countries overall. I'm sorry, from the continents. Let's go to the countries. 

Christie Casciano [3:52 - 3:52]: Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [3:52 - 4:19]: We have been listened to in 77 countries around the world. When you add in territories, it goes well. Over a hundred top countries coming in. We'll go backwards. Number five, do it like an award show. Number five, listening country, Finland. Scandinavia. Thank you. This next one is new. This was not here we get listeners in Scandinavia climbing the charts to number four, Germany. 

Mike Bonelli [4:19 - 4:19]: Wow. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:19 - 4:56]: A lot of listeners in Germany now, which is amazing. Right? Number three. And if you listen to the show, this will not surprise those of you who listened last year. The uk, we have a large following in the United Kingdom. And for those of you listening who don't know, there's a lot of ice hockey in the uk. Multiple leagues, lots of players. Obviously it doesn't compete with their football or some of their other sports in terms of popularity, but massive amounts of hockey in the uk. Number two. Yeah, Canada. Big number two. Number one, the United States. 

Christie Casciano [4:56 - 4:57]: Hello. 

Lee MJ Elias [4:57 - 5:30]: Yeah. Now, this is what's funny. The United States, still the top country, but we have had a change, a big change in our most popular city. This might be a trend moving forward. We'll go backwards, though. The number five city, which was much higher last year. New York, New York, Manhattan, and all the surrounding areas. The boroughs. Right. Number four, again, new to the list. Calgary, Alberta. All right. 

Mike Bonelli [5:30 - 5:31]: I love it. 

Lee MJ Elias [5:31 - 5:54]: Calgary. Depending where you're from, Alberta's on the list. Number three, which I believe was also number three last year. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Massive hockey following in that area. And then number two, which was habitually our number one. It has been dethroned. So if you're in this area, you have to start listening more if you want to catch up. 

Christie Casciano [5:55 - 5:55]: Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [5:55 - 6:09]: Chicago, Illinois, is now number two. Anybody want to take a guess at what number one is? This was. This was. It's awesome. It's also. I don't say it's surprising. It's awesome, though, to see this. It means it's a big deal. 

Christie Casciano [6:09 - 6:10]: Boston, maybe. 

Lee MJ Elias [6:11 - 6:18]: Nope, nope. Boston's on the top 10, though. Okay, Mike, any guests? For those of you listening, Mike has got his thinking cap on. 

Christie Casciano [6:19 - 6:19]: Yeah. 

Mike Bonelli [6:19 - 6:21]: Is Buffalo, Is Buffalo still considered New York? 

Lee MJ Elias [6:22 - 6:25]: Buffalo is its own city. Yeah. Yeah. But it's not Buffalo. 

Mike Bonelli [6:25 - 6:30]: It's not Buffalo or Rochester. I thought Christy might be bringing the, Bringing the fans. 

Christie Casciano [6:31 - 6:33]: I even think we're not bringing it. 

Lee MJ Elias [6:33 - 6:36]: Do you guys want to know? You keep guessing if you want. This is. 

Mike Bonelli [6:36 - 6:39]: I want to know, is it, Is it Southern state? 

Lee MJ Elias [6:39 - 7:00]: No. Again, this is the most popular city. This is. And it. And I'm telling you this, it's not only just the most popular city. It's. It's easily number one now. Like, so, again, where Chicago was easily number one, this one is, Is about almost a thousand more in terms of hot spots, which is a lot. 

Christie Casciano [7:01 - 7:04]: It sounds like we need to do a trip there. 

Lee MJ Elias [7:04 - 7:05]: I would love to do a trip. 

Christie Casciano [7:05 - 7:08]: Here, do a little tour there. 

Lee MJ Elias [7:08 - 7:11]: I, I have only been there once, so. 

Christie Casciano [7:11 - 7:12]: You have been there? 

Lee MJ Elias [7:12 - 7:18]: I've been there once, and I had to fly right out. And I, I, I have, I've been asking to go back there for many years. Are you ready? You want me to unveil? 

Christie Casciano [7:18 - 7:19]: We're ready. 

Lee MJ Elias [7:20 - 7:27]: The United States may lead our countries. The number one city is Toronto, Ontario. 

Christie Casciano [7:27 - 7:29]: Oh, I love Toronto. 

Lee MJ Elias [7:29 - 7:30]: Toronto. 

Christie Casciano [7:31 - 7:36]: I love it many, many, many, many times. For our hockey trips. 

Lee MJ Elias [7:36 - 7:46]: Yeah. Again, we start the show. Hello, Hockey friends and families around the world, which is literal, but we have spanned Canada, my friends. And for the Toronto, Toronto's Toronto's great. 

