Latest / 2 Many Men On The Mic / Episode 44 - Why Alaska Produces Great Humans who Play Hockey | Anchorage Hockey Director Kirk Kullberg

Transcript

Episode 44 - Why Alaska Produces Great Humans who Play Hockey | Anchorage Hockey Director Kirk Kullberg · 2 Many Men On The Mic

• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, some big guitar work going on right there.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: I uh scoured up and down and all around to find royalty-free music because I didn't get a chance to record.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're gonna have to we're we're gonna have to insert our own uh uh music there.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, for those of you who are listening to this on Thursday, the uh the 12th, uh you are a week out from 2019.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Too many men on the mic acoustic duo over at the Tappawingo Golf Club, home of the Picardi family, a great Bufaki family.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they just happen to be located in St.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Louis.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we'll be picking and grinning over there from six to nine.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_03: Spring is in the air, and that means golf and good music.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: It does, yeah.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we're continuing our tour.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and this week I am pumped because we're highlighting the great state of Alaska, which we have not talked to yet.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: We've talked to Omaha, Pensacola, uh Louisville, um, oh my gosh, California, New York.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: We've covered so much ground.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: We have not covered the great state of Finland and Sweden.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Finland and Sweden, that's right.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So today it's all about Alaska.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: And we're welcoming in Kirk Kulberg, who is a director of uh hockey, um, one of the directors of hockey in the Anchorage Alaska Hockey Association.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they've got a great story to tell.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, it's a well-established youth hockey league that's been around for uh I think over 60 years now, 1961.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: So they uh they actually predate some of our uh math lens.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, all every undefeated math is undefeated, and they uh they predate even some of our uh organizations here in the St.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: Louis area.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: So without further ado, let's bring on uh Kirk Kulberg to the show.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_05: Hey guys, thanks for having me on.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Kurt, welcome, welcome to the Too Many Men on the Mic show, and thanks for spending time highlighting the great things that are going on in Youth Hockey and Alaska.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh before you joined, you were telling us a little bit about uh a little bit of off-ice facility that you built there.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So why don't you share with the listeners how you're improving the environment over at Anchorage Youth Hockey with uh with your off-ice facility?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_05: Well, as uh we are the biggest program in in the city of Anchorage, one of the biggest ones in the state.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_05: I think it kind of goes back and forth between us and Fairbanks, who's bigger?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_05: And so uh we felt the need from our membership to kind of enhance the you know, we wanted like you know, what's a perk of being a member of the Anchorage Hockey Association?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_05: And we we felt like off-ice training was going to be one of the things that was next for us.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_05: I think I don't know where they pay what they pay for ice in lower 48 everywhere we go, you know, other when we rented for tournaments and stuff like that.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_05: But here it's you know$385 to$500 an hour, which is crazy in a state that's cold and you can go skate outside.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no kidding, you guys have ODRs, I would think, right?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I typically I have one in my backyard that's 70 by 40, and that's you know, that's a good rig from end of October, maybe early November through March.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_05: But um, the off ice training was a big thing that we felt we needed to incorporate, and so we just actually we're in the end of our first season with this uh off ice facility.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_05: It's got a full-on parent lounge shooting lanes.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um, we have a uh we call it our cognitive trainings training area where we can do like reaction-based stuff, and some teams just come in here and do like yoga, and then other teams come in here and they take advantage of shooting pucks and stick handling and whatnot.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love it, I love it.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you uh you don't let any of the parents into the shooting lane, right?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: You keep them in the parents' lines, right?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they got a glass area.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_05: They get to it's like it's like a zoo, they just get to hang out behind the glass and watch watch the animals train.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Drew and I were part of an organization where we we built out an off-ice facility, sounds very similar to yours.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I think the biggest piece of that, obviously getting kids in to be able to be with their team and you know save a few bucks uh when you're working on uh passing and shooting, but it's also the community aspect, you know.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm sure you guys have you know trophies and banners and medals, and and and when those kids come in as you know, you know, mini mites, you know, six U's and eight U's, and they see that and see the older kids and what they can shoot for, it's gotta be great and just a great culture and environment for them.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yeah, I agree.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_05: That's cool to have that just be everything about your organization encompassed in one little area.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Tell our listeners a little bit about Anchorage Youth Fockey.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you probably have lots of different players in your organization, boys and girls, I would imagine.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: How many members are there?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then tell us a little bit about uh all the different levels in your organization.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_05: We have uh every every level.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_05: So we start we start with the little learn to skate kids at three and four years old at the Diamond Center, uh with with you know programs of learn to play and six you there all the way through eight you red, white, and blue, just like per USA hockey.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_05: And then uh we have full-fledged rec and comp programs for both boys and girls.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_05: So we have we field teams at the national bound level for tier two for boys and girls, and then we have our developmental programs at 10U and 12U.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_05: Uh Alaska does do something kind of weird where it's not necessarily classified like it is down at lower 48.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_05: We have 10U and 12U, we call major and minor.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, that would those that the those kids play in the Alaska League.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_05: And um, then we also have our rec programs with our recreational B in our recreational A divisions.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds like, you know, although you guys are isolated, you can call us the lower 48, which I absolutely love.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds like though the journey from might to 18U for boys and and might to 19U for girls, you know, it's a similar trajectory.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: You guys are national bound.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, my son at 14U played Team Alaska in uh in nationals up in uh Kalamazoo, Michigan.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, unbelievable talent and competitive group of kids that we played against then, and that was five years ago.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: Talk a little bit about you know when you you you you go from that rec league to your team, your your Alaska league into that uh 14U, 15U, 16U bracket.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: What uh in Missouri and in other places, you tend to the teams get there's less teams and the talent gets a little bit more uh filtered.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: How do you work that with kids that maybe aren't at you know double A or even that triple A level as they progress to 14U and 16U?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: What are their options and where can they get to play?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: And what does that development um journey look like?
