From Backyard Dreams to Olympic Gold & The Walter Cup: Hayley Scamurra’s Championship Journey

This is Sharpening youg Edge with Chuck and Eric.

In this episode, we'll be speaking with.

Hailey Skamora, fresh off of her Walter cup championship with the Montreal Victoire.

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Welcome to another episode of Sharpening youg Edge, presented by CV3 Hockey Development and brought to you by our title sponsor, Roster Hub.

I'm Chuck Bertolino, along with my co host, Eric Malanson.

And today our guest is a former D1 player at Northeastern, an Olympic gold medalist, and most recently, a Walter cup champion.

And then most recently, Jacob Slavin, who won the gold medal this year and the Stanley cup with the Hurricanes.

So, Haley Skamora, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me.

Haley, welcome.

Thanks for coming on.

I know you're busy, especially as the season came to an end successfully for you.

Dubly, and welcome to the show.

Thanks for coming on.

Yeah, thank you so much.

So, we'll get to your hockey beginnings in a minute, but you had quite a historic run this past season.

Olympic gold, Walter cup championship, all within a couple months of each other.

Has that accomplishment had any time to sink in at all?

And then, like, are you still processing what's happened over the last couple months?

Maybe still processing.

I don't know.

When you said I was one of three U.S. olympians to do that, it's pretty surreal to kind of hear.

And I think just being able to celebrate it more this summer with, like, family and friends has also helped it sink in a little bit more, but definitely comes in waves for sure.

I think just like the history of it is pretty surreal to be a part of and I'm very grateful that I get to do that.

It's absolutely amazing.

I couldn't have written a better year so far.

Yeah, it's been fantastic.

I actually got to see.

I took my kids to the first game at the Fleet center or at the Fleet Center.

I'm dating myself now at the Garden.

Oh, because you played the Fleet and.

Yes, it was awesome.

It was packed, it was an electric environment and it was so cool.

My boys loved it.

So you guys got the W, but it's all right.

Yeah.

That was a great game, though.

Honestly.

It was a hard fought game.

Physical game, low scoring, physical game game.

And it was awesome to watch.

Yeah.

Really tight defensively, like, absolutely.

But honestly, the atmosphere was unbelievable.

Like, low key.

I wanted Boston to get a goal to hear the crowd, but like, overall, happy we won, but like, yeah, it was.

It was really cool.

I know it was your old stomping grounds that you played.

How.

How many times did you get to play there for the bean pot?

None.

You didn't get to that at all?

No, no, that was something we had.

I remember Kendall Coyne had been very upset about that and tried to fight for it back then because only the men got to play.

Yep.

We only.

We would rotate where the host would play on the city.

Yep.

We never got to play, so that was my first time.

So will the women play in the new arena that Northeastern's building?

Like the Northeastern women's team, Will they play there?

Yeah, I would.

Yeah, I would think so.

But it'll be a bit till it's built.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm gonna miss the old arena, but.

Oh, that's like devastating.

I can imagine that place brings.

I got to see a lot of games there.

Probably not as many as you, but a lot of.

A lot of.

Yeah.

I mean, it was one of the reasons I picked the school.

It was just the history of that rink and it was so beautiful.

Like, oh, I loved it.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Great times in the city.

So, Chuck, we've gone off the rails.

We're only one question in.

Let's take it back to the Victoire and becoming Walter cup champion.

So what emotions, if any, that you can remember were running through your mind at the time when the clock hit zero?

Oh, my gosh.

Just like pure elation, Honestly, just pure joy.

Our team had been through a lot and that whole season and to finally, we all had the feeling that we would win the Walter cup that year.

We all kind of knew how special our team was.

But then to actually have that moment realized and to kind of look at each other and realize like, what we had accomplished was so amazing, so surreal.

Then we got to have family and friends come on the ice, which is absolutely amazing, to be able to celebrate with them, like in person, holding the cup and everything.

And yeah, it was unbelievable.

It was so fun to share with teammates.

So every kind of championship team has that like, defining characteristic.

You know, it's hard work, it's talent, et cetera.

Chuck and I talk a lot about culture and I really think culture is kind of one of those things that underpins every successful team.

And you mentioned that you really bought in early on in the season that you guys thought you could win the Walter Cup.

What, how did that.

Did the culture change throughout the season?

Did it get stronger?

What was the culture like?

Talk to us from inside the locker room.

Yeah, I think they already had a strong culture to begin with.

They had been building it obviously for the last two seasons.

This was my first year with Montreal, but I had always heard great things.

And then just being a part of the locker room, like they really make everyone feel a part of the team and a part of the community.

And every single person has an important role on that team.

And you know it from the start.

And that was something we really fostered just from the get go, is everyone kind of owning what they're really good at and bringing that to the team every single day.

And then I think that culture was tested throughout the year because we had so many injuries throughout the year.

So for the regular season, we only had our full roster for five games total.

So that meant that our depth had to be on point.

Like, we had so many players step up in moments throughout the entire season that allowed us to finish first in, in the regular season, which is also really hard to do in our league.

Like, if you guys follow like the standings, I mean, those things jump all the time.

Like, and it's such a tight league, anyone can win on any given night.

And so to be able to finish regular season champs was huge, especially given the adversity that we faced and then five game series against really tough opponents.

Like we played Minnesota in the first round and that was really difficult.

Like there was a lights out.

I mean, yeah, yeah, we had to stop the high powered offense to, to win that series and fought through some things during that series as well.

So I think and Then obviously, the Ottawa series was really physical, really like a battle every single game.

And.

But I think through the regular season, we were tested and were resilient and faced adversity through all of that.

And I think our culture is what kind of held us together during those moments, and then that allowed us to ultimately prepare for the playoff series for the Walter Cup.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

I mean, you hit on so many great topics there.

I think the depth thing is obviously an issue.

I hope they make changes.

I read about some of the pending changes they may make to the roster size to help you guys.

I think that is a big, you know, big thing for you guys, where it's got to be frustrating or it's hard.

Yeah, it's very difficult.

Yeah.

There's the reserve roster spots, and they're only activated if someone's injured.

And then they're expected to be at practice all the time and showing up, and they were absolutely incredible.

And they had to step in at moments when they hadn't been playing a game in months, and then all of a sudden, they're expected to show up in a game.

And so ultimate respect to them, obviously, and they were also a part of our win and a part of our season.

But, yeah, hopefully we're able to work that out eventually.

We're a young league, obviously, so there's, like, growing pains in that sense.

And while we're building a new league, you can't really build a new development league.

At the same time, it unfortunately doesn't really work that way.

So working those things out, for sure.

But the players have been absolutely amazing during all of it.

