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Is chasing AAA hockey actually helping your child develop? · 2 Many Men On The Mic

• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Too many men on the mic.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Presented by advantage credit and that would be now LP production.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now we'll see.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I gotta say, uh uh it's been a fantastic day uh for a lot of reasons.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm on the backside of a weekend uh with my daughter in Boulder, which was fantastic.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: She's crushing life as a teen year in college.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: And uh got to see her boyfriend's band play.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: He plays in a funk band and also a rock band, so I got a twofer out there.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: I've been watching hockey scores and hockey games this week.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: And we're playing a gig tonight.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, life is going pretty good.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_09: Well, I'm on the backside of my son traveling home for the first time from uh the University of Tennessee.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_09: Go vals.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_09: Um, yes, he basically slept the entire uh weekend and into into today.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he bring all his sturdy laundry home.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_09: Uh yes, I think our water bill uh was exponentially gonna be higher in the month of October because we uh I don't know how he got it all on the pl on the plane, right?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: Right, you gotta carry lug lug that all the way if mom's doing it, yeah.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: You're willing to do it.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_09: Uh what a what a hockey weekend that we're coming off of and the hockey weekend we're going into.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, you know, the NHL is in full swing.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_09: Some teams, I'm not gonna mention any names, but some teams are uh performing not so well.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_09: Maybe if they had a general manager, take that interim tag.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_09: Um other teams are just you know are flying high, and other teams are just deciding it's 1983 and we're just gonna score 50 goals in three games.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Can we just talk for uh uh Scoche here?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's my biggest big word today is uh just for a Scoche uh about uh Ty Bauer.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: Have you seen this guy that plays for Vancouver?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, who's a throwback?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: I I love it.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, we've had guys like this like Armand.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_09: No, not but not Vancouver, Winnipeg, yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: Winnipeg.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_09: One of those hey, we're we're talking to the USA hockey godfather today.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_09: So as far as we're concerned, that's the second coming, second country of hockey up there.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_09: So yeah, I mean, yeah, you know, you every once in a while you get these guys that you know, the the Keith Kachuk's, the John Leclerc style of play.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_09: Um, shout out Keith Kachuk, John Leclerc, World Cup 1996.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_09: Um, and for uh recent you uh hockey hall of fame in Duck D, Keith Kachuk, um, Obi Clarks.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_09: Um but these guys are fun to watch, and you know as skilled as this game has gotten it, and I love the skill, you know I love a good skill game.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_09: There's something to be said about the physicality separating you know man from puck and and playing game playing games hard so that when people look up and see your number out, they're like, uh send that send get get the third line out there.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: Two games, two fights, and uh uh took Colasar down, who's not a small man.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_09: Well, you know, I wasn't gonna mention the game that you were talking about.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_09: Sorry, but yes, that that team that wears red and white.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_09: Um well again, this is the time we've been building up to this month.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_09: Last week we were like October's the best time of the year, and what a great way for us to to really kick the season off by um bringing the the really the guy who helps get our podcast rolling downhill.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: The Godfather of fun, godfather of the master of fun.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you choose the title.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, Godfather sounds but sounds better to me.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: And uh this is uh uh what's great about Bob is uh he always brings it back to look, it's gotta be fun.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so what a pleasure to have him back on the episode this week.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I can't wait to dig into it.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: There you are.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_09: Bob Mancini of USA Hockey.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_09: There he is, there he is.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_09: He's not traveling through Canada this time where they were like hijacking his Wi-Fi.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and and you know what?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like my travels through Canada doesn't happen very often.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that was such an odd, an odd thing.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I did you really say that I started this podcast going downhill?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_09: Starting down rolling rolling downhill.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_09: It was uh you know, we we were like, who could we get on the show to really kick us off?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_09: It's been you've been a tough act to follow.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_09: I think I think Pooch Pooch was almost a good, you know, was close.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_09: Um Jablonic was good.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, but but it was a great way to start the uh the the podcast, uh starting it with fun, right?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: We got to remember why we love this game, why we come to the rink, and it's because it is a fun game to play.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we talk about it frequently.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_09: So I just gotta start off.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_09: Bob, what have we been up to at USA hockey?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, I know, right?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Just such an incredible thing.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, one of the things we talk about, uh lifetime, once in a lifetime experience.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, maybe not.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully it ends up being twice in a lifetime experience for for so many of us, or even more.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, you know, and I say we, I say obviously we had a pretty good year and you know, wink wink, and it was just fantastic.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: But what a what a way to celebrate what is youth hockey and what is USA hockey and what's hockey in the United States.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you look at all three of our Olympic teams, right, we can't ever forget every single one of those players started somewhere in youth hockey.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Started at six you, right?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Eight you learned well, good.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad to hear that because me too.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And and learn to play.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody, some coach in a association somewhere at the grassroots level, made it fun and created passion for these players who now performed on the world's biggest stage.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, we are so still in a way celebrating what great things happened to USA hockey, but it's all of us, right?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's every mom and every dad and every sister and brother and everybody coaches and referees and everybody who who made this possible.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, somebody made it fun along the way that that every single one of these players still loves the game and want to contribute back.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, it's a you know, it all comes back to that.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It really does.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_09: You know, Bob, I like it, it's just I remember the the coolest thing about it is waking up, you know, both of my boys, you know, you know, joining me as we watch this game.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_09: And then to go to overtime.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_09: And you know, I can tell you, I'll never forget who's on the ice for us.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_09: It was Hellebuck, Larkin, Rensky, and Jack Hughes.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, what uh I mean, it you know, they're all four from Michigan.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: I knew, I knew that was the setup, Bob.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_03: I knew he was gonna tie it back into Michigan somehow.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_09: All right, all right, all right, all right, all right.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_09: Um, but well, Bob, uh again, like just an awesome, awesome year.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_09: But as we look ahead to 26-27, I mean, it's been a bit you guys haven't nobody at USA hockey is is taking a break.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_09: And the big initiative, and we talked about it about you know six six weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago, was the was the National Development League.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_09: And um, you know, oddly enough, parents and coaches and players all have opinions about it.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_09: And it's and it's you know, it's I don't know if it's quite what it was.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_09: You would know better than us when the ADM was first introduced, but this is a change, and it's and it's an impactful change.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_09: And we'd love for you to kind of you know set the ground rules about the philosophy and what the end what the NDL is gonna be, and then how this you know is evolving.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_09: What what you know, I have a feeling that in 10 years we're gonna look back at USA hockey and say this is maybe the best thing we've ever done.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_09: But um, I'd love to hear the thoughts behind it and and from your standpoint, you know, where do we go from here?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_09: Why, why, why are we doing this now?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I I appreciate the question, and I think um, you know, it is the next logical step, right?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think to answer the question, we have to look back a little bit, right?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: So let's look back to 1996 when we USA hockey had had the wherewithal the foresight to say we need to start the national team development program, and the reasons behind that, and the reasons behind it were very clear.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: We had some very good players in the United States, but we had a small number of very good players.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I when I say very good, I'm talking the top, top half percent, the top 1%, right?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And but we were having no success on the international stage, and we were having little success in the NHL and and and at the very highest levels of the game.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we knew we had to train our top players better.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: We knew we had to put something to make sure that our very, very top players was getting the were getting the direction and the training they needed.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that made sense, right?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that was a big step.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now you fast forward 13 years, and USA hockey is now asking the question, okay, what's next?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: What's next along the player development timeline?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: What's next for the for the American player?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it was clear that while the numbers at the top were growing and the and the NTDP was having some some very good success in very good years, the only way for us as a national governing body was to get to the next level was to increase the base, increase participation, increase fun, enjoyment, retention, make everybody understand youth hockey is the greatest game in the world.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get your kids into it.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't know what the potential is of every boy or girl who joins youth hockey.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know where they're going.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: But let's put together a program where we give the opportunity for every boy or girl to fulfill their potential.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the ADM.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the ADM had some challenges, had some bumps, right?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right away, everybody looked at it and said, well, the ADM is just this, or it's just cross-ice hockey, or it's just for the recreational player.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And what people missed was this idea that the ADM is actually high performance development at every age.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: So at eight and under, we know high performance development in small areas is cross-ice hockey, is the lighter puck, is all these things that are good for five, six, seven, and eight-year-olds.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: But that high performance philosophy for eight and under looks very different than it does at 12, 14, and 16.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the ADM at that time was the next logical step in the overall picture of player development.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now you go from 2009, you go to 2026, and now we're saying, because you know, you mentioned the three gold medals, that's great, but we can't rest on our laurels and we can't say, hey, we won three gold medals.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's good, we're good, we're out, you know, uh in Vegas, right?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Show your hands, I'm good, I'm done.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm off, right?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: What is the last thing we have to do to make the development pathway even better?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: What is it we have to do to make it redefined?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we realized that in a way, the game at the top level of youth hockey was broken.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And what could we do to fix it, right?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: We have too many tier one teams, we have too many labels of what it has, we have no defined pathway for players or for parents and players to know what is the next step.