1973 Podcast
1973 Podcast Special interview with Kailey Smith D1 Hockey Player at Sacred Heart University
All over one and welcome to a very special interview segment of the 1973 podcast. We're here with, I'd like to say a friend, a coach, Kelly Smith, he won hockey player at Sacred Hat, Haley, how's it going? >> It's going great. Thank you for having me on. >> I cannot wait to have an interview with you. I got a couple of personal questions. I'll say them for the end and I'll say that we have a mutual connection through my daughter, and I have a couple questions about that too, whether she's a fan of the ass or not. I want to know what we'll say that towards the end. First of all, I want to stop by saying, how did your journey start from small child playing hockey to where you are now? How did it all start? >> Yeah. Growing up, I had two older brothers that both played hockey, and my dad was super into it. My dad was president of my town program, and my mom was like treasure growing up. So hockey was all around me. I have a really vivid memory of going from dance class with my friends to hockey practice, and all the boys were making fun of me because I was in a pink 2-2. So I remember telling my parents like, "Oh, I'm quitting dance. I just want to do hockey." Which looking now, I'm super grateful that happened, but it was also very, I mean, I think that's just childhood for you, but it was more just following my brother's footsteps. I wanted to be just like them, and my brothers are eight, once eight years older than me and once five years older than me, and they've played on Junior Bruins, they played on Crusaders, which I don't think is a program anymore. Growing up, they put on flames, so they did the prep school route as well. So I think it was just something to just get closer with them. Now, we'll pause you right there, and I'm going to ask the guys if they have any questions so far. And do you have anything? I'm going to have to say, what's your favorite memory of traveling with like under 12 when you were playing? Like where is this place? Yeah, I played on the flames growing up for, so I went to flames for my first year of U10s, I want to say it was. It was my first all-girls team, I just played boys. And we ended up winning states. And that was like, I think it's still called states. Yeah, we won the state championship for like the club or whatever it is. And I just remember that I play with-- and now I'm on a sacred heart, and I play with the girl that scored the winning goal. And our state championship, and it's like crazy. It was tier two, but I can remember that so vividly, and my mom has a picture of my face, and my cheeks are like so red. But that was just like a really good feeling, and most of the girls that I played with now played D1, D3, and I'm lucky enough to still play with a couple of them. So the Lady Flames are out of Marvaro, I believe. Yeah. That rink is fantastic. Yeah, the banner is still hanging in that rink one, the original rink. I'll have to look the next time on that. I'm interested to see it, but that's cool. So from there, I noticed that. Abitred Valley, did you play for them too? Was that in your repertoire? I don't think so, what was it called? Abitred Valley, I was on the hockey prospects, and they had you listed playing for them. So it's probably my mistake or a typo on there. Baby. I've played four 95 stars, that was Co-Ed. I played Boston Lightning, which was Co-Ed. I went after Flames, I went to the Boston Junior Eagles, and I loved that program. I had a lot of fun there. It was really well-run. I had Dave Heimavitz as my coach in John Joyce, his son's play at BC. And then I ended up leaving and going to Assibet Valley, and I had a very well-known-- I had a coach called-- his name was Dennis Lang. And he was amazing. He was a great coach, and then we had some issues, just with USA hockey. And he ended up not being able to coach anymore. So then I went to a program called CPC, which was just an in-house. Kind of, you paid skills, and then you had a game in-house, and it was like four teams. And finished out that as my club team during while I was playing prep at coaching. So when did you decide to go the prep school route? What made you decide going away from New England girls, which is a fantastic league, and go more towards deciding to go prep school? Because we're really close to a table academy. And so we're down that way. And I believe pushing is in that division, I believe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So both my brothers went to prep school. My dad did a PG year at a prep school, and my uncle went to Tabor and played hockey there. I think they won the title, whatever year he was there, for boys hockey. I think-- I remember doing a lot of premier prospects, which is run by Kathy Pippey, who also owns-- she used to run the selects program, like it was called World Selects. And I did a couple tournaments with her. I did one in Balzano, Italy, and then another one in Germany, France. And I had a lot of fun there. And I was kind of deciding between going to an academy, like a BK selects, or staying kind of closer to home and going prep. And I can tell you, I probably toured 15 prep schools. From Westminster, Exeter, Tabor, New Hampton, Cushing, I looked everywhere. And just I had a lot of friends that were going to Cushing. At that age, we had some girls that were already committed. So my age group was-- I was talking to college coaches my eighth grade year. And then come my freshman year, we were told it was going to be cut