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_05: Well, we have a the nice thing about Alaska is it's very everyone knows everyone, right?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_05: Like it's and every everyone knows everyone in a specific birth year, and so we have great we have a great feeder system, you know.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_05: Like our this Anchor Shockey Association has a big rec program that feeds our comp program that then in turn feeds team Alaska, right?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_05: And Team Alaska being our our tier one program housed underneath the state affiliation.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so there's always a spot for any one of them to play.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I would say, you know, developmentally, it's just it's it's been a process.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_05: Matt Thompson's done a great job of kind of creating this environment for team Alaska to thrive in and keep kids back in Alaska, and that gives something for all those kids.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_05: You want you want all those programs for to look up to each other.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_05: So you want the rec B kids to see the Rec A kids and be like, I'm gonna be that next year, right?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_05: And then the Rec A kids are like, I'm making a comp team.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_05: I'm going to a camp, I'm doing power skating, I'm doing whatever, I'm gonna work out all summer and I'm gonna make a comp team in August.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_05: Typically, our our our tryouts for our comp programs are the second week of August, which is kind of weird, but it works out.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and then you know, those those comp those kids who played tier two, you know, they're like, I'm gonna make team Alaska 15 only or 16s next year.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_05: And so I think for us it's it's it's pretty simple, like you're right.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_05: It's just the landscape is there, and kids just have the ability to go play where they they fit in.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us a little bit about what role does hockey play in the culture of Anchorage, and uh you have a very uh large indigenous community there.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, is that part of the culture uh that feeds into hockey?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And is there outreach to that community that goes on?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I would say I, you know, I couldn't give you specific numbers because we just go like, hey, everybody's in this program.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_05: And I don't even know if we we look at numbers based off of ethnicity or like whether they're indigenous people or not.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_05: I think that we just have like a big family and everybody's a part of it.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_05: I know that we've had more outreach recently because we've had uh a good relationship with the Seattle Kraken, and that's brought the NHL Kraken Learn to Play program.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_05: I'm pretty good friends with Marty Halenka, who's the youth director for Seattle Kraken.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_05: And this all kind of started a long time ago with this camp I run.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_05: They wanted to come up here and run a camp, they ended up just joining with me, and now we have Kraken Week at the Anchorage Hockey Academy every year, and then that fed into now we're gonna do the Kraken Learn to play once a year and get another hundred plus kids into the game.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_05: Well, Bristol Bay Native Corporation's affiliated with the Seattle Seattle Kraken, they're they're good, they're good with us, and so we just kind of have this trio of how many kids can we get into the game in one summer, and so that's been awesome because that's also given us this great process for like hockey's an expensive sport, and the most expensive part of joining a program is buying all the gear.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_05: So when you get into that NHL learn to play program, and then you get this kid who maybe couldn't have afforded to couldn't have afforded to be able to buy the gear, gets a full set head-to-toe, 10-12 practices.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_05: Now they love the game, done, right?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_05: That kid's hooked for for life, and then you know they get to grow with all the the same uh reasons that we love hockey, you know, building good people.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_05: So I'd say so.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_05: That's a roundabout answer to say, like, I think there's good outreach, and I think that um everyone gets incorporated as much as they want to be.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_03: So it's awesome.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, you gotta you gotta get the Kraken up there to play a game like Mystery Alaska, that movie.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta get them up there, maybe get them in the Canooks to play a game up in uh Unreal.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_05: I would be a legend if I could sort that out.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: But we would love to come up to Alaska and broadcast live with that game.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: So let's let's put our heads together and figure that out.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: That that sounds like that's uh sounds like a pretty good idea, right?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: We were talking about or we were talking about Oregon last week, but we've got a little further afield with uh with coming up to Alaska in this show.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: So um that would be really, really cool.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: Tell tell us a little bit about you know um hockey teams, hockey organizations, they try to build an identity and a culture.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: You know, here in St.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: Louis, we've got uh you know 12 different organizations, and each organization has their own um what they're known for, whether it's high skill, you know, gritty, tough play, um, you know, kind of blue collar.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, talk a little bit about beyond just the the skill development with uh Anchorage and Anchorage hockey.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: What's kind of that identity that you and your fellow coaches and directors try to uh to instill with those kids that that they take beyond you know just their youth hockey?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_05: I would say uh a friend of mine, Clint Lancaster, once told me we had this discussion like what do we want our identity to be or our mission to be?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_05: And we came up with we make good people that play hockey, and understandably that you know we want to build like a system of work ethic and sportsmanship and just good human beings, and so I'd say that's our biggest identity, right?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_05: That's that that's the culture that we want to portray.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know that we get portrayed as like the winners all the time, or uh, even though like I think our team that's worth applause there, my friend.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_05: I appreciate that.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we do have two national bound teams that are going to or two teams from our program, the 14 Union North Stars and the 16 North Stars are now going to compete for nationals.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, the the end game does work.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_05: If you do the right things for the right reasons, eventually you get rewarded.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's that's that's the way it is.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_05: So we really impress upon like the building good human being things, and we do that by trying to provide this environment where we have the coaches that are in the right spots and the coaches that we want to be there that are creating good human beings and reinforcing the good habits.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um can I can I follow up on that?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Because you mentioned coaches and we're all coaches here.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, Drew and I, you know, kind of grew up with this sport, so with us, it was kind of you know, as we had kids, it was an easy transition.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: You know, are there a lot of coaches, volunteer coaches in your organization that you know kind of came to hockey because their kids found it?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: And how are you developing you know those great coaches um to create a pipeline of talent from the coaching coaching ranks?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it's funny that you asked that specifically because I always have this joke like the number of dads that I've taught to I've taught them how to skate with their kids, like they're like, Hey, I like I was like, I'd come out and help you, but I don't know how to skate.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, dude, USA hockey number, put a helmet on, I'll show you.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, that's the number of guys that that that's happened with or girls, it's been unbelievable.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_05: And I think growing the coaching core is probably one of the biggest struggles, right?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_05: Because like the number of volunteers that you have really is the backbone of your organization.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_05: That's the way it is.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_05: And and Anchorage Hockey Association, I would say 95% of our coaches are volunteers.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_05: I say that because some of our, I think we have a comp a couple of comp coaches right now that are not dads on the team, so they're they get paid a stipend, and that's they earn that, they they put in the work.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but everything else, all of our rec program coaches, all of our little dipper C PUP coaches, and I'm talking about programs that we have right now, they're all volunteers.