Rising Together: Tiana McIntyre’s Utah Roots, Trail to Delaware’s Inaugural D-I Season, and Her Mission to Empower Young Girls in Hockey

You.

This is Sharpening youg Edge with Chuck and Eric.

In today's episode, we'll be speaking with Tiana McIntyre.

She is one of the captains and.

Senior defender for the University of Delaware's.

Division 1 women's hockey team where she majors in psychology.

Originally from Park City, Utah, Tiana brought her talents to collegiate hockey after developing.

With the Pittsburgh Penguins elite program.

Foreign.

Welcome to another episode of Sharpening your edge presented by CB3 Hockey Development.

I'm Chuck Verdolino along with my co host Eric Malanson and I must say I'm super excited for this episode.

Number one for the audience and number two, for personal reasons or selfish.

Maybe I'm selfish, but if you know me personally, you know I have a 10 year old daughter that plays goalie with high level boys with them and against them.

So anytime I have a chance to help promote the women's game or grow it, it's near and dear to my heart.

So we're pleased to welcome the captain and senior defender for the University of Delaware, Tiana McIntyre.

Thank you for joining us today on Sharpening your Edge.

Thank you.

Great to be here.

No, Chuck's daughter is also one of my favorite players too.

Regardless of like level she really is, she's incredible.

So I get any chance I can to promote her.

It's.

I love it because she's fantastic.

So you grew up Park City, Utah?

Not until recent.

Not like a hockey hotbed, but you know, go mammoth, right?

Yeah.

Like how did you know?

Not you know, obviously you skied.

We can get into that.

But what drew you to hockey?

Like how was it that you found it?

Like how did you like fall in love with this game?

It was honestly all by chance.

My both my parents were high level athletes.

They never played hockey.

That was kind of the one sport that they never did.

My dad's from Boston, my mom's from Minnesota.

So kind of weird that they didn't play.

But they put us in everything growing up.

My us being my twin brother and I, we did every sport.

Lacrosse, skiing.

I've been skiing since I was 2 years old.

That's kind of second nature to me.

It's like Minnesotans playing hockey when they are two or three.

That's how skiing is for us back in Utah.

But one day they just brought us to the ice rink and I started off in a figure skating, like learn to skate.

My brother was doing a learn to play.

Just sort of by chance one of the sports they threw us in to try it and I realized pretty quick figure skating was not for me.

I took one look at those leotards uniforms, I said, absolutely not.

And then I saw my brother on the other side of the ice playing hockey.

And I was like, that looks really fun.

And ever since then, I was nine years old when that started.

Kind of late in the game for us, but I loved it.

Loved it.

My dad had to throw me on the ice the first time I played hockey, but ever since then, I just couldn't get enough of it.

That's awesome.

I love that.

Yeah, I mean, I might use, you know, I grew up in Boston, went to college in Vermont.

So I love skiing.

And I think it's, you know, fairly, you know, I was.

Everybody was like, let's, you should try snowboarding because it was cool.

And like, no, man, I got like hockey, I got two legs.

Like, it's way easier to make that transition like skiing.

So much fun.

Yeah, I love it.

So you were a standout in lacrosse and as Eric mentioned a couple times, skiing.

Our guests that we've had have spoken about the importance of playing multiple sports, especially as a kid, and Eric and I preach that tremendously.

So how do you think multi sport development helped shape you as a hockey player?

I think it was huge.

Skiing especially, that helped translate into skating.

The motion's pretty similar if you look at it.

If you think about it just growing up on the mountain, that was always something that I was good at.

I am, I consider myself a pretty solid skier.

But I think that definitely helped me with my skating especially.

And that is something that I've always had a lot of pride in.

Just the way that I've been able to skate over the years, that's something that helped me progress at an early age.

So just having multiple sports in my pocket really helped.

Especially lacrosse being kind of similar to hockey in certain ways.

That was also helpful to hand eye or it's a stick sport as well.

So, yeah, just having those different tools, different resources and also having that balance.

So it wasn't just hockey all the time.

It was also something else that made me look forward to hockey even more.

So it was huge, huge for me.

So you mentioned, you know, your twin brother and early on they, you know, you're doing the old gender specific roles of like, you know, we'll put the boy in hockey and the girl in figure skating.

But immediately like, you're, no, I want to be equal.

I want like that competitive drive took over.

Like, how did having a twin or, you know, how did that shape your competitive drive?

Were you always like trying to Beat him and everything.

Yeah.

So even though he's a goalie, he started off as a player with me, and I don't think he even realizes it, but having him there and trying to compete with him was just such a big drive for me.

I always wanted to be with him, especially since he started before me.

I was like, oh, he's got a head start.

Because we've always been super competitive, just the two of us.

But, yeah, I always just felt like I had to work a lot harder to keep up with him.

And I don't think he knows this, but one of our first teams growing up, I didn't make it.

I didn't make the tryout.

He did.

And then eventually I got.

Our tryout was like, at the end of the school year, I had the summer till the season started, and I got to practice more, and I eventually did get out into the roster because I was working harder, harder and harder just so that I could play with him and play on his team, and that was.

Utah only goes up to Double A, or it only went up to Double A at the time.

We have AAA now, which is huge for the state, but just having him there and competing with him just, oh, my gosh, without him, I did not be where I am today.

