Breaking the Ice

Today is a solo episode with me, your host! I started to feel that roadtrip, middle of the season burn out creep in a couple of weeks ago and once I processed my emotions, I wanted to share this episode with you all.

In this episode I talk about:

• The Mental Load of Responsibilities 

• Stepping into the role as the primary caretaker of kids, pets, household responsibilities but also feeling the overwhelm of not being able to take a break if needed

• The Mental Load of Traveling

• Coordinating the Flights To/From the Season and sometimes having to travel by yourself (potentially internationally + potentially with children)

• The Mental Load of Starting Over:

• Making New Friends every 8 months

• What I have learned I needed in these tough moments

Listen to the episode on Coping with Travel Anxiety

Listen to the episode "The Unknowns Made us Stronger" 

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Gretchen Geraghty, girlfriend of Max Willman, who plays for the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL, joins me today on Breaking the Ice. Gretchen currently resides in Allentown, PA and her boyfriend is 1.5 hours away in Philadelphia living the hotel life!

In this episode we talk about:

• The uncertainties of the hockey life

and more! 

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Danielle Fraser, wife of Jamie Fraser, who plays in Villach, Austria in the ICEHL, joins me today for a late night happy hour! Danielle and I had an absolute blast chatting virtually. We have had so many mutual connections and she has also spent six hockey seasons in Vienna herself! (where my husband plays now). Her and Jamie have been together for 15 years and they now travel the globe with their two kids.

In this episode we chat about everything and anything but a few topics in between all of the laughs are:

-Playing in the US and making the decision to go over to Europe

-Why she doesn’t live in Europe full time and goes back and forth from Canada to Austria

-Giving birth in Austria 

-The challenges of living in a foreign country when your kids are older

-How her family has navigated their sons Type 1 Diabetes

-How we discovered we are hypochondriac soul sisters

and SO much more.

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Jenn Army, wife of Derek Army, who is the Head Coach of the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL, joins me on Breaking the Ice today!

Even though she is a coach's wife now, she started off as a player's girlfriend/wife and they went through long distance for 9 years! Jenn is a teacher and she shares about how difficult it was to get time off to go visit and really having to plan her time off around what worked for the hockey schedule, which also led us to talking about maternity leave for teachers and how unfair it is (and even more stressful with covid times!)

We also talk about:

• Being a Homebody and how this hockey life really pushes you outside of your comfort zone

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Brittany Wedgewood, wife of Scott Wedgewood, who plays for the Arizona Coyotes in the NHL, joins me on the podcast today for the seventh time?!

Brit and I really needed a good catch up episode and I know you all love hearing her on the podcast so we had to make it happen!

Some of the things we chit chat in this episode are:

• Brittany and Scott's new home in Arizona

Join us at the retreat!

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Jamie Machacek, wife of Spencer Machacek, who plays for Wolfsburg in the DEL, joins me over a virtual glass of wine on the podcast today. Jamie + I have been chatting for so long after we discover the same love for the show Nashville. (Naming her son and my dog after it!)  We’ve talked about all the mom things over the past year and I was so excited to finally meet her virtually IRL on the podcast.

Jamie and her husband knew they wanted children from the beginning. After trying for quite awhile and going through a few health issues, they realized they needed to look into their options.

In this episode we talk about:

The transition from babyhood to toddlerhood and how being a mom is always evolving and changing

Jamie opens up about her health struggles and what she went through before her first round of IVF

Male Factor Infertility and Endometriosis

Navigating IVF in a foreign country and how hockey played a factor into their journey

When you’re struggling with fertility and family and friends are getting pregnant around you

Keeping this private and not sharing with anyone around them

After undergoing IVF, they found out they were pregnant with twins and lost one of the twins. She talks about what this experience was like for her and her husband 

Never Giving up on your Motherhood Journey 

THANK YOU Jamie. You are amazing!

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Dr. Sarah Sweetnam, wife of Erik Gudbranson, who plays for the Calgary Flames in the NHL, joins me on the podcast today.

Before we talked about dentistry, we talked a bit about Sarah's hockey journey, thus far. She shares how her husband got traded six days after Sarah gave birth. She had to wait five weeks before finally joining him in Nashville (They are Canadian!) We also chat about what COVID has been like for her as a first time mom. She shares how her and her husband met her first week of dental school and how they managed both of their busy schedules and careers.

Then, we talked about all things dental.

• I asked her about any dental myths she has heard that she can debunk for us 

Enjoy this episode, I learned so much!  

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Ilyssa has lived her entire life in Florida and adventured to the other side of the pond for her first season overseas.

In this episode we dive into:

• How you can lose yourself when you begin to date someone new or lose yourself in this lifestyle and how to identify this within yourself 

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Jeanie Prapavessis, wife of Matt Prapavessis, who plays in Vienna Austria for the Vienna Capitals, sat down with me over wine and we had a great conversation about all of the things.

We dive into:

Lockdowns- What it has been like as Americans living in Austria during yet another lockdown. We chat about the frustration, confusion on rules and of course, what we’re watching during lockdown.

We talk about wine and how cheap it is in Europe

High School- How we feel terrible about what we put our parents through in high school (lol sorry mom) and now we both think nothing will get past us as moms. Watch out kids, we're onto you.

We talk about mom shaming on social media. We find that sometimes there can be useful tips but also we are not robots and there is no such thing as “perfect parenting” You have to do what’s best for you and your family.

Cheating- that taboo topic that no one talks about but everyone wants to know about….what do you do when you know someone is cheating on their girlfriend from back home or who’s there in person…... You’ll have to listen to this completely unfiltered conversation we had about this. We give our opinions on how to address this situation and whether we think this should be a group approach or single approach.

Female Friendships in the hockey world- How there is sometimes a pressure for everyone to be best friends and it’s not always practical with so many different personalties. However, you can also meet some of your closest friends. Same goes for the guys too!

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