No, and just to underpin what you said about culture, I mean, I think the fact that you were able to have those women step in late on in the season and jump right into it, make an absolute impact, that speaks to the culture that you guys had in that locker room where they're able to just walk right in like they didn't miss a practice and get ready to go.

Yep.

Yeah, you often hear that, too, from any sport, any championship team.

They say, all right, someone's down, next, next player up.

And then they just step right in and they're ready to go.

And that's pretty cool to hear as well.

So you made mention of it a couple minutes ago, and I thought this was pretty cool when I saw it.

You.

You see it really recently with the NHL, but especially with the PWHL after your victory, all the families out on the ice taking pictures, holding the cup.

But it's more than just, like, the picture itself.

Right.

It's those moments that represent so much more behind the scenes of just winning a championship.

They're the sacrifices that parents make and siblings make.

The early mornings, the long drives, and countless people in your family that believed in you before anybody else did.

So when you saw your parents and brothers out there on the ice with you, what did that moment mean?

And just to reflect on that journey and how instrumental were they with your not only hockey career growing up, but how they helped shape you as a person as well.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, parents have done so much for me.

I think my dad was my coach, and then my mom was just that support, that cheerleader for me on the sidelines that I needed.

She was also, like, helping us on our backyard rink and turning our dining room into a dressing room.

And then my dad was, like, watering the rinks to make sure it was smooth and flat for us.

And there's just so many little things that they've done and to allow me to live out my dream and to play the game that I love.

And they really fostered that in me as a kid, and learning, hard work and determination, and all of those things that are pillars in me are because of them.

And then I had three older brothers, too, so they never took it easy on me.

I was always competing against them, always wanted to play with them, and that helped me kind of, like, keep striving for growth.

And so I can't thank them enough.

And luckily, I was able to share with, like, my mom and some family friends and my boyfriend at the Walter cup final, which was really exciting.

And, yeah, every single one of them has been instrumental in getting me to where I am today.

So I think that's what makes those moments more special, is being able to celebrate it with them in that moment.

Part of it didn't feel as real because I couldn't celebrate with them, and I couldn't share in those moments with them.

So cool.

I mean, it's got to be such a full circle moment, but you've shared pond ice with your dad and your brothers, and then you're standing out holding the Walter cup on ice with dad and your brother, so that's so cool.

So, I mean, you grew up in Buffalo, right?

So we could talk a little bit about your background.

Spent more time in Buffalo in the last of years.

Couple.

Couple of years than I ever thought I would my entire life.

Really?

Yep.

Lot at the.

Was it the Keybank center there with a Sabres place?

Nice place.

Yeah.

But tons of pond hockey.

You grew up brothers, trying to compete with them.

Your dad played, what, at Wisconsin?

He played in the ohl.

Then he was the first person from Buffalo to be drafted by the Sabres, is that right?

Yeah, by the.

The Washington Capitals.

So he was the first person out of Buffalo to be drafted to the NHL?

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

So cool.

I mean, talk about a family lineage there.

Amazing.

So, like, what did those days look like for you?

Kind of going out to skate on that freshly watered pond all those hours?

We hear about it all the time when we talk about folks like specifically from Minnesota or from Canada, where it's just all this unstructured play.

They're out all the time having fun.

It's like everybody up in the warm areas that have basketball courts, right?

Yeah.

How did all of that unstructured play, do you think, like, help shape the player that you became today?

Oh, man.

I mean, it was huge.

My.

My dad bought that house, and he flattened out the.

Our backyard so that an ice rink could go on the backyard.

So he was very dedicated to that rink and making sure that we had that.

And we got to invite all of our friends to come out with us, and that is, like, the purest form of the game.

It's just like, on that fresh ice, just playing for fun, playing with all your friends, and just trying different things that you might not try in, like, a typical game where you might feel more pressure.

Like, you're just out there having fun, playing free.

And those are the kind of memories you kind of hold on to when you.

Maybe you're in the big moments or you're in a gold medal game or you're in a Walter cup championship game, and you kind of think back to those memories, and you kind of, like, channel that inner excitement, inner youth of playing on your backyard rink and remembering what that was like and kind of bringing that joy and that energy into the championship game or bigger moments, and it kind of helps ground you a little bit.

So cool.

I mean, yeah, everybody goes through that.

I'm on a penalty shot for the Game 7 of the Stanley cup, and it's all on my shoulders.

And you've done it so many times as a kid now, getting to live.

It's so cool.

I think you.

You spoke to it Just the creativity that you're allowed, you know, that you're able to use and develop while you're out on the ice, your friends and just kind of messing around.

It's awesome.

And I think, yeah, you learn a lot about yourself.

You get to have fun, and you grow the game the right way.

Yep, yep.

And it's amazing, too.

That's something you really don't see a lot of anymore, is the unstructured play the way youth hockey's become.

And it's amazing how many times my sons and daughter come to me and they're like, hey, I want to go to Stick and Pock.

Because they're heavily involved with travel hockey, and they're just constantly on the ice in practice and games, and they just want to go out there and have fun and just be creative.

So hopefully that's coming back for the kids, because that's a lot of NHLRs.

If you hear a lot of NHL speak about it, especially the older ones, they talk about a lot of the things they learn just skating around on the ponds and things they can apply in a game, not necessarily in practice, things on unstructured ice.

On the pond.

So.

So at what point did you realize that hockey can become more than just something you love doing on the pond?

And what did your path in youth hockey look like?

Did you play with the boys starting out?

You transition?

When did you transition to play with the girls?

I started off playing boys hockey.

There wasn't really any girls programs until probably, I want to say 14 you, maybe 12 you.

But I played boys hockey with the Refill Blades in Buffalo.

My dad was the coach.

I absolutely loved it.

I played up until I did one year of body checking.

And then that's when I decided after that year I wanted to just switch to girls hockey.

So for me personally, I wasn't really having fun on the boys team anymore.

I was a little bit isolated.

I was kind of scared on the ice.

I wasn't really having fun anymore.

The guys were getting pretty big, and I was feeling a little uncomfortable, so I decided to switch to girls hockey.

So probably around 14U, I played with a lot of different organizations for girls.

I did the Buffalo Bisons, I did the Rochester Edge.

So my dad did a lot of driving then.

And then second year of high school, we decided to play in Canada, which was a.

Like a junior league, and it was the provincial women's hockey league.

So, funny enough, it was called the PWHL at the time.

And so I played for Burlington for two years in Oakville.

For one, I absolutely loved it there.

And that's where eventually I was getting recruited.

I think I didn't realize that I could go anywhere else with hockey until I got recruitment letters.

So, like, that was when I was probably with the Rochester Edge.

I started getting this is back in the day.

So we got letters in the mail saying that, like, a college was interested in you or whatnot.

And I was like, oh, this is cool.

Like, I guess I could do this.