He's been a huge, huge factor in my success.

Shout out to my brother.

He's amazing.

Amazing goaltender.

That's awesome.

Shout out to you, brother.

You match?

Yep.

So you just mentioned living in Utah, where you had Double A hockey.

Yep.

Obviously, your skill exceeded that, and you spent years flying across the country every weekend to play for Penn's elite.

Yep.

So what did that grind teach you about the commitment and what it takes to reach that next level?

It taught me a lot.

I kind of realized from a young age, probably the first time I started playing at NAHA in Vermont.

It was in Vermont at the time.

And then I went into Pittsburgh for three years after playing two years in Vermont.

Back and forth between Utah, of course.

But my first year doing that, I was like, okay, I do have to work a lot harder.

I am at.

Not a disadvantage, I wouldn't say.

But living in a place that doesn't have hockey and I don't have these resources in my backyard that other girls do, like the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Pittsburgh, that wasn't available for me all the time.

So it just kind of made me realize, okay, I have to push myself even more if I want to succeed and if I want to beat the girls that I'm playing against.

But, yeah, I'm just so grateful for it.

It was big.

It was everything that was sacrificed between, like, my parents and coaches and my brother, even, he sacrificed a lot of time to help me get to that point.

So it was a lot of commitment.

And I think it really does take a village.

You hear that a lot.

But it is very true.

It takes a village to get people to where they are.

And I'm very grateful for the support system I had in doing that and flying out every weekend, being able to do that.

I was very, very fortunate.

Grateful for it every day.

That's awesome to hear.

And, you know, you made that transition from, you know, the co ed to coed hockey out west to playing girls hockey out east.

Obviously, you know, steep curve either way, however you want to look at it, coupled with the travel and everything.

But when you were playing on those co ed teams again, back to, like, early on, they're trying to stick you into figure skating.

Did you face any, like, adversity?

Any, like, pushback as you progress through the levels that you are kind of happy to let your actions speak a little bit louder, like, you could take it out on the ice.

Did you face any type of adversity?

Was it fairly seamless?

I like to say that it was fairly seamless just because of the support system we had.

Park City is such an athletic community.

It's unreal.

Just the town, the athletes that the town produces, and the community we had in Utah and especially in Park City was so supportive of me.

The parents, the players, like all the boys I played with, they were phenomenal, phenomenal people.

I still skate with a lot of them today when I go home for Christmas, when I go home from the summers, I see a lot of them that I grew up playing with and just the coaches that we had, too.

Like, I never really had anyone saying, no, you can't do this because you're a girl.

I think the only difference was going to tournaments and having to get dressed in, like, a handicap bathroom on the side of the rink as my locker room or a storage closet in the attic of a rink.

That was one of mine in Colorado.

That was unique.

But other than that, I was very, very supportive.

The people around me were just unreal.

Very, very lucky that I had the people that I had and the community that we had growing up.

And I think that's different for a lot of people.

And my brother was a big part of it, too.

I think without him on the team with me, it could have been very different.

Well, that's awesome.

You know, but.

But unfortunate, right?

Like, we could do better.

USA Hockey.

We can do better.

All right, look, let's do better.

That's unfortunate to hear, but yeah, I mean, that's.

That is awesome.

I love to hear that.

It's rare that you hear of such a great community, sense of, like, pride nowadays.

And that's awesome that Park City has that.

So I'm gonna add that I got a buddy who lives in Park City, so I'm gon that to the.

Oh, really?

He retired from the Marine Corps.

Now he skis like, you know, 250 days a year.

That's the dream.

Yeah, that's.

That is the dream.

That is the dream.

Some.

You know, both my kids play hockey, so that dream is like, long in the long ways away.

Someday.

Someday.

So the question I get asked a lot, I think it's probably weekly, honestly, is, are you thinking about putting your daughter into girls hockey or are you going to make that transition?

And now the answer might be different because she's a goalie compared to, you know, when you get to, what is it, thirteen, you and Bantam.

But she's still squared major, so she's got time and she's a goaltender.

So it might.

The answer might be different, but based on your own journey, what advice would you give parents to daughters that are playing the game?

So this is actually a question I got asked a lot, especially over the summer when I was coaching with the Mammoth and coaching younger girls.

If you were to ask me this when I was that age, I would have said no, like, you know, play boys hockey forever.

Like, one day you're gonna be in the NHL.

Because I thought I was gonna play for the Boston Bruins when I was growing up.

That was my dream.

And I didn't.

Me too.

Me too.

Yeah, me too.

I have a big poster of Zaino Chara on my wall still from when I was a kid that he was my favorite player.

But yeah, if you were to ask me that when I was that age, I would have said, now play boys hockey.

But now I would say that you should make this transition to girls hockey as soon as you can.

It is such a different game.

It is so much faster.

It's so much more skilled.

It's fluid.

Boys hockey is.

Once it starts hitting into U13 and into Bantam's, I think in my opinion, it's hit, stop, play again.

Hit, stop, play again.

Girls hockey is fluid.

It's seamless.

It's all one fluid motion.

It's such a different game.

And then another thing That I think about when answering this question is Mark Johnson.

He's the head coach of the Badgers.

He's a family friend of ours and someone that I've always kind of gone to for advice.