off. So I had some girls that were like 13 going into high school, already committed to Northeastern and verbally committed to Harvard. And then we had my other half my grade where girls were just trying to figure out where they were going to high school. But ultimately, I thought it would be a good academic fit for me, living on campus, having a really good structured schedule is kind of where I found I succeeded. I went to a really small elementary school. I went to a small Catholic school called Saint Bridget's. And that was where I felt that I learned the best was in a small classroom. I ended up going to frame and public schools in middle school and kind of struggled with the class sizes being so big and kind of the lack of like one-on-one with teachers. So going to a small prep school with a very small like student to teacher ratio is super important to me. Cushing was really helpful with learning disabilities. So I've executive functioning, which just kind of prevents me from like learning a foreign language. So kind of them being able to help guide me through that process of getting testing from that and learning how to best study with my learning disability and stuff like that. So that's why I really chose a prep school. I think I would have gone to prep even if it wasn't hockey. And then the reason I chose Cushing was really because of my high school coach. Her name's Val Bono. She played at Providence. And she's coached at Cushing for I want to say like 15 years, probably more now. She would text me every week just checking in, seeing how my grades were, seeing how I was, upcoming games. She was great about just like recruitment. She really cared about you as a person. And she got to know your family, which I thought was really nice. I think a lot of prep school coaches are kind of like, well, if you get in, and then we'll figure it out from there. So yeah. Let me pause right there. Tom, I'll let you jump in with a question. Or at what age did something click in you and you figured out that you were really good at it? And you wanted to take it a little more serious? So when I went from the Boston Junior Eagles to Aspen Valley, that's when I kind of discovered that I was maybe a little bit better than just like a town program because the coach, like I said, Dennis Lang, he took me from playing. So I didn't play two years if you 14. I went straight up to you 16 because he was like, you're too good to play on the you 14 team. And I'm going to stack this U16 team. And on that, I think every single girl on that team is now playing division one. I think it's like four out on BC, two on Harvard, two on Princeton, one's at Colby. I mean, that team was just-- it was just a lot of girls that were driven, driven to go beyond just high school and the level of play. And like the people we'd work with, I'd my skills coach was like Alex Molnar, who's pretty well known now. It was a very well-run program. It was very, very hard to keep up with though. I will say like transitioning into that, I mean, it was like, well, it was almost like you had to be on every day. But I think that got me really prepared for college, so. I have a question about at what point, in your opinion, as a coach and a player, should a young girl that plays hockey transition to exclusively playing with girls? I wish I had stayed in boys longer, personally. I have a really good friend, Riley Walsh, who also coaches at Atlantic with me. She played on the "Minuteman" flames until they started checking. I would personally stay with boys until checking. I mean, I think it's a faster paced game. I think, honestly, girls are a lot of drama a lot of the time. I think playing on a boys team, it's less drama. And you're on the go-go-go. So I would have stayed at boys longer if I could go back. And looking at girls who came from boys' programs, I could name three off the top of my head. Skylar Sharfman, she plays-- she's going into BC now. She just finished her PG year at Naha. Mia Bonarosa, who is going to Dartmouth, and then Riley Walsh, who was at Union. And now she's going to be you. I would say all three of those came in super late. They were girls that, when I was with my friends, really, who is this? Who is this girl? How is she from Mass? I think of vivid memories when they were trying out at festival with us, like going to National Camp Triots. So, I mean, it was a big discrepancy between their skill level and how fast they were with the girls. So, yeah. And question for Kayleigh. I sure do. So essentially, transition from prep school to now a Division I school. So, what are you doing for, like, body maintenance, nutrition wise and stuff like that? Which, you know, taking that jump from, you know, pretty much from, like, what would be, like, a high school, kind of a program to prep school. That's, I know that that's a big jump. You know, through more, kind of like a college athlete, more treated more like a Division I college athlete. Now you're playing for a Division I school. What are you doing for yourself body maintenance wise? What are you doing in the off season? And what your nutrition program looked like? Yeah. So, my nutrition program, focusing on that, it's just a lot of home-cooked meals. I try not to eat out, just 'cause I don't know what's really going into my body. So I try to cook as much as I can. Just staying clean. I mean, obviously a cookie once in a while isn't gonna hurt me. I'm a big diet coke fan, which I hope my mom doesn't listen to that, or she'll be mad. But I would say, like, a large part of that is like