So, like, it wasn't really a thought for me until I was actually getting recruited.

And then from that point on, obviously, my goal was always to make the US Team, the Olympic team.

But other than that, I never even thought about what came before that, which is Division 1 college.

And so with that recruitment process, you go visit schools, and you're doing that a lot earlier than all of your other counterparts at school.

Like, they're not even worried about college yet, and you're visiting all these colleges, trying to figure out what you might want to major in and where you might want to go and all these different things.

So it was quite tricky to navigate at the time, and especially with parents who hadn't been through that process before.

So we were all kind of learning it together.

And then when I visited Northeastern, it was just.

I just had that feeling.

I was on the campus, and I was, this is.

This is it.

This feels like where I'm supposed to be.

And so I remember I kind of made the decision with my mom right there.

After the official visit, we just decided to go back in, and we were like, this is where we want to go.

So that was my journey in that process.

That's amazing.

Northeastern certainly lucked out in that exchange.

I would say truth up front, I am a BU fan, grew up going to BU games, and I got season tickets now.

But I do love Northeastern.

It's a fantastic place.

So is there anyone in particular that you can look back on your four years there and how you grew and ended up where you're at now that you kind of point back to and you really owe them, like, a debt for kind of.

Or was it a takes a village type of situation where it was.

There's so many people, and they each played their own role in your development?

It's a lot of it.

I think Linda Lundrikan was the coach who recruited me at the time, so she was actually only my coach freshman year, and I think she left after that.

But she's kind of the one who brought me in, believed in me, saw my potential.

So she was obviously A big one.

And then Coach Flint, head coach.

I always had a lot of respect for him because he always saw his players as people.

So I remember he helped me during times when I was struggling with anxiety, and I was.

I remember being at home, and he shared with me how.

How he has been through similar things and was able to kind of help me through that process.

And I'll just never forget that he was able to kind of help me through a lot of those tough moments in college when you're trying to figure things out on your own and maybe you're a little bit overwhelmed by it all and.

And you're away from home.

And so he was that kind of source of comfort at times.

And I know he was like that for a lot of the players on the team.

And then obviously, the big one that comes to mind is Kendall Coyne.

I got to play with her for two years, and she's such an incredible leader, such an incredible human.

And it's really crazy to look back and think that we played college hockey together, and then now we.

We're on the Olympic stage together.

And I think back to those times.

It's almost.

It's like, so surreal that we got to share those moments together in college.

And I got to kind of see her grow as a person and a leader, too.

But she always just had that natural leadership ability, I think, and that drive and that determination that I really admired, and I think helped make me grow a lot as a player as well and a person.

I mean, you were extremely fortunate on that.

I don't think there's a better person who could have gotten under their wing and had the mentorship that she provided.

I was fortunate enough to meet her about six months ago in Chicago.

She was training for the Olympics, and she was out there all by herself, skating around in one of the rinks.

And we all started watching, trying to figure out who it was.

And then it made sense when she came off the ice and we saw who it was, and, man, she's a little animal out there.

It was awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The crowd of spectators grew from one to, like, 100 real fast.

It was awesome.

So we'll keep with the Northeastern theme.

Just in your second last season, you were plus 43, which is.

It's pretty remarkable.

I don't care what league you're in.

That's pretty remarkable.

Hockey east.

Best defensive forward, right?

I think you get a little Bergeron in you there.

Always gets the headlines.

Defense, not so much, but for the.

The coach to put a lot of trust in you defensively speaks volumes to your game.

So like, do you attribute it to growing up playing with your brothers, playing that boys hockey where you developed a defensive mindset or like, is that something you had your entire career and you just kind of, you know, you just leaned on your, that, that role?

Yeah, my dad was a defenseman, so I feel like maybe he had some natural defensive tendencies in terms of teaching me the game.

And I was always forward.

I don't think I ever played D, but like with the boys team, I was always like third line forward, fourth line forward.

So I feel like in general my role was more defensive, was more focused on like the four check and, and different things like that.

So I think that kind of started my game.

And then in college, I had never played center before.

And I remember my sophomore year, I'm on the line with Kendall, so she didn't want to play center.

And then another teammate, Denisa Shisheva, she.

She didn't want to play center.

She came from the Czech Republic.

She's like, oh, no, I don't understand.

I'm like, okay, but, but yeah, so I got to play center.

But honestly, I'm really grateful for that time.

I mean, it helped me develop a lot as a player, honestly, because you have a lot more responsibility and I think it just gives you another tool in your toolkit, honestly, as a forward and get to see the game a little bit more and get to manage the puck more and get to control the play and gain confidence in that way as well.

And so I noticed that this year too, with Montreal playing center again.

So definitely a lot of props to all the centers out there because it is a lot more responsibility for sure.

And those face offs are no joke.

So that, that's art craft right there.

I mean, the fact that you were able to kind of make that transition at such a high level and succeed is, I mean, that's amazing.

So, I mean, kudos to whatever your dad put in your milk and your cereal when you were a kid.

Started on the right path, but that's, that's awesome.

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And I sat down to start the podcast sharpening your edge.

In general, our goal was to put it out there to have our guests on to help educate parents, players and coaches.

And we often come back to the same themes with the guests we have that hockey is so different than other sports and the fact that if you put roster of whatever 20 plus goal scorers on the ice, you might have an all star team, but you're not going to be very successful when it comes to those tough games or the grind of the playoffs.

So in your mind, just to educate our audience a little bit, right, the parents, especially for the younger kids, think, oh my kids got to go end to end and go bar down and he's going to be a superstar.

But there's also kids that I see at 10 and 12 that are carving their way and developing as role players.

So in your mind, how important is it for the sport to have role players and to for players to be able to play multiple roles in multiple positions?

I think it's critical for role players, obviously.

And I do think that's why hockey's the greatest game, because you need the whole team in order to win and you can't rely on just having one superstar.

If that were the case, McDavid would have a million Stanley Cups.

Right.

Like you need a whole team to help you get to that point.

And that's why I love it so much.

And every role is super important to have and you need all of those kinds of players on your team in order to make up that the best full team you can possibly make.

And so for me, I've had a lot of different roles on different teams and each one I take as seriously as the other.

Like none of them are any different in my eyes.

But I just, I know what I need to do on each team and what I need to do to help the team succeed.

And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to win.

I want to win.

And so whether that's, I only have six minutes in a game to kind of make an impact, then you know what my challenge is to make those the most impactful six minutes I can possibly make.

And I've just Always kind of had that mindset.

I've always been very open and kind of willing to do whatever it takes for the whole team to succeed.

And I think it takes the selfless mindset that you need to have because you're not bigger than the team.

It's about the team and their success and what you kind of need to do to help that.

And, yeah, every team needs every kind of player on it.

Yeah.