And I got pretty lucky when we became friends with him.

He said that something along the lines of, he looks to recruit girls who play girls hockey who know the girls game.

He's not going to start looking for the girls that played boys hockey at that older age.

And I think that switching to girls hockey as early as you can will help in that transition, especially when you're looking to get recruited.

Especially when you're trying to go play college hockey and pro hockey now with the PWHA shells such a different game.

So to answer the question, I think you should absolutely switch to girls hockey.

But playing boys hockey helped me so much.

So much.

And that also has to do with where you're from, in my opinion.

Utah is obviously not a state that has had hockey in the past.

I was the only girl in my age group in the state, so we didn't have high levels of girls hockey.

I didn't have competition to compete with, so I had to play boys.

I still play boys when I go home, and I did ever since I started.

And I gosh, this is a long winded answer to your question.

Sorry about this.

No, it's fantastic.

You're giving me.

This is some great information.

Like, you know, I'm always looking to like add some nuggets in there and this is awesome.

So, yeah, you're doing great.

But playing boys hockey since I started and I switched into U14s after U12s, I just, I only played girls hockey, but I was still training with boys.

I practiced with every team that my brother was on.

Up until I graduated high school, I was still practicing with the high school boys team and Utah had one AAA team that my brother happened to be on.

And I didn't play for them, but I practiced with them and I trained with them every day.

And that's a huge part of the reason why I'm where I'm at today is because they pushed me and they were bigger and stronger than me, but I was still able to compete with them because.

I grew up with it.

So it helped me a lot.

It developed me a lot.

But overall, the switch to girls hockey was what got me to where I am.

So I think switching to girls as soon as you can is huge.

But if you have the opportunity to still train with boys.

Absolutely.

Go for it.

Absolutely.

That's some good Stuff, and I love that some, like, little coaching nuggets just went in my brain.

And so thank you for that.

Especially that quote from the Badgers coach.

That's phenomenal.

Yeah.

I mean, they're doing pretty.

They're doing pretty well.

They're doing pretty well.

Yeah, they're pretty good.

As I said, like, I want to kind of ask you, like, a hot take question, and I only say hot take because, like, you know, PWHL season kicking off, we got the Olympics coming up, and so there's obviously a ton of eyes on women's hockey right now, which is awesome.

Right?

But every time this happens, like, you get the.

Maybe we should add some of the men's rules in the women's game.

Right.

Whether that be hitting or.

I know, you know, the folks on Hockey Think Tank just kind of did one of their, like, should we.

Should everybody play with, you know, visors?

Like, once you start playing juniors, like college, you put visors and, you know, whatever.

What do you think about that?

What?

Like, should we introduce some new rules into the women's game?

Should everybody go visors?

Should everybody go cages?

What's the hot take?

My opinion on cages is biased just because I'm someone who likes to block shots.

We're on a team that likes to block shots.

Look at Lexi lonass.

She's got 82 blocks right now.

She leads not only the NCAA for women's, but also for men's.

Just unbelievable.

But in my opinion, I think everyone should wear cages.

You don't want to block a shot like this.

And that's what I see a lot of the men doing.

That's a lot.

What A lot of the men I play with back home, they're doing that.

When a shot comes from the point, they're going like this.

In my opinion.

I think that takes away from part of the game.

I think it's a safety thing.

I like my teeth.

I would like to keep my teeth.

But that's just my personal opinion on visors.

I do like cages a lot better.

I feel more confident.

Not that I've ever used a visor, but if I was going to use Advisor, I wouldn't feel as confident going to block shots and going for more physical and aggressive plays.

So I think cages are great.

Love cages.

Yeah.

I mean, I think that's a great point.

Like, and I think someone.

I forget who mentioned that, but, like.

And that's probably the reason why I enjoy watching college games.

Probably more so than NHL games.

It's so much faster, and they Just like, just so much more physical and fast and in your face, and they have so much more to play for.

Yeah, it's awesome.

Yep.

But as far as hitting goes, I think the women's game is very, very physical.

The question.

I guess I was going to mention that, too.

Being through a number of D1 games, I don't even know why people are bringing up the whole idea of checking.

Because if you've been to a D1 women's game, it's.

It's very physical.

Extreme.

Yeah.

I mean, that's why, at this point.

Just let it happen.

Right?

Like, just let it happen.

I think the only difference between the men's and women's game, as far as physicality goes, is open ice hits.

But even then, you're still seeing it.

We're just not dropping our shoulders as I think.

And that, in my opinion, that's the only difference.

And you look at the PWHL right now, but just looking at PWHL games, you're seeing huge hits.

These girls are so strong, and they are so physical.

I can't remember which player it was.

I believe on the new Seattle team, they posted a video from practice of a defender in front of the net just getting this girl out.

Oh, my gosh.

So physical, so strong.

And that's just the.

That's the game.

Now, you see these girls, they're just animals.

And I think it's great.

I love it.

I was in Chicago, and I sent Chuck this picture.

I was in Chicago a couple weeks ago at my oldest.

He was playing a showcase against the Caesars and Chicago Fury, and there was a girl on the ice training by herself, just, like, wearing herself out.

And I was like, oh, my God.

Who is that girl?

Turns out it was Kendall Coyne.

And, yeah, she's like, walks, you know, gets out of the locker room, and she's like this tiny little lady.