drinking enough water, getting enough sleep. Sleep's a big thing. My team right now is working on getting whoops. If anyone's familiar with that, it's just like a band that tracks like your sleep. You're like menstrual cycle. You're like, how many calories you're burning for lift and stuff, just things that as athletes, you really should be tracking. Definitely on recovery. I just had a shoulder injury. Not terrible, just kind of pulled, like strained my shoulder. So for that, I'm doing rehab. Off season, I'm living down at Sacred Heart, so I'm currently in Bridgeport. I work out every morning, and I usually skate like four times a week. So I'll do like a four V four league and then do skills with some of the Sacred Heart girls and some pro girls that skate with us. I would just say, like, try not to get burnt out. A large, I mean, hockey's like the longest season. And it is a lot when you're 20 hours a week and like you're also having school and a social life and just like you're on the go-go-go. So I'd say like definitely training in the off season, getting better, doing skills. But trying my best to not get burnt out. I mean, going to prep school, I can note a couple times at Cushing where I definitely got burnt out just with hockey and I mean like living at your high school is not the, I mean, it's definitely fun, but it's not always like the best. So yeah, I would just say balancing it. Being and going into my junior year, I think I found a pretty good balance with it. But definitely, I think my number one thing is just sleep. I'm a huge sleeper and I can't take naps. So making sure I'm going to bed early and waking up at a decent time as well. - I'll have to mention that it has got a background in certified training and nutrition. So that's probably why he asked that question. - Yeah, that's where it's coming from. - Yeah, we have a nutritionist come in the beginning of the year that kind of talks us through like just what to do pre-games and what to eat the night before, stuff like that, which is my routine's been pretty regular throughout. High school and college, we get like meals made for us the night before games and like pre-game skate will get breakfast made for us or lunch taken in. So we're like, we're pretty like well fed and everything like that, definitely protein. I don't know if you know what endurifen is. It's a guy from, I want to say L.I.U. He created this brand, it's called Endurifen, but a lot of college or a lot of hockey. Division one programs are sponsored by them and it's like probably the best protein I've ever tasted as long as it's mixed well. So yeah. - Well protein powder has the problem though. You know, being mixed well in the matter, it kind of gets that chalky or gets stuck to the blender and that's kind of like the nature of the beast when you deal with protein powder. So that's interesting, I've never heard of that, but that's always nice to, you know, 'cause I've coached a lot of athletes that have done Ironman's and Half Ironman's and stuff like that. All of a sudden you talk to them about nutrition and you're like, well what are you eating the night before racing? Oh, this is what I have to be like. Yeah, that's not gonna go so well for you when you get out of the course, you know. - Yeah. - And that type of thing or you talk to them and be like, well how are you feeling down the racing line? Oh, you know, I eat whatever and you're like, well how do you feel out on the run there? I feel terrible. So you know, nutrition is such a huge part and you know, you had definitely on that thing, sleep is paramount to staying healthy and resting and recovering for sure. - Yeah. Tom, question? Yeah, as a woman, how often has it come up where you've run into some chauvinism and you feel like somebody trying to hold you back because of being a girl? - I mean, I would say it's kind of like a lack of respect when it comes to like being an athlete. I think a lot of like males and on the boys side of things, they perceive it as like, oh well it's easier to get to be a divisional athlete as a girl. And I do see why they would think that way because when you look at a male pro hockey player and a woman pro hockey player, there are differences. But the thing is we're competing against other females and the same as they're competing against other males. So I think sometimes that doesn't click. I do think on the coaching side of things, I think sometimes I coach for the boys, for Atlantic Coast. And I think the boys are very shocked when I say, no, I'm a divisional athlete. Like I played division when I was hockey, I played at Sacred Heart. And I don't think that exactly clicks all the time. They kind of just think I'm talking to hear myself talk rather than coaching. But I have fun with that. That's kind of the only time I ever like feel like I have to prove myself even more. But around Sacred Heart, I mean, I would say like fellow athletes, like we have a really good, I know some other schools, there's large discrepancies between what a men's team gets and what a women's team gets. I can tell you like at shoe, it's pretty equal. Despite other than the fact like when the men's get donations that are like like direct donations to their team, like whether that's like a helmet or like they have iPads and we don't, but like some of that stuff, I feel like that's, we don't really need iPads. We don't need Chrome helmets. So I'm really grateful for the school I chose for doing that. But yeah. - Quick question, favorite rink and favorite place that you, hockey has taken you? - Probably