Blue Line Banter

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by my favorite guest of all time – my son, my main man, Mikey Lee III.  Mikey was born in 2013 and plays on the Junior Canes Super 8 hockey team as well as the 8U Snipers of the PHHL.  Mikey started skating when he was three years old and fell in love with the game after attending his first Carolina Hurricanes game back in 2015.  Our discussion covered Mikey’s early days in the game from learning to skate, to the Hurricanes First Goal Program, his first hat trick, all the way up to recent days and winning the championship at the Country Western Showdown in Nashville TN with the Junior Canes Super 8 Red Team.  Mikey also had an opportunity to share an amazing story about the time he met Sebastian Aho in the grocery store.  Sebastian Aho happens to be Mikey’s favorite player so we wanted to make sure we reserved Episode #20 for Mikey.  Recording this episode with Mikey was such a blast and I’m thrilled we were able to create this memory together - I will cherish it forever.

On April 6, 2018, sixteen people died and thirteen others were injured after a bus taking the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team to a playoff game collided with a transport truck in a rural intersection.  The tragedy moved millions of people from across Canada and around the world to leave hockey sticks by their front door to show sympathy and support for the Broncos.  On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by Kaleb Dahlgren, the former assistant captain of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team and one of thirteen survivors of the tragic bus crash.  In the face of adversity, one can either back down or stand up and fight – Kaleb is a fighter, someone who will never back down.  Having an opportunity to meet Kaleb and learn about his inspiring life story of heart and grit in the face of unprecedented loss and adversity has changed my life forever.  Kaleb recently wrote a book titled Crossroads:  My Story of Tragedy and Resilience as a Humboldt Bronco, the book Crossroads is available wherever you purchase your books – please go out and purchase a copy, I hope it has the same profound impact on your life as it did mine.

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by Alyssa Gagliardi, head of Girls & Women’s Youth and Amateur Hockey for the Carolina Hurricanes.  Outside of that role Gags is also an Assistant Coach & Player Development Coach for the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes as well as a Board Member for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA).  Our discussion covered Alyssa’s early days playing youth hockey and moving to Raleigh around 10 years old, her time spent playing at hockey powerhouse Shattuck St. Mary’s where she won a National Championship, her college playing days at Cornell, winning gold in 2014 with the US National Women’s Ice Hockey Team, all the way up through her time spent competing in the CWHL and later joining the Boston Pride of the NWHL.  We also spent some time talking about the growth and future of women’s hockey, some important concepts around developing youth hockey players, and we wrapped up with Gags sharing an awesome story and memory about a triple overtime game while playing at Cornell.  You’re not going to find many people with a more impressive hockey resume than Alyssa Gagliardi and I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun I had during this conversation.  Thank you for listening.

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I’m joined by Sam Weinman, award-winning sports journalist and author of Win at Losing: How Our Biggest Setbacks Can Lead to Our Greatest Gains. Sam has long studied the ripple effects of losing. But as a father of two competitive boys, he struggled to convince them that failing - whether losing a hockey game or bombing a math test - can actually be a critical part of success. So he sought out the perspectives of men and women who have turned significant setbacks into meaningful comebacks - and sometimes even new careers - to illustrate how we can not only overcome defeat, but grow stronger from the experience. Our discussion showcased the ways in which our most difficult moments can be turned into powerful growth opportunities. There are so many incredible takeaways in this one and I hope you enjoy the talk as much as I did.

Hi everyone this is Michael Lee.  On this episode of Blue Line Banter I’m joined by Rich Cohen.  Rich is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football and also The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse. He is a co-creator of the HBO series Vinyl and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. He has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications.

Our discussion today covers his most recent book, Pee Wees: Confessions of a Hockey Parent, which takes us through a season of hard-fought competition in Fairfield County, Connecticut, an affluent suburb of New York City. The story is part memoir and part exploration of youth sports and the exploding popularity of American hockey, Pee Wees follows the ups and downs of the Ridgefield Bears, the twelve-year-old boys and girls on the team, and the parents watching, cheering, conniving, and cursing in the stands. It is a book about the love of the game, the love of parents for their children, and the triumphs and struggles of both. This latest book by Rich Cohen has already reached #1 Best Seller status on Amazon a week after the release and after having a chance to read it for myself I suspect it’s going to stay there for a while.  I hope you enjoy this discussion with Rich Cohen.

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I’m joined by Larry Sprung. Outside of his day job running Mitlin Financial, Larry has a deep hockey background as a player, coach, and also as the father of two boys, Zach and Jeremy, who he’s been able to share this beautiful game with.  Our discussion covered his early days at the rink playing with the Little Rangers in Rockland County, some of the unique characteristics that make the hockey community so special, the bond created by traveling to youth hockey tournaments and camps with his boys, the story about how he got an opportunity to play with the Israeli National Hockey Team, and Larry also shared an amazing story about the time his boys were playing on the pond in Lake Placid and had a chance encounter with Stanley Cup Champion, Mike Richter.

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I’m joined by Rob Schremp – and what an incredible journey in hockey he’s had. Rob was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, 25th overall, of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and played for the Oilers, New York Islanders, and Atlanta Thrashers in the NHL.  Our discussion covered his youth playing days including his 11 year old campaign where he lit the lamp over 350 times and had over 600 points, winning the Memorial Cup with the London Knights in 2005, how the game has evolved over the years, how things are going for him and his family currently living in Latvia, and we finished with an overview of 44 Vision Hockey – the online coaching platform he launched which offers specialized 1-on-1 video analysis with some of the best coaches in the world. Schrempy was one of the sickest skill players of his generation and incredibly entertaining to watch out there on the ice. I hope you enjoy this discussion with Rob Schremp.

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by Eric Rigsby and Jon Walker, two of the four hosts on one of the leading podcasts in all of hockey, Beers in the Lot. Our discussion covered a range of topics including how they fell in love with the game, coaching youth hockey, playing in adult leagues and the Slapshot Cup Tournament in Johnstown PA, what led to the idea for their podcast Beers in the Lot, and of course many other stories that had all of us dying in laughter. These guys are such a blast to hang out with and I feel like we can talk together for days about hockey and life in general – I hope you enjoy this discussion with Eric Rigsby and Jon Walker.

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by Sara Civian, Staff Writer for The Athletic, covering the Carolina Hurricanes.  Prior to The Athletic, Sara covered the Boston Bruins and also spent five years as the managing editor for Onward State while attending Penn State University.  Our discussion covered Sara’s early days growing up in Boston and playing high school lacrosse, her move to Raleigh NC to cover the Canes for The Athletic, the outlook for the Hurricanes upcoming season, a behind the scenes look at Sara’s gameday routine, and we of course touched on her fire Twitter account that is now approaching 60,000 followers – give her a follow @SaraCivian, I think you’ll love the content.  This discussion was so much fun, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by Thomas Whitmeyer-Weathers, Director of Youth Hockey for Polar Ice NC and the General Manager of the new Wake Competition Center in Morrisville, NC – home of the Carolina Hurricanes team practice facility.  Our discussion covered Thomas’s early days playing youth hockey and when he fell in love with the game, how coaching youth athletes has impacted his life, the mantra of “creating hockey players for life” and how important that concept is to him, playoff hockey in Raleigh NC, and Thomas also shared an amazing story about when he was given the opportunity to sound the siren for the Carolina Hurricanes. Thomas has had major impact on my life and was the driving force behind encouraging me to get involved with coaching youth hockey – something I’ll always be grateful for.