I think you hit pretty much every wicket that Chuck and I have stressed on this podcast in that answer there.

I think you're.

I mean, it's one.

It's absolutely the greatest game on the planet for a myriad of reasons.

But I think you're right that everybody has a role to play, and that's the only way that those successful teams are successful is because everybody buys in.

That's part of the culture.

Everybody's buying into their role.

They know it, they own it.

They go out there and they do their best at it every single time they step on the ice.

It doesn't matter if it's a game or a practice or whatever, because you know that if you're competing against your teammates to make themselves better and make you better.

Right.

And I think that's a lot of things that sadly get lost in some of the youth sports today.

Specifically used hockey, obviously, we talk about that.

And I think Herb Brooks, at best, in what, late 79, early 80, where he wasn't looking for the best players, he was looking for the right ones.

And, I don't know, music.

The movie was historically accurate, and he actually said that, but nonetheless, it still holds that.

I mean, look at what he did with that team of who he thought was the best and took it to the Russians.

So thank you for echoing that for us.

We'll continue to beat that drum everywhere we go.

I think we talked a little bit about your dad getting drafted, but you were drafted by the Buffalo Buttes, right?

So, like, you were drafted by your hometown.

What was it like back then?

Like, hearing your name called?

Like, how awesome was it to be able to play professionally in your hometown?

And then talk to us about how hard or easy the transition from the collegiate level to the professional level was.

So, funny enough, this will be fun to share, just to compare kind of our pro leagues.

Right.

So I just got the notification on Twitter, and to be honest, they drafted me because I told them, I'm from Buffalo, I'm gonna live in Buffalo.

After college.

So this is where I want to play.

So I knew I would get picked there, and I knew.

And then again, it was over Twitter.

So I'm at my house, and I'm just looking.

I'm like, oh, there it is.

I've made it.

However.

Yeah, Yeah, I did it.

However.

I loved my time with the Buffalo Buttes.

It was absolutely amazing to be able to play for my hometown team.

I've been thinking back on that time a lot because it was some of my favorite hockey memories, honestly.

And you kind of realize, like, my family was able to come see my game so easily, like, all the time.

And you kind of realize as you get older, it's sometimes harder to come make those games, especially now that I'm playing professional.

Now I'm going to be out in Vegas.

It's like family can't come as often.

Everyone's kind of doing their own things.

And so I really cherish that time that I did have there, being able to play for my hometown team professionally.

And I got to win the Isabel cup at the time when I got out of college, I got to play for a few weeks and won it then, which is really cool.

And then in subsequent years, like, for the next two years, I think it was.

I got to play, like, a full season there, and it was just so much fun.

The environment was incredible.

The Pulas ended up owning us at one point, and so we had, like, so much, like, incredible treatment at that point, and it was a little bit closer to being more professional, but still very different from what it is today.

But, yeah, I absolutely loved my time playing for my hometown team.

It was amazing.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

I mean, shout out to the Pakulas.

I mean, the things that they've done for the hockey world, I think nobody understands.

I mean, the rink at Penn State.

Is, oh, my gosh, one of the.

Most premier rinks in the ncaa.

And the things that that program have been able to do because of the funding that they've received has been incredible.

I mean, Gavin McKenna chose to go there for a reason, obviously.

Right, right.

Yeah, they are.

The city of Buffalo owes them a lot, but that's the right spot for.

That's such a cool story.

I mean, I think it's hilarious.

We've come a long way, and I'm glad.

I think.

Yeah.

Post that.

Right.

Like, right after you get drafted.

And then now we're transitioning.

What's like, the last time the women won the gold medal?

Somewhere around there.

And that's when we had Monique Lamoro Mirando on.

And she talked about the fight for equality.

So you think about back to you getting drafted on Twitter now.

Fast forward to where we're at now, growing pwhl.

I mean, you have seen it really on both sides of the spectrum.

So what are you hopeful for?

For the future, I guess.

As you leave Montreal and head to Vegas, what are you hopeful for out there?

It's just incredible how much our league has grown.

Like, if you had told us in year four, we would have been to 12 teams.

Like, we would have been like, no, there's no way.

Like, it can't grow that fast.

But it really has.

You've seen it in all of our markets.

You've seen it in our takeover games that aren't in our typical markets.

Like, the hunger for women's sports and women's hockey is there in.

In so many places.

And then would you have guessed that it would be San Jose and Vegas?

Maybe not.

But.

But you know what?

Those hockey markets have grown incredibly, like, in the last few years.

And I think having a women's hockey team there will only make it grow even more.

And we've received so many messages about people being so excited to have us there and to see the games and to see it in person, because they haven't really had the opportunity to.

So I think it's going to be incredible for these new cities, and the league itself is just going to continue to grow.

It's just super exciting to see, and it's incredible to be a part of, like, even our last draft to see that.

I don't know if you guys had seen it.

Yeah.

And we had Skylar Irving on a couple episodes ago, and we spoke about that as well.

And now you put in the Twitter comment about how far it's grown.

Right.

Like, you get drafted on Twitter and then even the first year of the pwhl, Right.

With Taylor Heisey being chosen.

And it looked like it was in.

A little, little room.

Now it's like in a huge auditorium and all the families are there and it's.

And she also mentioned, too, it was pretty cool.

She thought after she got drafted, they did the.

The head scans for putting the PWHL players in the NHL game for EA Sports.

So that's pretty cool as well.

So it's great to see.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it's come so far.

And I think you're right.

I mean, they picked the right markets, the emerging ones, and I think San Jose is blowing up.

Obviously, the Sharks are killing it.

Thank you.

Celebrity and Will Smith.

Yeah.

Vegas is.

They have.

I don't know how I feel about Vegas because they have had no, like, misfortune out there in hockey.

All they've known is success.

So, you know, at least they lost this year to a much deserving hurricane Steam.

But I think you guys are poised for the same thing.

It's just like, what that city does is breed winners.

Yeah.

So.

So I'm looking forward to watching some games, for sure.

So let's transition to the international stage.

And you decided at just 10 years old, and you mentioned it earlier in the podcast, that you wanted to focus on being an Olympian, and that's a huge dream.

Everyone dreams it when they're young.

Right.

But do you remember exactly what sparked that dream?

Was there a particular Olympic moment, a player or experience that made you say, hey, I want to do this someday?

I'm not going to lie.

I have no idea, because I don't remember ever seeing women's hockey on the national stage.

I really don't.

I have no recollection of it.

The only.

The only Olympian I can think of that I would have seen would have been Abby Wambach for soccer.

Like, she was an idol for me growing up.

She's from the Rochester, New York area, so it wasn't far from me.

I had seen her on the international stage with, like, the U.S. women's National Team, and she also played for a Rochester pro team at one point.