Balzano, Italy. That's probably my favorite rink and favorite place hockey has taken me. It was like a super old barn. It almost like the wood going right across almost like the way Yale looks or if anyone's ever been to like luring arena where it just scoops over the top and it's all wood old, but then you'd walk out and it was just this, the Alps. Like the Alps were just right behind you. So I think that was probably the best rink. It was also really cold, so it was good ice. I'm not, I hate when the ice is slow and yeah, it's not for me. - Like a stated MDC rink. (laughing) - I'm playing in Beantown this weekend and I got my schedule and it said like at some Franklin rink and I can tell you Beantown and all the probably, I've played Beantown since I was a U12. I've never played Beantown at the Franklin rink. Couldn't, I don't think I've ever even been inside the Franklin rink, so. - It looks exactly like all the other ones. It's up on a hill, they all look the same. They were all built around that 1972, Bob, you all boom. They all look the same. Plymouth, New Bedford, Fall River, Franklin, they all look the same. It's like you've been in one, you've been two small locker rooms, two big locker rooms and yeah, it's time has passed. It's time to renovate those things, blow them out a little bit, make those locker rooms bigger, blow out the pocket lot a little bit, put a mini rink in the back of the kids. - Sounds good. - Another question. - Yeah, what's the best advice you could give to a young girl who sees you and sees how well you're doing and they ask how they get to be where you are as a college player and beyond? - Yeah, looking back, I would say take like every skill session and every practice as seriously as possible. Like sometimes I look back and I think like I half-assed that like practice or that specific drill. And it's just like you're out on the ice ice is expensive now knowing as a coach how expensive it really is. Like you got to make it worth it. I think I would have been a better hockey player if I had done that at a younger age. My dad would always say like not paying for these skills just for you to like half-assed at Kaylee. But I would also say have fun with it. I think recently coaching I had we lost in a championship and I had a lot of girls that were really down themselves and they're like you 12s and I'm just like you, this is the time to have fun. This is summer hockey, like try new things. You're with people that you don't skate with normally and like that's the best time. Like I've met some of my best friends at summer hockey that like lived in the Midwest and I'd only see them at a couple tournaments here or there. And now those girls are doing so many good things like they're at Wisconsin and they're on the national team or whatever it may be and we're like still in contact. So I think just have fun with it and just make sure that every time you're out on the ice you take full advantage of it. - And question? - So are you planning on coaching when you get done with what college or are you? - So as of right now. - Yeah, so as of right now I just took over the women's director with Ava Doyle for Atlantic Coast. So I've been coaching for Atlantic for the past two summers. I've coached, I coached for him in youth hockey with my dad growing up from when I was in middle school and high school whenever I could, I would. I don't know, I definitely see myself after hockey is over either going to travel. I did a study abroad program earlier this summer and I went to Ireland for two and a half weeks. And I think just realizing like hockey was such a big part of my life. Like I really haven't had a vacation or anything which I am very lucky to play at the rink I do and go to the school I do and play the sport I love so much but I do think I want to see other parts of the world. Like I want to go on vacation and spend time with my family like my whole family lives in Maine now and I'm like down here. So I only see them, seen my family for fourth of July and otherwise I'm like coaching on the weekends or I'm training. So I think just taking some time off, figuring out but I am a sports marketing major and a business analytics minor. So I could see myself working within a women's program. I was an internship for NCAA for Regionals when they were at the Bridgeport rink in 2023 I want to say it was. And I recently had an internship with Whoop that just ended like a month ago. So I'm around the field what that looks like when I graduate I'm not really sure but I think continuing to work for Atlantic. I mean, it brings me a lot of joy working with kids and like seeing their development even this past weekend like those girls were definitely better than me at that age. So, I mean, it's exciting to watch the younger generations and how they get so much better. Like even like with the boys like you listen and you'll watch boys and they'll be like that kid was better than me at that age. Like I can't imagine how good he's going to be now. So. - So I have an item I'm going to show you and you tell me the first thing you think of when you see it. - Oh, your daughter, she asked me to sign a park. I mean, I can remember I met, if anybody knows who Kayla Barnes is. So I am a defenseman at shoe I no longer played defense but hoping to go back to there this year. And when I met Kayla Barnes I literally started crying and Kayla Barnes is only four or five years older than me. Like she's still playing in college my freshman year. So. Yeah, I think it's just really cool that like, you know, you