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_05: And so our Mike program alone has 85 different coaches, and so each one of those is like you know, we're trying to build this six to one, four to one, five to one ratio on the ice, and also the coaching education aspect for us has been huge.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_05: So we have coaches symposiums amongst our own organization where we bring in a high, uh, a highly sought-after coach, like a Nick Walters, who formerly was with uh University of Alaska Anchorage with the Wolverines, then kind of just floating around like gun for hire, I'll call him.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_05: You know, we bring him in.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, come talk to our coaches about power play and make it to where it's an environment where those volunteer coaches want to learn.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_05: It's awesome, right?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: Because they all want to get better, they all want to be good at what they're doing, and so um we get a mixture of the coaches that learn to learn to play, and then you get the mixture of the coaches that they grew up playing here, they're former UAA players.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_05: I'd say we you know we've had a we took a hit now that the aces aren't around.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know if you ever heard the Alaska Aces, that was our former ECHL team.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: What's that ECHL team?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and so we were hope like we banked on those guys, like they're stayed here, they played here, they retired, then they then they coach youth teams.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I don't have that anymore, so that kind of sucks.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_05: But um so now we're developing homegrown coaches or getting, you know, like I'm gonna throw a guy out here uh right now in our eight you red program, and our learn to play program is Joey Crab.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_05: Joey Crab played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the best part was my son's on the ice, my 14-year-old son's on the ice helping me, and he's a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_05: And he goes, Dad, that guy's wearing Toronto Maple Leaf gloves.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_05: He's like, Yeah, that's Joey Krabby, he played for him, and he just couldn't even go near him.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_05: It's hilarious, and so and so you have you have a range of guys like that, and then like the dad that we taught how to skate last season with his kid because he wanted to get involved.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So and do those coaches I I gotta ask, now that you've trained them and got them on the ice and got them to a place where they're comfortable and they're coaching.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, does that extend into men's?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: What's the men's league uh look like up there?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yep, that's usually what I see about year two or three with them.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_05: Is then they start.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_05: I'm on you know, I'm they friend me on Facebook and I see them score their first goal or they're playing some adult league game, and yeah, it's it's that I've never heard of a men's league coach pulling up a live bar.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: Never heard of it.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Never heard of it.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, the St.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_05: Louis flag fell.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, there's nothing wrong with that.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: We'll take that.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's fantastic.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you're uh developing uh dads along with the kids, and I love that there's an extension into uh into men's hockey.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's fantastic.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and like a lot of organizations that we've talked to all over the country, uh, that's a common theme, right?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're uh we're we're we're training up uh uh dads and moms that maybe haven't been exposed to the game and putting them in a position to uh to to learn the game and coach.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, here in St.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Louis, where we have uh an NFT that's been here since 1967, not as long as Anchorage is uh that's math, and math is undefeated.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it was amazing to me as I was coaching um my sons, the dads who would some moms too, but mostly dads would be so on their kids, so on their kids.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, you're not you're not doing this, you're not doing that.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: And and mind you, they're great hockey fans, but their exposure to the game is watching the best of the best play it on Twitter, and so our team manager, I'll never forget this.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: My my older son was in uh tenth year.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh manager said just these dads, well, you guys still play?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: And they're like, We can't skate.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: And so by the end of that season, they started with an adult learn to play program that we have here in St.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_03: Louis.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I think about three practices in, they were like, My kid is so good at hockey.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: And and those to those to their credit, uh, a couple of those dads became coaches, and all of them uh are still playing in adult hockey and probably became better hockey parents because of the perspective that that that you know sometimes when when somebody's voluntole to be a coach, they actually get a greater appreciation and greater perspective for the game than somebody who's played it since they were eight years old.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hey Kirk, uh uh tell us a little bit about how uh the opportunities that are available for kids to move on as they grow and develop in the game.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: So as they uh uh get in, uh get out of, I should say, Pee-We and get into the high school ranks, and then potentially uh junior opportunities.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: What's that look like up there?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so we have uh we have a pretty we have a good high school league, and I would say unlike or I guess not unlike not like most programs, we have kind of like a weird dynamic with high school hockey, right?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_05: You have like the Bannams, the the 14-year-olds, the freshmen that they can, you know, they kind of like they're kind of gumby.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_05: Their their C seasons kind of run all year long, and so they kind of dual participate, they play high school and on their comp teams pretty much the entire year.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_05: The 16U and 18U teams they have a little bit heavier schedule when it comes to high school hockey.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_05: So they for the most part, those national bound teams shut down.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_05: Um, this year specifically, the team Alaska kids didn't participate in it.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_05: There's you know, I don't you trust me, you don't want to get into like that dynamic.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_05: That's it is it was what it was, but it gave some of the younger kids an opportunity to be able to participate in high school hockey.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_05: And I got to my son got to do it for the first time this year, which is great.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_05: He's a freshman, so I got to watch him play against 18-year-olds as a 14-year-old, and that's that's a cool dynamic to see, you know, are they either gonna sink or they're gonna swim.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's been that's been good for him and kids like him.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_05: Um, as far as the junior teams go and like how kids get opportunities, we've had plenty of players from our team Alaska teams this year have gotten to play gnall games within you know, amongst the three gnall teams that we have, because we have the Fairbanks Ice Dogs up north, we have the uh Anchorage Wolverines here in town, and then we have the Kenai Brown Bears down three hours away.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_05: So um, and there's been a bunch of different kids that have gotten opportunities to kind of go there.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_05: Each one of those teams has Alaska based kids on it, which is important, right?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_05: Like those, and even our division one program the you the uh Seawolves, they have a bunch of Anchorage and Alaska based kids on their team as well.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_05: So it's important for other kids to see that too, right?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_05: we were talking about you know the rec B kids want to be the rec A kids and and so forth like getting to see those players from Alaska get those opportunities and then how much they you know publicize it that's important because kids kids know that there's an opportunity we do as a state have a huge problem with kids leaving at young ages yeah I think one of my buddies who was looking into it um or Matt Thompson sorry he's the team Alaska director um he was telling me I want to say it's like 40 kids in one birth year it's like 2010s 40 2010s or oh nines are gone and so that's that's huge that's a big number last minute of play in this period let's put a pin in that we've got to pay a couple bills and uh I want to talk a little bit more about that high school dynamic.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: You're talking to two high school coaches here now we've kind of graduated from club and gone over to the high school and seeing that age gap versus those dual birth years or single birth year teams um it's it's it's a challenge but it's also a huge opportunity like you said that leads to some great development.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: So if you can stick around we're gonna pay a couple bills and we will be right back.