Yeah, she's a beast on the ice, and she's getting ready for the Olympics.

And, man, that was awesome to watch.

I was like, you know, she had a crowd around her just watching how good she was.

It's awesome.

Yeah.

And that's the league now.

That's women's hockey now.

These girls, animals.

A lot of the girls that I've played with, especially at Quinnipiac, you look at Maddie Samiskiewicz, she is an animal.

She is so strong.

She's so fast.

So many girls that I played with at Quinnipiac were that way.

Kate Riley, Lexi Ajia, Zoe Boyd.

Just so strong, so built.

Lexi's incredible.

Yep.

She's great.

She's great.

My, one of my childhood, best childhood good friends, high school, really close friend who's the head strength coach for BU for years for their hockey program, men's and women's.

And he's married to one of the Lamoros sisters.

So like.

And they've got, they've got a slew of kids now and man, are those kids just going to be freak athletes.

Like, I cannot wait to see them.

It's going to be awesome.

That's unreal.

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Shifting back to Utah.

So what was that experience like for you?

What did it mean to you?

At the time, I didn't realize how big that was.

I was just there.

I was just playing like everyone else.

And I didn't really look at it as, oh, I'm the only one from Utah.

Maybe this means something.

But now looking back at it, I'm Utah is a place That I have a lot of pride in.

I'm very proud of where I'm from.

I love my state.

I love the community we've built and the community that's been there.

Unbelievable.

But looking back at that now, it just means so much that I was able to represent my state the way that I did.

And now we have so many younger girls that are going.

We have so many girls, more than one, which is huge, that are at these national camps, at these high level camps from the state of Utah.

That just really shows how much how, like, impactful hockey is becoming in Utah.

And these younger girls, just seeing what they're doing is so cool, so special.

So I'm super biased to, like, Hockey east programs because I grew up a super huge BU fan.

Still am.

Like, love had season tickets.

Growing up as a kid, that shaped like who I am as a person, a player, coach, like, loved it.

But outside of Hockey East, I'm a huge Quinnipiac fan.

I love it.

I always feel like they're the underdog, right.

And I, you know, on the men's side, coach, I have like a huge respect for that guy.

I think he's fantastic.

I always see him at the ranks in the summer coach of the Suns program.

He's like one of the most great, you know, human, down to earth human beings.

And you know, you that obviously on the men's and women's side story program, right?

Played 76, 76 games over three seasons.

When you look back at that, like, what did those seasons teach you about, like competing at this D1 level, like making that transition into the D1 level coming from.

I had never really lifted before.

Just going back to strength, the strength piece.

I had never really lifted because I was traveling so much.

I had done dry land, so like push ups and squats and body weight stuff, but transitioning into the weight room out of school like Winnipeg, oh, my gosh.

And they got one of the best shrink coaches there.

Like a legend.

Yeah, he's a legend in the community.

Man, he's awesome.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable that he has done so much for me, so much for that program.

He's just taken it to a completely different level.

So he's of the, like Mike Boyle like him.

And they're like, amazing, amazing.

He's great.

Coach B.

He's.

He's done a lot for me and I've progressed a lot because of him and because of some staff members at that school.

I'm so grateful for the experience I had there and the teammates I had, Zoe Boyd and Lexi Ajia were my captains my freshman year, and Zoe Boyd especially was someone that just pushed me so much.

The first time I saw her skate, I just was blown away.

Jaw on the ground.

She's a different type of player.

She's so fast.

She works so hard.

Same with Maddie Samoskiewicz.

Just about every player I played with there, it was really eye opening for me.

I had never seen people train that way.

I had never seen people skate that way.

And it was just such a big transition.

College hockey is such a transition from club hockey, and I think a lot of the freshmen here at Delaware are feeling that.

It is such a different level of intensity, of compete, of drive.

Just seeing people push themselves the way that they do is very, very eye opening, especially at a school like Quinnipiac.

We were top 10 program when I was there all three years.

And I'm very, very grateful for that experience that shaped a lot of who I am as a player and as a person on and off the ice.

Very.

Just very grateful for that experience.

So you're a Blue Hen now.

When you first visited Delaware, I met Coach Kumi.

You said in an earlier interview that she made you feel right at home.

What was it about her leadership or vision that resonated with you and said, yeah, this is the place I want to be?

She was so passionate about a program that didn't even exist yet.

She had so much confidence in the girls that were coming in the group that she had put together with Samo and Taylor.

Oh, gosh, I just love our staff so much.

They're amazing, amazing people.

But just the confidence that she had in this program, her vision for what it can be and what it's becoming, just.

I had to say yes.

I couldn't not say yes.

Just wanting to be a part of that.

Wanting to be a part of her vision and what she sees for this program is just something I couldn't pass up.

The day I met Kumi, I was just like, oh, my gosh, she's the best.

She is the best.

She's great.

So kind of like tying it back now to Quinnipiac.

You got Coach Samo, who coached you, Quinnipiac.

Now you're reunited in Delaware.

Like, what has that relationship you talked, you know, obviously some player relationships, strength, coach relationships.

Like, what does that meant to your development?

And has that made the transition from Quinnipiac to UD smooth?

Like, more smooth than you imagined?