can be somewhat of a like role model to the younger girls. Just like helping them and telling them things that you wish someone told you. I mean, I had a lot of great role models growing up. I had Katrin Lonergan who played at BC and then transferred to Clarkson. And now she runs the level girls program. Jesse Jakes who played at Maine, transferred to Merrimack, her dad played at Maine as well. They run the team one program. Just a lot of people around me that were great role models and really like really were focused on division one hockey and they kind of like helped pave the way for my generation and future generations I'd say. - Well, I can definitely tell you that you made an impression on my youngest and she is a fan, you know, what you said in the locker room or how you handled her because she can be a handful at times. She she's like sandpaper that one. But yeah, she definitely has nothing but I regard for you coaching wise, you know. I just, when I go to the rink and it's her and she has her own thing, I just stay on the sidelines. I don't get involved. I'm not one of those parents that is co-coaching or one of those people that make deals in the car. Like if you score three goals, I'll buy you this. - I know, yeah. - I never do that. There's no side I'm there for her. It's her journey not mine. My coaching officially ended last year. I said, "Kennedy, I'm done." That's it, I was hanging on for you and your brother, but it's too much. It's just the parents burnt me out. - My dad was like the same way. My dad stopped coaching. I think when I started fighting him back on the bench about things he'd say. So, I mean, he I can even remember like in prep school. Like I had such a bad, it was my sophomore year and I didn't I had, I had a stress fracture in my leg. And I didn't know it. I was being told it was shin splints, but it wasn't. And I had a terrible tournament, like terrible. Like probably the worst hockey I've ever played. And I remember my dad walked out of the rink and my dad that sit at like the top of the corner at Cushing and my dad's big. Like when he gets mad, he just sits there and you can like see his face. And I remember he walked out and I was like, "Oh God." But I honestly think it's worse that he wasn't coaching 'cause coaching on the bench, he can't leave and he just tells me, whereas I think after the game, he was just like, "No, I gotta go home." And just left. And it was like craziest, it was the craziest thing, but I think it's better. I think sometimes I think I used to listen to other coaches more than I listened to my dad. Looking back, my dad was more accurate than some of the other coaches, but. - But like I said, if I could just tell you personally why I have you on the podcast that she has nothing, but love and respect for you. And then that's great. So hopefully you guys have made a connection and hopefully maybe it grows from there. And if there's any way you wanna push her a certain way that you see that works for her, I'm all for it. - I know, she's a forward when she's playing D. - Yeah. - I was the opposite. I came into college as a defenseman and we had 12 defenseman. And I looked at my coach and I was like, "Do you mind if I go take a couple reps at forward?" My coach was like, "Go for it, like whatever you want." And I didn't play my first game. I got healthy scratched. Our first scrimmage against Clarkson and then we ended up having a girl that got hurt. And my coach was like, "Hey, Kaylee, I want you to play." Like I've seen a lot of good things, but I want you to play as a fourth line forward. And I was like, "Huh, what do you want me to do what?" And I ended up playing and then by the end of the year I had the work myself up to like first, second line. And then beginning of this year, I was starting with my first line and like maintained that. But my goal really is to go back to D, right? That happens this year, but, you know, playing is better than not playing, I'd say. - I agree, I agree. The question I have is the professional women's hockey league thoughts on that, that any aspirations to get involved with that? - I think it's great. I mean, they're doing a lot of great things for women's hockey. Personally, I think if I were going to play pro, I'd want to do it somewhere in Europe, I think. I don't know, I think just, I want to see the world. I don't really want to stay in Minnesota or Boston or wherever else. So yeah, I have a teammate that's going, she actually is flying out in two days, I want to say. She's going to play over in Switzerland. And I mean, it's going to be the coolest experience. I had a fifth year on my team who transferred from Colgate and her twin sister played overseas, she loved it. So I think I just, I've heard a lot of good things about it. And I think that's totally my ballpark. - How did you end up making the decision to jump on board with Atlantic Coast while you were still, you know, and so involved with, you know, playing? How did you make that? - So I want to say last year was my first year coaching. And Mike had reached out through like Instagram. I think I had followed the account 'cause I saw it on their boys' side. They do a bunch of like videos, like height videos where like MS films will come and do like a video of the boys playing, whatever. I think I followed the account and then he was talking to me about how they were starting a girls program and Kayla freezing was going to run it. And I was like, yeah, I'd be, I'd be more than happy to come and coach the hour goes. So I went and coached my first weekend