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• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right back to the show back with Kirk from Anchorage Association.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can hear the pucks flying in the background Kirk that's a good sound.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yep couple kids stuck around there just training love it love it well so uh one of the things I've heard about your organization and I want to give you an opportunity to kind of feature and spotlight it is I hear that you host one of the largest B level youth hockey tournaments in the country.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_05: Tell our listeners about that and uh where that started and uh all that that's about uh we actually have a couple um our so the Thanksgiving tournament's a pretty big one and then the President's day tournament is massive it's actually spread out over two weekends and it encompasses teams from all over the state Brian Gross is our is our rec rec hockey director and he's an unbelievable person.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_05: Like he the guy has crazy drive and like he's he's one of those people that when you sit across the table from at a director's meeting and say hey Brian how's it going?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: He goes yeah I'm just training for this uh triathlon like when you know brag double brag i i'm tired dude like tired just talking to you right now um so uh yeah I want to say that on average it's well over a hundred teams and it's you know again teams from Delta Toke Healy Fairbanks um Juno like again the entire the entire state of Alaska so and then of course we always have teams that come up from the lower 48 which is great too uh that's fantastic i mean over a hundred teams and the fact that you have to do a president's tournament over two weekends that just shows the uh the the outreach and the interest that you've got that's fantastic how what's your secret to growing the game is it just uh uh what what's the secret to making fun and then uh having those clubs come back and having new clubs want to join uh I mean we just make sure it's the most professional experience we possibly can when it comes to those tournaments right like everything down from you know like how clean the building is we everyone pitches in you know um just because we're there as a tournament director or somebody's just there as as doing clock and store they're walking by and this is um across the entire community they're walking around they're picking up trash kids like oh you know some kid wanders out of a locker room needs his skates tied it's not like hey where's your mom and dad it's like hey kids sit down we'll help you out you know I think I think that type of like community and that type of like uh family environment that we culture I think it just it's infectious and it's good so I think it helps everything grow what and so you're you're you're bringing all of these organizations you know teams from these different organizations in the state I'm assuming probably getting some folks from Washington maybe Idaho Oregon any anybody crossing the border coming up from Vancouver or Calgary or Edmonton or any of those locations in Canada what what's what's uh what and when you're talking about your tier two and tier three teams or tier two and tier one teams what's their radius of of travel and um and this can also lead into some of that that initiative to keep your players in the state uh I mean we track it I think it really depends on the coaches.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_05: So the backtrack we we've had we've had teams up from um from Canada before every now and then we'll get like a white horse team that'll come into we have this uh opening season tournament we call it termination dust so the joke with termination dust is that uh when you look out on the mountains and you see the snow up there summer's been terminated and so that's kind of like winter there's a joke from that show winter is coming that's what it is and termination dust is great for teams that are coming up from the lower 48 because or Canada I keep calling lower 48 that should tell you we're the 49th state I guess so that's kind of like a great time for teams to come up because it's not cold you know it's cheaper to fly up here because tourism season's over and you can still like run around and do a lot of the Alaska touristy stuff without you know the cost.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_05: So that tournament we've had teams from Whitehorse uh Kraken teams uh silver tips um yeah and for us to travel outside I would say there's really no restriction it depends on the coach so I mean uh my pee we team went to Boston this year to play in the MLK showcase and then we've gone to Vegas uh we've gone to you know Dallas I saw some pictures of Tampa on the beach too yep we've had teams go to we had teams go to Florida which is like that's is about as far away as you could travel for hockey and actually funny story I have taken a team I took a Banham team but 2017 we went to Florida's we went to nationals in Florida hosted by the at the Panthers Ice end there.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: And the team that we ended up playing and lost to was the Fairbanks team we just said we battled all season long and then they got an at-large bid we beat them in state we won state and then they got an at-large bid and we lost to them at nationals I had to fly I did fly 9,000 miles to play these jokers come on yeah that happens more often than you think and that's just a testament to Alaska hockey I would say when you're in a a tournament all the way in Florida and the two teams in the final are coming from the 49th state that that just is a huge testament to y'all you know you had mentioned um an initiative to try and you know you know provide opportunity and and keep as many of those homegrown players in Alaska for as long as you can talk a little bit about that and and if there's any connection to your null teams or even to you know Alaska Fairbanks you know what is that relationship like talk a little bit about expand on that uh initiative you were you were hinting at earlier.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_05: Well I think that really relies on Matt Thompson and I like Matt Thompson and I went to the same high school um he's a great dude he's really passionate about hockey and um he was he was a the Anchorage Hockey Association executive director up uh up until last year and then went full time to take over team Alaska and uh he's he's doing a phenomenal job with it and I you know I know he's created relationships with like you know Rob Profit and Mr.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_05: Keel and the Wolverines and and trying to make sure that those kids have that opportunity but I think he's done a great job of fostering an environment that's supportive of those players staying staying here in Alaska and that the testament to that is like the 18U tier one team Alaska team is going to nationals they won they won districts so they'll be there the uh 16U girls they won districts they will be at nationals we have four i was actually had to look it up we had four we have four four co-ed teams or four boys teams excuse me that are going to um compete at nationals and three girls teams so we're getting that presence at the national bound level and I just think that there just needs to be a little bit more buy-in from our hockey community and I think you know because what's crazy is we'll have teams go play in in the lower 48 against top 20 ranked teams and they do well and they don't even have the best players that that are worth you know in that birth year.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_05: So if you had those 40 kids to pick from that are missing because they went to go play outside then you know that is what it is.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna have those kids that have to leave right like I'm sure you saw Carter Morris congratulations Carter Morris just got picked to go to NTDP that kid's got to go but you know we don't need 20 kids behind him to follow him or try to follow him that's the other thing you know you're chasing a lot of folks and this is that every every organization has this every state um you know there's the kids that you know they know you know it's just they have to go whether they're in Michigan Massachusetts Minnesota Tampa or Phoenix or Alaska you know they've got a gift they need to go take advantage of it it's that next tier down where you know it's like gosh why are you chasing there's there's there's a great thing here and you know we have a little bit of that in St.