So there was.

I had a lot of, like, access and visibility with her, and her living so close to my hometown was, like, that extra, like, little motivation, I think.

So, to be honest, I think that's the only thing I can think of in terms of the Olympics.

And then, honestly, probably just watching the movie Miracle over and over again on the men's side.

But, yeah, because, like, women's hockey, for me, the only visibility I would have had with that was the Niagara Women's College team.

And we went to a few of their games a few times, but other than that, we didn't see it on tv, and we didn't really see it in our area.

So I. I'm not actually sure where that came from, but I have it.

I said I wanted to be an Olympian, so it came from somewhere.

I mean, it's great that you were able to get to see an Olympian kind of opening up and close like that at such a young age.

And it clearly had made an impression on you.

And then you get over and you're.

It's 20, 26.

You're in the Olympics.

You've got that USA jersey on.

Now you're doing some visualizing on what it actually would feel to.

To get that gold medal.

And then the moment happens, right?

You're on the stage, you got the medal around your neck to play in the anthem.

How did that.

Did that visualization.

Did anything, like, come to it?

Was it.

Or is it nothing like you could have prepared for?

Oh, my gosh.

I don't know if it was anything I could have prepared for, but I definitely did visualize that moment a lot.

And hearing the anthem, being arm in arm with your teammates on that stage, I think that's something you visualize a lot for sure.

And I'll just never forget it felt like it took an eternity to finally get that medal.

Like, we were on that ice for, I swear, hours waiting to get the medals.

And I'm like, where is this thing?

I gotta see it.

Like, what's going on?

Yeah.

And then when it finally went around my neck, I just was like.

And I didn't realize how big my sigh was until we had a gold medal party in Buffalo.

Buffalo.

And my dad was telling me about that moment.

He said, that was my favorite thing to see.

And I was like, did I do it that, like, obvious.

And then we had the live feed of the game on, and we were watching it, and we're seeing the metal part happen.

And I literally.

It was so obvious.

I was like.

Then I, like, stared at the metal.

So, yeah, it was absolutely incredible.

That's.

I mean, that's so cool.

Now, like, I.

Huge proponent of visualization, I think trying to get in your mental game ahead of time.

Is that something that has worked well for you in your career and kind of like, when do you remember?

Kind of, kind of try to start that trend?

A trainer that I worked with in Maryland, who's now my boyfriend, he's really big into, like, the visualization stuff.

And so we did that along with, like, the affirmations.

So we had, like, a.

A whiteboard, and it says, I am a gold medalist.

And so I would write over that every day.

And that would also kind of spark visualizing it as you're seeing it and things like that.

And I think it does help you prepare for those big moments because it's like you visualized it before, you've been there before, and then you're in the moment.

Doesn't feel maybe quite as big or as Scary because it feels like you've kind of already wanted in your head a little bit.

So I think that that helped me immensely in this gold medal game for sure.

That's awesome.

You heard it.

Start doing your visualizing, everybody.

Yeah.

It looked like the women's game was just going to completely fall off the map, but especially after the Canadian Women's Hockey League folded.

But you and more than 200 other players from both the Canadian Women's Hockey League and the NWHL saw an opportunity to sit down and say, no, we're not going to go down, we're going to come, we're going to go down swinging or we're going to build this game.

So joining the Professional Women's Hockey Players association, or PW HPA meant putting your careers on hold.

Right.

And stepping away from those existing professional leagues because you believe that women deserve a great future in the game of hockey.

And fans now, Eric touched upon it when he saw you in Boston and they see sold out arenas, expansion franchises, television broadcasts, everything.

You can name a big, big draft parties.

But they may not fully appreciate everything that went into it to make this possible.

So can you talk about some of the sacrifices that the players made during these PW HPA years?

The time, the travel, the financial uncertainty and why was it so important for your generation to keep pushing even when there were no guarantees at the time?

It's hard to put into words the amount of sacrifice, truly, because there's so many women who were a part of that who didn't get to enjoy the PWHL for what it is today.

A lot of them obviously, they were maybe playing in it and then had to eventually retire because they needed to get jobs and things like that.

Because we weren't obviously being paid for hockey at that point.

You had to have a side job as well, or a full time job.

For me, luckily I had the USA Hockey International Hockey, so I was being paid for that and then would do little things on the side here and there, but overall that's how I was able to make a living during that time.

But not everyone was that lucky.

A lot of the women had full time jobs that they were juggling as well, but they really believed in the vision and they wanted to see it through.

And so it's sad, a little sad for the ones who weren't able to kind of get to enjoy the PWHL as a player, but I know a lot of them have obviously enjoyed it as a fan and are Grateful to have been a part of the movement in order to get it to where it is today.

And I think every single person, if you ask them, would say it's worth it based on where we are today.

But for me, I was training by myself in Buffalo for most of those years.

It was lonely.

It was really hard.

And then you were only meeting once a month, month or once on the weekends to play in a few games.

And it was just pickup games, right?

There's nothing on the line.

You're just playing games to stay in shape and to continue fighting for this.

Because we didn't know how long it would take to get a professional league started, I think all of us were hoping it would be a lot quicker.

It took years.

And so there was moments I wasn't sure if I'd keep going.

I was like, I like, do I need to get a job here soon?

Like, what is going on?

And it was definitely, definitely worth the wait.

But it was a lot of sacrifice and it was a lot of hard work, but, and, but all worth it.

And now let's take a quick break to hear from our partners.

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Now let's get you back to the show.

I think one of the things for me and you echoed it and Monique talked about it as well.

Well, is the sheer amount that you just, you talked about all the other stuff that went into it and Chuck hit on it, like just going around and doing that, like business development, trying to get your, like, trying to get this thing going, but you're also having to train and stay in shape and do all the other things.

So, like, and training like six hours a day, especially as it's getting close to whatever world's times or Olympic times, while also trying to make sure that this league continues on, is truly commitment.

That is an amazing feat.

And to not lose focus and to not get dejected or just defeated by the whole thing.

Kudos to you all.

I mean, I think the league is at a fantastic place now because of.

Because of people like you.

And girls have a future now.

That's incredible.

And that's what means the most, at least to me, maybe to Chuck.

Yeah, the one thing that I'd love to hear a little bit more about and then that kind of journey is like the Dream Gap Tour.

It wasn't really just about playing hockey.

It was about, like, proving there was a market for the.

For you guys, showing investors, sponsors.

Talk to us a little bit about that time.

I mean, you participated a lot.

Like, yeah, I was on Team Harvey's during that time, so that was really fun.

I actually.

I can't quite remember how they formed the teams, to be honest.

I think it was pretty random.

I think they tried to split everyone up.

But we had such a great team.

And funny enough, I was coached by Corey Chevrey, who's the Montreal victor coach.