with Ava Doyle who coached a few games with me. And we really liked it. I think we worked with, they couldn't have been more than eight. I think we worked with like eight year olds for boys and then found like a kind of primary spot for like the youth, what would they be? 2010s boys, which I felt was a really good age where the boys understood that you were a coach and had a level of respect for you. Any older was kind of like, I'm a 2004. So like some of the kids could have been in high school with me if I went any older. So I just like didn't want to do that. And then I think any younger, they were kind of in that age where they're like, you're a girl. So I love coaching them. I think they are like the best age group for boys and then the girls side, I could coach any age group and have a good time. But I think deciding to take over the program on the girls side was a really hard decision I definitely couldn't do by myself. But I found it to be pretty fulfilling honestly, like filling rosters, knowing girls and like seeing their development, even the last like two summers, I mean, is crazy. And it's like fun to watch. It's really fun to watch. And it's a pleasure to be an outlet to girls who need some guidance in like the hockey world or answer questions for parents that want to hear from someone who like recently went through prep school or recently was coached by this coach or that coach. - That's the sky right now. - Yeah, I think the different, it's one thing to hear it from a prep school coach or from a college coach, which is another thing to hear it from a student or a player. - That's all in question. - Yeah, is there anything you learned as a player that you've taken with you and used as a head coach? - Yeah, I would say being positive. I think in high school, I struggled a lot with if I was playing bad, I would just be a negative attitude. So I definitely think emphasizing that to girls playing, that it has larger repercussions than you would think. Like college coaches notice your body language, they notice your attitude, other coaches notice it. So I would say catching on to that faster. I mean, I still kind of struggle with it, a little bit in college, just maintaining like positive attitude when I'm not playing my best. But I think constantly telling that's the girls, we were down, we were in a championship game and it was 2-1 and a girl got a penalty and a lot of girls gave up. Like we had like, I think a minute 30 left and a lot of girls were just like, why should we even try? Like we're not gonna score. And it was like we had beaten a team before. So it was really hard to watch. And I think just once I got into the locker room afterwards, I think my biggest thing telling the girls was like, you guys gave up. You gave up on that game way before it was over and just it was an attitude issue. It wasn't, it was an attitude and effort issue truly. And like they really could have won that game. It's just, I don't think they came out as prepared as they could have been. They were kind of like, oh, we rolled over this team the first game and now we're just gonna go do it again. And I mean, the tournament wasn't the greatest competition. We had beaten a couple teams in the double digits. So I think they were on a high and then didn't really realize what they were up against. But I would just say continuously telling girls like, yep, have a good attitude. Like you're here to have fun. It's summer hockey. You don't even have to worry about recruitment yet. Like just have fun with it while you can. 'Cause then it gets serious. And then it's like, it almost, it's a, it's a job to a certain extent. So I'll follow up question. - Yeah, actually I'm gonna flip that now. And what have you learned as a coach that you could take back as a player? - I think in reverse that is still making sure I'm having fun at hockey. Like as much as hockey is fun for me, it truly is. Like we have a great team. We have a 34 man roster this year at shoe, which means where everyone's gonna be like kind of fighting tooth and nail for playing time. But I think that's the best part about it is I'm playing on a team where it's like, you don't know if you're gonna be in that roster. So you better, better work your ass off all week to be in that roster come Thursday night. And I kind of, I kind of live off of that. I strive off of that kind of pressure is like, understanding like I know what I need to do in order to be the player I need to be, to be in that lineup. So yeah, I would say still having fun with it, but like within that like working your butt off and like I think a lot of girls, like a lot of girls I was coaching, they love to stay out for three minutes or like we had some long shifts and they just wouldn't listen to come off. And I remember a quote my dad used to tell me or not even a quote just saying he would have, he was like, if you're staying out for longer than a minute 30 to a minute, like you're not skating hard enough. You're not like you're, you're just not, you're not working hard enough off the puck. You're not winning your one-on-one battles. Like you should be bagged by the end of that 45 second shift. So I'm reminding myself that too, that I should become, I mean, definitely I'm in shape, but be bagged like we're working my butt off. So yeah. - The tournament was great from a parent perspective, but I can see everything exactly what you're talking about as far as the outcome. - It was tough, it was tough watching it after, you rolled over a few of those teams and then at the end to walk away