The Hockey Think Tank Podcast

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on sports psychologist, Michael McElhenie, PhD. With years of experience helping bring successful leadership strategies and organizational culture in the corporate world, Michael now works to change the social and emotional intelligence landscape of sports one athlete, team, coach, and parent at a time with his company, Exult Athletics. In this conversation we talk:— What’s RIGHT with the youth hockey landscape, and where improvement can happen— Redefining masculinity (high performance and high compassion can, and should, coexist)— How visualization and other techniques can be incorporated in the development path both as a player and personAND SO MUCH MORE!Thank you to our sponsors GelStx, Train-Heroic, CuredNutrition, and IceHockeySystems.com. And thank you to our AMAZING LISTENERS! There is something for everyone who wants to be better in this episode.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on former pro player and current NYPD Officer, Dan O’Donoghue. Growing up on Long Island, Dan’s road from youth hockey to DI - and eventually pro - was not a “traditional” path, and we talk about the life lessons learned through hockey that contributed to his success on and off the ice.In this conversation we talk:— Community, teamwork, and camaraderie— Toph and Dan’s coaching days together in Syracuse (and a little about how youth hockey can be better for the kids)— How playing high level hockey prepared Dan for a life of service in the NYPD— The spectacle that is the NYPD vs NYFD annual hockey gameAND MUCH MORE!Thank you to our sponsors GelStx, TrainHeroic, CuredNutrition, and IceHockeySystems.com. And thank you to our AMAZING LISTENERS! We know you are going to love this one.Check out Nord VPN here: nordvpn.com/thinktank

On this LOST episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we re-release our conversation with one of the top hockey strength and conditioning coaches in the world, Mike Boyle! Mike is the legendary strength coach of many of the top Boston University programs and he works with a ton of top level NHL talent as well. In this episode, we talk:-Coaching with Jack Parker at BU-Filling up the buckets in development-Working with top NHL talent-MUCH MOREThank you so much to our sponsors GELSTX, TrainHeroic, CuredNutrition, and IceHockeySystems.com. And thank you most of all to all of our amazing listeners!!

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Jeff and Topher do another MAILBAG from your questions on social media. They cover:-Earning confidence-How to make a positive impression at the start of camp-Building connection-Jeff eats cookies!!-SO.MUCH.MORE!!!Thank you to our sponsors GelStx, TrainHeroic, CuredNutririon, and IceHockeySystems.com! And thank you most of all to our amazing listeners!!!!!!

On this LOST EPISODE of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on ADM Manager for USA Hockey, one of the top minds in charge of the hockey development for USA Hockey, Bob Mancini! This was such a phenomenal conversation on youth hockey development and the in's and out's of USA Hockey's methods. We put the heat on Bob and asked a lot of tough questions and he was very open and honest about the positives and negatives of youth hockey culture today!We also talked about changes in the podcast! We are looking to hire a producer to help us take this podcast to the next level - so if you want to be a teammate of Topher and Jeff's reach out to Topher at topher@thehockeythinktank.com.We also talk about the significance of the "Lost Episodes..."Thank you to GELSTX, TrainHeroic, and IceHockeySystems.com!!! Thank. you to all of our AMAZING listeners. We hope you love this episode with Bob!

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring back one of our most downloaded lost episodes and chat with IMPLEMENTATIONAL speaker, Ricky Mendez! Ricky has worked with people and companies around the world and his wisdom and knowledge were AMAZING. We talked:-Turning negative energy into positive energy-The power of gratitude-How to change your mindset and treat yourself better-MUCH MORE!This was as motivational and inspirational of a conversations as we've had and we're grateful to be able to share Ricky's perspective with you!Thank you to our sponsors GelStx, TrainHeroic, and IceHockeySystems.com. Thank you to BlueWire Pods. And thank you SO MUCH to our amazing listeners!!