And then Poulain was on the team.

Who else?

And Renee Debienne.

I'm trying to think if there was other Montreal girls.

But anyway, so all these teams were formed.

So we were Team Harvey's, there was a Team Scotiabank, there was a Team Adidas, like, all these different sponsors.

And so we would meet up on weekends at different cities, different locations, and just play games against each other the whole time.

And they were fun.

Honestly, like, we had a great time, but again, like, it's not.

You're literally just.

You didn't even practice together.

Like, you literally were just playing games together.

But we had such a great time.

And it was so fun to kind of go to these different markets and see all these people who were excited to see us and watch us play and maybe who hadn't had a chance to ever see us play before.

We got to go to a few warm locations, I remember, which was really nice in the winter time.

I'm like, all right, I guess I can do this.

Yeah, you're going from one climate to the next with Montreal.

True, true.

And then, you know, for the Dream Gap Tour, we had the finals in Palm Springs, which was really nice.

But I remember our team.

Like, we just had so much fun.

Like, we made it.

We made the most of it.

Corey really, like, took it as seriously as we could.

Like, we would do video, we had power plays, we had lines.

Like, I think sometimes people are like, oh, they're just showcases.

It's like, well, this is our team.

Like, this is what we have.

Like, we might as well get better and enjoy it and try to win this thing.

And then we did eventually win the championship, which was really fun.

And yeah, we had such a great time, like, celebrating that and it led us to where we are today.

By the end of that, like that next year, we were able to play in a real professional league, which is absolutely surreal and incredible.

And it's fun to see all the differences, though, from that year to what we have now.

Oh, I bet.

But I would submit that it was probably the ability to have all of that fun and be yourself and do those things.

And the fans responded well to that and they saw that and that perpetuated into what we have today.

I mean, so the, yeah, that great energy that you guys brought to each town is exactly why.

Part of the reason why things are the way they are today.

It's great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're seeing sold out arenas and just the growth of, of the.

It's just crazy, the sold out and expansion teams and big drafts and free agency as well.

So speaking of free agency, leaving a team, especially a championship team, can't be easy, right?

So what made leaving Montreal so difficult and what immediately stood out about Vegas that was like, this is where I want to be.

It was.

It was extremely difficult.

I didn't plan on leaving Montreal just with the way the expansion process works and stuff.

Vegas had shown a big interest and it kind of just came to that point where I ended up deciding to go to Vegas.

I think it is exciting to start something from the ground up.

I think being able to build the culture, being able to be a leader on the team, an active leader, is an opportunity that I'm really excited for that I, I think will be a huge growth opportunity for me in terms of as a player and as a person, honestly.

But leaving Montreal was extremely difficult.

I absolutely loved my time there.

Like, we had just won a Tour Championship like two weeks prior.

Like, it was not easy and the whole city has been amazing.

The staff was amazing.

Everything is wonderful there.

And so definitely very sad to leave, but at the same time, I also hold a lot of excitement and a lot of joy about Going to Vegas now.

I think it'll be a great market for me.

I think, like I said, I think it'll be a huge growth opportunity for me.

So I'm really looking forward to it and looking forward to a little sunshine, too.

Yeah.

I was just out there with my daughter with the rose series, and it's hot.

No, not.

No humidity.

That's good.

But it's hot, so.

Yeah, it's very hot.

Yeah, no, it's still hot.

110 Is still hot.

Yes.

Yes.

I will be seeing that next week.

I mean, you're in a fortunate position to go.

I mean, you went from, like I said, from Montreal and you guys won the championship and the Canadians were making a run for it this year, finally.

And now you're going to Vegas to an equally successful market just with a little bit better temperature.

Yeah, exactly.

So, I mean, that's a lot of change in kind of a short period of time.

Are there things that worry you?

Are you nervous?

What are you going to rely on to get you through the transition?

Because you've been there before.

You've played on the biggest stage in the world, but anytime you have to leave to go somewhere else, there's got to be a little bit of that I. Anxiety.

That nervous and.

But then what do you want to do kind of what do you want to accomplish in your first year there?

You mentioned that it's exciting to be able to go into a place and put your mark on it.

So what is that one thing that you want to kind of leave within that first year?

It's funny, I have had a lot of change in the last three years.

Like, if you had told me I would be on this many teams in the pro league in this amount of time, I would have thought you were crazy.

So being a part of this will be my fourth year team now in three years, which is wild.

I've gotten really used to change.

I've gotten really used to moving.

I've also gotten used to, like, meeting new teammates, getting along with people, seeing different cultures and how players interact with each other and how we want the coach player relationship to be like.

And so I feel like I've really learned a lot.

Like a.

In a fast forward kind of way.

I've learned a lot in the last few years and kind of seeing what it takes to build, like a good culture on a team, I think is huge.

And for me, I think that's really what I want to accomplish in this first year with Vegas is making sure we have a solid culture that People want to come play for Vegas because they want to be a part of a family.

They want to be a part of a community.

I think having good people surrounding the team and being a part of that, I think is super critical and important.

And something that Vegas has clearly been showing that they're valuing in their players is like having good people who want to, like, help the community and help the team and be team first mentality.

I think so.

I think we're already off to a really great start, but I think establishing that in year one, I know it can definitely be a challenge, but I think it's something that all the players that we've signed so far or have drafted are excited for that opportunity and really want to build something special in Vegas.

Yeah, I'm excited for you.

I think you're the right person to go in there and with your veteran leadership to.

And just the amount of change, like you said you've been through, I'm excited to see what you guys build out there in Vegas, especially with your leadership.

I'm excited.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And it's something you really don't see in the NHL that I noticed this offseason with the PWHL is these expansion teams.

They're not slouches.

There's.

There are a lot of good players that were signed and.

And even the drafts.

So these expansion franchises will be very competitive day one.

So it's great to see the competitive balance that the PWHL has created.

We've hammered home how much the PWHL has grown and the women's game has grown right from the Twitter draft.

Well, from now on, we'll call it the Twitter Draft.

The Twitter draft in Buffalo and the sold out arenas and the big drafts and the expansion franchises.

So, looking forward, where do you hope the PWHL will be in five years from now, and what do you think still needs to happen for women's hockey to continue to reach new heights five years from now?

I mean, I just.

I feel that we would do great in, like, arenas like, like at Place Bell in Montreal and Coca Cola Coliseum and like all the Canadian markets.

They have, like, those perfect rinks and sizes that I feel would be really crucial for women's hockey.

But honestly, I see us selling out angel arenas in five years.

Like, why not?

I think.

I think that would be huge.

I think having developmental teams would also be huge.

I think that would be a really big stepping stone that we could use because there's a lot of good players who aren't able to make Rosters just simply because of space, but, like, they could potentially, if you have somewhere to develop and continue to grow.