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_03: Louis I and I know it's happens everywhere and it's uh that exact conversation I've had with plenty of coaches and executive directors over a few pops you know how can we create uh uh an environment where kids want to stay and and then some come back you know and that's that's a that's a good thing too I think this kind of goes into a little bit of the parent piece you know talk to us a little bit about like the the culture and the environment with parents you know we're looking to always accentuate the positive but we want to be real and talk a little bit about what are some of the things that the Alaska you know the Anchorage you know association does to promote great parent support and behavior.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_05: Uh you know it's funny that this is coming up too because I have one of those ones that I've gotten some phone calls about him and he's 14 years old about to turn 15 and you're like do you do do we send them do you and and you kind of look around the community and you just go like I don't know if it's the right time like I want to raise my own kid right and so when it comes to the parents we got to surround those kids with other people that are like that.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that when they have that kind of like that family mentality you know or some people like to call it the like the Florida Panthers mentality right the family mentality.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_05: I think that that keep makes it so kids want to stay home.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_05: And then I think as long as we keep pushing with we're fostering good humans that play hockey we're creating good people that play hockey I think we're we're on the right track.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_05: I think that there's always going to be those people that you can't you can't convince them one way or the other right there's like the illusion of there's this pipe dream over here that we got to go try and get behind.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_05: That's the same person that goes to the doctor's office and they go yeah this bone on your x-ray is broken they're like well we're gonna get a second opinion like I don't there's just some of those people you're never going to convince and you just got to let them be and I think if you as a coach when I'm talking to other parents once you try and give them that opinion and you say hey I think this is the best thing for your kid and they kind of go nah we're gonna we're gonna entertain this idea well I'm gonna move on to the the parent that wants me to be involved that wants to take my advice that wants right that that wants the time and effort that's the same even with a kid right like you know it's hard to like coach the one kid who doesn't want to be coach or can't be coached.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_05: You go and you focus time on the kid that's receptive and the kid that you think is coachable.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_05: Like that's just pattern of life and sometimes that's hard to fight it's easier to fight with the parents because you just whatever all right good luck sorry hey Kirk you mentioned earlier about having uh some national bound girls team talk a little bit about girls youth hockey and do girls and boys start together and then ultimately the girls get their own teams at a certain age what's that look like yeah uh so we've we kind of had this initiative like four or five years ago um I'm trying to think I'm looking up like like something written on the wall but um we felt like it was necessary for to grow girls hockey in Anchorage right and so we like Anchorage Hockey Association has become kind of like the premier girls program.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_05: We have girls specific skates once a month right that are just a time for girls to get together.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_05: And we found a couple things one girls want to play with other girls and two up through eight you they should play with boys too like so there should be we we just have co-ed teams all the way up through boys.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_03: We do do special stuff we have we actually have a tournament called the ponytail tournament that happens once a year in April and it's only girls and it runs from eight you all the way up to 16 you um and then we kind of start actually this upcoming season is there the first season we may entertain having a girls only team at um a birth year other than or an age division other than national bound other than that girls go play girls hockey at 14U right when you have girls national bound teams um we and we do that at the the comp and rec levels so yeah we you know drew and i over the past couple years um we have had the privilege in in of coaching some girls on our high school teams um and we're really really good friends with a tier two uh coach her names rachel bartlett and she is in that um once the girls hit 13 you 14 you um we have we have a couple of really good options here in St.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_03: Louis but what I've found is you know they girls tend to mature physically faster than boys so even through 12 you know as we've coached co-ed teams some of our best players um or our most our our most competitive players at that you know 10 11 12 year old were we're the girls and then we've got a we had a chance to coach three girls on our on our JV hockey team at at high school and there's some of the most they they relish the opportunity to go out there and play with the boys and show what they can do.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_03: And um when we sat down with Rachel she says it best she says girls need to feel good to play well boys feel good when they play well and so there's this it's it's just another thing as a coach as you go through this journey of being a hockey coach or any or really you know uh a mentor whether it's hockey or football baseball or math or what have you learning how to communicate with all the different types of of of people out there whether they're boys or girls or what have you that's been just a gift I think at least for me as a coach and it sounds like you guys have uh you've you've got a great program that you're looking to expand on I can't I I think that's got I think it's just awesome.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_05: We actually have a spring um girls program we call the the Alaska Firebirds Alaska Firebirds started you know a long time ago and then it kind of died off as an organization and then we just brought it back underneath the Anchorage Hockey Association as like as the kind of like Alaska Spring Girls program.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_05: And so we have all these teams that are going to go play in Chicago at the Chi Town Shuffle and I'm I'll actually be there coaching the 14U girls team and it's the only time of year I ever coached like just an all girls team but and it's coaches and players from all over the state and it's really cool to see how competitive and how good the girls are.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_05: But yeah I agree with you like there's it's it's awesome to have them in that environment I feel like um over the years that I've had girls at like the 12U major level or last year or 12 you level they've just been unbelievably coachable and it's funny to watch them go in the corner and be like there's no way this boy's gonna last minute of play in this period well uh we'll definitely see you up in uh one more bill so if you've got a few minutes to give us uh we've got to pay one more bill and we'll be back in about uh two three minutes Kirk it's been great and we'll be right back this segment of Too Many Men on the Mic is brought to you by Big Fair Tournaments.