Mike Bonelli [7:46 - 7:57]: Because it's the biggest hockey market right in the world. So I think. Yeah, I think it's. It's huge. Great that we can. We can reach those. Those folks and, yeah, you know, get the feedback from them as well. It's great. 

Christie Casciano [7:57 - 8:01]: Had the best tournaments in Toronto and. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:01 - 8:55]: The Hockey hall of Fame is up there. Yes. A massive amount of Canada's. Excuse me. Population in that area. Love that. We're also in Calgary and out Western Canada, Central Canada, depending how you want to look at that. But for our Canadian listeners, welcome aboard. Good to have you and thank you. Yeah, definitely have had a lot more Canadians on the show this year as guests, too. I'm sure that played into it. But Toronto leading the charge by a lot. We love you guys. Thank you. Canada as a whole and Toronto. All right, let's dive into some of our top episodes. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to say what our five top episodes were from this year. All right. We're gonna link all of them, by the way, in the show notes. So if you haven't heard any of these, just. You'll go down there, you can tap them, you can listen to them. But from this chart, apparently you have listened to these. And then after this, we're going to go through some of our favorite episodes. It's a little bit of a highlight reel from the year. So let's go five to one again. 

Christie Casciano [8:55 - 8:55]: Sure. 

Lee MJ Elias [8:55 - 9:09]: All right. And again, these are from 2024. Okay, here we go. Number five. This will make you guys laugh in the sense of, like, I can see why people would want to listen to this one. Episode was titled When Is It Worth Driving an Hour for Youth Hockey? 

Mike Bonelli [9:10 - 9:10]: Yes. 

Christie Casciano [9:10 - 9:11]: That was a good one. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:12 - 9:18]: That was a good one. We did that earlier in the year. Yeah. When is it worth driving an hour for? Youth hockey is number five. 

Mike Bonelli [9:19 - 9:21]: So what was our answer? Never. Was our answer never. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:22 - 9:42]: You'll have to listen to the episode, Mike. Well, I bet you your best guess is there. I do remember there was a lively discussion. It was more than just the drive time. Right. It was. It was more about what you're getting out of that drive time. Right. And again, we were talking more not. Not for games so much as, like, are you driving an hour to get to a practice? Right. 

Mike Bonelli [9:42 - 9:43]: That. 

Lee MJ Elias [9:43 - 11:02]: That I've seen people do Incredible drives up I95 in this area. So when is it worth driving an hour for? Youth hockey was number five. Coming in number four. This is an interesting one. Cultivating love for Hockey beyond the ice. Insight from the Capital's youth hockey development program made the list. Definitely shared that with. With the Capital's fan base. But cultivating love for hockey beyond the ice, probably an important topic. We talk all the time about being diversified and that hockey cannot be your only identity. So that's an interesting message. I also think it says a lot about our audience. You know, it's funny, we've had guests that. That their episodes haven't released yet. My friends that have come on here and said, you really want me to talk about youth hockey? You really want to tell you what we think about youth hockey? And we've told those people, this is your audience. Trust me. Right. This is not the crazy hockey people. These are the people who live in the crazy hockey world, and they want to hear from me. So that's number four. Number three, which I know is a favorite of all of us. A deep dive into hockey parenting in Life lessons with John Butcher. Grass. Yeah. Awesome episode we did earlier in the year. Those. You know, John Butcher. Gosh, ESPN announcer, hockey man. College hockey fan. I mean, that was awesome. And I remember. I. I don't know if you guys remember this, but he had to catch a flight, and he said, like, I only have this amount of time on this day. 

Christie Casciano [11:02 - 11:03]: Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:03 - 11:10]: And he jumped on. I'm pretty sure he went up to the last possible second on that episode to make his flight. 

Christie Casciano [11:11 - 11:35]: I think he made his conversation so much, he wasn't looking at the watch, and he's like, oh, I gotta go. But he just got lost in the whole conversation, and I'm pretty sure he. It was a tight time for him to go from where he was to catch the flight, but he stayed to the very last possible minute. That was. That's how exciting the conversation was. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:36 - 11:46]: Yeah, well, he was on the air that night, so I'm pretty sure he made his flight. But this is the type of conversation. I think if he could have switched to his phone and just kept going in the. In his Uber, he would. He would have stayed on with us until he got to the gate. 

Christie Casciano [11:46 - 11:46]: Sure. 

Lee MJ Elias [11:47 - 12:37]: But that was a great episode also. Not just because it was him, but he really dived into his. His experience as a hockey dad. You know, obviously, he was going. He went through a divorce during that, he talked about that. I mean, it was a pretty interesting look into his life and. And what youth hockey means to him. And he. He has so much love for. For what hockey has brought his family again. Absolutely. One, you have to listen to number two. Again. This is Kind of one we do every year. We'll do one again in 2025. This one was titled March Madness Preparing for tryouts in youth Hockey. Yeah, we always know why that's a fan favorite, right? It's a crazy time of year. In fact, we're at the end of the year. And, Mike, I'm gonna throw it to you on this. This is the time of year people start asking questions. What do you. Where are you going next year? Why would people. 