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we need to have players playing at the level that is good for them.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because what we got into was this arms race of everybody got to be at this level and everybody got to be there.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of parents and players saying, this is where I belong, and I can develop at this level, and then my aspiration is to get to the next level, and I'm gonna do everything right, right?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was, oh no, no, no, I just got to play at this level because they have the best moniker, and that's gonna make me a good player.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: But we know that's not true, right?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: We know being at a level where all you're doing is chasing the puck around doesn't make you better.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: What we had to do is redefine that pathway.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: We need to have players playing with players of likability, we need to have them practicing with players of likability, we need to have them competing at players of likability.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, in that redefinition of the pathway, we need to have multiple entries and exits at the highest level.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why, you know, people say, well, what's going to happen to tier one?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: I believe tier one is gonna be as strong as ever.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: I believe, in fact, the good tier one clubs, the clubs out there who want to be good partners with USA hockey, they will have a very, very important part in player development.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, and this was done on purpose, right?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: This was very, very well thought out, is that you have 14U, 16U, and 18U.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: But the development league, the DL, is 15U and 17U, because we all know that development, player development is not linear, it's not a ladder of development.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: It takes many, many paths, goes in many, many directions.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: So you may be on where you may be at the top of your game and the top of your age group and the top of all the players around you.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next year, maybe you're not.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: These players over here pass you, and then you have to redefine who you are as a player.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: You have to put more work in the weight room, you have to put more work in on the ice, you have to do what's right.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the reason we have the DL at 15U and 17U, and the reason tier one is so important at 14, 16, and 18 is so we have that player development continuum, and players stay in a good development system, tier one and the DL, and they don't, they're not fooled by monikers, but rather a defined pathway.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing, if I may, and I and I know we can laugh about you guys ask one question and we're done for the night.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: But the the other thing the DL does is it helps fixes the tier one environment without causing consternation in our districts like Minnesota, our affiliates like Minnesota, who have a great model in their high school model.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: In Massachusetts and New England, they have a great model in prep school model.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: So when you look at the DL, you look at the teams that were invited, you look at everything else, what's really happening here is we want multiple pathways for as many players as possible to find their own road and fulfill their potential.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's true at tier two, that's true at tier one, and certainly it's going to be true at the DL.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: Bob, I've heard you say moniker twice, and uh, I don't won't want to put words in your mouth, but uh I Jared and I have both experienced this, as lots of coaches have, uh, with kids that played hockey or that play hockey.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you'll see kids leave town, leave their hometown, and uh pursue a team maybe across the country, uh because they think that is uh the next step.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's the place that I need to go.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: And so does the DL, in your opinion, help kind of um keep kids in their in their home area?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: Is there a component of that too?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: There is, and it's a very important component, and it's a component that we looked at in conjunction with our affiliate presidents and with our affiliates, right?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So tier one hockey has a very, very structured and defined residency program, right?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's more structured and more defined and more strict than the DL, but the DL is limited to right around two percent.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So what we're saying is there may be a really, really good player in some far-off program that needs to leave because he is the top one percent, and where he lives, they don't have programming that would be good for him, right?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: But everybody else below that that really isn't at that top, top level.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: We have programming in your home area, we have tier one in your home area that you need to play there and develop so then you get to that next level.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that when I talk about redefining, it's not just hey, redefine, we're adding the DL.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's about putting players in a situation where they can get better, they're playing against players of like ability, and they could develop.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you hit it right on the head.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's a really, really important part of why this makes sense.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just the DL, but it's the redefining of what is tier one, too.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: And our affiliate presidents and our affiliates across the nation have done a really good job of saying we want to elevate tier one hockey and we want to develop homegrown talent.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why that's there.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_09: You know, we we we talk about all hockey on this, and and we've had high-level players that we've coached and raised.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_09: Um, but we want to always focus back on that 90%.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_09: And one of the things that I've read about the DL that I'm really, really um excited about and hope that hopeful that this is something that begins to permeate all of hockey.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_09: There's a word permeate, permeate, that's a big word, other than monica.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_09: Is yeah, it um is the is the percentage of games versus practice versus um, I think there was they broke it down like you I think you're playing like 40 games only or somewhere in that neighborhood.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_09: And there's a lot of practice, and then there is a lot of you know, whether it's film study, nutrition, um, you know, healthy mind, healthy body aspect of this.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_09: Whereas we've both had sons who have played upwards of 80 games in a year as a 16, 17, 18-year-old.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_09: So talk a little bit about that.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_09: And is there a component of the DL that will have a tangible downstream effect on not just the top tier two teams, but like your A level, B level, and even the C level.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_09: What's the vision with that?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope so.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so glad you brought this up because I'm gonna share with you the biggest mistake we made when we launched the ADM, right?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_09: And giving everybody your home address.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and phone number, yeah.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um no, we we we decided because we weren't sure how to deliver it from the top down, we decided to start at the very bottom at 6U8U and move up.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And what we didn't count on was the fact that in the environment around parents look at the top of youth hockey and say, well, if they're doing it, that's what we have to do.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So now we take all the lessons we learned.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me, that was just one of the mistakes we made, but we take all the lessons we learned and we say, okay, we're gonna put together this DL and we're gonna work with partners, partner programs in the DL, and talk about it being player-centered and um uh um, well, player-centered, and then what's right for development.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we know 80 games isn't right, we know that.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: So now we have a limited number of games on the DL of 50.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh a suggested number of practices, we have all of these things that is just about development.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: One game a day was a really, really important one.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because let's think about when your kids were playing and you went on the five game weekends.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Brutal.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Brutal.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: And look back and say, of five games, how many games did your son actually perform at the level that he should have?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: At the level that made him a better player.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, this is our partners, our partner DL team saying, hey, you're right.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: One game a day.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then what are you going to do with that rest of the time?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because that question was asked, oh, one game a day, what are the players and coaches going to do?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: What a waste of money.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's development.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: How about having individual player meetings?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: How about having video with your defense core?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Video with your forwards.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: How about teaching your kids how to watch video on their own so they become better players, right?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you want to coach our top players, then coach our top players.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's more than just standing behind the bench.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: Bob, what are you doing next weekend or this weekend?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: And do you want to come to a tournament in Chicago?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I do miss getting behind a bench in youth hockey.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_09: And I don't think we need to check your safe sport.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_09: So you can come and you can get behind Ledou's bench anytime.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_09: There you go.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_09: You can get the next, I think the next one's yeah.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: So uh what about uh uh what what about junior hockey?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so hang on one second because I want to finish this.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Did you know you guys have your name switched on the thing?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_09: Is we're on the wrong side?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you are.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but anyway, but anyway, um I I want to finish this by saying this.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: When people ask me what is the biggest impact of the NTDP, right?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, draft choices, number of NHL players, all that.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest impact is that the national team development program created a standard, and that rising tide made everybody around them at that age grit level raise their programming.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: So your real question was how is the DL going to affect that?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what's gonna happen.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know what?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: I hope tier one programs start looking around and saying, hey, if they can do it, why can't we play one game a day?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't we have 20-minute periods?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't I coach my players all weekend on and off the ice?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: That'll feel more ice.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me for interrupting, but I thought that was an important part there.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, I love it.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_03: That's perfect.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's fantastic.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh, are there elements you think how do you think the DL will impact uh junior, uh the junior levels?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we we hope that we now produce more and more players to fill up our American junior partner teams, right?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: The USHL, our tier one partner, the North American League, our tier two partner.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like our goal is to produce more better American players.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if the DL does that, and I shouldn't say if because I'm very confident the DL is going to do that, now we're going to be able to fill our domestic junior teams with more Americans and better Americans.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_09: So, so a common thing that we've heard around the rinks, a common refrain, is that this is going, I mean, kids are going to start, parents are still gonna shop.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_09: You know, right now you talked about it earlier.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_09: Sometimes you have kids that don't make their local team and they they go to other, not because they don't have a program nearby, but they go and they play for I don't want to say substandard tier one programs or for junior programs ahead of time, but they they're looking for a team.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_09: People are saying, well, if there's only going to be 32 teams or 40 teams, are is that just gonna cause a guy from California to just kind of hop from rink to rink to rink across the country?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_09: You know, what are some of the safeguards and guardrails that USA hockey's putting in so that kids, kids, and parents don't get taken advantage of by you know some of the outside influences that start to creep in when you start hitting 14, 15, 16 U hockey?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, we only invited 29 programs to join the DL.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're one of those 600 and something players at that age group, and you know, you can go anywhere to play because it's a small, small number of players.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: But as I said before, we worked in conjunction with our affiliate presidents and our affiliates, they're tightening up the residency rules.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: So now players from certain affiliates they can't go and shop all around because those residency uh out of uh district residency spots are being decreased.