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Just knowing that Sama was on the same path that I was at at Quinnipiac.

She played there all four Years of her college career.

I played there for three.

And just knowing that she trusted this program.

She saw the vision that Kumi saw, and she came here as well.

I was just like, okay, well, I was in her shoes, and now I'm here, and we're here together.

So it's just pretty cool.

Sam was great.

It was so interesting to seeing us.

Her being there my freshman year at Quinnipiac and now here, and now we're both here at the same time.

That this is starting is pretty cool.

So ultimately, what made this opportunity at Delaware impossible to pass and sway your decision to come here?

Gosh, I love this question, because you could answer it in so many different ways.

Starting something new is always exciting for me.

I love being the first at something that's something that I'm familiar with, that I'm used to.

And just building the first program with this group, we have such a good group.

I have never been on a team that supports each other, cares about each other, that as much as these girls do and these coaches, the staff, every single member of our staff is just, gosh, unreal, unreal.

Everyone's great, but just building something that's going to last is something that I could not say no to, and I wanted to be a part of.

As soon as I heard about it, I didn't really know that Delaware was starting a program, really, until I went into the transfer portal.

I was like, oh, this is something that's up and coming.

And as soon as they reached out to me, I was like, okay, this is really cool.

And the visit to campus just sealed the deal.

Seeing everything in person, hearing about everything in person from Kumi and Samo and seeing the ranks, seeing the facilities, couldn't say no.

So you come in this summer, you know, ready to go.

You got fresh, like, you know, fresh slate, starting from scratch.

What type of, like, culture did you want to, you know, help create in the locker room and the environment amongst the girls?

Like, was that, like, this is something I want to do.

I want to.

I want us to be like this, you know, talk us a little bit about that.

I think myself and I don't want to speak for them, but my.

The leadership team that we've built here, the four transfers that came in, we were all looking to build something that's going to last, something that we could look back on and say, oh, we're proud of this.

This is what we want Delaware to be.

This is the legacy that we want to create.

We just kind of wanted to come in and start a Group help start a group that loves each other, cares about each other in a group that has drive and compete, and that is the group that we have.

These girls work.

We've got some crazy talent on this team, and they push themselves hard every day, which is so cool to see.

But I think going back to your question, the culture that we wanted to create was just something that can last and something that people want to be a part of.

There's 22 players from 11 different states, plus international Canada, Norway.

How have you seen this team coming together and forming team chemistry quickly?

Right off the bat, everyone just kind of clicked together.

We have so many different personalities on our team, which is so cool.

We, like, no one is the same person.

Everyone's so different, which I think makes it work even better.

I love it.

There's not one person on this team that I don't want to hang out with all the time, which I think is awesome.

I've never been able to say that about a team before.

I think we really lucked out with this group.

Kumi did a great job getting a group of girls like this together, but the chemistry on the team is awesome.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of a lot of the girls, I'd say all of the girls, we're a happy group.

Very happy group, very fortunate.

You're one of a handful of girls in the team that have that collegiate level experience.

And, you know, obviously they're younger.

They're just coming out of the, you know, traditionally they're younger in girls hockey.

They're not coming from, you know, the USHL or CHL and being a little bit older when they hit the college age.

Like, how did you want to approach leadership after those, like, three years in Quinnipiac?

Like, some lessons learned, you know, where everyone's new yearly, you know, looked at like, hey, how do we do this?

We've never done this before.

This is so fast.

Like, how did you approach that leadership?

I think at first it was a little bit not scary, but I think it was definitely a challenge looking at it from an outsider perspective.

But once we got here and once we met these girls, we just kind of realized.

Myself and the other girls in the leadership team, we just kind of realized, like, okay, like, we want to be the leaders that people remember.

I look at captains that I've had in the past, Zoe Boyd, Kate Riley, just people that I thought, I do think, and they are incredible people.

Not, not only on the ice, but off the ice.

They're there for you.

People who want to be there for you who care.

And that's just kind of the group that we have here.

We've established that.

I think we've really shown these girls that we care about them and we just want them to succeed.

So that's kind of what we were looking for, to make sure people know that we're here for them.

Not holding their hands because they don't need that, but just kind of being there in their corner when they need us and supporting them throughout the way.

We just want everyone to succeed.

And the success that we've seen is just so special.

So on September 26, my wife and I brought my daughter and her twin brother who actually plays on the same team because we do think it's important for him to see women's hockey as well and see how it's growing and how fast paced it is.

We came to the home opener at Fred Rust, and it was an amazing experience.

Crowd was electric.

What did that first puck drop mean to you?

The first in the program's history.

That was such a cool day, such a special day.

I haven't played in a college arena with that kind of energy, even at Quinnipiac.

I think the community that we had show up to that game, everyone that was there, all the parents, the fans, the community, everybody that was there was just so special.

So seeing the support that we had behind us and the people that believed in us was unreal.

I still think about that game all the time.

It was just such a special day.

And that's.

That's a puck drop that's going to be ingrained in Delaware hockey history forever, for as long as the program lasts, which is for a very, very long time.

And I hope teams in the future look back on that and say, okay, this is where it started.

We're up and coming.

This team is going places, going far.

So, I mean, I can't wait to watch you.

We've talked about, like, on ice play a little bit here.