Mike Bonelli [12:39 - 12:40]: Nuts. 

Lee MJ Elias [12:40 - 12:52]: It's nuts. Dynamite drop in, Mike, as always. It is nuts. It is nuts. By the way, we're not doing an episode on that right now, but our advice to you is at this time of the year, just relax and enjoy the end of the. 

Christie Casciano [12:52 - 12:53]: Enjoy the season. 

Mike Bonelli [12:53 - 12:54]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [12:54 - 12:55]: Just don't worry about it yet. 

Mike Bonelli [12:55 - 12:56]: Don't you. 

Lee MJ Elias [12:56 - 13:26]: Don't, don't. Don't disappear from your current team looking for next year's team. You're on this team right now. Stay there. That's usually our advice anyway. March Madness. Preparing for tryouts in youth hockey. Number two. Number one. The number one episode totally makes sense with the title of the show being Our Kids Play hockey. The number one episode of 2024. I'm imagining a drum roll here. Okay, here we go. Our kid made it to the NHL with Tom and Ellen Atkinson. 

Mike Bonelli [13:26 - 13:26]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [13:26 - 13:56]: The number one episode of 2024 makes complete sense. Yeah. Cam Atkinson, an NHL player. Man, Tom and Ellen just really walked us through their entire journey with their kids, from youth hockey all the way to the pros. And it was a really great insight into, a, that there is no direct path to the NHL, and B, that while it's amazing that their kid played in the NHL, even they said the life lessons that. That the kids learned along the way was the most thing. 

Christie Casciano [13:56 - 14:45]: And you remember they have five boys, and they shared the absolute chaos early on, raising five boys. They didn't all play hockey. They were going in all kinds of different directions, and it was such great, sound advice. And. And again, their message to parents is don't get caught up in the politics and the ugliness, but really take time to just enjoy the journey. Even as chaotic as it may seem, they got through it. And all five kids are. Are successful. And as you mentioned, one actually made it to the NHL. And, Cam. And what a. What a great story. Great parenting stories were shared at that episode. 

Lee MJ Elias [14:45 - 14:49]: Now also. Great kid, right? And Cam. Go ahead, Mike. 

Mike Bonelli [14:49 - 15:16]: No, no, it says those are. You know, they really brought it to a. You know, to a. Like a hometown level. Like, you could you, when you, when you listen to both of them speak about youth hockey, it was the exact same stuff all of us experience. Yeah. You know, just getting through that gauntlet and you know, Cam happened to on the hockey side end up getting out of it. But you know, all the, all the kids have done, done tremendous. And I think, you know, what they've done for the hockey community in their own community is tremendous. 

Christie Casciano [15:16 - 15:17]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [15:17 - 15:59]: Agree 100 now. And that, that rounds up the top five. We are going to go through some of our favorite episodes. Now you have to remember when we go through the top five, it's an interesting list because if we recorded an episode and released it in January, that episode has had more time to marinate with the audience. But yeah, just to give you all an idea of how much the show has grown and again, we have a lot of new listeners. There's a good chance you haven't listened to some of those episodes. And again, we're going to link them in the show notes and on our website for this episode. But when you look at the full year and you look at, we've been doing this podcast for five years, right. This is a really telling stat. Three, I believe two or three of those top five from this year are in our all time top five already. 

Mike Bonelli [16:00 - 16:00]: Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [16:00 - 16:44]: So it shows you how big the audience, you guys listening is getting that these are so powerful that they're jumping into our top five. Some of those episodes have had two, three, four years to marinate and we have several in our all time top five, definitely in our top ten, which is awesome. But let's get to, to our favorites. I'm going to remind everybody too, again, the Our Kids Play Hockey network now houses four shows. The Our Kids Play Hockey show. Our Kids Play Goalie, Our Girls Play Hockey, which has had a massive launch and success this year. Want to thank our co host, Sherry Hudspot. Hudspeth. Excuse me for that. And, and the ride to the rink. So, you know, I, I asked my co host here to narrow it down to three and me being me, I, I, I got it down to 10. 

Christie Casciano [16:45 - 17:28]: Yeah, I know. It was so hard. It was so hard rubbing through the episodes. And you like, oh, that was a great conversation. I'll kind of write that one down. And then another one comes and then another. There's so many great conversations that we've had with some, just, all, all different varieties of people, people who are, you know, pros to just regular parents to people who are really rolling up their sleeves and trying to make a difference in the hockey community that they live in. It's really quite amazing. Just the variety of interviews we've had, too, and even just our own stuff when we just the three of us get together and knock heads sometimes just. 

