Rink Stories

Paul Stewart – a 6 foot 1 inch left winger out of Dorchester, Massachusetts – is the only American to both play and referee in the National Hockey League, playing the 1979-1980 season with the Quebec Nordiques before logging 1,010 games as an NHL referee. In 2018, he joined his grandfather, Bill Stewart, as an inductee in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. You can check out his thoughts on all things hockey on hockeybuzz.com, and you can read his amazing life story in the autobiography, titled, Ya Wanna Go?
I’m this fast-paced conversation, Stewy tells us about his connection to current NHL ref Wes McCauley, growing up in Dorchester MA, the ethos of fighting in hockey, the obsolescence of the instigator rule, the difference in skating technique for referees and players, and much more.
Plus, Matt is excited about the NY Mets; Stewcat plays Wrist Shots; Bob tells us what he learned about hockey in Sausalito CA; and the Wayback Machines takes us back to highlights from these episodes:
#2, The Game by Ken Dryden
#5, Matt Jasper, creator of the book Home Ice
Keep up with Paul Stewart:
-Follow him on Twitter @PaulStewart22
-Read  his book Ya Wanna Go?
-Check out his blogs, hockeybuzz.com
-Visit his website, https://www.yawannago.com/
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork and music by Ken Klein
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.

Our summer break is over. At long last we welcome Steve Clay, play-by-play voice of the Marblehead (MA) High School Headers; a public address announcer, and broadcast producer for high school, college hockey, and professional sports over the past 20 years; and a hockey dad for an 07.
Steve regales us with tales of joy and woe from many broadcast booths. Should broadcasters be homers or neutral? What’s it like to call a game with your kid playing? Why isn’t the Malden Valley Forum the worst rink?
Plus the boys kick around these important questions: How much are you spending on hockey from learn-to-skate through high school? What did Bob discover about hockey during his trip to New Orleans?
And the Wayback Machines takes us back to highlights from these episodes:
#2, The Game by Ken Dryden
#5, Matt Jasper, creator of the book Home Ice
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork and music by Ken Klein
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.

What happens  when the guest doesn’t show up? Bob is dismayed that his extensive notes will go unused. Matt could have been watching the Mets game. So we continue on - without a guest - and talk about the stuff in the notes anyway.
Thus began an awkward dance on the third rail of women’s hockey – from trans/non-binary athlete inclusion policies to the recent news about Digit Murphy, the 2-time Rink Stories podcast guest and new President of the Metropolitan Riveters.
Though likely littered with errors and inexact language, we hope this free-flowing conversation will spark listeners to look more closely at the complex and incendiary issues surrounding trans inclusion, in sports and elsewhere. Be sure to listen all the way to the end.
For further context, check out these folks on Twitter: Kirsti Miller, D.F. Pendrys, and Digit Murphy. 
Plus, our usual fun and funny fare: Where Was Bob Last Week, the Way Back Machine, Hockey Haiku, and a little bit about hockey in Australia. 
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork and music by Ken Klein, with additional original music from The Mo' Nobs
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.

Jennifer Chefero  is a frequent contributor on The Donut Bag podcast, a chronicler of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Twitter, and a hockey trainer and coach.  In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss: predictions for the NHL playoffs, “toxic hockey culture,” player development, and Bob’s trip to the Frozen Four in Boston.
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
 Artwork and music by Ken Klein
Additional original music from TFIC and The Mo' Nobs
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok,
and  YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Jennifer on Twitter  @shootwauthority and listen to the Donut Bag podcast.
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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.

Hubie McDonough is a 5-foot 9-inch center out of Manchester NH who scored 210 points, 124 goals and 86 assists, for Saint Anselm College on the way to winning the Small College Hobey Baker Award in 1985. He followed that up with a 13-year pro career where he tallied 820 goals and 513 assists for a total of 1333 points, along the way playing 195 NHL games with the LA Kings, NY Islanders and San Jose Sharks.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Hubie and Bob discuss: his rise from tiny St Anselm College to the NHL, the long line of Hubie McDonough sporting legends, bringing the Stanley Cup home to Manchester, getting an assist from 99 on his first NHL goal, the evolution of stick technology, the etymology of “ManchVegas,” and much much more.
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
 Artwork and music by Ken Klein
Additional original music from TFIC
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok,
and  YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.

This week we welcome to the podcast Kristina Young, Director of Marketing and Social Media at LiveBarn, the streaming service that broadcasts games from more than 1,000 rinks throughout USA, Canada and Sweden. Here we ask all the questions that need to be answered, such as: Do people ever contact you to remove video of their regrettable behavior? What was the impact of the pandemic on LiveBarn? What does LiveBarn think when their videos go viral?
This interview coincided with a week where Bob visited many rinks, inspiring  an extra-special “Where Was Bob Last Week?”
Check out @LiveBarn on Twitter and at https://livebarn.com/en/
And much, much more.
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf. Artwork and music by Ken Klein. Additional original music from the Bill Henry Trio, MC Hopf, the Mo'Nobs, and Bob's Lounge
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok,
and  YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.