So as a defender who likes to rush the puck, stretch the ice, there's some pretty elite defensemen coming out in the NHL to kind of like that.

Everybody's looking at, you got the Hudson's, you've got Schaefer.

My God, he's electric.

The things he can do with his feet, with his hands.

It's like, what to you makes that, you know, elite defender?

Like, what.

What is the.

What are those characteristics that you need to be elite as a defender or defenseman?

To me, it's someone that can read the play, can read the ice, see the Ice, not just seeing next pass, but seeing the pass after that, seeing the play after the next one.

Someone who can predict, someone with speed, who wants the puck.

That's in my opinion, that's what an elite defender looks like.

Someone that can make plays, not just score, but someone who's a playmaker, who can see the ice, kind of be a quarterback in a sense, just running different plays, seeing plays, shutting plays down.

But yeah, looking at some of the more modern defensemen in the NHL right now, just their skill set is just unbelievable.

But it's not just skill, it's also their mind.

The hockey mindset is just so cool.

The iq, I think, is huge, electric.

It's huge.

And when you talk about Shaper, I'm partial, I'm an Islanders fan, so you talk about.

And they make it him in the car.

They just make it look so effortless out there with their skating and it's crazy how far.

It's not fair.

They're so good.

So fun to watch.

So you mentioned a couple high level players that you've played with for years.

Is there anyone specifically or in particular that has challenged you the most?

And how have they challenged you?

One of the first people that comes.

A lot of people, gosh, the list can go on and on.

But one of the people that really stands out to me that I played with at Quinnipiac for two years, Kate Riley, she's a defenseman.

She just got signed to Ottawa and the pw.

Gosh, she is different type of player.

She is so aggressive, she's so fast, she's got such a good shot.

I was talking to coach Taylor about her the other day because she did this backhand pole move up at the point that was just off the charts and she scored all the time with this one move.

But she was a huge, huge supporter of me my freshman and sophomore year when she was at Quinnipiac before she graduated.

And just having her there and looking up to her, watching her play, just unreal.

I think about her a lot and how she played and I can't wait to see her in the pw.

I'm so excited for her.

Cannot wait.

But yeah, she was just someone that really pushed me.

I always wanted to kind of be like her and she just took control.

Every time she was on the ice, she took control like that was her puck, that was her game.

And yeah, just a lot of people like that, especially Kate Riley, Zoe Boyd as well.

Same as Kate.

Like the same as Kate in the sense that she was always there, always such a Big supporter and her game.

I don't know if you guys have seen her play, but she's charts off the charts.

So fun to watch.

So talk to us a little bit about, like, your game day routine.

And I don't necessarily mean any, like, weird superstitions, right?

But if you got those and you're not too embarrassed to share, we'd love to hear them.

But like, game day routine in terms of like, like human performance prep, right?

Like, so we got sleep, nutrition, all those things.

Like, walk us through a little bit about what it is for you and then how important it is to stick to that routine.

Like, as it's getting, the grind of the season is going on and, you know, your body is just worn down, you know, tucked, you know.

Well, I think throughout the week, the whole week is preparation for the games.

And a big part for me is doing video.

I love going over film.

I love seeing plays that maybe didn't make sense to me at the time, but I can go back and look at them, learn from them, grow from them.

That's been a huge part, especially this season that I have.

It's a big tool that I've been using.

Coach Taylor, I do video with her quite a bit and I love it, Love it.

That's huge for me, taking notes on that.

Going through my notes over again, rewatching games, rewatching shifts over and over.

I'll replay the same shift, like 30 times if I need to, but that is a huge piece for me.

Game day of the game.

I think something that I like to do, kind of a superstition, is I write on my stick that just kind of helps me get dialed.

Like, as soon as I start writing on my stick, I'm like, okay, like, it's game time.

Like, it's time to lock in.

It's time to visualize.

I'm a big visualization person, but I've got the numbers of some former players that I used to play with back home that have meant a lot to me.

I've got her number.

Emilyn Herbstray is her name.

Her number is on top of my stick.

57.

She was a defenseman that I always looked up to, and she passed away a couple years ago.

So just seeing her number, reminding me of who she was and the player that she was is huge for me.

And that just hits home for me and that I play for her.

I play for a lot of people in my life.

So that's a big game day thing for me.

And then I also write quotes on my stick.

One of them is talent without effort is just potential.

That's Bobby Orr something that he said.

That's a big one for me.

It just reminds me that.

I need to work if I want to succeed.

It's time to work.

Like put the skates on.

You're not just going through the motions, you're working.

Business trip is what we call the away games.

But.

And that's what it is.

But it's also fun.

So day of the games, I think I'm kind of having fun with the girls, but also visualizing and really getting into the zone in those little ways.

Love that.

You know, I.

That's something I stress with my kids.

Like, you know, mental prep and visualization, all that is huge.

Video as well.

I think they go hand in hand.

Yeah, that's awesome.

And then, you know, for something big for me is like my why, right?

Always doing stuff for your why.

It sounds like you've got yours and you're dialed in with that on your sticks and stuff.

But like, I guess I've got to ask how, like, how many are you going through?

Like a stick, a game?

Like, what's your, like stick rotation.

I'll use one until I can't use it anymore.

So I'm rewriting the same stuff on the same stick.