Lee MJ Elias [17:28 - 17:30]: Commiserate together or collaborate. 

Christie Casciano [17:30 - 17:32]: It's just so fun. Yeah, it's just fun. 

Lee MJ Elias [17:32 - 17:49]: You know, it's funny. To your point, Christy, just going through my head, in the last year, this is pretty amazing. We've had hall of Famers, right? NHL athletes, obviously retired and current. We've had collegiate athletes. We've had the parents of NHL athletes. 

Christie Casciano [17:49 - 17:49]: Right. 

Lee MJ Elias [17:49 - 17:58]: Obviously we've had several professionals, meaning doctors and people on. We've had. We have, I think we had a ride of the rink with someone who was 7 or 8 years old. 

Christie Casciano [17:58 - 17:58]: Right? 

Mike Bonelli [17:58 - 17:59]: Oh, my gosh. 

Lee MJ Elias [17:59 - 18:40]: Like, we have really. You met. I didn't think about that till you said we've literally had everybody on and we always have three crazy parents on the show every episode. Right? We've had Olympians on the show. Right. I'm just, I'm just, I'm looking through this, really. We've had broadcasters on the show, GMs on the show. Obviously, every position's been represented. Yeah, pretty amazing when you think about it. We've had a high, extremely high level executives from the NHL on the show. So, yeah, doing pretty good. All right, listen, here's what we're going to do because I have 10. We're going to go around the horn here. I'll go to Christy, then Mike, and if you're. Any of your top ones are on my list, I'm going to remove them from my list in the interest of time. 

Christie Casciano [18:41 - 18:41]: Okay, that's fair. 

Mike Bonelli [18:41 - 18:42]: Okay. 

Lee MJ Elias [18:42 - 18:43]: I'd love to start with you. 

Christie Casciano [18:43 - 20:20]: 1. Starting with number three, I'm going with Jason Padolin, which is a recent one. We just recorded this one. I encourage everybody to listen because it was such a riveting conversation with his focus on proper mindset, something that all of your kids should be listening to because they're all going to go through slumps. They're all going to go through ups and downs through their hockey career. And Jason really did such a great job of helping you find the balance, the sanity. I love that episode. So that was number three. Number two, John Butchergos Gatu, fellow broadcaster. What a great story. I especially loved when he shared the four core, if you don't remember that it was four virtues that every parent hockey parent needs, which includes selflessness, energy, creativity and my favorite, affection. So he did. That was fascinating conversation. Really took a Deep dive into parenting with John. Excellent episode. And then my favorite also happens to be the number one with Tom and Ellen Atkinson. We just talked about that. But they really. They were so fun, too. They were just so much energy and so much positivity. I. I just love that episode. And it's not a surprise to me that that one came in at Stepper One. 

Mike Bonelli [20:20 - 20:21]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:21 - 20:22]: You want to have a drink, everybody? 

Mike Bonelli [20:22 - 20:22]: Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:22 - 20:24]: You want to hang out with them in the stands? They're the people. Yeah. 

Christie Casciano [20:26 - 20:28]: What personalities. 

Mike Bonelli [20:28 - 20:30]: Both of them. Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [20:30 - 20:50]: Those are great picks. Christy, again, I love that you shared the John Butcher Ghost Core 4. And again, all these are going to be linked in the show notes, so make sure you. If you haven't listened to these, you can get these on your holiday or New year list here as we're recording this at the end of the year. All right, Benelli, let's. Let's sauce it to you. These better be good, man. We. These better be good. 

Mike Bonelli [20:50 - 23:06]: Yeah, I know. So I try to go with a theme because I think there was a. There's a theme for me in the show itself. Like, I love doing the show because it helps me learn so much about the sport and because my kids are in the sport, because I work with all these kids that are in the sport of hockey, you know, I tend to gravitate towards, you know, the, you know, I love the episodes, the. The bantering and, you know, how I grew up as a hockey parent. And I, I do. I like all of them, obviously, but I really like the ones where I feel like I can leave much more educated about educating the people I work with. Right. So it's one of the benefits. So I think my. I don't know if they're my top three, but three that I really liked outside of the ones that Christy mentioned and the ones that are. Oh, obviously in our. In our top 10 list. Anyway, I loved. I think it's Addison Lentz. Right. The. The physical therapist we had. Yeah, I thought that was really, like, for me, it was so timely, and it was just a great way to, you know, hear about, you know, what a professional thinks about how players develop and when they develop and what you need to look for and making sure that you're not having these overuse injuries and, And. And. And I think when I talk to players, it's, you know, if we want to get to an end game, well, we got to get you there healthy. And, you know, that's. That. To me, that was a great one to hear, and I think everybody should listen to that one, especially the ones that are getting ready to do, you know, you know, two week boot camp in, in hockey, trying to catch their kids up. Might be a good time to listen to that about, you know, well, be careful of, you know, overuse injuries and, and how you deal with that. The other one I liked a lot was Riley Coates Cote. Is that, you know, the mindfulness discussion we had and you know, using that. I know, Lee, you talk about it a lot in the show and. Yeah, and I take a lot of your stuff, but I think that that whole mindfulness side of things, of, you know, just understanding and preparation, you know, preparing and how coaches can help players prepare, how us as parents can help our players prepare in a, in a, in a world of hockey that's obviously evolving. But you know, knowing that you need to be, you know, be really conscious of the mental game and you know, one of the ones I like the most because I think it's affecting our kids the most was Larissa Mills and the horrific episode we had about screen routine. 