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a really important.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of a lot of affiliate presidents who are saying, hey, this is good.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: The DL just skims off this amount in the top, and now we can develop our own players so the Michigan Tier One teams can develop players from Michigan, the Missouri Tier One teams can develop players from Missouri.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, this wasn't done in a vacuum, and it's one of the great things I loved about this whole process of the DL was we had uh a lot of fathers.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of fathers to where we how we got here, and and we needed to.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: I love the uh residency requirements, that's fantastic because uh just being in Missouri where we're based, we've seen a lot of kids go east, uh, and a lot of kids go north and uh go out of district, and so that's uh that's a great guardrail.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_09: And a lot of them and a lot of them come back, yeah.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_09: They do, and they're either burnt out or it wasn't a great experience.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_09: And look, I didn't raise my kid 15 years to send them across the country.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, it's tough.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_09: And I had I had a cousin who did it, and I know that it's it it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't, but I I I feel like there's an opportunity to you know create more opportunity from the A, the AA, and the other tier one players that are maybe right on the cusp.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_09: And if we've got good coaches doing that, I'm I'm excited for the process.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we've had we've had uh uh teams, DL, potential DL teams, and now teams that have accepted that have let us know that they believe they're gonna be able to fill a DL team 90% roster is homegrown in their area.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's you know, and that's great.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: We tried to take that into consideration on the regionality of where we put teams.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well, more to come.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: We'll uh be anxious and excited to watch it happen uh right before our eyes.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: But uh thanks for sharing your perspective on it, Bob.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: I know you've got other things going on at USA hockey too.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_03: We've got an ADA ADM affiliate coordinator role.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's something new.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you want to touch on that a little bit?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's funny, right?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: What's uh what do they say?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that's old is new again, and everything else, right?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um uh this was a program that was briefly put in place about 15 years ago when we first we launched the ADM 17 years ago.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: A year or two later, um, USA Hockey said, Hey, you know what we could do is we should have a volunteer position in every affiliate that is this ADM affiliate coordinator, so we could scale our message.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: At that time, we only had six player development managers.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: We can help these these volunteers could help us scale the message in every affiliate.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a great idea that you know wasn't funded, wasn't thought out, wasn't followed through because we just weren't ready for it.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then over the years, affiliates started realizing, oh, we need someone to take care of membership, we need someone to take care of ADM, we need someone to do this.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: So um we relaunched that starting in last uh June at Congress, and we've asked every one of our affiliates to send not only to the meeting, but put in place an ADM affiliate coordinator.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: And every affiliate looks at it a little bit different, but the connection is how can we help scale our message?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of there being, you know, six player development managers, two player development coordinators, four people in my youth hockey department that are trying to affect 360,000 players or more, youth players, right?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're saying, okay, we can help you get the message to these ADM affiliate coordinators.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then each affiliate can say, okay, in this affiliate, here's what we need our coordinator to do.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: And USA hockey, how can you help?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: But that could be different in the next affiliate.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, really, this is uh a relaunching of a program to help us scale the message and get that message out to as many associations, as many coaches, and as many parents as possible.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really exciting, I think, uh uh really exciting grassroots initiative for us to move forward.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_09: Sounds like a great job for Coach Drew Acre here for the um I think I know the president of Missouri hockey.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_09: Um, you know, I was on the bench, I mentioned this weekend, and I was looking to my left and I saw these just monstrosities of cross-eyed six you eight you boards, and my toes curled from all the stubbed toes and almost lost fingers.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_09: You know, it looks like we're looking to make 8U and 6U a larger focus, especially with our CEP level one.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_09: Talk a little bit about the clinic and and where that uh you know where that impetus is for USA hockey.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_09: Impetus, there's another impetus.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, you're on a roll.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, I I feel like uh from now on I'm gonna have to study more before I get on this podcast.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh we just finished, we're just going into our second year of our brand new 6U8U clinic, and I may have touched on that last year a little bit.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: We were so excited about this.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a way to get more parents into the coaching role.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's a shorter time window, um, it's uh less cost, and it really is an advertisement of to parents and new coaches on what we do, why we do it, the science and educational principles behind it, and what they should expect for their kids for US at USA hockey.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, last year we we um we helped inform, educate uh over 3,500 of brand new coaches to USA hockey just at the 6A level.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we felt like we unleashed an army.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: So when you talk about you go to the rink now and you see all of this cross-ice and sixty ice and and half ice hockey happening, I couldn't be happier because the feedback we got from parents and new coaches was oh my gosh, I'm so glad we did this.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now I know.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: And they're taking that message back to the 10-year veteran coach, the 15-year veteran coach.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: And now these new coaches are the new army of people saying, Hey, I know that's the way we used to do it, but let me tell you what I learned and why we should be doing it this way.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: And well, yeah, and what it makes me think about, Bob, is uh we've had um the joy of talking to different youth hockey associations throughout the country.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and some of those have been in uh some more remote areas, and you've got volunteers that are uh getting into coaching.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: I have to believe that this is uh so useful for them.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: They're walking in as a volunteer, maybe they haven't been around the game, and you're giving them a model and a path to be able to step into coaching, have some structure, uh in a in a low lift, low cost kind of way.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I bet some of those coaches probably go back and uh when they're talking to other parents, uh say it really wasn't that bad.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, it really was good.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, if you're thinking about getting into hockey, here's how it works.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so I I love these kinds of stories because I can remember so many conversations with parents, especially at the 6U level, yeah, where they were like, oh no, like I love the game of hockey, but I I don't know how to do that, and where would I even start?
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: So kudos to USA hockey.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: What a great stuff!
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we're very, very excited about the other thing, too, that uh we think these parents that just wanted to help out at 6U8U.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: I I want to uh, you know, we're gonna try to survey them down the road and say, okay, how many just wanted to have help out at 6U8U?
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: And now four years later, how many of you are still coaching?
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: How many are coaching 10U and 12U, right?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's find out if if that was the case.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_09: Well, on that note, I actually know a podcast that's going to be broadcasting live from some 8U, 6U jamborees here in town.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_09: It is it's a huge, huge initiative here for Missouri hockey.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_09: And um, you know, I think that it's also a great way for us to recruit for men's league down the road.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, absolutely.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Those 1030 games we don't have to start early off.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let me tell you, and I'm very serious about this.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I I know Chris Durso in Missouri hockey making this such uh um an initiative.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh let me know when you guys which jamborees you're going to.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Deal.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: And let me match it with my schedule because I do attend a number of those a year throughout the nation.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, how cool would that be if I got to visit one of the jamborees in Missouri that you guys are a part of?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just love it.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_09: I've got Durso on Speed Dow.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_09: He coached my kid for a year, and we're friends and and and we know him pretty well.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_09: So absolutely want to do that.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_09: That'd be great.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_09: He's been on the show three times, though, Bob.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_09: So I don't know.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_09: We've got to figure out you gotta we gotta get you on a couple more times.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I didn't realize.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize this was like on Saturday Night Live.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're keeping tabs.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_09: We're keeping you know, Jablanic's been on twice, Pooch has been on twice.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_09: Wow, goose goose has the best goose has the best, uh the best um drill draw.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_09: The rhythm of we call it the rhythm of the goose.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_09: Rhythm of the goose.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_09: Rhythm of the goose.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_09: Really?
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_09: We have some fun stuff.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, you know, and and Sly Kai was gonna come as she's promised to come in and and and help us with the practice.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_09: Okay, that's awesome.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_09: So, I mean, we're working.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_09: Um you you've given us a lot of your time here.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_09: There obviously, we've we've been talking the last couple weeks about the tragedy at ASU.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_09: Um, and the young man who you know is is in critical intensive care right now, and obviously the fallout of that with the coach um getting uh put on paid administrative leave.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_09: You know, the last two weeks we've talked to coaches about culture and understanding you know when to find that balance in trying to push and pull the best out of your players.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_09: We had uh Jeff Brown, who uh former NHL and an AHL player on, who all has a uh mental coaching um business, talk about the mental aspect.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_09: Jenny Hoffman, who's a certified um psych child psychologist, talk about the mental piece with what's going on in the NHL today.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_09: And we joked and mentioned the the Red Wings and Winnipeg Jets, but their two best players, arguably, have asked to leave.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_09: Taking that and kind of filtering it down to the youth hockey level.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_09: There's a lot of families and players that, you know, like I said earlier, are shopping, trying to shop and trying to find things.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_09: And we've always preached, you know, learn to advocate, rise to a challenge.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_09: You know, you're not always gonna like your boss, or you're not always gonna like your job and the life skills that go around with being a hockey player.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_09: But at some point, there is a there is a tipping point.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_09: And I'm I'm curious, not necessarily talking specifically about the ASU um culture and program, but about just how we see kids transferring at the college level, kids moving from from team to team at the junior level, and then all the way down to A, B, and C level, trying to one-time transfer six times to different programs.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_09: When should a family really, really look at this?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_09: Um and really be like, okay, there are some certain markers or certain events that have occurred, and this may not be the best place for us.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I guess I want to start with the fact that um nothing good happens if your child isn't happy, right?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, we push to go here and push to go there.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I found in my 40 years is the players that make the most strides are in a place they're happy.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that might be happy with a coach, that might be happy playing with their friends, might be happy staying on the same team instead of constant.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have to ask ourselves, how much of this is what our player wants, our son or our daughter, and how much are we driving it?
