Raising the Bar: Al Kinisky on Hockey, Broadcasting, and Fatherhood

Ever wonder how sports can shape a person's life and career?   That's exactly what we chatted about with our guest, Al Kinisky, the Seattle Kraken color analyst, on iHeart Media's 93.3FM and KJR950AM (alongside Everett Fitzhugh).  This episode would never have happened without the gracious introduction made by Craig Baughn.  I learned about Al when he joined Nick Olczyk on his podcast, Signals from The Deep.

From his hockey career to his fatherhood journey, Al takes us through his life, filled with challenges, transitions, and triumphs. He even opens up about his family, drawing vivid portraits of his close-knit tribe and offering valuable insights into the importance of hard work, humility, and resilience. 

This episode is more than just a player-to-commentator story. It's about resilience, teamwork, and navigating career transitions.  Throughout our conversation, you will hear how Al has drawn parallels between sports and the corporate world, highlighting how the principles of teamwork learned on the ice can be applied.   As we chat about his experiences, we also touch upon the challenges of being a dad and ways to always be present, given our kids are always watching.  

In the latter half of our episode, we dive into the complexities of parenting and the power of visualization. We cover everything from teaching masculinity to our boys, being mindful of our actions and words, and learning to balance work with quality time.  We wrap up the episode with a lighthearted chat about vacation destinations, the qualities of a great spouse, and some fun hockey stories. So tune in and prepare to be inspired, informed, and entertained.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder, and this is my Dad's Show. Hey everybody, it's KCJ Cox with the quarterback Dadcast. I'm excited to announce we have a brand new sponsor joining the show, which is called LatitudeSitkacom, a Latitude 57. Now this company's mission is to provide an unparalleled Alaskan experience that will enable their customers to explore everything that the region has to offer. Additionally, they are dedicated to supporting and promoting the local community, the culture, as well as protecting and preserving the natural beauty that the resources of the region have to offer us. So I'm going there in June. I can't wait.

Speaker 1: 0:41

And whether you're looking to find a wellness retreat, if you're looking for a place to take your favorite customer, if you're looking for a way to maybe take your leadership team, check out LatitudeSitkacom, because they will give you some amazing sea exploration, from fishing to commercial fishing, wildlife tours, beach excursions, scuba diving, snorkeling, even paddle boarding. If none of those sound interesting to you, well then, go. Stay on land and go ITVing, hiking, hot springs, yoga, take a massage in. The team has over 20 years of local knowledge to serve you, and they also will be able to cook amazing meals while you are there staying in their facility. So go to LatitudeSitkacom now and book that next wellness retreat. You won't regret it. The majestic views will blow you away and, as I mentioned, I cannot wait to get there in June. So with that, let's welcome LatitudeSitka to the podcast and get right to today's episode.

Speaker 1: 1:36

Well, here everybody. It's KCJ Cox with the quarterback dad cast. We are at the tail end of season four here and we have a guest that I think everybody is going to be happy to have on, specifically if you're a Seattle Kraken fan and this episode only happens because of the talented Craig Bonway met along the journeys of my tech, my corporate career. But our next guest is a six four lefty, drafted in the 1990 NHL draft by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round of the 10th pick. He's a former Hawk, a Thunderbird, a Hurricane and an Eagle. He now is your color analyst for the Seattle Kraken, alongside Everett Fitzhugh and Mike Benton, a formerly a global maybe you still learn about this a global commercial real estate executive at concur, sap, and I see we have multiple people in common from my corporate career, but without with all that information. Our next guest is Al Kniski, and with that I welcome you, sir, to the quarterback dad cast.

Speaker 2: 2:30

Thanks, casey happy to be here.

Speaker 1: 2:32

Cool. Well, once, last time you were, you were referenced as a hawk, a Thunderbird and a hurricane an eagle.

Speaker 2: 2:40

Not never, all in the same sentence.

Speaker 1: 2:42

Right, I did some research. I was trying to find something random to bring up. I also, by the way, I said I loved your episode on signals, a signal from the deep, with Nick and I had a good conversation.

Speaker 2: 2:54

He's a great podcast or easy guy to talk to. I'm sure you're just as good, if not better.

Speaker 1: 3:00

Well, the challenge, I love it. Well, we always start each episode with gratitude, so tell me, what are you most grateful for as a dad today?

Speaker 2: 3:08

Well, I'm most grateful for my family, and when I say family, I don't just mean my wife and my two sons, but even my broader family. I grew up with a big assumption that everybody has family close by. Lots of big family dinners at Christmas and Thanksgiving and, you know, even New Year's. And as I got older I came to realize that not everybody's lucky like that to have family close by, and so I'm really grateful for having not just a large family, but a large family that's close by Love it.

Speaker 1: 3:41

That's so good. I think one of the things sometimes like I think about the journey through the COVID shenanigans, like how much it slowed us down in life to think about these things. That's why I always like asking my guests questions of gratitude, because I think sometimes life just gets going by so fast and you don't slow down to really appreciate. I've actually started doing a gratitude practice over the last probably three, four years and just every day I write down things I'm grateful for and just it's funny how it just frames your mind for the right, the mindset for the right day to kind of get the head point in the right direction.