Lee MJ Elias [23:06 - 23:11]: And by horrific he means it was unveiling of the knowledge. Yeah. 

Mike Bonelli [23:11 - 23:18]: Well, just, just hearing the stats and the truth and because we all know the truth. I mean, we're sitting looking at it. We know what the truth is. 

Lee MJ Elias [23:18 - 23:19]: Right. 

Mike Bonelli [23:19 - 23:41]: I think, I think a lot of us and I see it, you know, every day on the road with these kids, my kids, other people's kids, other people I'm talking to about their kids. It's just the, this epidemic of what we're gonna have to deal with over the next, you know, few years with kids. And she really was a very eye opening discussion. Love to have her back on for. 

Christie Casciano [23:41 - 23:41]: Yeah. 

Mike Bonelli [23:41 - 23:48]: You know, follow ups and updates and you know, real. And I think she did give some. On the episode, gave some great strategies. 

Lee MJ Elias [23:48 - 23:51]: Oh, she did. She gave a screen routine. Like she gave routines for your kids. 

Mike Bonelli [23:52 - 23:53]: It was awesome. But you know, it's like everything else. 

Lee MJ Elias [23:53 - 23:54]: Right. 

Mike Bonelli [23:54 - 23:59]: I mean it's, you know, it's, it's the hardest thing to do. And that's a really side one. 

Christie Casciano [23:59 - 23:59]: Right. 

Mike Bonelli [24:00 - 24:16]: The little side one I think I liked was. I don't even think we had a guest. It was the, you know, how to deal with pressure and discussions on, you know. You know, and I think Christy, you mentioned that like some of our. But my, my episodes I really like are the ones sometimes we just, we come on and talk. 

Christie Casciano [24:16 - 24:16]: Right. 

Mike Bonelli [24:16 - 24:23]: And it evolves because, you know, there's nobody giving us this information. It's more of a, like what are we dealing with? Every day. 

Christie Casciano [24:23 - 24:49]: What we've lived through, what we've experienced ourselves. And passing that advice on it. I say this so often. I wish I had this podcast when I was a younger hockey parent. Just very first years of trying to navigate this. This craziness. And this podcast is so helpful because we're sharing Lee as a, you know, a younger parent of younger. 

Lee MJ Elias [24:49 - 24:50]: The youngest brother. 

Mike Bonelli [24:50 - 24:50]: Yeah. 

Christie Casciano [24:50 - 25:14]: Me, who's been through every single phase of it, and Mike, who's right in the thick of it. So it's so much value in actual experiences of what to do, what not to do, how to navigate it. It's really. I agree with you, Mike. Sometimes our best episodes are just the three of us just kind of just sharing our. Our journey. 

Mike Bonelli [25:14 - 25:28]: Yeah. When you have other people on and like, the least, like Lee's point, like, I walk in the ranks every day now that other. Other people like, hey, I love that. That ride to the rink you had. Or I really like that episode. And now we've done so many of these. I'm very. They're like, oh, I love the. The ride to the rink you just did on this. I'm like, when? 

Lee MJ Elias [25:28 - 25:29]: Which one? 

Mike Bonelli [25:29 - 25:32]: What? You know, what did I say? 

Christie Casciano [25:32 - 25:35]: And yeah, go back 374 episodes. 

Mike Bonelli [25:35 - 25:50]: And I have to listen to it because there are so many people that once they hear once, which I love. This. Is this cool to me, this is one of the cooler statistics. Once they listen to, they. They were introduced to it now, but then they go back. They go back and they listen to all those other ones. 

Christie Casciano [25:50 - 25:50]: Yeah. 