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, Kevin Margarucci, who's our manager of player safety here at the national office, uh, he's had a couple or had one and now another fantastic intern.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we now have programming uh about mental health and about taking care of mental health and on our website and real hands-on things for parents and players to take a look at.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it doesn't stop at every level.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we think we think what the players are doing is easy and it's not.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we think that every player at the National Hockey League is happy just because they're making this much money, and we don't look at it and say, this is a grind.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, and this is why, you know, I go back to about fun and enjoyment and all of that, because at some point, if the game stops being fun and starts being a job, then we have some real concerns.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we do have to be much more um not just open, but much more aware of everything that isn't hockey that's going on in our in our parents or uh in our as a parent in our child's life.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm no expert, but I can tell you, like anything else, when I'm not an expert, I want to make sure I'm finding out the answers and doing what's right.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: And just because Johnny's friend, it's right for that family to send them away, as you mentioned earlier, that doesn't mean it's right for me and my family.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: And certainly chasing those goals, right, without having some accountability and without um face facing, excuse me, facing adversity, that brings its its own set of problems as our children grow up.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, I don't know if I have any good answers, but I know that we're trying to do our best through safe sport, through background checks of keeping our players safe through our coaching education program, through our officiating education program, to providing a safe environment.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes we have to tell our kid they can't have pizza every night.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes we just got a parent.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's the pit is um I I love it that he's had and and I love I I love how you put the coda out there.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: You brought it back to fun.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's also a great Led Zaplin album.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so hey, I gotta tell you something.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta tell you one more thing, and I know I've taken more of your time now, but we just went on a knowledge exchange.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: Some of my staff and I went on a knowledge exchange over to Sweden, and I I hope I'm not uh this this because I I don't know enough about it, but the paper has not yet been published, but the Swedish Ice Hockey Association did a study about the importance of fun at the NHL level.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_09: We had we had the we we had the guy that did the paper.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, you know.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes, John, John, yeah, and and okay, and I you know what, shared a little bit with us, but I can't wait for those findings to come out because that should be required reading for every single parent of every single player that plays youth hockey.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well said.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Bob Mancini is the assistant executive director of hockey development at USA Hockey.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: He's also the godfather of fun.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: Bob, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for spending some time with us and uh look forward to uh watching the season, the development league, these new updates with USA hockey.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for joining us again.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_09: Thank you.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_09: Bob will catch up here on that six year.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_09: We're holding you to it.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_09: You're coming to a live show.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_03: Jamboree, I love it.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_09: Absolutely.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_09: Yep, my pleasure.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_05: Take care, Bob.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_05: See you then.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, Dakota, Isms, uh uh rising tide raises all boats.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean can't have pizza every night.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: He's coming to a jamboree.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this is fantastic.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_09: Every time we talk to him, you know, and we we've had him on the show twice, we've talked to him off the show several times.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_09: You just understand and you feel like we're in we're going in the right direction as a as a as a sport.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_09: Um and I do think look, we the ADM and Bob will be the first to say it was a was a rocky transition for a lot of folks.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_09: Um, and and there was probably gonna be a lot of like head scratching and and people like wringing their hands about the DL.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_09: But I as he presented it, if it if it turned it, I I mean it's going to I was on a I was in a I was on the bench a couple weeks ago and I'm watching we're I'm watching these two high level 11 year old teams play and we're watching these parents.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_09: And I said to my assistant coach, or I said to the coach, I said, Hey, you know, look at all these parents, they're really into it.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_09: I go.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_09: Good chance that none of these kids are playing tier one in four years from now.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_09: And he's like, and I go, I looked at him, I go, I bet you there's a B level player who's going to be playing at a higher level.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_09: And and the other coach looked at me and goes, probably a C level player.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_09: And it's but he's not wrong.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_09: It's like they're we've seen it firsthand.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_09: And I I I just when you see the evolution just in the last 10 to 15 years of USA hockey, you know, the gold medals in the draft picks, they tell part of the story.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_09: The kids playing now and the opportunity to play this game, you know, while it's not as easy to get on the ice as it is to go play soccer or t-ball, you know, uh focusing on the parents.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_09: This 8U6U thing, I think, is very, very big.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_09: Um, we're in a good spot.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's gonna uh I I think uh that's gonna help coaching.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna have more coaches.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_03: I really liked uh how Bob took the time uh around the DL to explain the uh the districts and uh lowering uh some of those out of district players.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh these are good things, these are gonna keep kids in their hometown less games and less games.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: That's fantastic because we've seen it with uh our own kids going through the entire journey.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh 80 games is too much.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: So these are all great developments uh from a USA hockey perspective.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I cannot wait to have Bob at uh Jamboree with Dursa.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_09: It's gonna be so much fun.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_09: Well, we've got a lot of cool news.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_09: If you're watching us on YouTube, you've probably noticed these uh packs of Afterlight.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, we have a new partner in Afterlight Recovery.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_09: We're gonna talk a little bit about them here today.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, we may have an announcement about a really cool initiative that we're doing here in the spring, but we've got to go pay a few bills, and then we're gonna have a gentleman on who's gonna talk about be watching about being a builder.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_09: This guy built a rake.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_03: I it's a fantastic story.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_03: You don't want to miss this.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: Too many men on the mic, we'll see you on the other side.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: Too many men is excited to be partnering with Afterlight Recovery.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: Afterlight is a new hydration and recovery brand built for the nights out, early mornings, travel days, hockey weekends, and everything in between.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_03: They're launching very soon, and we'll have a lot more to share once the product officially drops.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: But for now, go follow at Afterlight Recovery Co.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's C O on Instagram, so you can be one of the first to know when they launch, or you can scan the QR code on the top right of your screen for more information.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's afterlight recovery, check it out.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_05: Afterlight, recover brighter.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_08: If you need custom gear that stands out and stands for something, it's time to meet 5B Designs.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_08: Founded by Shannon Braheen, a proud St.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_08: Louis mom and entrepreneur.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_08: 5B Designs is a woman-owned small business that brings purpose to custom apparel.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_08: Whether you're suiting up your youth or high school hockey team or leveling up your company's branded swag, 5B delivers happen out to quality with a personal topic.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_08: Meet team stores, not a problem.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_08: Corporate polos or event giveaways, they've got you covered.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_08: 5B makes it easy with fast turnaround, flexible service, and designs your players or employees will love to wear.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_08: Check them out at stores.com forward slash 5B designs.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_08: That's the word five.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_08: If you are watching it on YouTube, the QR code on the top right hand corner of the screen.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_08: Like and subscribe on our YouTube channel.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_08: It helps us grow the show and keep bringing you great hockey conversations.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_08: You can also follow us on Instagram by scanning the QR code on your screen.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_08: And be sure to download, follow, and rate the podcast on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart Music, or wherever you get your podcast.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_08: Or you can go directly to our website www.twoManyman on the mic dot com.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_08: That's the number two.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_08: Those small things from you help us keep delivering new guests, downloadable coaching content and more from the ring.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_05: After the show.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_03: And we're back.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_03: And uh look at that uh nice coach's jacket there.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_09: For those of you uh watching at home, uh we just talked about 5B designs and Shannon Brahini.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_09: She has uh put together a couple of uh too many men on the mic coach's jackets for us, and thought I'd bring it on and kind of you know model it out.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um dark and slimming.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_09: Dark and slimming, which we need.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_09: We need absolutely dark and slimming.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_09: But the logo is just top notch.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_09: It really is top notch, you know, Coach Jared.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_03: We have a coach Drew one that is you know, is uh I I I I just suck my gut in and say it's a large day, not an extra large day.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_09: Um, but you know, we've got uh first off, I mean Bob Man's eating.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_09: You can't say enough.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_09: You can't say enough about you know, and ending on fun.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's like almost as if he knew it is almost as as if it was his plan to uh lay that coda out at the end, bring us right back to where it all began.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_09: Favorite song on coda.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_09: I don't mind.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_09: What wearing and turn.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, that's a great song.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_09: Followed by that's a great song.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_09: Followed by Poor Tom.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, poor Tom.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_09: Deep, deep cuts, deep cuts.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, he brings it uh right back around to where it started and back where it all began.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_03: Another Marshall Tucker song out there, too.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Marshall Tucker Tucker album, I should say.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_09: By the way, Grant, does Grant know we have a gig tonight?
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_09: No, I don't think he does.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_09: Does Grant know we have a gig tonight?
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_09: I was not.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, there's Grant.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_09: Hello, hi Grant.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_09: The uh we are playing the house bandit Fallons, you know, blues home opener.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_03: Five to seven.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_03: Five to seven, you listen and then you watch the blues home opener.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's a great night.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_03: What a lovely.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_09: Uh probably 40 across to 170.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_09: Okay.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_09: 170 north to olive.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_09: You're there.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_09: Cool.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_09: Price to olive.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_07: Awesome.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_07: I have to work.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_09: Uh oh, come on.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_09: You can work from anywhere in the world.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_09: Bring your laptop, bring your laptop to the bar.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_09: Good point.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_09: The game's gonna be on.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_09: The game's gonna be on.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's true.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_03: There's probably people doing parlays on uh games.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_07: That's yeah.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_07: Maybe you two, you guys can be the subjects.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_09: Well, we could be.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we gotta pivot.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and uh this next guest is this is a such a great story, and I can't think of a better time to have it than right at the beginning of our hockey season.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh teams are getting going, NHL's uh up and running now.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_03: We're looking at uh uh October hockey, which means real games that actually go into your team's record and potentially your standings.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: And so this is a great feel-good story.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I don't want to sell it more than that, uh, other than to create an introduction to Jeff Gross.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff is a youth hockey coach here in the greater St.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: Louis area, but has an amazing story to share about his local community and how they paired together and accomplished their goal, which was to build let's bring them in, Grant, and let's talk about this fantastic story.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff, how are you?
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm good.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having me, guys.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's great to be here.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_03: I love the background.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us a little bit about the background on your screen because that's this is back where it all began, right?
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's it.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_02: So that picture is circa 1982, it it looks like.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that uh brings back a lot of memories.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_02: I spent many, many, many hours, days, weeks, months in that facility year-round, whether it was in the summer working on it or skating seven days a week.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_02: It was a great, great spot to be.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, before we get to the rink itself, uh uh, your dad, I think, was an instrumental part of this journey uh that you and the town were on.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us a little bit about your dad.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_03: What kind of man was he?
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, how did hockey get into his blood?