And I think that would be something that would benefit the league greatly.

For sure.

Yeah, I think those.

I could see that for sure.

So something else I really noticed, too, is the influx of international players being drafted by the pwhl.

Right.

And we had Kathy Pippi on from Premier Ice Prospects a couple episodes back, and she was talking, too, about how much the game has grown internationally.

So I think just the thought that came to my head, another thing that I think would be pretty cool is why not have some PWHL games out in Europe, just like the NFL does and the NHL, not only to help the game grow in North America, but internationally as well.

So I think that would be pretty cool.

That's a really good point.

There's that, for sure.

I think that's a great idea.

I think that's something they had definitely talked about.

And then another one I had thought of that someone else had mentioned was a Winter Classic game.

Yes.

But I'll never forget.

Oh, I know.

But, like, Buff, Buffalo was.

Yes, but it was the coolest game.

The snow was falling.

Like, it was perfect.

Like, that's what needs to come back as, like, those kind of winter classics, in my opinion.

I don't want no Florida.

I love it.

Can't be a warm climate.

It just.

No, it has to have snow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I. I attended one of the first winter classics when the Islanders played the Rangers at Yankee Stadium one year, and I think it was about 10 degrees out, but I enjoyed.

I was in my big puffy coat and my.

My.

My big winter hat and gloves and hand warmers.

But you know what?

I looked at my buddy and I was like, you know what?

This is incredible.

I don't care how cold it is, but just to see hockey played outdoors in the cold and just sold out Yankee Stadium.

So I thought that was pretty.

Pretty cool.

That is pretty epic.

I would love to see you guys play well.

That would be so cool.

That would be awesome.

Yeah, I'd go.

I would go in a heartbeat.

So we're getting towards the end here.

But.

And one thing that is Chuck and I are extremely passionate about, and I know you are, too.

So I want to give you a chance to talk about.

It is kind of your.

Your mentorship and the amount of time you spend with younger players.

What is it that motivates you to do that stuff?

And you know what?

You spend so much time giving back.

Like, what do you.

What's next on the mentorship?

What.

What are we looking for?

Me, I'm very passionate about the mentorship stuff because, again, it's something I didn't really have access to growing up.

Like, I told you guys, right?

I didn't have any women's hockey players that I could see that looked like me.

That was at a level that I wanted to be at.

And so the fact that I get to be that for the next generation, especially for, like, people in Buffalo and stuff, to kind of see that, I think is absolutely huge.

And so the mentorship program itself, we have.

It's on an app called Kajabi.

And so it's like a community platform.

It's almost like a Facebook thing.

And you can, like, write posts and post pictures and things like that.

But our biggest thing, I would say, is that we host weekly live video calls.

So it's me and my boyfriend, who's also my mindset and trainer and all those different things, and we host these weekly live video calls that all of our mentees can hop on.

We have over 80 mentees in our community community from the US and from Canada.

Honestly, the age ranges are probably, like.

We have someone as young as six years old on the call sometimes, and people as old as maybe, like, 16.

I would say maybe is like, the oldest at this point that usually hop on the calls.

And I typically will kind of go over, like, what my week has been like, what my training's looking like, games, nutrition, maybe just maybe something I'm struggling with, maybe something I'm having a hard time with, that I kind of talk through with them, how I got through that process.

And then from there, we kind of open it up to them.

We like to hear what they're going through, what they're really excited about, what they're celebrating, what they're maybe struggling through, and then we're all kind of able to work through it together, or the kids are able to help each other out, which is really cool.

And the coolest part is I'm like, guys, we're going through similar things.

Like, yes, I'm at the pro level, but, like, you guys are also going through these things as well.

And.

And we're able to kind of help each other navigate these different situations.

And it also helps me gain a lot of, like, perspective, too, right?

Like, I'll get really frustrated, like, oh, I haven't had a point in, like, a few weeks or something like that, right?

And then I'm talking to these kids and I'm like, that doesn't matter.

They don't care that I haven't gotten a point.

You know what I mean?

Like, I'm playing the game I love at the professional level.

Like, this is amazing.

Like, these kids are looking up to me.

They want to be that.

And it really helps me kind of get out of my own head in that sense.

So we absolutely love it.

We also have like on and off ice workouts on there that they can look that I'm doing and I'm demoing them for them.

We got nutrition workouts, lots of different stuff on there that they can get access to.

And they can also message us with any questions that they have on there.

They have like direct access to us in that sense too.

And so all of that's on my website, haleyskamora.com that's 26.88amonth.

And yeah, so we absolutely.

Thank you.

Yeah, we absolutely love doing it.

It's so much fun.

And like I said, it's just I never had that growing up and so I'm super passionate about providing that for, for young women that also play hockey or any sport, honestly.

No, that's great.

You hit on it.

The peer mentorship really, like they get to share their problems and see that they're not the only one struggling or they're.

Yeah, someone at the highest level still has the same problems and here's how they work through them.

I mean, I mean, that's truly incredible and remarkable that you're able to do that.

And 26.88, I mean, that's cheaper than a mystery mini.

So like, yeah, you're gonna get more out of it, kids.

Like, so let's get that way.

Right?

You're gonna, you're gonna get more out of it.

The needles and the squishies, it's cheaper than those.

There you go, Craze.

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

So that's pretty cool.

And I can attest to the fact that you should give yourself credit as well as a role model and all the other PWHL players that I talk to and have on and just being those role models and credit to you for being so accessible and for the young female athletes and girls growing up.

So I credit you as well for helping grow the women's game as well.

And Eric and I talk about all the time how I have the 11 year old daughter that plays with the boys.

So she really does look up to the PWHL players.

And my favorite goalie, she's incredible crunch should be in the pwh.

You heard it here first.

Yeah.

And you give the girls a platform, something to strive for.

Right.

So if you look back and you can give one piece of advice to young female hockey players today, what would that be?

I know there's probably 800 things going through your mind right now, but if you had to pinpoint one.

Yeah.

All right, I'm gonna do two.

All right, two.

Well, one.

So simple.

It's just to have fun.

Like, remember, it's just a game.

Enjoy it.

Don't worry about making mistakes.

Mistakes make you better.

And number two, never compare your journey to anyone else's.

Your journey is meant for you, and it's your own journey, and it's what's going to make you into the player you are and the person you are.

And it's.

Yeah, it's all meant for you.

So not to sweat it and don't compare to anyone else.

I love that.

It's almost like we paid you to say that.

Stress it all the time.

That everybody's got their own journey.

I mean, we.

We've been fortunate to have fantastic guests like yourself on, and they've all had such a remarkable background.

Some that have had found their path later in life and, you know, didn't.

Didn't even play juniors until the high school age, and then they went on to play D1.