Mike Bonelli [25:50 - 26:28]: That, you know, because now they have. Oh, I like this. This is of interest to me. This, this, this and this, you know, and they pick. They can pick and choose now where they are in their journey. Like, maybe they don't need to listen to, you know, the physical therapist discussion and mindfulness stuff because they have a six year old, you know, so maybe they don't even worry about it yet, but they might want to listen to, oh, my God, how do I prepare for a hockey tournament? Like, what do I do? You know, how do I pack for that? How do I. How do I get my teenager when I'm. When I'm in a hotel room with them for the weekend, not to use all the towels on Friday night and leave their dad with no towels for the rest of the weekend. That doesn't. 

Christie Casciano [26:29 - 26:33]: And try the same problem that will happen if you have not experienced. 

Mike Bonelli [26:33 - 26:37]: I'm like, you know, there's another person in the room. 

Lee MJ Elias [26:37 - 30:38]: Yeah, yeah, we. We'll do the. We'll do an episode in the new year. This how to keep towels secret from your kids. I have the same problem, Mike. That's pretty funny. But Mike, you bring up a really great point. One of the coolest stats, and this is not one we share all the time, is that for most of the year, every 30 days, within a 30 day window, every episode we've ever recorded to gets at least one listen. It's always true. Within 90 days. Right. So over the course of three months, any three month period during the year, every episode we've ever recorded has been listened to at least once. And it proves your point that people are going back. It's one of the reasons we're very successful as a team here and as a community is that these episodes have evergreen ability to. To make sense. Even the one we did in Covid with Doctors about COVID somehow get to listen once once in a while. Because it almost doesn't apply anymore with those NYU doctors. But that was an early on episode almost five years ago, like I said. So. Yeah. And I, I definitely want to tap on it too, that, that it's so cool to have the conversations with you two. And again, we were talking before the show about how much my older brother means to me and that he kind of paved the way for me in a lot of ways, as older siblings do. They don't realize they're doing it. But the two of you have been such mentors to me. And look, it sounds weird to say this. I'm not making this about me. It's. But I am living proof that this stuff helps because my youth hockey journey has been made so much more easier but also enriched because of the lessons that I learned from this show. Right, right. And we're all able to kind of share in real time our journey. But yeah, I can say it from my, my son starting in Adams five or six years ago now. And I'm both my kids play. This show has been wonderful for me. I mean, I've benefited greatly from it. Obviously, those of you listening to her as well, or else you wouldn't be listening. All right, I'm gonna try and run through these quick and I'll do it kind of chronologically because that's how I have them written out here. But we'll say these are the highlighted episodes as well, like must listens if you're listening to the show. So one of my favorite ones, obviously Butcher Grass was on all of our lists, I'm sure. So one of my favorite Ride to the Ranks was titled Mastering The Art of Passing. We recorded that all the way back in February. And I'm told that was very eye opening. Yeah, it was very eye opening for a lot of kids. We did a full episode on that as well. But just kids listening to that and saying, hey, you know what? I never thought about it like that. That passing is a valuable skill to me as a coach was. Was a triumph. Our kids play goalie. This episode did very well. Try out strategies for goalies with the goalie doctor. And that episode I really love because it wasn't just about goalies trying out, but it was about how to look at goalies in tryouts. Right. Whether you're a coach, a player or a goalie themselves. That was back in March. We did that when tryouts are the top of mind. Our kids play hockey. I love this one. I always. This is more of a hockey fan one. Not so much our kids play hockey. But we did that one inside the Situation Room with Sean ellis from the NHL back in May, May 18th. That was really cool. So those of you that watch the NHL and ever want to know about the decisions made when they go to the Situation Room in Toronto, we spoke to the guy that makes the decision. Yeah, right again, Sean Ellis back in May, May 18, that released our Kids Play Hockey. This next one, we got a shout out because this was one of our most esteemed guests of all time. Our kids play hockey. From July 11th. We had Kim Davis on, who's essentially third in line of the commissioner at the NHL and she is a trailblazer. She is changing the game and she is a massive leader in the space of ice hockey globally. So for her to come on and give us an hour, a good hour, yeah, was a triumph. So Kim Davis, if you're listening, thanks for that. Gotta say this one. Back in August, Our kids play hockey. Brian Trachea, hall of famer, six, seven time Stanley Cup. Seven time Stanley cup winner. If you include his coaching. 

Mike Bonelli [30:38 - 30:39]: 1. 