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• 40:46
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• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you to Big Bear for sp sponsoring Too Many Men on the Mike we are back with Kirk with the Anchorage Youth Hockey Association.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_05: Kirk we've been talking about Alaska youth hockey and boys and girls a great tournament fantastic President's day tournament that you shared with us tell us a little bit about you where did you start your hockey journey and uh what were some of your sops along the way so I have a weird journey in a sense of uh I mean I'm typical Alaska kid like group like playing played hockey growing up never you know I I came from a poor family uh my brother my younger brother significantly better than me way like just pure natural talent he always got to play on the better teams um and so like you know recognizing I wasn't gonna go anywhere with hockey I went straight into the Marines out of high school um thank you thank you for your service yeah I mean that's that's I'm sure that's that's molded a lot so tell us about that it did it was great uh you know like I went in uh leadership wise it was I was a natural so I got meritories promoted every rank and just was a like I could have could have gone 20 years no problem but uh I hit um I finished up as a close quarters battle instructor chief at in in uh Chesapeake Virginia and by the time I was there I'd kind of gone through a couple deployments you know kid was born 10 days later out to Afghanistan normal story and um I'd come back from another training event and my wife was just like I'm done with this I don't want to do this anymore and I was like okay I don't want to be a statistic so I'll make you a deal if we can move back to Alaska um and I can coach hockey I'll get out done sure enough we you know find myself back in Alaska in 2014 and there you go all people I find Barrett I run and learn to skate at the diamond center and I'm like hey how do I get involved and he goes can you skate and I was like I used to and so then I was that dad that we'd kind of joked about earlier like I was like you know I've learned it from Barrett Heist and we got drafted in the by in the NHL and so from there my uh journey kind of just took off with coaching I just I learned a lot underneath him and kind of grew and became like the learned escape director learned to play director and then I was the eight and under director and now I'm kind of like the eight and under director but it's like a like a full time thing.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_05: I you know like just kind of not not what I expected to be doing after what I was doing in the Marines by any means whatsoever.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_05: But um it was it was cool and I thankfully I have a good like we are like I married up.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_05: I got a strong wife so that's she's been my backbone throughout this entire journey and um given got got to be around my kids for you know all their stuff which is great too.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well I mean Having I I'm my father was in the military, my grandfather was a Marine as well.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I imagine that you were probably you know on cruises for six months at a time at certain times, and you were probably stationed.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_03: Were you overseas at all, or were you all just stationed here in the United States?
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan a few times.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I well, thank you so much for that.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta imagine that you know those life lessons, you know, are informing you, but I also gotta figure putting those boards up for eight you and having to control some of those eight you kids is probably a challenge as well.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean, you know, so they probably have an AU ODR.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm sure I would.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_03: I hope you guys do guys have ODRs for for the organization, or are they just like you said in your backyard?
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_05: Uh we have no, we don't have any rinks that we own as an organization.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but there's just there's so many around, and they're they're so well maintained that you know you can pretty much go skate wherever you want.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_05: And I'd say, you know, that's probably one thing about Alaskan kids that's you can't replicate anywhere else, is it could be negative 15, right?
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_05: They're just out there ripping, playing, you know, 15 on 15 at the community rink and whatnot.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_05: And it's it's a true testament.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, Scotty Gomez, that that where he where he grew up playing outside, it's a it's a huge story, and it's yeah, really is like identifies Alaska.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and and I you know, in Alaska, you know, you can't say you gotta come home when the street lights come on because in the winter time they're always on, so you know it's uh it's just such a unique and beautiful state, and I I just I'm so impressed with just having played against an Alaska team, you know, at nationals, and then just that story you were telling about where you guys in Fairbanks you know flew all that way to end up playing each other in a championship game down in Florida.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, talk a little bit about your like, you know, you were the ADM, you know, uh director for for Alaska.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_03: What's your interaction with USA hockey like?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: We have a monthly spot where Bob Mancini and his and folks from his team come onto our podcast and talk about all these different topics of what makes the game great and how we can make it greater.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_03: What are some of those things and some of those initiatives on the horizon that you're trying to do or that you're being you're a part of, you know, to continue to you know grow this game?
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, 700 kids in your program.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_03: I imagine you want to get to a thousand.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: So talk a little bit about that.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I mean, I wish we could take better advantage of like the tri hockey for free day.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I mean, it's kind of for us specifically, it's it's kind of just in a in a bad spot in our season or the way we're structured up here.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_05: But I think USA hockey is doing a great job of incentivizing people to to get in the game.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_05: Um, it'd be it'd be nice, like I said, I think that's the biggest one that we need to take more advantage of.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, Pacific Districts was just up here, and so we had quite a few USA hockey reps that were up here running around, making getting to see all the ranks and getting to see everything, how everything was running.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_05: And so it was good to get all that input from them as well.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's fantastic.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Bob Ancini is uh uh all about fun.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you how do you keep things light?
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you got kids that want to uh uh we talked about it earlier that want to follow kids maybe that are leaving the state, um, uh and uh want to keep up and want to move to the next level, but how do you take the air out of that and just keep fun?
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: What what do you do to make practices fun that you're around?
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_05: Uh can we backtrack a little bit and talk about that?