with nothing. And you know, the team that they lost to was, you know, finished third, you know, they knocked off. So it was very disappointing. That was a, that was a tough Sunday for- - I think, I think they brought in some girls. I think they brought in a couple girls 'cause I don't think that team being as good as that. - So I'm glad that you said that 'cause I wasn't gonna say that. The goalie's dad was adamant about that. And I asked my daughter if there was any different players and she said she, at least one, she said was not there on. - I think there was a, there was Beantown was going on as well. And I think militia probably put in two teams. Beantown was definitely a better tournament. So in the future, I think we would do Beantown instead of that tropical meltdown. Just for competition wise, like you wanna play better teams. But I think militia took a better team, put it in Beantown, that team got knocked out. And I'm thinking she took some of the girls and put them over for the championship game 'cause them beating level was crazy. But yeah, I remember we were down like two nothing and then we saw like 15 minutes left and the girls were just so down. So I literally took a timeout. And I was like, we gotta fix this. Like whatever mojo is going on, like needs to sway. And we were on them. I think if we had another like five minutes, I think we would've won that game, but. - Yeah, or a second period, you know what I mean? It was only one period. That was the top two kind of swallow. But it is what it is, right? It's hockey. It's some hockey. - It's summer hockey, exactly. - Add the question before we wrap everything up. - I have to say, what's your favorite pizza that you have to do to a bridge for it? That I'm going to totally off the rails. - Oh, I work at Colony Grill in Millford. There's one in Fairfield. That's a, it's very, very good. I'm working there during the school year and I can tell you it's one of my favorites. Dave Portnoy does pizza reviews. - Oh, 'cause they say, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he reviewed it and it was a high review, but yeah, definitely Colony Grill. It's owned by an old New York Rangers hockey player. I forget his name, but it's a franchise and I think there's like three locations. - Is it Christopher Reed that owns that? You might be. - Yeah, yeah, exactly. - Yeah, all that hockey community, you can't get away from it. - No, you can, I'm pretty sure that's why I got the job. I was like, I play hockey at shoe, I'm looking for a, looking for like a one shift a week. (laughing) He's like, yeah, sure. - Awesome. Well, if you have a hop on the ice where they need anybody from the boys team, Brandon Cardelli, I went to high school with his dad at Bishop Stang, so. - Okay, okay, good to know. - And then my youngest brother actually graduated from Sacred Heart as well, so. - Oh, nice. - I'm living down here. I mean, have you, has he seen it recently? - I don't think he's been down since he graduated, to be honest with me. - I think you, I think you guys should come down because it is crazy all of the new dormitories they've built. We literally, it looks like BC. Like we literally just look like a smaller BC. It's, it's crazy. It's, I mean, we just finished one and it's, it's beautiful. It literally looks over like you can, it's above all everything else. You can see like the treeline and everything like that. It's, it's crazy. - No kidding. - Thomas, questions, but. - Yeah, my last question is, if you could do it all over again, is there anything you do differently? Skate Hada. - Yeah, skate harder. I would also, I would play, I would play less summer tournaments or like tournaments that didn't really matter. I think looking back, I think they were fun as a kid, but I think I could have kind of gotten better through skills. I did, I did like a lot of those like six week camps that were like on ice skills off ice. I loved those. I think those were great. I just would, I wouldn't do the tournaments that aren't great, like aren't great. Like not great competitive kind of atmosphere, just kind of out there to ski. I think in high school, I did more of those. I did like tournaments that were like with my friends and they're fun and they weren't getting me better. And I was essentially wasting my parents money looking back at it. So I would do a lot of skills and a lot of in the gym. - Well, I'm gonna probably wrap it up, Kayleigh. And I just wanna say from the Clark family, you left an impression on the daughter. I had to do this interview when she wasn't home. So she wouldn't bother me about the whole talking to you. And don't say this. She said that or don't say I was crying on the bench when we lost. So it's like crying in the locker room. - She knows you saw her. I said to her, I was like, you're fine. Like you played great. - She's super competitive. I'm like her mother. She's super competitive. That's that she gets that from the old man. - I know a couple of times she was like on the bench and had a really angry face on. I walked over and go, okay. She was like, yeah, I go, is it the game? Or is it like something outside of the game? She was like the game. - Yeah, oh yeah. You've always seen a small dose. Imagine a whole season of that. - It's a good attitude to have though. It'll get her places. I think it's gonna be competitive than not be competitive. - Yeah. Yeah, we'll have to circle those wagons when it's time to look at prep schools. 