Lee MJ Elias [30:39 - 31:39]: An honor, an honor to interview Brian Trachier and he told such great stories on that episode and tapped into youth hockey that that one was a much must listen. And then another one. We our girls play hockey. We did one about. So you want to play on the Olympic hockey team with Katie Million, who's essentially the GM of the women's national team and program. That was an amazing episode. Again, I'm gushing here thinking about all these. That was back on October 8th. Another our kids played goalie October 17th. Steve Alakette came on. Steve Gallic had a former NHL goalie works for MSG Networks. I'll tell you why this is making my list. I walked in the house in November, my house, and my son saying, I'm listening to this goalie podcast, and it's fantastic. And he's listening to our podcast with Steve alike, and he's taking notes. He's taking notes from Valakat, and he. He applied some of this stuff to his game. I remember he talked about us with the chicken wing arm saves, and I couldn't believe that. And. 

Christie Casciano [31:39 - 31:40]: And that's amazing. 

Lee MJ Elias [31:40 - 31:57]: He tells people. It's funny. He doesn't say, I listen to my dad's podcast. He says, I listen to a goalie podcast. I'm sitting with him, and I don't say anything because I don't know if he doesn't want people to know or not. But I'm sitting with it. I'm looking at him like, all right, that's. 

Christie Casciano [31:57 - 32:01]: That's our Kids Play Hockey podcast. Yeah. I have a little something to do with that kid. 

Lee MJ Elias [32:02 - 33:39]: Yeah. I was so, so flattered that my own kid just. He did. He discovered this on his own. I mean, he knows we do it, but, like, he looked for goalie podcast, and we were the ones that came up, which is amazing to me. And then my last one on the list here, Recent. This is more of a recent Release. Back on December 3rd, our girls play hockey with Branda Decker, who was just inducted in the USA Hockey hall of Fame. Olympian gold medalist. That was she at Shaddock Saint Mary's. The whole thing about prep school and getting into prep school, obviously it's surrounded girls hockey, but it's just great advice. These guests, I mean, I'm so humbled that we can get these type of people and they want to talk. You guys have seen it. And when we get pre shows for those. You're listening. So obviously we have some time with the guests before we hit record and before and after the amount of times we hear, wow, this is a really great show. We really need this show or that, like, oh, I can't wait to talk about this stuff. I've been wanting to talk about this stuff forever. That's. That tells you. Listening. This isn't just important to us. It's important to the larger hockey leadership out there and the community out there that these conversations have to happen. And Christy, you. You said this a few minutes ago. The conversation is the key, right? Like, we don't have these conversations enough. And that's part of the problem. It's like, Mike, you said it to the Learning. Excuse me. The learning comes from the conversation without ego, without. Without just trying to prove yourself. Right. The learning comes from that. 

Christie Casciano [33:39 - 33:56]: Right. And I love that. There's no spin to it. There's no concocted narrative. It's just honest conversations which makes it so unique and so rare and sought after. And that's why I think this podcast is growing. 

Lee MJ Elias [33:56 - 34:37]: Yeah, it's growing. It continues to grow. We didn't even get. So these stats we're giving you are just the podcast. There have literally been millions of views on our micro content that goes out through social media. Right. So I think there's a large audience out there also that doesn't listen to the episodes, but they watch those mini clips to get those, those thoughts and those quick hits from our guests from us. So we got to give a shout out to them too, because our social media following is healthy. I'll say that. Very hard to track where that's going, but from these numbers that I have here, it's a global audience. But above all, amazing year of podcasting here. 

Christie Casciano [34:37 - 35:02]: Looking forward, looking back, we checked all the boxes. You know, we set, like Everybody does in 2024, January, we set some goals for this podcast where we wanted to take it, what we wanted to do. And congratulations to our team because we did. We checked all the boxes and I think we've actually exceeded our expectations, which is really exciting. 

Lee MJ Elias [35:02 - 36:10]: 100. And that's just 2024. Right? Well, we are up. Voting is up now for the podcast of the year again. We're obviously been shortlisted for that, so we'll see where that goes. But looking ahead to 2025, this is one of the cool things. Our producer, Caitlyn Reese does such a great job. Right. And our editor, Xavier Cruz. Obviously we have a whole team here behind the scenes, but we have gotten ahead on our recording schedule. So much we've been booking into next year. So I can actually tell you listening now, I won't say any names, but I will tease you all that we have a Stanley cup winning coach coming on the show. We have an episode with a NHL player who had played in a Stanley cup coming up on the show. We have a top rated hockey podcast guest outside of our kids play hockey coming on the show. We have a top rated hockey personality who's written several books coming on the show. This is all in the new year and there's other guests that we're about to confirm that I can't tell you about yet that are just as big as that. And then on top of that, the three of us will commiserate on episodes throughout the year as well. 

Christie Casciano [36:10 - 36:11]: That's right. 

Lee MJ Elias [36:11 - 36:43]: About things that are going on. And you can, you know, we. Our annual episodes about tryouts, end of season, season review that do good every year. We'll. We'll make sure we keep doing those right. And then I think in 2025, my friends, we've. We've had so many requests that we build apparel and other gifts. We'll start making some. Our kids play hockey merch or swag. Aside from the beautiful mugs that we all have, I know people want those as well. But above all, to end the episode, to end the year, it's you, the listener we have to thank the most. 