The Sharpie bleeds all the way through my tape onto the stick because I'm rewriting it so often.

But our equipment manager, Jake, I told him at the beginning of the year, I said, you have a blue Sharpie.

And he makes sure every game he puts on, he hangs it up on my jersey so that I can do that.

That's a huge part of my routine.

So it's nice.

That is.

He's so supportive of it.

He's a great.

Sorry, I was gonna say shout out to him.

Shout out to Jake.

Always got a Sharpie on my jersey.

It's so nice.

Never gotta worry about it.

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

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Throwing it back to Utah.

Your roots in Utah.

You go back and run clinics there to help grow the game, often alongside Hillary Knight and Kerfoot or the Mammoth.

What does that experience been like and what does that mean to you to be able to go back and give back to the state where you started?

Oh, it's meant the world, the absolute world.

Especially with people like them.

Kerfoot is just unreal.

He just had a daughter.

He's got a young daughter.

That that's a big part of the reason why he's starting all these girls clinics.

We did a girls hockey day with the Utah Mammoth this summer.

We had over 250 girls show up.

Utah has never ever seen that many girls on the ice.

Unbelievable.

I was almost in tears because it was such a special day that he put on.

And that was the clinic that Hillary Knight came out to as well.

And just being able to coach with her, not only get coached by her, but coaching with her for these Girls was huge.

She's someone I've always looked up to.

She's also from out west.

Big, big role model for me growing up and still is.

She's a beast.

But yeah, it's just meant so much.

I didn't really have anybody to look up to growing up.

When I was doing clinics, it was men coaching, which was great, but I didn't have any female role models.

I didn't know what path I could take.

I wasn't sure because there was no representation.

So just being able to be there for these girls and representing what they could do and what they can do with hockey is huge for me.

And these girls are playing for the same teams that I played for growing up, which is awesome.

Well, and you said too, like, to tie it back to the Badgers, like, it's a different game.

Right.

So having the ability to have someone that plays that different game and tissue is invaluable.

So I think that's amazing.

So we won't, like, put you on the spot, but I don't know.

So I don't know if Mammoth was your choice of team name.

It was not mine, right?

I like it, but, you know, I wish Yeti was Joe's.

Yeah, that's what I liked.

Yeah.

See, I like the Yeti.

I thought it was cool, but like, Mammoths, it's all right.

But what do you think now that having that team in Utah, what is that going to do for the game?

And it probably, probably already has grown the game so much.

But, like, where do you see it going even further from here?

I think in the next five years, Utah is going to be one of the biggest states for hockey.

And that's my personal opinion.

But I know the people that are behind the scenes in that group, and they are unbelievable.

They are so passionate about growing the game there.

It's such a great place for hockey.

It's a winter sports state.

We're having the Olympics back in a couple years, so that'll be huge as well.

But having the Mammoth there and having these kids, like, see, oh, my gosh, hockey, what is this?

Because I didn't know what it was when I was little.

I knew skiing and I knew baseball and lacrosse, but now we got an NHL team in the backyard, so that's so cool.

The kids that are going out there, the youth programs that they've already established, the Junior Mammoth, so cool, so cool.

They're getting girls teams up.

The first ever camp that the Mammoth did that I helped with this summer was a girls only camp.

Unbelievable.

Never thought.

Never in my whole life did I think that was going to happen, but I was so thankful that it did.

And I can't wait to see where it goes in the future.

Yeah.

I think, you know, in this thought just came to me based on what you said earlier about how supportive Park City was of you, coupled with, like, how they're starting to put more and more rinks in.

Yes.

It's almost like the community model.

Right.

If there's any place on the map that could do hockey, like Minnesota does hockey.

Right.

Because everybody talks about, you know, the rest of the country and then the Minnesota model.

Yeah.

I think that you guys in Utah could really do, make another Minnesota model work.

Right.

And maybe they'll call it the Utah model.

Right.

It'll be even better.

Yep.

Couldn't agree more.

Just looking at what Smith Entertainment has done with the Utah Jazz, I believe they have the biggest or one of the biggest youth basketball programs in the country.

Smith Entertainment owns the Jazz.

They own the Mammoth, and they're doing the same thing with the Mammoth youth teams.

So just seeing where it's going to go where it's already gone in just under two years, I think I cannot wait.

Cannot wait.

It's going to be great.

It is great.

So sticking with the Utah theme, we're going to get into some family roots.

So both your parents are collegiate athletes.

So what lessons from them and your family overall have stayed with you the longest?

Oh, gosh, I know.

Another loaded question, right?

My parents are my biggest role models, both of them.

My mom and my dad were unbelievable athletes.

My dad's.

His biggest sports were basketball, baseball, basketball.

And my mom was big into basketball, soccer, and just about anything else.

But they were incredible athletes.

Are incredible athletes.

And just their work ethic that I know that they had and that they showed even when I was growing up, the way they pushed me.

Gosh, I am so grateful that I had that.

I have parents like that who know what it takes to be an elite level athlete and who were able to push me to this point and get me to where I am today.

Just kind of everything.

Everything that they've done is just.

I'm very lucky.

My brother and I are both very lucky to have them.

Yeah.

My dad's been at every single practice since I was a kid.

They both.

My parents, they used to take turns driving.

My brother and I.