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_05: So Bob Mancini specifically.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_03: Bob Bob was our what Bob was one of our very first guests.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I don't even know if Bob would remember this, but so I'm I I got asked to be the ADM guy for USA Hockey for Alaska by Daryl Thompson, and I love Daryl.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_05: Daryl's a great guy, he's the president of Alaska State Hockey Association right now.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_05: And uh Daryl goes, hey Kirk, we're gonna send you to the uh the NARS.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_05: I'm like North Aries, whatever.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_05: Go to you're gonna go to Columbus and you're gonna go to class for five days and whatnot, and you're gonna and you're gonna learn about how to be a hockey director.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, cool, I'm down, whatever.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_05: So we fly there, but mind you, I'm like two or three years out of the Marines, phenomenal shape, right?
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_05: I used to be able to just go like whatever, eat nails, uh, could run forever.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_05: I was really strong, the whole nine yards, feel like I was in incredible shape.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_05: We're going through all this stuff, and I'm like old school hockey, right?
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_05: And they're like, Oh, yeah, we're gonna do all these station-based stuff.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_05: I'm like, what do you mean?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_05: You're gonna play the game in a quarter sheet of the ice, you're gonna do you're gonna what do you mean small area game?
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_05: No, well, we gotta do breakouts and like all this other stuff, right?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_05: I was old school, and so they put us on the ice as a as like a class, and we were the we were the students, we were the tenu players for this station-based practice they were gonna run.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_05: Dude, I was gassed in 15 minutes.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_05: And you had full grown men playing two-on-two games with ringettes and tires in the corner, and I'm looking at one of the other guys from Alaska, I'm like, Did you bring a wire ball?
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_05: So so and then, and of course, Bob Mancini's there and he's running stuff, and so I got to look up to Bob and kind of like, and and I got to tell him the story about how like I was a physical specimen, and I was I was just so tired, I was gassed.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know how to say describe it.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_05: Bob's there with his marker drawn on the ice, telling us to do stuff, and I was just like, Oh man, I can't wait to get out of here and drink a beer and just relax because my legs are gonna hurt.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_05: Just yeah.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Bob will drink a beer with you for too for sure.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_03: Bob's just a phenomenal, you know.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_03: We we had the pleasure of talking to Bob, and and I got to see him in person and and chat with him in Columbus at level five this year.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_03: You know, he will tell you the story about as he was helping to really champion the ADM, and he's from Michigan, uh, as am I, and you talk about old school hockey, like I call it table hockey.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's it's you stay in your lane, you're up and down the ice, and you know, you know, let's work a breakout 16 different times and make a 60-foot pass.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um and he'll he says like he had friends who didn't want to be associated with him, and he was getting hate mail, and then all of a sudden, you know, you had mentioned the NTDP, we start getting kids that are developing, and and it's just we see it the kids now who are playing B-level hockey are better than the kids who were playing A-level hockey 15 years ago, they're more skilled, and their their idea of how to play the game, it's just a lot more fun.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I love hearing those stories from different coaches and and directors around the country like yourself.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, Bob tells us this story where you know an okay coach will see his kids doing snow angels on the ice, and he'll be like, hey, stop doing that.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: A good coach will go over there and say, hey, those are great snow angels, but a great coach will just get on the ice and start doing snow angels with the kid.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_03: And um, it sounds like you are are fitting that mold and trying to build that up in Alaska.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_03: And and my hat's off to you, man.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_03: It just sounds like you're having a blast up there.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm I'm so happy for you, and I'm more important than I'm happy for those kids.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, as a tradition, whenever we have a coach or a director on, um, and this is everybody from USA hockey directors who are giving us you know these these great drills um to to mic coaches, we ask them if you want a whiteboard and and if you've got a drill for us.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_03: So if you've got about another you know five minutes here, uh, I'll pull up a virtual whiteboard and we'll pull up uh you know Coach Coach Kulberg's uh play of the play of the or drill of the week.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_03: Is that sound like a good idea?
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, sure.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_04: Cool.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_03: Let's let's do that.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_03: Make sure you can see my screen.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so the floor is yours, Senator.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: Tell me what to do and where to put it.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I mean, so in traditional fashion, I'm a big game guy.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and when you ask me, like what I you know, how do I keep it fun?
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_05: Is like I like to play games that I want to play.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_05: And I figure, and I'm I figure I'm at the same maturity level as about a squirt or a pee-wee.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_05: And so then White's kind of like it too.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so I'd say we're just gonna use one end of the zone there.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_05: We're gonna put two nets back to back right in between the hash marks.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, kind of so two nets back to back between the hash marks.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna say like right here.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, perfect.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then we'll and by the way, this is uh drift hockey, which is drifthockey.com.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's a great app that not only allows you to whiteboard, but you can really it combines uh IHS, uh Team Snap, Huddle all in one spot.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's a great tool that we started using this year.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_05: As I said, I like that.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_05: That's that's that's slick.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'll show you.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_03: We got a whole library.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: So we got we got nets like that.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_05: Perfect.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, now I take uh three players from me on each team and kind of make myself a little umbrella on each each side.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, um, so let's go blue and red.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_03: And so when you're I'm gonna go blue players first, umbrella on this side, uh spread it out like from here to above top.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, perfect, and then put one up top center, right above the hash mark, bam, and one on the other side.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, perfect.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then I do that okay, with players too, other side, different colors, yes, sir.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_05: All right, cool, and then we add in we add in two more players from each team, and those are kind of like our rovers.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_03: So they can kind of like go right here.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and we just we don't say that these kids are necessarily stuck here.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_05: Um this is a power play game I like to play.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_05: You can kind of you can run two on two either way, and then you gotta leave three players in the offensive zone and those players can switch out back and forth.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_03: So let's go let's call these guys.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's these guys right here, these two guys can go anywhere.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_05: Good.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_05: What's next?
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_05: Where's our box?
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_05: I just put a pile of pox on the blue line with a coat.
• 54:46
  unknown: Okay.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't add enough enough rover players.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_05: You get two rover players per team.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_03: We we we we got we got plenty of guys we can throw in there.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_03: Here's another guy.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_04: And here's another guy.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_04: We'll let them kinda be our rovers.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_04: And I'll read.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_04: Perfect.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_05: Okay?