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'll start with that last question.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: He he grew up knowing absolutely nothing about hockey, nor did he know anything about hockey until I was age five.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that that momentous day when I was, I guess I was preschool.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_02: My older brother was in kindergarten.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_02: He came home from school one day with a Sioux Falls Youth Hockey Flyer and said, Dad, I want to play hockey.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I, of course, jumped in and said, Me too, me too.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so that was his first introduction to hockey, and the the rest is the the rest of the story that we'll get into.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: But um, the the type of person he was, um, he he had probably the best job of any of my friends.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: He he had remote work before remote work was even a concept or an idea.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_02: He worked from our basement, um, he he sold uh petroleum products, had a geographic territory around the upper Midwest, but we were very fortunate that he was always home, so he was always around and he was always volunteering.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he was a principled person, you know.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_02: We were raised Roman Catholic, went to church every Sunday.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_02: My mom stayed at home.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_02: We had a you know meal every night at dinner as kids.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: We rode our bikes all over town.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but he was a golden rule-driven person, um, and just a wonderful person.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't find out until um after he had passed, uh, that he had actually taken a mortgage out along with one other gentleman in Sioux Falls to help get this facility built back in the 70s, and it will dig into some of those details later.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_02: So he he was just always the type of person, if there was an effort needed, whether it was fundraising, volunteers, you know, whether it was school, church, Sioux Falls youth hockey, softball up in Sioux Falls, he was always there spending time doing that.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_02: So he was a wonderful father to have as an example growing up as a kid.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, so Jeff, you know, let's talk about this then.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_09: Let's get let's dive right in.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_09: Um, you know, 1977, sounds like you were five years old, five, six years old, you had an older brother.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_09: Yep, you got this rink that you gotta build.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_09: Like, whose idea?
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_09: What was the problem?
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, I think of I think of Sioux Falls, I think it's pretty cold.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_09: You should guys have a lot of ice.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_09: Tell me a little bit about the ring.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, looking at back at growing up there, I mean, I all I can remember now is it was damn cold.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um I can't tell you how many times we had frostbit toes before this facility was constructed.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_02: We used to skate outside, um, and and there's some history there too.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I I can't not bring Joe Zuger's name into this.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you read about uh the new Shields Iceplex facility that was constructed in 2014, uh Joe was instrumental in a grassroots effort to get that new facility constructed.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_02: And he recognized my father along with many of his friends uh who were instrumental in the late 70s when this initially started this effort.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a result of based out of necessity.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Sioux Falls Youth Hockey got started in 1973.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_02: At the time, it was a town of about 80,000 people, it was the largest city in South Dakota, and it unfortunately didn't have any city backing uh to help support uh youth hockey, or it had very little.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_02: So at the time in 1973, uh they actually had an indoor facility.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you read the article at all, but it was in the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds, and it was literally where they they showed farm animals, and I can remember when I was four years old being in that facility, it stunk.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, all you dirt and manure and straw would always be getting out on the ice.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it was just a horrible place to try to play hockey, and then for five weeks out of the season, starting after the first of January, they would tear the ice out and the boards out so they could have some sort of farm expo.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we'd expect to have the ice back up and running so we could finish off our season.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_09: And obviously, that I thought we had a band at Queenie in South California, exactly.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, you know, compressor goes out for a week, and you know, we well, what we we only have 30 sheets of ice now, and one of them went down, so but you know, that was our only uh option for indoor ice at the time.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_02: Now, granted, Sioux Falls had several public skating rinks around where you know it's basically some flat ground where they just flooded it, and you know, that was the skating rink.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_02: And there was one facility that had boards that they would put up or and leave up year-round, and those were the pictures you see um that I had shared with you.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if Grant wants to put up some of those, but you know, that that was um after one year of skating um in the fairgrounds.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_09: Wait at the tube skates.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love the tubes back in the 70s.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the old metal blade skates, the bowers.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_09: That's all we had gloves that go up to your elbows.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_09: Yep.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_09: Northland, it looks like a Northland, yep.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think Louisville and Northland were were popular.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_02: Then Christian came out and they had fiberglass on them.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_02: Those were you know amazing.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but this was this was Drake Springs.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and that's where we played.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_02: And look, I mean, look at the ice that we didn't have a Zamboni.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if it snowed, we had a Jeep renegade with a blade on the front and a snowblower to clear the snow off of the rig.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_02: Usually, what ended up happening was it's so windy in South Dakota, the wind was our Zamboni, it would just blow the snow off of it.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_02: But if you look at the quality of the ice, you can see bumps all over the place.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you couldn't pass the puck and expect it to land on somebody's stick.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_02: You couldn't stick handle or dangle or do any of those things because the puck would literally just bounce off of your stick if you tried that.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_02: So it was a lot of just north-south skating and pushing the puck towards the net.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how we we learned to play hockey um on outdoor ice.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_05: I love it.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it, if you scroll through some of those other photos, you'll see a lot of snow people in parkas, except the kids, we're all freezing our butts off.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_02: That that's the the initial season, the inauguration season of the year.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_09: Watch out for the sun, yeah.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_02: So there we're back to the outdoor, uh, and it was just cold as hell.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_02: I can remember I think the rule was if if the combination temperature in wind chill was less than minus 20, we wouldn't practice.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so as long as it wasn't windy, which was rare, you could usually get get out and play.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_02: But the reality was, after an hour of being out there, you your feet were frozen, and I can remember so many drives home from the rink just screaming in pain from your toes.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um man, it if if ever you freeze your hands and put it even in ice cold water, it burns.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_02: I can still remember that as a kid.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_02: The first time we tried putting our feet in warm water, and we we literally burned our feet from the so who was the kid, who was the first and only kid that had to put his tongue on the on the side of the neck.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_02: We did that quite so everything you're seeing in those pictures and and the story you're hearing is what you know was out of necessity.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_02: We we needed to have indoor rank if we were going to continue playing.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_02: So um, what ended up happening?
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_02: I I think it was there, there was one winner.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_02: I can still picture my dad out with the snowblower, Jill Becker, who was the coach that was just up on the screen there, he added a Jeep Renegade with the blade, and they were trying to push the snow off and snow blow it out, and it it was snowing so damn hard.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was one of those like 18, 20-inch snows we got.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and they said, This is just not gonna work, we need to figure out something different.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_02: So um, there there were a group of probably half a dozen people who got together.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my my dad, um, Jim Becker, Al English, Ed Pennock, um, Tom White, who was a doctor, and Dr.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_02: Gibink um all got together.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my dad and I believe it was Al English both took out second mortgages on their houses to help fund this.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_02: And the numbers are, I mean, I I was six years old at the time when this was all going on.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I, you know, get just get bits and pieces of it.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_02: But I can remember that the phone calls, I think there were some arguments between my mom and he about doing this and never seeing the money again.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and interest rates, you know, they're 14 low 20s.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, they're 14-15 percent.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and gas crisis.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_02: Our next door neighbor, Paul Hallam, was my dad's best friend.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_02: He was the president of Home Federal Savings and Loan.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he was a world-class gentleman.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_02: He he ended up getting, I think, everything for the rank, uh, the loan that they took out.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they they worked a deal on the second mortgage.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think they got it at like prime less something, and it was basically a donation from home federal savings and loan to to get the loans to build this.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_02: And the the amount of total money for this construction, it was a hundred thousand dollars.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_02: I I still remember that to that date.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, build an ice rank for a hundred thousand dollars, even at that time, you know, 40 years ago.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's just unheard of.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_09: So you can't get drawings for that now.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_02: We know we've got we've tried to do it.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, it's it's crazy.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, but I mean, the the grassroots effort that happened, the land was donated uh by by Dr.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_02: Gibink, and and he had all of this land in the southern part of Sioux Falls.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_02: That he had uh he was a physician in town and he had donated it to all sorts of charities around town, and and he saw the need, so he donated the land.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Tom White was an ophthalmologist in Sioux Falls.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_09: Um, when they came to if you're gonna get sick in Sioux Falls, it sounds like you're covered, by the way.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_09: 1977, if you get sick, hey, we may not have a drugstore, but you we have plenty of doctors.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if you read about now, Sanford Health actually uh I mean everything that uh Denny Sanford and Sanford Health have done, they donated the land for the new Shields Ice Plaque.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, um, so in any case, the land was donated um by Dr.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_02: Gibing.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_02: Dr.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_02: White had the foresight when they decided to take all of the ice making equipment out of the uh the Sioux Empire Expo facility, the old fairgrounds.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_02: This the city owned it at that time, they put it up for auction.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, Dr.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_02: White bought that ice making equipment, so he put it in storage.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think it sat in storage for four or five years.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_02: Stories I heard, like you know, half the compressors were shot, there were leaks all over in the mats when they put them out.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_02: I still remember that because I fixed many of those at the time.
• 1:04:36
  SPEAKER_02: There's more to come with that story.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um so you know, fast forward to the late 70s, and they they finally started getting all the money together, they got the land.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and Ed Pannock on landmark construction construction, he started donating uh as much as he could.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_02: I think Butler made a contribution and helping you know get the steel and put the butler building up.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_02: Ed Pannock from Landmark Contracting helped donate labor to get it all constructed, and all of the boards went up initially by volunteers.
• 1:05:11
  SPEAKER_02: So when you start looking at those photos of the rink, the first year they hadn't gotten the roof put on yet, but we as kids were thankful we were out of the wind.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was so much warmer now.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_02: We're we're skating in zero to minus 10 degree weather instead of that with 20 mile an hour winds blowing on you.
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that was the inaugural season for the rink.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_02: It was all natural ice the first two years.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, that that's just because we have cold air up there, it froze the ice, and you know, generally from about early mid November through mid late February, we could play hockey.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but the second season, they they put the ice making equipment in that uh Dr.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_02: White.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_02: Had salvaged at auction, and to say that ice making equipment was old at that time was an understatement.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think it actually dated from it was either the 50s or 60s, and I I think they would have been better off to just go find pipe somewhere and put it in in the sand.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't a concrete base either, it was all sand.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, the entire floor of the ice rink was just sand for the first two seasons.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have any concrete anywhere.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_09: So that first telefront, though, right?