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on a culture and team building expert in Lee Elias!! This was such an amazing conversation on team culture - and we encourage you to get your pens and notebooks ready. On this episode, we talk:-Topher is going to Michigan!-Empowering and developing leaders-The power of accountability and standards-Defining team identity-MUCH, MUCH MORE!!What a conversation this was...we can't wait to bring it to you! We want to thank our sponsors GELSTX, TrainHeroic, IceHockeySystems.com, and CuredNutrition. We want to thank our podcast parent company BlueWire Pods. And we want to thank all of our amazing listeners who support our podcast!!

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we release a LOST EPISODE and talk with Chicago Blackhawks development coach Brian Keane of Prodigy Hockey. We get REAL in depth on youth development and youth hockey on this episode - it is one of the most downloaded we have ever done.It's a different type of episode as we use clips from one of the best youth development debates between experts Malcolm Gladwell and David Epstein to talk about what we see in the youth hockey world today. We talk:-Early sport specialization-Unstructured vs. structured play-How to teach anticipatory skills-The 10,000 hour rule-Deliberate practices, and so much more!This was the episode we dive the deepest into the research and we're excited to bring it to you! Thank you for tuning in to our podcasts!! Thank you to our sponsors, GelStx, TrainHeroic, IceHockeySystems.com, and CuredNutrition. And a special thank you to all of our amazing podcast listeners!!

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Jeff and Topher take on your listener questions!! We love all of you who support our podcast and we want to make sure we're hearing from you and helping you on your hockey journeys whether you are a player, parent, or coach. We tackled SO MANY QUESTIONS serious and funny on this one...here they are:-What is advice for a first year coach coming into a college locker room, who hasn't recruited the players, and create buy in?-What are the best things to do in a tryout to get noticed?-Is Nickelback good music for training?-What is advice for a head coach moving up to be an assistant coach at a higher level of hockey?-What are strategies for a player to earn more trust and ice time opportunities on the ice for a junior player?-What do I do as a parent when I see my kid liking the game but they don't compete hard?-What is advice for a parent that wants to cultivate a love and passion for the game in their kid?-What are your thoughts on plus/minus in assessing a player?-What is your most impactful lesson learned in hockey that you use today in life?-What are your thoughts on full ice practices for 12u teams?-Who should play goalie at the youngest ages of hockey?-How does a player get through the let down of making a team to be an impact player on the team when the season starts?-What is the number one "trick" for getting through a rut?-What are your thoughts on staying with one coach for five seasons in youth hockey?-Why are agents reaching out to kids so young when in Sweden there is a rule that you can't do that until the kids are 16 years old?-Is the defensive defenseman a thing of the past? Do NHL teams want/need this role anymore?-What are some tips for in season training?-What are important traits of a captain and what age should they be named?-What is more important to gain in transitioning to college hockey - strength or quickness?-What is the best way to establish my philosophy quickly as a coach of a new program?WOW we got through all of these!!!!!!!! Thank you to everyone that submitted questions - we really appreciate it!Thank you to our sponsor GELSTX, TrainHeroic, IceHockeySystems.com, and CuredNutrition. Thank you to Bluewire Pods, our podcast parent company. And thank you so much to all of our amazing listeners!!

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on the Academy Director of DC United Soccer Club, Pat Ouckama! We are huge proponents of playing multiple sports, and it was awesome to bring on someone with both a soccer and hockey background to speak about development. Pat runs one of the top soccer academies in the US, with his 16u team winning the National Championship this year. In this conversations, we talk:-The similarities of each sports game tactics-What he sees in players that succeed at the next levels-The value of studying other sports as a coach-MUCH MORE!Thank you to Coach Ouckama for taking time to come on our podcast! Thank you to our sponsors GelStx, TrainHeroic, IceHockeySystems.com, and our podcast company BlueWire Pods. And thank you most of all to all of our amazing listeners! We appreciate you so much and you are going to love this conversation. Enjoy!