Bobby Orr,  a staple of the hockey GOAT conversation, the best player on the best and most colorful Bruins team ever, the phenom from small town Ontario who fully reached the potential suggested by his eye-catching play as a 9-year-old.
In this wide-ranging investigation, we combine contemporaneous and historical sources with nostalgia, to get a full picture of Orr’s career and life.
Special thanks to Joe Bertagna, G-Force, and the Swamp Thunder Gun.
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We recommend:
Bertagna Goaltending
Marco's Italian Cold Cuts, 389 Main Street in Woburn Center, MA
Bobby Orr and the Big Bad Bruins, by Stan Fischler (1969)
Orr On Ice, by Bobby Orr  and Dick Grace (1970)
The Two Sides of Bobby Orr, interview by Don Earle (1970)
Dynamite On Ice: The Bobby Orr Story, by Don Bock (1972)
The Game, by Ken Dryden (1983)
Orr: My Story, by Bobby Orr (2014)
Searching for Bobby Orr, by Stephen Brunt (2016)
Bobby: My Story in Pictures, by Bobby Orr (2018)
Late in the Third, by Joe Bertagna (2021)
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf.  Artwork and music by Ken Klein. Additional original music from  MC Hopf,  the Mo'Nobs, and Bob's Lounge.
Please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends.
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter and Instagram
Check out our new YouTube channel
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Sto

Stu Woodrow, a  5-10 forward out of Marblehead MA, has been refereeing youth hockey games for the past 14 years, and he is a hockey dad for 3 boys, a 93, a 95, and a 98. With the kids grown up and securely out of the house, we’re delighted that he had time to speak with us. 
In this wide-ranging conversation, Stu provides fascinating insight into what it's like on the other side of the glass as a referee for youth and adult hockey games. Why are we having a critical shortage of officials? What explains the unacceptable behavior by too many coaches and parents? What can we do about it? 
Then, Stu tells us about the effort he spearheaded to develop the outdoor Bud Orne Rink in Marblehead. How did he secure a set of gently-used boards from the Mullins Center in Amherst MA and get them transported to the Green Street field in Marblehead? After an auspicious and memorable few years of skating, why has the rink been somewhat neglected of late? And, what is the current plan to install a proper rink (outdoor or otherwise) in Marblehead?
Plus our usual fun and funny stuff, including Wrist Shots and a trip in the Way Back Machine to revisit moments from these past episodes:

• #36 - Gabe Foley of @RecScouting and  @StLouisGameTime
• #30 - Steve Seftel, author of Shattered Ice
• #12 - Tony Scott of the Youth Hockey Hub

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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf. Artwork and music by Ken Klein. Additional original music from the Bill Henry Trio, MC Hopf, the Mo'Nobs, and Bob's Lounge
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter and Instagram
Check out our new YouTube channel
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.

A 5-8 forward out of Acton Massachusetts, #9, Nick Carpenito is the Associate Head Coach for the Northeastern Women’s Hockey team, 2021 Frozen Four Finalist and preseason #2 team in the country.   
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Bob and Matt welcome Nick, who takes all of our mispronunciations and misspeaks in stride, introducing us to the loaded NU Huskies team (3 returning 1st team all-Americans!?!?), along the way regaling us with quick takes on rule changes, an upcoming trip to the World University Games in Switzerland, a crushing 2019 tournament loss to the Cornell Big Red, and much, much more.
And, our usual fun and funny stuff, as the Way Back Machine evokes memories of prior episodes:

• #17 - Cara Morey, Head Coach of Princeton Women's Hockey
• #23 - Tunisha Singleton and Fatou Bah of Black Girl Hockey Club
• #36 - Gabe Foley, NHL Draft Prognosticator @NHLFoley

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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf. Artwork and music by Ken Klein. Additional music from the Ken Klein, the Bill Henry Trio, MC Hopf, the Mo'Nobs, and Bob's Lounge
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Check out Nick Carpenito and the Northeastern Women's Hockey on Instagram
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter and Instagram
Check out our new YouTube channel
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.

Christina Putigna is a 5 foot 8 forward out of Grimsby Ontario. As a key contributor for the 2021 Isobel Cup champion Boston Pride, she was the league’s leading scorer and MVP runner-up in the Premier Hockey Federation.
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In this fast paced conversation, Bob asks Christina about: Comparisons between life in the Lake Placid Bubble and sleepaway hockey camp; technical pointers on Christina's two hella assists in the Isobel Cup final; the struggle as a fan of 2 NHL teams; the decision to wear #21 at Providence College; and much, much more.
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf. Artwork and music by Ken Klein. Additional music from the the Ken Klein, the Bill Henry Trio, MC Hopf, the Mo'Nobs, and Bob's Lounge
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Check out Christina Putigna and the Boston Pride on Instagram
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter and Instagram
Check out our new YouTube channel
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a dick. THIS is Rink Stories.