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_02: So uh that second season, they got the ice making equipment put in, so that extended our season.
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_02: We actually and we put the roof in, um, and the mats.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like that first season with those mats, though.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_02: I I think they spent more time fixing leaks than we had time actually.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was awful.
• 1:06:57
  SPEAKER_03: Talk about what it was like once that roof went over the top.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember what it was like your first time skating in that rink, having a roof, having your own facility?
• 1:07:11
  SPEAKER_03: You talked about being out of the wind when you had an actual structure.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_03: Now you have an actual roof.
• 1:07:17
  SPEAKER_03: What was that like for you as a kid?
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_03: And we were kings of the world at that point.
• 1:07:21
  SPEAKER_02: We we thought we had made it at that point, right?
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_02: As you can see, there was no plexiglass.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, there was not even any fencing that first year.
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_02: We just had boards up, so yeah, you know, everybody would have to go around and pick up pucks after every practice because we probably lost most of them, if not even all of them.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, there would be a ton of it for me.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_09: It's like don't just miss the net.
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, push-ups for everyone, don't shoot over the net, exactly.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so no, I mean it it it was such a welcoming event with when we got inside there.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's really what made it special for so many people, and you know, for the families who experienced um the adjustment from skating outside to inside, I mean it became very personal.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, for the the next, you know, I think the first year I skated inside, I was in fourth grade, you know.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_02: So until I was in high school, um, graduating as a senior, every summer we kids worked at the rink.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that's awesome.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_02: If if you look at consecutive years um in photos, you see, oh look, they they've got locker rooms finally.
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, there's they're penalty boxes that actually have you know cordoned off areas for the penalty box, you know.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, they they put up fence behind the net.
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, they extended the fencing all the way to around the ring.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if if you can believe it, we had fencing instead of plexiglass, I think until 1987.
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was only the last two seasons I played for Sioux Falls Youth Hockey.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_09: Chicken wire, yeah, chicken wire.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I I can still remember the this it was after my I think it was either eighth grade or or freshman year of high school.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um we we had kids working from 8 a.m.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_02: until 4 p.m.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_02: in two shifts.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_02: We had 10 guys in the morning working eight to noon, uh, 10 guys in the afternoon working noon to four.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_02: We poured our first we dug the trench for the boards, and I can still remember after we got done digging this trench all the way around to pour the concrete and put the new boards in.
• 1:09:38
  SPEAKER_02: I I was up at one of the um construction uh rental places, and I said to my dad after that, I'm like, Hey, you know, there's a a ditch digger up there that you can rent for like five bucks an hour.
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_02: We could have knocked that trench out in a day.
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I can still remember he and his buddies laughing their asses.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, it was so much fun watching you kids just digging that trench all the way around.
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_09: We'll talk about that for a second.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_09: I would bet that there wasn't a gum wrapper or a can that hit the floor of those locker rooms once while you guys were skating there once because of the ownership you had of that place, like the pride that goes into that.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_02: And it drives me nuts today when I'm coaching kids, and you say, Hey, nobody leaves the locker room with tape on the floor, and then they blip off back to and you just shake your head because yeah, so what was so talk a little bit about the growth of youth hockey in this rink, you know.
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_09: We've seen here in St.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_09: Louis over the past 20 years is as rinks grow, interest grows, you know, more kids start playing.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_09: What was the what was it like going from you know your group of friends that were skating outdoors and now you have this facility?
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_09: What was the growth rate like in in I mean South Dakota?
• 1:11:00
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, it's a hotbed for hockey.
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_09: Joe Pavelski uh played there, um Jonathan Taze.
• 1:11:07
  SPEAKER_09: So I mean it's a destination for for college hockey for sure.
• 1:11:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'll I'll go back to Joe Zuber again, who does a fantastic job with the history.
• 1:11:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it the this was the original seed that really kicked off youth hockey.
• 1:11:21
  SPEAKER_02: It in 73 when it got started.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_02: I I think the the numbers initially were 200 skaters because they had consistent indoor ice and then they lost that and the numbers dwindled all the way down.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_02: I want to say it was like 60 or 70 skaters at one point.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, and you know, that that was part of the impetus too behind deciding we needed to build a facility because youth hockey they thought was you know eventually just gonna die off altogether.
• 1:11:45
  SPEAKER_02: So um they got the rake built, and of course, the numbers then you know explode.
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And you go from you know, at one point we were seeing only one Bannham team, and I I couldn't even tell you how many they have today with the Shields Iceplex.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_02: I would guess it's I I know they have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kids.
• 1:12:02
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, they they've split up into multiple organizations now, and I think it's probably the equivalent of you know, maybe two St.
• 1:12:08
  SPEAKER_02: Peter's um organizations in Sioux Falls now, and you know, they're sending kids to the NHL, and uh they've got a triple-A program there, so it's just fantastic to see.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_02: You you look back at what we had, and you know, my senior year of high school, we had one high school team, that was it, that was the whole city, and in fact, I mean, even till our goalie that year, um he unfortunately just passed away, but uh, we had a freshman or an eighth grader coming up as a freshman who was going to be our goalie.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's like this is not going to work well.
• 1:12:47
  SPEAKER_09: Sounds sounds familiar, sounds sounds like we'll do hockey.
• 1:12:52
  SPEAKER_02: So we ended up um Alex Connolly and myself had a good friend Scott Sexer who had played up until I think he quit in eighth grade, and we convinced him he was going to be our goalie that year, and that whole summer, Alex and myself just shot pucks and tennis balls at him against a backboard nonstop with him in pads, just trying to get him ready for the upcoming season.
• 1:13:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we've we played 30 games that season, he was 15 and oh.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, yeah, wow, that's some good work you put in there, Jeff.
• 1:13:27
  SPEAKER_03: Nice job.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_09: Well, Scott was the guy with the 15 and oh, yeah, and and and so the the facility's still oh it's still there, it's just no longer an ice rink, correct?
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_02: No, it it's actually gone now.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's gone.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, um, so it it existed from 81 until 2014 when it it still existed, but they shut it down.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um my dad um and Al English over so they they made the the ice rink, and it it was a nonprofit um who rented ice to Sioux Falls Youth Hockey and to Sioux Falls figure skating.
• 1:14:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I my dad ran the books.
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_02: Al was the president, my dad was secretary treasurer, and and I can remember my dad just slaving away.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_02: He had his ledger down in the basement, and he's always you know writing checks and cursing the electric bill and damn compressors.
• 1:14:25
  SPEAKER_02: I I mean I can still remember he wouldn't let us turn on all of the lights for practice because it they burned so much electricity.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_02: Only for games could we turn on all of the lights in the ring.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_02: And if the temperature got down in the teens, turn the damn compressors off and open up the end door so we can get some cold air in here.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_09: We built it into a ring for a reason, dad.
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I think he was he was seriously trying to make sure he got his second mortgage paid off.
• 1:14:57
  SPEAKER_02: But I think so that I think that finally all the debt was uh paid off sometime in the 90s, and he so I graduated in 1989.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_02: He continued helping manage the rank, um, just you know, volunteering to do it throughout the 90s, and finally in in 2001, um, they convinced the city to take it over.
• 1:15:19
  SPEAKER_02: Up to that time, you know, the 20 years it's been in existence, the city didn't lend one penny or give one penny to the facility.
• 1:15:27
  SPEAKER_02: So uh they sold it to the city for one dollar, and and the city took it from there.
• 1:15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Good well, to the city's credit, they did a good job managing the facility from 2001 until 2014.
• 1:15:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it I mean it it had served its life.
• 1:15:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you look back at you know the the Hardy's iceplex when it was torn down.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_02: I remember being in that facility and they're talking about tearing it down.
• 1:15:53
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you look at that and compare it to this.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is a a barn comparison.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_09: Well, you're like, what's a couple leaks?
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, that's not a big deal.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_09: I I was at the Hardy's iceplex when it was on its last leg playing a men's league game, and the Zamboni caught on fire and dumped all the ice in the middle of the game.
• 1:16:19
  SPEAKER_09: I've yeah, I've I've seen two Zamboni fires, one at Pacific and one at Hardy.
• 1:16:24
  SPEAKER_03: That is funny.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff, you touched on it just a minute ago, just about the growth and hockey and Sioux Falls.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_03: And uh our understanding is now Sioux Falls has an iceplex, there's three sheets of ice up there.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_03: There's a division one program at Gastana.
• 1:16:42
  SPEAKER_03: Is that how I used to do it?
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_03: Augustana.
• 1:16:44
  SPEAKER_03: Augustana, thank you.
• 1:16:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's Augustana, Augustana.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_09: I say Costana, you say Costana.
• 1:16:49
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff, when you see that, what do you think your dad and uh the the original group that uh undertook this effort?
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_03: What do you think they'd say looking back on this?
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, coming forward, some of those guys are still around.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my dad passed in 2008, uh, but he uh Bill Slater, and I gotta give some credit to Bill Slater.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Bill Slater was the guy who oversaw all of the operations of the ice rink.
• 1:17:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, when I was a kid, he taught me how to weld pipe, he taught me electrical work, he taught me how to install all of the PVC pipe, and he taught me carpentry work and painting.
• 1:17:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, just an amazing person that taught all of his kids how to do these things.
• 1:17:36
  SPEAKER_02: But all of those guys, um Al English, Jim Becker, who's actually now my stepdad, after my dad passed away, Jim's wife Mary, um, had passed away years before.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a few years later, my mom and Jim, who was a typical hockey dad, right?
• 1:17:54
  SPEAKER_02: We're all friends hanging out all through the 70s, 80s, and 90s, they end up getting married.