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_05: And so now what I do with this kind of setup is I can manipulate, you know, however, whatever the lesson I want to teach them.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_05: So let's just say I want like switches are the next thing, right?
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_05: We have goalies.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yes, sir.
• 55:28
  unknown: Gotcha.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_03: And red goalies on this side, blue goalies on that side.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_05: Blue goalies shoot, blue shoots at the red goalie.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, perfect.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_03: And so you're playing two on two with with uh support on the outside for both sides.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yep, and then I just progress progress rules.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, sometimes I'll grab a kid from one team and just take him out, so it's a five on it ends up being a five on four.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um, they can they can run across the line however they want as long as they leave their three players behind or whoever.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and then shots have to be initiated from one-timers or whatever.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_05: So we play we have so many different variations of rules we play with this game that it just depends on what we want to teach that day.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_05: One of my favorite ones, like I said, is switches.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_05: So kid carries the puck into his offensive zone, and they can't shoot the puck until he switches with one of the defenders or one of the one of the umbrella players.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_03: Gotcha.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_03: So it's almost like a scissor play.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and so now that now where the hockey IQ piece comes into play or on the on the um transition game, is now that kid who he switched, so now he's got to go play D as the game transitions it back into this their the other offensive zone.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this feels like something we're gonna be running Friday.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_03: We got we have practice on not only we we have a podcast together, we coach together, we're in a band together.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_03: So perfect.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_03: We have practice Friday.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, we we got our we got our Fridays and Thursdays figured out.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_03: So there you go.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what do you call this drill?
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_03: We want to make sure we're naming it correctly here for you.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_05: I think we should come up with a name.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_05: I just call it the weird, I just call it the power play game.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_05: But we should come up with a new name for it right now, and it's christened that forever.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_03: Well, ooh, I like it.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_03: I like it.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_03: How about we well, let's give it the uh too many men progression?
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_03: I like too many men progression.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_03: Kulberg's too many.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_03: Kulberg's too many men.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_03: Kulberg's too many men.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_03: You got two on two.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_03: There's too many men on one side.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think I think we gotta we gotta call it Kulberg's too many men.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll I'll come back in and I'll put out some of the descriptions and some of the tags we got here.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_03: It feels like we've got uh you know, we've got support, we've got hockey IQ.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_03: What else would we call what else we want to throw in there?
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely got uh um I mean are you are you dumping a punk puck in so that the rovers can compete?
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: So we've got compete.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_05: Um and I've I've actually ran this with eight you players before.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we're gonna run this.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's fun.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I love it.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_03: Kulberg's too many men.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_03: We're I'm saving it right now.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna put it in the library, and this will be on our website.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'll clean it up a little bit.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, if you ever want drills, give us uh give us a holler.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_03: We've got we've got tons.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_03: And uh all of our drills are focused in on having fun.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's the biggest thing.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_03: Having fun because our biggest job is I is making make sure they're coming back next year.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's the biggest thing.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_03: So well, Kirk, we can't thank you enough for joining us tonight.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um man, I I feel like uh I feel like I gotta get up to Alaska and get get to this tournament and uh maybe help run a couple practices up there.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_03: So I've again so I hope you had a lot of fun tonight.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_03: I know I had a blast talking to you.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thanks for coach.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think?
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us and sharing all the great things going on in Alaska.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's been fantastic.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_05: I really appreciate you guys having me.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_05: And like I said, it's an honor to be a part of the podcast and wish you guys the best of luck.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_05: If you ever want to, you know, come up here, you let me know.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_05: We'll make sure you get taken care of.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, do us a favor, man.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_03: Share it with your folks in your organization.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_03: Please subscribe to our our channel and uh check out our website, too many men on the mic.com.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_03: We've got a lot of content out there, all of our episodes you can download.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then some other you know, tons of drills that um, you know, we're we're getting from some of the best coaching minds in the country.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, we're thiefs, and that's the best way to be a coach is to take great ideas from all everybody else.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_05: So it's no one's come up with anything new, they're just changing a name or one piece.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: All right, Kirk.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_03: Have a great rest of the evening and uh good luck the rest of the year and good luck to your uh natty bound teams.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_05: Wonderful.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you, gentlemen.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Kirk.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: Take care.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was a good one, man.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: That was.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, I I like it.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_00: We coined the drill that didn't have a name.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've got an opportunity to mess around with it and practice.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: We've learned about Alaska youth hockey.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh amazing that uh kids in Alaska also are looking to go somewhere else, but it seems to me like they've got a really good culture there.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so much so that they've got hundreds of teams that are coming to their youth hockey tournament.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: So uh uh great stuff.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and I just think it it's amazing to me that you know you've got a D1 program up there, you've got three null teams.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I still just go back how how how cool is it that the two teams go to Florida to play in nationals and end up playing each other.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, just just uh a testament.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I loved Kirk's story at the end there.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_03: I think that uh a lot of a lot of hockey folks, whether you're your moms or dads and coaches can relate to that, and he just has a great background that I think just gives him this unique uh unique opportunity to to really help these kids be great humans.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's two weeks in a row where the foundation is great humans playing hockey.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I I just you know that just I think USA hockey's in great hands, not you know, Olympics notwithstanding, but it's it's guys like Kirk and organizations like Anchorage that uh that make it go.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he had a good Bob Mancini story.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's great that the fun is spread and spread all the way to Alaska.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we uh we're gonna step away here and uh after some technical difficulties in our in our new digs, we're excited to be hosting the show on a weekly basis.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_03: Again, find us on uh YouTube.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_03: Please like and subscribe.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um head over to uh the uh if you're on YouTube right now, please um you know share this with friends.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um and go check out our Instagram page, too many men too many men podcast.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's the word TWO.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um coach, I think we shot, I think we scored heck of a heck of a heck of a game today, and uh we'll see you guys all next week.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_07: See you next week.