Speaker 1: 4:14

I'm grateful for the journey I'm on with my son, with my wife and I were down the college planning path and he has goals to play golf in college and when this episode comes out, hopefully we'll know where that's going to be. If that's a path he chooses, he does have opportunities that he's been given. So it's just a very interesting path and as a former college athlete it's Uncle Rico moment right there, Former I know what it's like to go through that.

Speaker 2: 4:40

See that man.

Speaker 1: 4:43

Exactly To the ball in the mouth, but it's.

Speaker 1: 4:49

I'm just grateful for that experience and just trying to help him, you know, guide through it. But reminding I always tell him every day is like bro, I have no eligibility left, I can't play this sport. This is, if you want it, you got to go do it and I'll help guide you, but I don't want you to do this for us, so you do it for you, and so it's. It's a. I'm just trying to really lean in and just enjoy this process along the way. Those are the right reasons, for sure. So well, cool. Well, if you can bring me inside the Caniskey Huddle and talk a little bit about the members of the squad and maybe a little bit how you and your wife met, yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:23

So when I got, when I was playing hockey here in the Seattle area, my first year when I was playing for the Thunderbirds I had one year left of high school went to high school at Lake Washington there in Kirkland, and that's where I met what turned out to be my future wife. She and I started dating and we continued to date through the end of my hockey career in my early twenties, and I ended up moving down to Seattle to start going to school with some of the scholarship money that I'd earned playing junior hockey. And in our mid twenties we got married. I was eager to kind of start the next chapter of my life after hockey, but I couldn't really do it because I wasn't legally able to work in the U S. In fact that's not technically true. I was able to work on campus at the school I was going to, which was at the time called Bellevue Community College, not Bellevue College as it's called today but every job was $5 an hour and I think minimum wage back then was probably nine to 11, 12 bucks an hour. So it was a little frustrating that although I could work, it was for a very um, miniscule amount of money. But after two years of college we got married and a couple of years after that we just started. We decided to start up being a couple of kids and you know those boys are now 19 and 22. Um, my 22 year old works from home here for a local technology company and my 19 year old is in college down in Phoenix, going to Grand Canyon University, gcu, yeah, yeah, gcu. In fact, I'm going to see him tomorrow night because we're playing in Arizona on Tuesday, so I'll get a chance to have a have dinner with him.

Speaker 2: 6:59

And you know this is your podcast. I'll let you steer, but I'll just quickly jump on one thing you said about what you were grateful for and I tell all young parents this, and most probably don't that won't remember, but you're so close, I'll say it to you as well as when my son decided to go to Grand Canyon University, being up here in Seattle, he loves to drive, he wanted to bring his car down there and because we have the means, I said great, we'll ship it down there, you'll have a car, no problem. And I had a friend elbow me and he said wait a second, he goes, you should drive down there. And I said, oh no, he's got a Subaru WRX, that would be a. I'd be so uncomfortable. He said no, it'd be three or four days with just you and your son. When are you going to get that kind of opportunity again?

Speaker 2: 7:46

You know, it always makes me a little bit emotional thinking about it, because I thought you know what you're right. I think about my parents. Now they're both alive, they're both up in the Vancouver area, but you know I see him five or six times a year and and and you know, I'd have to take a significant amount of time out of my schedule to spend four days of one on one time with my dad. So I did it and I'm grateful I did it. We did it again the second year. So he's a, he's a sophomore this year and I recommend every parent that's got a child that's going to go to school at a state that wants to bring a car with them, do that road trip with them. You have that one on one time where you're sitting shoulder to shoulder. Any topics on the table. You know you have all this time to catch up. Have a few dinners together. You know, share a hotel room. It was pretty awesome and I hope he gets we get a chance to do it again for his junior and senior year.

Speaker 1: 8:38

So good, my, I have a couple of buddies. I live in the Maple Valley area a little south of you and I have friends that their sons are actually same age your son at going to GCU as well and they did the same thing. They did Made a three day trip, they played golf courses along the way and I I wrote that down. Everybody dad's a home. If you got kids about to go to college, take that advice. Yeah, sounds super fun. Did you when you were? Did the when you went to like Washington? Were you like getting into like a billet family?

Speaker 2: 9:13

Yeah, so when I, when I moved down to Seattle, I was 17 years old and the junior hockey teams push you with a billet family, usually it's a one to one ratio to the household, but if they can accommodate a second or third player they'll certainly take more. In my case it was a one to one. But there were two other players that went to the same high school with me, turner Stevenson and Andy Schneider, and the three of us would would go to school every day and it was. You know, at the time Seattle the Seattle Thunderbird organization was was turning the corner as far as the importance of schooling with, with their, with their players, and we were responsible for getting ourselves to school every day, even though we had this daily practice at 2pm. And you know, road trips to Eastern Canada, and you know it was.