• 1:17:59
  SPEAKER_02: And Jim is still alive to this day.
• 1:18:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and to hear them talk now, um, when they see things like that, I mean it it brings a tear.
• 1:18:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean I get choked up just talking about it, as as do they when they see what has become of hockey in Sioux Falls.
• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, that and there are many more than the three sheets.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_02: Shields Iceplex, I think they're actually adding a fourth sheet now, but there's also ice at the arena for the USHL team.
• 1:18:27
  SPEAKER_02: Augustana has their own arena.
• 1:18:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I understand now there's ice out at the Empire Fairgrounds again.
• 1:18:34
  SPEAKER_02: That that's I think there's two sheets out there that get fully utilized.
• 1:18:38
  SPEAKER_02: And um they they have ice here around now as well.
• 1:18:40
  SPEAKER_02: That when they originally built the we call it the Merck, you know, it's pictured behind me.
• 1:18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um the engineering effort was kind of homegrown, I would say.
• 1:18:50
  SPEAKER_02: The the cooling uh the cooling towers were undersized.
• 1:18:53
  SPEAKER_02: I can still remember to this day they they had two racks of three compressors, so six total compressors.
• 1:19:00
  SPEAKER_02: At any given time, they could run two and a half to three compressors.
• 1:19:05
  SPEAKER_02: If they had to load up more than that, the cooling tower couldn't keep up.
• 1:19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they'd have to get some hoses out and start dumping water in the cooling tower to get it to cool off.
• 1:19:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we could only keep ice uh down to about or up to about 50 degrees outside.
• 1:19:20
  SPEAKER_02: After that, it it would start to get too warm.
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_09: Well, and let's let's talk about that when you talk about the growth and how that just the emotion that you know you, your you know, the the men who were part of this when you were a young man.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_09: There's some real no, I mean, there have been some big time players coming through Sioux Falls playing, whether it's playing for the um the Stampede, um obviously the the university, but we've got like TJ Oshi, Thomas Vanick, Dakota Joshua, Jeremy Swayman, and then the first native-born Sioux Falls.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_09: What are you Sioux Fallians?
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_09: Well, how do you I mean Su Fall, I guess.
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_09: Walker Walker Durr, who's with the Winnipeg Jets right now, first NHL player born in Sioux Falls to sign an NHL contract.
• 1:20:10
  SPEAKER_09: And you gotta believe that maybe eventually there would have been some folks, but it might be 10, 20 years down the road from now if it wasn't for your dad and his buddies and you kids.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_09: What what a what a great legacy.
• 1:20:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I look back there what we had coming up as kids, you know, in the 80s, there we weren't sending anyone to play college, you know, even at division three or two level, let alone division one, right?
• 1:20:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I think I I played division three for a year out of high school.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think I was probably one of the first kids to go on and play college hockey out of South Dakota, and to see what that's gone some in a you know relatively short period of time from 1989 to the 2000s, where you start seeing kids getting placed in division one programs and eventually you know into professional levels, it's amazing.
• 1:21:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it was so cool.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think to the to the point you're making, that it never would have happened if it wasn't for the gentleman who got the ice rink going here um in 1981, and then you know, the the leadership of of Joe Zuger and Ben Graham and others in 2014 to get the Shields iceplex.
• 1:21:26
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that that just those facilities took it to a whole nother level, um, where you know they're competing with the likes now of you know teams up in the Twin Cities, uh teams in North Dakota, Canadian teams.
• 1:21:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean they're they've got a you know what from I think age 14 up tier three program now or triple A tier one program.
• 1:21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff, how has this helped carry you through your life?
• 1:21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Watching your dad build a a rink.
• 1:21:54
  SPEAKER_03: What did that teach you about hockey work and the importance of community?
• 1:21:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it just hard work.
• 1:22:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, everything worthwhile in life that you need to learn, you can learn on the ice rink.
• 1:22:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, it it starts with having some good coaches, it it it requires parents who are committed to that as well.
• 1:22:16
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, so often a day you have parents who you know lose sight of the fact of of why we're here.
• 1:22:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, first we want to have fun with the kids, right?
• 1:22:24
  SPEAKER_02: But to learn the key life skills that are so important for success in life, I learned on the ice rink.
• 1:22:32
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I I attribute it to my dad and all of the other gentlemen and all of the coaches I had growing up, and I thanked them for screaming and hollering at us.
• 1:22:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they would never get in trouble for yelling at us kids.
• 1:22:47
  SPEAKER_02: If one of us got yelled at when we were kids, or we sat on the bench, or God forbid you got sent to the locker room, it was hell to pay when you got home, and it was never asking, well, you know, coach, why is coach doing this?
• 1:23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Why it was what the hell did you do to deserve to get yelled at like that?
• 1:23:04
  SPEAKER_09: Takes a village, takes a village, right?
• 1:23:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, you learn hard work, perseverance, accountability.
• 1:23:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, seeing that that old ice outside talking about being north-south skaters, we didn't have many skilled players, we couldn't dingle and dangle and toe drag.
• 1:23:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I remember when I went to play college hockey to see all these guys toe dragging the puck.
• 1:23:29
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, holy crap, how did I never learn that skill?
• 1:23:33
  SPEAKER_02: What we learned was grip.
• 1:23:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we skated line the last 10 minutes of every practice, all we did was skate lines, north-south mountains, back and forth.
• 1:23:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, and if you didn't put your effort into it, you sat for a shift or two, if not a period, that following weekend in the first game, and coach held you accountable for it.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you knew if you didn't work your butt off, that was coming, and that was from age eight, not at the older, higher skilled levels.
• 1:24:05
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I I joke, and people call me old curmudgeon and you know, crusty old man.
• 1:24:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm thankful for those skills having been taught to me from a very young age.
• 1:24:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it taught me to go out and get yard jobs and shovel snow and and work my butt off at hockey and football and whatever other sport I was playing, uh, that that's led me to success in life.
• 1:24:30
  SPEAKER_09: Well, Drew and I have been involved with obviously youth hockey here um very closely over the last you know 10, 12 years.
• 1:24:38
  SPEAKER_09: And we just as being a part of the Rockets and you coming to our organization, um, originally from St.
• 1:24:44
  SPEAKER_09: Peter's, but we don't we'll we'll forget about we're not gonna we're not gonna talk about those days.
• 1:24:48
  SPEAKER_09: Um sorry, sorry to all my state we have we've got we've got listeners in St.
• 1:24:52
  SPEAKER_09: Peter's too.
• 1:24:53
  unknown: Love you all.
• 1:24:53
  SPEAKER_02: I have a lot of great friends in the St.
• 1:24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Peter's free organization.
• 1:24:57
  SPEAKER_09: Um, you know, we're we're it's fortunate that you're able to take these lessons, take this passion.
• 1:25:04
  SPEAKER_09: You've you've kind of taken it and you know, left the nest, so to speak, from South Dakota.
• 1:25:09
  SPEAKER_09: You know, our organizations here in St.
• 1:25:12
  SPEAKER_09: Louis are better for having that.
• 1:25:13
  SPEAKER_09: And I I I just the story is amazing.
• 1:25:16
  SPEAKER_09: And you know, having attempted to build a rink uh you know rather recently, uh, I almost wish I could just put the kids out there to start digging a train.
• 1:25:25
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 1:25:27
  SPEAKER_09: And so many OSHA violations today that you know it's not it's not OSHA if you're not paying them.
• 1:25:35
  SPEAKER_09: I don't have to put a placard up if I'm not paying them.
• 1:25:39
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff, so thank you so much for sharing your story.
• 1:25:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's fantastic.
• 1:25:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think my favorite uh part was uh the the parents laughing that's right.
• 1:25:49
  SPEAKER_09: Five bucks an hour, we could have done this.
• 1:25:52
  SPEAKER_02: It took us a week.
• 1:25:55
  SPEAKER_02: We were wearing gloves and we still had you know blisters and cows all right.
• 1:25:59
  SPEAKER_02: It was all play and rock.
• 1:26:01
  SPEAKER_09: Meanwhile, they're meanwhile, they're putting the interstate in right next to me.
• 1:26:05
  SPEAKER_09: Literally, it is there's an easier way.
• 1:26:07
  SPEAKER_09: It's called support.
• 1:26:12
  SPEAKER_09: Jeff, man, we're we can't wait to see you around the rink here during the season.
• 1:26:16
  SPEAKER_09: Thanks for for giving us your time and sharing a great story.
• 1:26:18
  SPEAKER_09: And uh, you know, thanks for all you do for youth hockey here in St.
• 1:26:22
  SPEAKER_09: Louis.
• 1:26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you guys.
• 1:26:23
  SPEAKER_02: I sincerely appreciate it.
• 1:26:26
  SPEAKER_02: Have a great night, Jeff.
• 1:26:27
  SPEAKER_03: You two guys, thanks.
• 1:26:32
  SPEAKER_03: So these two segments couldn't have worked out any better.
• 1:26:35
  SPEAKER_03: No, I mean not even no, we sometimes the stars align.
• 1:26:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and they truly did this week.
• 1:26:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we had the Godfather of Fun on, Bob Ancini, and then what we have to get the godfather theme when he comes on next time.
• 1:26:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oh we might we might get uh copyright infringement and then we heard uh a fantastic story uh about Jeff Gross and growing up in Sioux Falls, but at its heart, it was about fun.
• 1:27:06
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this is the funny thing.
• 1:27:07
  SPEAKER_09: He has the best name for hockey today because every he'd be like, it's gross.