'Cause I'm coming to you, you'll still be in touch with her hopefully through-- - Yeah, most of the prep school coaches are the same 'cause I reached out, I have to fill a U16 roster. And I reached out to like a couple that I know that still coach, like the Williston coach that had recruited me, the Westminster, Cushing, New Hampton, I reached out to them. I was like, hey, who's on your recruitment list for U16s? And can I have their names and their numbers? - And the price list of what's how much it is and versus where I can go and discount and-- - I can go over that, yeah. We've sold a lot of financial aid because some schools give out none. I can take that. I mean, I think I, looking back, I got a really good offer from Vermont Academy. It was like 12 a year. And I was like, why did I do that to my parents? Why didn't I just go? But I mean, I wanted to be closer to home but Vermont Academy would have been really far. - Well, I'll send her to what Bora Bora, if I can go for free with her. Yeah, just let her go. If it's cost an arm and a leg, we're gonna cross it right off the list. - The thing you will basically get screwed on though is the fact that you play prep school, then you also have to play club, like the split season. So I would even look into like, nah-ha, like an academy where it's like, yeah, you can still go to your high school after like we have a freshman coming in. She's from Suffield, Connecticut. She's really good. She's a defenseman. I skate with her every Monday night. And she went to nah-ha but still graduated at her public high school. So she would go and play the hockey season and do her like still stay with the school. So whether that was online classes or like doing whatever the teachers gave her for work. So staying with that school system. And then when this hockey season was over, she would go right back into school. Which I thought was like really cool. You're not spending like, I think prep school's like 65 a year now, plus whatever. I mean, I think my club was like 2,500 I wanna say. If that's probably going up. - You want me to have a hot attack on the podcast? - No. - So I mean, I would look at those personally. I mean, I think looking back, nah-ha, nah-ha was in Vermont when I was growing up and Bishop Kearney was out in, I think it's Rochester, New York. And I just couldn't imagine going that far away from home. Like pushing was perfect. It was an hour away, I'd see my parents every Wednesday and they'd pick me up Saturday nights after games and I'd go play and I'd go have a practice and play on a Sunday and they'd drive me back and then I'd see them again on Wednesday. I mean, even down at shoe, everyone's like, oh, Kaylee's parents are here. Like my parents are here every game, no matter where it is. And even like my dad is retired now. So he'll come down and like, we'll get, I don't have classes on Wednesdays or Fridays. And we'll grab like dinner or lunch on Wednesdays after practice. So it's only like two hours from my house. It's perfect. - The hockey community, it's crazy. If you're not part of it, you don't understand the road miles, the time rise. - You got it, you don't. - They eat and like junk. I mean, it's just, it's terrible, it's terrible. But it's fun and hopefully in your case, it all paid off. That's, that's about something. - I can't imagine being or skating at another rink besides this one. - I mean, going from cushing to this is great. I mean, cushing was phenomenal. Cushing's one of the nicest kind of prep school ranks in locker room. And then going into Sacred Heart was like, okay, I'm good with this. I'll stay here for the next four years. - Yeah. So why don't we wrap it up? And I know you want to get your sleep. And yeah, it's a work night for us regular people. I got to work to pay for these tournaments and gas and things like that. But I just want to say, thank you from the family for everything you did with Kennedy this past tournament. And hopefully it's, you know, started something great. You know, just hopefully when hockey season starts, we were heavy on the Stanley Cup. We were heavy during the podcast. We'll have you back on for a regular episode. - Yeah, I'm excited, definitely. - Yeah, and yuck it up with the boys. I'm going to have to send you some swag to something. You let me have a sweatshirt, t-shirt hat. You let me know what you would be into, and I'll get a t-shirt. - We can make a trade with a free tournament for a sweatshirt. - Free tournament. Oh, I'm off of that. That's the most expensive sweatshirt I would just, you mean two? (laughing) I give you two for a free tournament, geez. - We have one coming up. We have Lady militia. - Oh, that's going to, see, here's, I don't want to end on a sour note. So, I wanted to tell you that it's going to be tough because her Spitfires winter team is going in, and they want, of course. I don't know what's going on. - They want all the girls to play. - Right, and, you know, she's in high demand, so maybe if it was, we'll have to talk shop, 'cause I'm like, Leon can be twisted. I won't say that. - Okay, perfect, I love to hear it. - Three hoodies now, you need two-- - Yeah, I'm great. - Come back on, and, you know, one for free tournament, I'll take it. We'll talk, we'll bottle off air. - Perfect. - So, guys, do you want to thank Kayleigh for coming on, and I'll, it wasn't really, thanks for coming on. It was great. - Thank you for having me. - Oh, thank you so much for coming on. I really enjoyed it. - Yeah. - That's a pleasure. - You're part of the family now. You're part of the 1973 podcast family, officially. - Love it. - I love it, too. - Thanks, Kayleigh, I appreciate it.