Christie Casciano [36:43 - 36:43]: Right. 

Mike Bonelli [36:43 - 36:43]: If. 

Lee MJ Elias [36:44 - 36:47]: If you're not listening, we're not broadcasting. 

Mike Bonelli [36:47 - 36:48]: That's. 

Lee MJ Elias [36:48 - 37:08]: And we appreciate you so much. We appreciate the letters, the emails, the text that we get from you. Mike mentioned it. We get stopped a lot now. It wasn't like this five years ago, Mike. People go, you do you have a podcast. You have a podcast now. It's like, I listen to your show. And Mike, to your point, we don't even know what episode to listen to. Yeah, just really like that. 

Mike Bonelli [37:08 - 37:24]: Or the recommendations. I like that, too. I mean, like, hey, you guys should do a show on this. Or that's something really interesting. You know, and we're getting, you know, it's nice that people are not only listening, but then thinking about, like, well, I want to hear something about this. Yeah, it's. It's really helpful. Not that we're running out of things to talk about. No. 

Christie Casciano [37:25 - 37:28]: But we always welcome the feedback. Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [37:28 - 37:39]: I. I will remind the three of you, I always like to say this at the end of the year, that five years ago when we were starting to think about this, the big question, the concern was, are we going to have enough topics? 

Christie Casciano [37:40 - 37:52]: I remember Mike reaching out to me and saying, what do you think about doing a podcast? I'm like, I don't know anything about podcasts. I have no clue. I have a million questions. 

Mike Bonelli [37:52 - 37:59]: Yeah, but you had the blueprint. The book was the blueprint. So it was great. It was easy. Just follow the book. But now you got to write another book so we could continue with more. 

Christie Casciano [38:00 - 38:07]: 2,025, project all these episodes and make a book out of it. I think that should be one of our goals. 

Lee MJ Elias [38:07 - 38:23]: The listeners would love that. Again, Christie's book, My Kids Play Hockey, is obviously the basis for this show, along with a lot of her articles in USA Hockey Magazine, so check those out. Sorry. Toronto, we haven't gotten in Hockey Canada's magazine yet, but you can, you can tell them that we should be doing that. We can be the official podcast. 

Mike Bonelli [38:24 - 38:43]: But all those Canadians, all those Toronto, and you know, the Mike weavers and Kim McCulloughs and, you know, all the folks that are up there, you know, keep pushing. And I think it's great to have, you know, I think, you know, again in these huge hockey markets. Everybody wants somebody to talk about the sanity of youth hockey. 

Lee MJ Elias [38:43 - 38:43]: Yeah. 

Mike Bonelli [38:43 - 38:51]: And it's great that people are listening. And I think from my side, if you can just, you know, sway one or two people per team. 

Christie Casciano [38:51 - 38:51]: Sure. 

Mike Bonelli [38:52 - 38:55]: You know, you're. We're, you know, it's. It's going to help everyone. Yeah. 

Lee MJ Elias [38:55 - 39:55]: 100. I. I've come accustomed now to saying youth and minor hockey because our audience keeps growing and. And I'm always reminded that in Canada, they say minor hockey more than youth hockey. But, you know, for those of you in America, yeah, that's. That's how they do it up there. But what a great episode, guys. What a great year. I, I really am excited about 2025, the audience growing again. Just to echo what Christine and Mike said, we love, love hearing from you. You drive these episodes. If you have an episode idea, you can email us teamourkidsplayhockey.com. you can also now easily text us in the show notes. There's a link. You tap it, you can text right to the show. It is us that gets it for episode ideas or questions. Sometimes we just get questions in there that we don't make episodes out of. We just write emails back and have a great conversation with that person. So I want you to know that's available to you as well. But I think that's gonna do it for our. Our Kids Play Hockey wraparound review, whatever you want to call it. 

Christie Casciano [39:57 - 39:59]: Kudos to Caitlin. 

Lee MJ Elias [39:59 - 40:04]: The glue, it's sticking. That's her Nick. We call her the glue. 

Christie Casciano [40:05 - 40:06]: Caitlin, we love you. 

Lee MJ Elias [40:06 - 40:49]: Yeah. Yeah. And all you out there. So let's do it one more time for this year from Mike Benelli and Christy Cashiano Burns, I'm Leo Elias. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of our Kids Play Hockey. Wishing you all the most wonderful new year. We'll see you in 2025. 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 wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network, or our website, Our kids play hockey.com Also, make sure to check out our children's book, When Hockey Stops at When Hockey Stops. 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.