• 1:27:12
  SPEAKER_09: Like I mean, whenever something happened when whenever a guy makes an unbelievable move, everyone's like, oh, it's gross.
• 1:27:17
  SPEAKER_09: Like, could you imagine if you were Jeff Gross now playing hockey?
• 1:27:20
  SPEAKER_09: You're like, yeah, that was me.
• 1:27:21
  SPEAKER_09: That was me.
• 1:27:22
  SPEAKER_09: I will say this though.
• 1:27:23
  SPEAKER_09: Um what perspective do I have when a a young Jeff Gross nine, 10, 11, 12 years old, with just his hands and a shovel digging a trench, hard, hard work.
• 1:27:38
  SPEAKER_09: And yet our 20 ish something producer cannot get into his vehicle to drive 20 minutes.
• 1:27:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, get in here, girl.
• 1:27:52
  SPEAKER_09: To go watch to go watch again.
• 1:27:55
  SPEAKER_09: Once you know what, I'm gonna invite your parents because I know they'll exactly exact I like the cool.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_07: I enjoy employment.
• 1:28:04
  SPEAKER_07: We should.
• 1:28:05
  SPEAKER_07: We should invite his parents to the game.
• 1:28:07
  SPEAKER_07: Absolutely.
• 1:28:08
  SPEAKER_09: Absolutely.
• 1:28:09
  SPEAKER_07: I'll tell them about it.
• 1:28:10
  SPEAKER_09: Well, hey, uh, you know, um, one thing I would say though is we've got an announcement to make, and I think the announcement is gonna give us a lot of time here for Grant to clear his schedule.
• 1:28:22
  SPEAKER_09: Um, you know, too many men on the mic is excited to announce a partnership with one hockey tournaments, and uh what we're doing here with one hockey is similar to some other hockey-related podcasts that won't get named, we are gonna put on a hockey tournament in late April, early May.
• 1:28:39
  SPEAKER_09: And we could not be happier about being able to partner with Sebastian and his team at One Hockey Tournaments.
• 1:28:46
  SPEAKER_09: And um, as an exclusive now for this announcement, we're gonna go ahead and share that.
• 1:28:51
  SPEAKER_09: We have a Lexington tournament with one hockey coming up on November 6th through 8th.
• 1:28:55
  SPEAKER_09: Um, levels of 10, 10U, 14U, 18U, B, A, A, 12U.
• 1:29:02
  SPEAKER_09: Um, you can save$500 if you register for this tournament.
• 1:29:05
  SPEAKER_09: If you go in and use the promo code TOOMANY Men on the Mic.
• 1:29:09
  SPEAKER_09: That's the number two, many men on the mic.
• 1:29:11
  SPEAKER_09: If you can't spell it, spell Many Men on the Mic, then I can't help you.
• 1:29:14
  SPEAKER_09: Um you won't save$500.
• 1:29:16
  SPEAKER_09: But we're really, really excited about this.
• 1:29:19
  SPEAKER_09: Um, there's gonna be more tournaments that are gonna be happening.
• 1:29:21
  SPEAKER_09: We're helping them expand their footprint here in St.
• 1:29:23
  SPEAKER_09: Louis.
• 1:29:24
  SPEAKER_09: We're hopeful that we can talk to all of our friends in the Midwest region, even beyond.
• 1:29:28
  SPEAKER_09: I think there's a couple teams in Oregon I'm gonna ask to come out.
• 1:29:31
  SPEAKER_06: Love it.
• 1:29:31
  SPEAKER_09: Um, go to one www.onehockey.com, all one word.
• 1:29:36
  SPEAKER_09: You can view all their upcoming tournaments.
• 1:29:38
  SPEAKER_09: And again, for the Lexington, Kentucky tournament here November 6th through 8th, use the promo code TOOMINY Men on the Mic.
• 1:29:44
  SPEAKER_09: You'll save$500 for your team.
• 1:29:46
  SPEAKER_09: How exciting is this?
• 1:29:48
  SPEAKER_09: We are going to put on a hockey tournament.
• 1:29:50
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
• 1:29:50
  SPEAKER_09: Let's go.
• 1:29:51
  SPEAKER_09: So excited for that.
• 1:29:52
  SPEAKER_09: And uh yeah, you know, um, we we're not building a rink, but we're gonna help build a tournament.
• 1:29:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I I gotta ask before we uh uh wrap this up, Grant.
• 1:30:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, did you think that uh the University of Missouri was gonna lay the beat down that they put on the Florida Gators over the weekend?
• 1:30:13
  SPEAKER_07: So I actually on Thursday my parents went down because my siblings are students there and they didn't have tickets yet.
• 1:30:20
  SPEAKER_07: Um they were kind of expensive.
• 1:30:21
  SPEAKER_07: And my dad said, uh, I don't want to spend all that money to see them lose.
• 1:30:24
  SPEAKER_07: I said, Dad, I am 98% sure they are winning this football game.
• 1:30:28
  SPEAKER_07: I was like, Damn, I was like, I would go, I said I would go 100, but there's always, you know, there's hang on, hang on.
• 1:30:34
  SPEAKER_09: I'm texting, I'm texting Mr.
• 1:30:36
  SPEAKER_09: and Mrs.
• 1:30:36
  SPEAKER_09: Salzman right now.
• 1:30:37
  SPEAKER_09: I gotta verify that.
• 1:30:38
  SPEAKER_09: That does not be a good thing.
• 1:30:40
  SPEAKER_09: No way.
• 1:30:41
  SPEAKER_07: I'm 98% sure they win the football game.
• 1:30:44
  SPEAKER_07: I didn't think they'd win it by 28 points.
• 1:30:46
  SPEAKER_09: I thought they were getting Rick Rolled.
• 1:30:48
  SPEAKER_09: I thought it was I I mean after the Mississippi State, yeah.
• 1:30:52
  SPEAKER_07: That's college football, though.
• 1:30:53
  SPEAKER_07: Florida is annoying on the low.
• 1:30:56
  SPEAKER_07: Missous on the high, Florida's on the low.
• 1:30:59
  SPEAKER_09: I mean, Mizzou was getting or Florida was getting run for number one status.
• 1:31:04
  SPEAKER_09: Yes.
• 1:31:05
  SPEAKER_09: After beating old miss, people are like, these guys must be awesome.
• 1:31:09
  SPEAKER_09: Well, apparently they can't travel on the road anywhere.
• 1:31:13
  SPEAKER_07: Missouri, they knocked him down a rung, I believe.
• 1:31:16
  SPEAKER_09: Uh more than a rung.
• 1:31:17
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah, hats off.
• 1:31:18
  SPEAKER_09: Hats off if you're watching at home.
• 1:31:20
  SPEAKER_09: I'm taking my hat off too.
• 1:31:21
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 1:31:22
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 1:31:22
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 1:31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, way to go.
• 1:31:25
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, uh, did you put a friendly wager in?
• 1:31:27
  SPEAKER_07: I did put a friendly wager in.
• 1:31:29
  SPEAKER_07: So that it was a double, it was double nice.
• 1:31:31
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 1:31:32
  SPEAKER_03: Well, then you got plenty of money to gas up your car and come do a gig.
• 1:31:36
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 1:31:37
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 1:31:37
  SPEAKER_07: I like that.
• 1:31:38
  SPEAKER_09: That's a good well.
• 1:31:40
  SPEAKER_09: We've got to go and set up because we do have a gig tonight.
• 1:31:44
  SPEAKER_09: Um, thank you so much to Afterlight.
• 1:31:47
  SPEAKER_09: We're excited for this partnership.
• 1:31:48
  SPEAKER_09: You know, it the the you know, we love that.
• 1:31:51
  SPEAKER_09: We think it's a great alignment with our listening audience, especially for parents on tournaments, because look, we know if you go on tournaments, there's some early mornings sometimes, and there's definitely some late nights.
• 1:32:03
  SPEAKER_09: And afterlight can help get you through that day of multiple hockey games.
• 1:32:06
  SPEAKER_09: We're excited to partner with the guys, um, Austin Friesen and the rest of his partners there who are also affiliated with the hockey guys.
• 1:32:12
  SPEAKER_09: Um, super excited about our and more news to come on our tournament that we are putting on the two many men on the mic St.
• 1:32:19
  SPEAKER_09: Louis tournament with one hockey and uh Bob Mancini.
• 1:32:23
  SPEAKER_09: I know.
• 1:32:23
  SPEAKER_09: I wish we could play the song The Godfather the Waltz, but man, we're gonna investigate this.
• 1:32:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I can't wait to see him at uh the Jamboree coming up with Durso and Missouri hockey.
• 1:32:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's gonna be uh a great photo.
• 1:32:39
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I I feel like we need to go to dinner or something.
• 1:32:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh on the hill.
• 1:32:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we can snap.
• 1:32:45
  SPEAKER_09: Or or we can go to uh Tony uh Papa's.
• 1:32:48
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, there you go.
• 1:32:49
  SPEAKER_09: That the best off-the-hill Italian restaurant in town.
• 1:32:51
  SPEAKER_09: They butter everything up there.
• 1:32:52
  SPEAKER_09: It's excellent.
• 1:32:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's a wrap on Too Many Men on the Mind.
• 1:32:56
  SPEAKER_03: Too many Men on the Mic, October 8th edition.
• 1:32:59
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for joining us.
• 1:33:01
  SPEAKER_03: And let's play the song.
• 1:33:02
  SPEAKER_09: Hockey's more fun the better you get at it.
• 1:33:04
  SPEAKER_09: We'll see you next week.