Pete Samargia is BACK for his second appearance on the podcast! Since last year, Pete has become the goalie coach for the Minnesota Frost in the PWHL. We talk about that experience so far and also comparing the timing of goalie's skill development compared to skaters through the youth hockey journey. 

We welcome back Ben Monahan to the podcast this week! Ben works at The Base Sports Performance in New Hope, MN, has experience coaching youth and high school hockey, and also works as an advisor for hockey players around the Twin Cities metro. We discuss how to handle being the first ones cut from a top team as a first year, whether or not to play HS hockey as a freshman, and when and how parent complaints should be brought to coaches and administrators. Hope you enjoy this unscripted episode!

After our holiday break, we are lucky to be joined by Aaron Wilbur, the founder of The Coaches Site. The Coaches Site has revolutionized how coaches at all levels connect, learn, and grow. Aaron shares his journey from coaching in the BCHL, to starting a coaching conference that eventually led to the creation of The Coaches Site. This is an awesome episode for any coaches looking for resources on how to improve in their craft. 

Role reversal for this week's episode! Mikey Spencer (Wayzata HS JV Head Coach) joins us and assumes the podcast host role for this week and interviews regular host, Miles Death. Miles grew up in Plymouth, MN playing youth and high school hockey for Wayzata. He is currently a Varsity Assistant Coach at Wayzata HS and the Director of Hockey Operations for Wayzata Youth Hockey Association.

The podcast is BACK with Season 2! We bring on John O'Sullivan this week from Changing the Game Project. John was a collegiate and professional soccer player, before becoming a collegiate soccer coach at the University of Vermont. 12 years ago, he founded Changing the Game Project, aimed at educating youth sports coaches and parents to create a more positive environment for our young aspiring athletes. There is something for everybody in this episode, hope you enjoy it!

What would you change about HS hockey? That is the question we ask Pat O'Leary (Wayzata), Dave Brown (Rogers), and Sean Bloomfield (Chanhassen) on this week's podcast. This is a great, honest conversation about the need to evolve our great sport in Minnesota. We agree MN HS hockey is the best, but can it adapt and grow?

The podcast joins Ben Monahan and Pat O'Leary to discuss when and if we should be teaching systems in youth hockey. 

The 2023-2024 Wayzata Mite Coach of the Year is Chris Harrington. Chris has coached mites for five years now at Wayzata, and also serves on the Mite Player Development Committee. Chris embodies everything we want in our mite coaches. He understands making it fun is the top priority, brings positive energy that signals to the kids that their coaches cares about them, and brings a wealth of hockey knowledge from his successful playing career. Chris was a standout at Apollo High School in St. Cloud. He then went on for four very successful years at the University of Minnesota. After that, he played seven years professionally in Toronto, Germany, and Japan. This is a great episode talking mite hockey development, hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening!

What is the ideal game format for U8-U14 players for their development as hockey players? An IIHF study tries to answer this question and we analyze and discuss it on this episode. To add to the conversation, we invited Johan Kling on the podcast this week. Johan grew up in Sweden has a unique perspective on comparing the Swedish development model to what we do in the states. 

Link to the study we discuss:

https://blob.iihf.com/iihf-media/iihfmvc/media/downloads/sport%20files/development-guide/player-development-guide/sag-study-fihaandsiha_growingthegame_2020_6_17.pdf

Steve Johnson is in his third year coaching at his alma mater, Minnetonka HS. Steve graduated from Minnetonka in 2012, and wasn't a highly sought after HS player. He played one year in Aberdeen in the NAHL, and one year in Omaha in the USHL. Having success in junior hockey, he earned a scholarship at The University of Minnesota. Steve is back in Minnetonka after a pro hockey career and currently works as a pilot for Sun Country Airlines. He also has decided to jump into coaching, serving as an assistant coach for the Minnetonka Skippers. This is a great conversation and I really enjoyed it.