So, like, it's.

Everybody's got their own path.

And then I want to go back to something that Chuck and you were just talking about with that, your mentorship program and the impact that it's had on young girls, because now they have someone to look up to.

I want to take it a step further because you've also had an impact, I think, sex agnostic, gender agnostic.

I mean, my boys loved going to that game.

The fact that I'm on this call with you right now, they know who you are.

They were pumped about it.

So, like, they're 10 and 12, so, like, women are also having an impact just on the growth of the game in general.

General, it doesn't matter gender.

They love it.

They can't get enough of it.

And they were so excited that I was talking to you.

So I just wanted to put that out there that it's not just growing the women's game.

You're growing the game across the globe, and it's so cool.

Well, I really appreciate that.

I think it's so true.

I think it's important for the young boys and the young girls to see it.

I think It, It's a huge impact, for sure.

Yeah, it starts them.

The younger you get this group learning that there is no difference and to, you know, start learning to treat everybody the same.

And the old adage of just treat everybody the way you want to be treated, that you learn that at an early age and it creates such a better thing going forward.

So we'll.

We're about to let you off the hook, but we want to wrap up with some kind of like rapid fire fun questions.

So, you know, all right, let's do it.

I'll kick off the first one and it'll be a two part because I'm gonna add.

I'm gonna add a little twist here.

Who's the toughest player you played against?

And it can, it can be a teammate because I know some of those battle games in practice get a little intense.

Right?

So.

Oh, yeah.

Who is the funniest player?

And it can be from this past season a locker room.

But, like, if you had to pick either Olympic gold or the championship with the pdub, who was the funniest teammate you've had?

So those two hardest to play against.

I'm going to go.

Honestly, Hillary Knight's really hard to play against.

She's so.

She's very strong.

I noticed it like the first game after the Olympics, like, she was one of the first teams I had to play, and I was just like, oh, my gosh.

Like, it's crazy.

And I would say, Megan Keller is up there for funniest teammate for sure.

Okay.

I could see both of those answers for sure.

Especially Hillary night.

I don't.

I wouldn't want to play against Hillary.

Yeah.

What's your go to pregame meal?

Honestly, So I love a good breakfast for free.

For pregame meal, I'll do eggs, bacon, potatoes, something simple.

And then.

But then, like, if we're on the road and stuff, I typically just do like grilled chicken, plain pasta, and broccoli.

Very, very plain.

That's fine.

You gotta get that nutrition in some way.

You gotta feed the machine.

Yeah.

All right.

If we asked your team to describe you in one word, what do you think that word would be?

They'd probably say kind.

That's great.

I would love it.

It's like we paid you to say that too.

Yeah.

So last one.

Last rapid fire one.

If you weren't playing hockey, what would you be doing today?

Oh,.

Okay.

Well, funny enough, I was in school for speech and language pathology.

So before I made the US Team, I was actually in grad school.

I was in My first year of grad school for speech and language pathology and then once I made Team usa I was like, I can come back to this later if I want.

But I don't think I'm going back to that.

Yeah, that's a lot.

It just speaks to you as a person.

That's a tremendous career field.

So good on you.

I mean that's awesome.

I'll ask one last one and it's more just curious because I think it would be great.

Do you ever see yourself coaching in the future and if so like at what level?

I've definitely seen it before.

I'm not really sure because I've I.

With college coaching I'm like, oh, but then you're like recruiting in the summers and you don't really get time off.

Like I'm not sure if I'd want to commit to that.

But like I do love coaching and I do love working with the younger players and developing them as people and as players and all of that fun stuff.

So I, I'm not really sure what age group I would like to do.

Honestly.

All of them.

I think it would be super interesting at a lot of different levels.

So I've really been enjoying my.

I had some clinics earlier this year in Buffalo and going to a few more camps this year and running a few more little pop up clinics coming up in August in Buffalo too.

And we're doing like kind of all the age groups and they're all fun for like different reasons.

So we'll see.

That's awesome.

Yeah, I hope you do.

I think it would be fantastic for the growth of the game.

Again, gender agnostic.

I'd love to have my boys on a share bench with you.

That would be fantastic.

All right.

Is there, is there anything that we missed that you wanted to talk about or you wanted to kind of get out there?

Any last kind of pieces of Advice?

Yeah.

So August 11th through the 13th they're going to be at PNY North Sports Arena.

We have an option for kids to do an off ice workout and then come on ice with us or for the hour after that there's going to be just an on ice portion that they can join.

So we kind of have those two options for players.

And then on the 11th it's for high school age girls.

On the 12th it's for 9 to 13 year olds.

And then for the last on I session we actually, actually are gonna make it co ed.

We'll see how that goes.

And then for the 13th it's gonna be like 8 and under.

We felt like that was a good age range for that group.

And again, same options where it's.

You can either do off and on ice from one to three or the on ice session from four to five.

That's awesome.

That sounds like a great weekend.

Yeah, it's.

It's during the week and that's Right.

We're.

Yeah, yeah.

But we're excited about it.

We think we're excited that we're going to have another touch point with like a lot of the kids that we just did the clinics with and then obviously some more people who maybe didn't get a chance to go to the hometown hockey clinics in June that maybe can join us in August.

And yeah, we're really excited.

And they can find out more information about that through your website as well.

Yes.com.

Correct.

Yes, they can register on that.

Yep.

Awesome.

Please register.

Get out there.

All right.

There's one final question that we ask every guest we have on what is your definition of development?

And it can be in a particular area.

It could be a general definition to apply to any area.

I just think development is so important in.

In all the aspects.

I think it's like having that community curiosity to learn and to grow and to get better is so crucial.

I think a lot of players, like, sometimes they're resistant to change or resistant to maybe see something they can work on in their game.

But I think development can hit all aspects of the game, the mindset, physically.

And I just think it's so important to continue to play with that curiosity to get better, to learn more about yourself and to learn how you can continue to grow.

That's great.

I mean, that's a different answer to.

We've gotten.

And I love it.

I love the curiosity part.

No, I mean, it's a little.

An ode to Ted Lasso in there.

Right?

So exactly.

Like, pretty much, if you watch Ted Lasso, that's like the co. Every successful coach should watch Ted Lasso because it's so good, so much to learn and it's coming back soon.

Thank God.

Yeah.

So, Haley, I know it's been a crazy summer between the playoff grind and it seems like a month long celebration between the parade and the pool parties and everything and the free agency with Vegas and your mentorship program and camp.

So we really do truly appreciate you carving out some time to join us here tonight.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for having me and working through all the schedule changes and stuff.

And I'm glad I got to hop on.

I'm glad you had schedule changes because that meant you're continuing to be successful.

So it's awesome.

Thank you so much for spending time with us.

It was wonderful.

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