Shows / Never Far from Home
Never Far from Home
NFFH uses story-telling to examine the community of hockey, nationwide. Each episode will have an interviewee that fields questions from the host, Vladan Chase. Some content is explicit, just as life sometimes is.
Episodes
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 211 - The ones who showed up
Dennis Borland tells his story of falling in love with the game as a fan, and when that developed into trying it for the first time. As the day came for him to…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 210 - Parks and Rec
Ken Bonham shares stories from his childhood, growing up in the greater Detroit area. He talks about his family, his passion for the game that developed at a…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 209 - Sports Orphan
Craig Fitzpatrick began as a hockey fan at a later age. He was introduced to the sport in college. For years, he was a an avid participant in watching, then he…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 208 - Lizardheads
Steve Swenson has become more involved in the hockey world as the years have passed. Living in a small mountain town, he talks about watching the evolution of…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 207 - Seconds
Chadd Cassidy joins the podcast again to complete the timeline. We had left off just before his move back to Lake Placid (Episode 205). Enjoy the coverage and…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 206 - Channel 38
Brian Harvey got his start in hockey when he was just a young kid. Growing up in the Boston area, he fell in love with the Bruins, and remembers fondly the…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 205 - Born to be a hockey player
Chadd Cassidy gets on the podcast, and we are able to talk about his origins, being a literal stones throw away from where the Miracle on Ice happened, through…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 204 - The Miracle GM
Butch Martin had some great stories, from growing up in Lake Placid, to his hockey days, his reffing, and his working situation, which included being the GM of…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 203 - Reno
Steve "Reno" Reed joined the podcast, and it was an absolutely great experience. He talks about his history with the game, including a move to Northwood School…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 202 - The Ladakh Express
Sooner Dawson tells stories about his time growing up playing hockey in Vermont. His family was another hockey family, and when he came along, it only made…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 201 - 12 hours
Terri Potter is an absolute champion. She is a friend of a friend who let me crash in the guest bedroom for an evening, and in the midst of that, I had to…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 200 - State of Hockey Address Aug. 4 '21
Mike Cochran and I go back and forth in what is the second edition of the "State of Hockey Address". There is the storytelling, mostly from the trip, and from…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 199 - T4T4 The Sound of Ice
Ruby Goldner came on, and the conversation was a little bit looser than the normal timeline talk. We definitely got into some of that, but also, the discussion…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 198 - The Doctor is in
Lindsey Migliore got involved with the community of the rink through her wife, and now plays as much hockey as she can. We were able to talk about her…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 197 - Rudo
Andrew Rudolph did not have much involvement in the game of hockey until he came into his latest job. We talk about his upbringing, and what has led him to the…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 196 - Gravitate and Emulate
Deron Barton grew up in the game of hockey, and does not remember a time when it was not a passion of his. We talk about some of his favorite youth memories…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 195 - Comically Unconditioned
Pete Bissell grew up playing a variation of pond and ice hockey. He fell in love with the game and played for a few years through his childhood. Different…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 194 - 30 Minutes
Terrence Wallin grew up in hockey. He does not remember a time that he wasn't playing. We are able to dive into his career, from his youth days, through his…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 193 - Beauty Unis
Casey Sprogis got his start young in the hockey world. He fell in love with the game right away, and knew he wanted to stay involved in some capacity as he…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 192 - Learned and Confirmed
Matt Voity picked up hockey a little later than most, but fell in love with the game right away. He realized quickly that he wanted to take the game as far as…
- Never Far from Home
Never Far from Home Ep. 192 - Learned and Confirmed
Matt Voity picked up hockey a little later than most, but fell in love with the game right away. He realized quickly that he wanted to take the game as far as…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 191 - Bets in the Booth
Michael Keeley grew up in a sporty house, but didn't truly get the hockey bug for a bit. As he was deciding where to go for college, and what he wanted to…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 190 - Cinder Blocks
Suzanne Driscoll has had an incredible journey. She began as a figure skater, with a mom who heavily influenced that decision. Finally, she came into hockey…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 189 - Attitude of Gratitude
Wayne Messmer grew up in the sports scene, but had a number of building blocks that led him on a different path than most of my guests. Wayne is a singer. He…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 188 - The Shadow
Ben Mariano has played hockey since he was a small boy. He fell in love with the game in many different ways over the years, and we talk about his journey from…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 187 - No Such Hockey
Justin del Rosario found hockey later on in life, starting to play in his forties. That didn't deter him from quickly leading a few skates, including No Such…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 186 - Viral Videos
Johnny Krupinsky has had a heavy involvement in the Danbury hockey scene for years. We talk about his favorite teams he has had the pleasure of watching…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 185 - Another side of Danbury
Kelly Potter has been skating since she was a teenager, and fell in love with the community of the rink. She realized that she wanted to continue being…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 184 - Just Czeching in
Matyas Kasek grew up in the Czech Republic playing a different style of game. We talked about the differences in coaching style, and how he had to adapt his…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 183 - First Words