If we had tournaments in different places, my mom would go with my brother, my dad would go with me one week, and the next weekend we would switch.

So they were always There every lesson, every stick and puck, one of them was there.

My dad hasn't missed a stick and puck to this day.

I always go skate at the rink, and he's there watching me in the stands.

So just the fact that they were there all the time and pushing us to be our best, encouraging us to work the way that we worked.

My brother and I has been awesome.

And my brother's been doing great in his career, too, so we're both very, very fortunate.

Those in travel hockey know it takes a lot to play financially.

Time commitment, effort.

I think when we go to tournaments now, the parents are more tired than the kids are with all the driving and everything.

So kudos to your parents and still to your dad for supporting you.

Yeah, Yeah.

I think it's.

Yeah, that's awesome.

You know, that's what I aspired.

You know, that's my most important thing right now, like, for me is hockey, dad.

And, you know, I live in Maryland with one son and my wife lives in Massachusetts, my other son playing up there.

Oh, my gosh.

So, like, yeah, we're all in.

All over the place.

We're all in.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But so we talked a little bit about the culture of stuff like the team coming in and your leadership style.

And when this season's over, right, Season one in the books, record books, what do you hope people say is the identity of, like, Blue Hen hockey?

Right?

Because, you know, there's teams out there, you call them gritty, you call them more finesse.

What do you want that identity of Blue Hen hockey to be at the.

End of this season, a team that does not quit.

And I think that is who we are.

We are hard to play against.

Girls that we've played against that some of us have known from previous teams, they've reached out to us after we've played them.

They're like, you guys are tough.

You guys are hard to play against.

We are.

We're gritty.

Looking at our record, I don't think it reflects who we are at all.

We are very difficult to play against, in my opinion.

I would not want to play against us if I was on a different team.

But I think that, to answer your question, I think the team I want to leave when I'm graduated and when I'm gone, I would like people to say that this team does not quit.

This team has drive, this team has passion, and they want to work.

And I think that is the group that we've created and the group that we are still building and will continue to build.

It's almost like you're a Bruins fan, right?

Bruins hockey is gritty.

Gritty hockey.

I love it.

So you've definitely got a fan in me.

Like, I love gritty hockey, so absolutely.

I'm making the drive up from Maryland to come watch you girls play.

I can't wait.

So finally shifting to individually, when your career is over, what do you hope your legacy will be both in Delaware and in your roots in Utah?

Goodness.

That is a loaded question.

I guess I'd like to be known as someone that has left it all out there.

I have no regrets so far and I want to have no regrets in my future.

Just being able to say that I did everything I could to leave this place better than how I found it.

And same with Utah, just helping to build something great.

And I think that's what we've done so far.

And I just can't wait to see where it goes.

Looking back at this in like 10 years.

I am so excited, so excited to see where the team ends up, see where the team keeps going.

And yeah, I'm just excited overall about everything.

And we've talked about a lot on this podcast and I will commend you.

You are like, mature beyond your years.

There's no.

I have no question about why they chose you to stand up a program like this.

It's a testament to your leadership and, like, how mature you are.

So is there anything that we may not have gotten into on this podcast or asked you that you wish we had or that you want to just get out there?

Kind of like one message to everybody.

I appreciate that.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate you guys having me.

First of all, this has been awesome.

I'm very fortunate to have to get to speak to you guys.

I really appreciate it.

Absolutely.

I mean, a huge hockey fan.

I'm a women's hockey.

Like, I think it is fantastic to watch.

So, yeah, this was awesome for me.

Like, like, absolutely awesome.

Thank you guys.

And like I said earlier, it's near and dear to my heart with my daughter growing up as a 10 year old now just playing with the boys too.

And it's just anything I can do and Eric can do to help promote and grow the game.

It's again, like I said, if you've never been to a woman's game, I've been to D1 games, D3 games, PW games.

It's just, it's.

It's a great experience.

And as we touched upon earlier, they leave it all out there.

They do.

Yeah.

I'd love to.

I'D love to get our girls over to a PW game at some point.

I don't know where that would be.

Maybe Boston, but something we like to.

Ask all our guests.

The final question, since this is a developmental podcast, what is your definition of development?

And it's a broad question.

It could be mental, physical, or any other aspect of the word.

Development is, gosh, it's so up and down.

It's never static, it's never going to go up in a straight line.

Development is up and down.

Looking back at my college career, I went up and down so much.

Whether that was strength training, whether it was on ice stuff, whether it was mental performance, whether it was just me as a person, I have gone up and down so much.

And that is what development is.

It is mistakes.

It's growth.

It's learning from things that happen to you.

Just kind of going with the flow of things, but also pushing yourself and knowing what your potential can be and reaching that by with effort and with commitment.

I think development is so many different things.

But a lot of up and downs for sure.

And that's a good thing.

It's a good thing.

Embracing the low Points A lot of who I am is from low points in my development and in my hockey career.

That shaped me to be who I am today as a player and as a person.

Just kind of going with the flow.

That's awesome.

You know, I love it and I think this was a phenomenal show.

Thank you so much for taking, you know, over an hour of your time, especially as the super season going and it's busy.

Means the world to us that you're willing to share some insight into your life with us and to our listeners.

So thank you so much for jumping on here.

Thank you guys.

I really appreciate this.

This has been awesome.

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