Nick Garofalo grew up playing hockey. He fell in love with the game at a young age, and knew he wanted to stay involved in some capacity even when he grew to…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 182 - ABR
Amber Moore grew up on the west coast playing hockey, and has loved the sport since an early age. Her life brought her around the country to play, and she…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 181 - A broadcasters tale
Zack Fisch was a sporty guy growing up, but found himself loving the game of hockey from a young age. He talks about how he moved through the youth ranks, and…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 180 - Taking Ownership
Herm Sorcher grew up going to hockey games, and loved most aspects of it. When he was in college, he worked for the Hartford Whalers, and was able to attend a…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 179 - Rocky Mountain Reminiscing (RMR)
Tim Rinck grew up playing the game from a young age. He fell in love with so many aspects of the sport, and the community that came with it. Hockey stayed with…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 178 - Go where you are wanted
Johnny Kyte joined the podcast. We had a great chat about his hockey life, hockey family, and some wonderful stories were shared. Johnny was a bouncer…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 177 - Now, here we are
Troy Mick grew up in Vernon, BC. We go through his stories, from his earliest at two getting pushed around the rink, to his current status as a coach in…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 176 - The Arvada Rink Rat
Tom Greene grew up in Arvada hockey, and was part of a hockey family through and through. We talk about his career playing, and some of his stand out memories…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 175 - Transformative
Billy Carr joined the podcast, and we were able to explore his story from his beginnings as a kid playing in Maryland, through his time helping to build the…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 174 - Goalies Inc 2.0
Jim, Adam, and Ben all sit down as we are able to talk about the Goalies Inc. brand a little more in depth. Jim, of course, was on Episode 166, and shared some…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 173 - My Friend Adam
Adam Lindeman picked up the game of hockey at a young age, and has had a wonderful experience with the game. He didn't dive into being a goalie until his…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 172 - Willy
Shane Willis joined the podcast, and we were able to explore his story from his beginnings as a kid playing in a small town, to his big move to play around his…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 171 - The Chmielewski's
This is a fathers day edition of NFFH, and it was a fantastic chat with Bob and Tom Chmielewski. There are some of the normal questions you hear about how they…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 170 - Herr Herr
Matt Herr has been involved in hockey since he was a young kid. We explored his timeline of involvement within this episode, with promises of a second, more…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 169 - Craft It
Matt Mackey has been in love with hockey since watching his first pro game live. He became involved with the sport as soon as he could, and we talk about how…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 168 - CMU Original
Zach Nichols began playing hockey later in his teenage years, and holds on to the dream of playing professional to this day! We talk about his love of the…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 167 - Another Hockey Nerd
Bobby Cervone grew up in hockey, and has wanted to stay involved with the game as much as he could. That led him to working at a hockey store for a piece of…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 166 - Goalies INC
Jim Stanaway has been a hockey guy his whole life. In this first discussion (Second to come later in the month), we talk about his career path, and some of the…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 165 - Kraken Fancast
Lute Chell has been a hockey fan for a very long time. He had some playing experience, and shares some stories from his playing time, and of course, we get…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 164 - Magic Mike
Mike Garris grew up a goalie, but he is so much more than the stigma associated with them. Jokes aside, we talk about his introduction to hockey, how he grew…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 163 - NHL Seattle
John Barr didn't really dive into hockey until his mid to late twenties, but when he did, it was with everything he had. He now plays three or more times a…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 162 - Environmental Sciences
Courtney Boutelle was introduced to the rink around her middle school years, and immediately fell in love with all aspects. She tells stories from her early…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 161 - The Iron Lung
Matt Trust grew up a fan of the game of hockey, but became involved in a larger degree at fourteen. He found a love for writing, and had aspirations of being a…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 160 - Smashville
Tommy and Kristen Mattox join me for a wonderful episode. We talk about Kristen's background with hockey, and the family tie it had. We also explore the sport…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 159 - Last on the Scoresheet
Jennifer Boniecki was taken by the rink when she was just a young girl growing up in Chicago. She found herself playing girls hockey, and was always battling…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 158 - Precision in Rhythm
Paula Trujillo is another guest who was born into the community of the rink. We go over her family dynamics, from mother and father, to her three siblings, and…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 157 - A Family Affair
Kristen Bowness was born into a hockey family, but had some difficulty in her early years to find the love of the game. When she did, it quickly became a…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 156 - Behind the scenes
Patrick Houlihan got into the hockey scene a little later in his teen years. He quickly progressed through a number of areas in the game, and found himself…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 155 - Don't talk about it, be about it
Darren McCarty grew up with the game of hockey. He learned to love it at a young age, and found the relationships he got from the locker room were some of his…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 154 - In honor of...
Jenna Janshen got involved with hockey in elementary school. She spent a few years playing the game, then moved into officiating. She talks about her pathway…
Never Far from HomeNever Far from Home Ep. 153 - Well Equipped
Nicholas Bayruns was born into hockey. He speaks about his childhood moving around the country, and eventually ending up in upstate New York. He loves the…