Speaker 2: 10:00

It was interesting because we were viewed differently in the school. We were viewed as these oddball Canadians that played this, this violent game of hockey. And you know, I remember one of the teachers coming up to me one day and saying listen, I know you're a professional athlete, but if you could just get some of the homework done, I'd really appreciate it and I'd hey, stop, stop, stop time. I said we are not professional athletes. I guess according to the NCAA we are, but we are. We. You know, we get a little bit of money every week just to go to McDonald's on our own, but as far as I'm concerned, we are students playing, playing junior hockey, and that's the approach we took to it. So, but yeah, all three of us went to Lake Washington.

Speaker 1: 10:42

Very cool. I asked I have a. I don't know him that well, but he plays golf right. I got him Dave Herron that name drinks available.

Speaker 2: 10:50

Herron, yeah, the last day rings a bell.

Speaker 1: 10:52

So he's build at the T boards for years. Just stopped and I'm going to see if I can remember these names Luciana, lucas, siona, yeah, and another Lucas, luke, luke, prop, pro cough or something I think I remember. Yeah, he, we, he teed my son up for like the most hilarious. We thought we're going to try to like bust my son's chops. It was a Wednesday men's night and my son's, like the most psychotic crack and fam, his best buddy goes to a hockey academy on the East coast of New Hampshire I'm not rallying the devil, if you're listening and they were like we're going to, we're going to get right here. And so they had these two hot T birds are there. And they said let's try to mess them. And so they came out and they were introducing hard, hard, hardcore Canadian accent.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Yeah, he's like what's your, what's your favorite cellier? And I thought for sure my son's like there's no way he's going to get it. And he goes oh, probably the heartbreaker. I'm like what? What the hell is the heartbreaker? And the look on Lucas's face like what? And then he goes prove, prove that you know it. And he's I mean, people can't see this, but he does. He draws the heart and then just fricking right, hook, right jab, we laugh so fricking hard. So every time I see, think of like the T birds, it's like straight to the heartbreaker story. I learned my lesson Don't challenge my son with his hockey knowledge. He got me good. Well, take me back to what it was life, what life like was like growing up for you, and maybe share about the impact your parents had on you. Now that you're a, you're a dad with kids in college.

Speaker 2: 12:21

Yeah, so you know I mentioned the family part. I've had two parents that have been together through my entire childhood and they're still together today. We, you know, we grew up playing sports. My younger brother, my older sister, all did some some level of sport. I probably went the furthest with with my sport, but regardless it was an important part of our childhood.

Speaker 2: 12:47

I think our both my mother and father believed that there was value that you get from sports that you don't get from a classroom, and so hockey and box lacrosse, as we call it in Canada were my two sports, because I tried soccer and that was a big field and a lot of running for a big guy. I did not like that, so so I stuck to the, the ice rink size and whether there was ice in it or whether it was just concrete. We were playing hockey or playing lacrosse. And you know my, my parents philosophically, especially my dad, was there's always somebody out there working harder than you. And as much as I didn't like it, coming home after school to go underneath the back deck and shoot a hundred pucks, I always had that voice in the back of my head that there's someone else also also out there that was shooting 200 pucks and that always motivated me. Not at all.

Speaker 2: 13:41

I think my parents brought a very balanced approach to. You know my post game reviews on the way home, as much as I didn't like it, my dad would be the guy that said you know, hey, I know you got three assists and two goals, but why'd you miss that third goal for the hat trick? And my mother would be like did you have fun? You know you set up some other guys for some great goals. So it was a very balanced approach, but it kept me humble for sure, and those, those kinds of lessons I think you know stick with me today.

Speaker 2: 14:13

It turned me into probably a humble person to a fault. When I was 16, I had Barry Melrose and Russ Farwell sitting in my living room at my house up in Kirtland asking me to come play in Seattle for the Thunderbirds, and I just I didn't believe I was ready. I didn't think that that level of hockey was right for me. And you know I remember Barry saying don't, don't, sell yourself short. You know that we've got players that are younger than you playing here at the time you could be just younger than 13. But I think that that staying humble part is also a big, big part of my parents' parenting style that you know varies over to my parenting style today, with my two boys.

Speaker 1: 14:58

Very good. What um? What do mom and dad do for jobs?

Speaker 2: 15:02

So my mom was a stay at home mom when we were young, but then she started working in the rec center, as we call them in Canada, where you've got the pool and the curling rank and the two sheets of ice. And she worked in the front office helping uh at the front desk and coordinating all the kids getting signed up for things, things every year. And my dad worked in downtown Vancouver, uh, doing sheet metal work. Uh was a very hands on person and you know he would uh, I wouldn't call it bring your sons to work day, but he would take us down there, you know, once every couple of years. And then you know, essentially it was to say this is what you don't want to do, uh, which is why you got to either find a way to make this sport, you know, pay your bills or or go to school and get a good job, because this is not what you want to do for a living. And there's nothing against people that do that kind of work. It's just that, you know, in the seventies and eighties, uh, there was not a lot of employee protection for uh, for people like my dad. There was a lot of asbestos in this job, et cetera.

Speaker 2: 16:03

So I think he was real, real, uh, focused on, you know, trying to parent his kids. They ended up having a better life than he did, um, but that was always in the back of my head as well and, and, honestly, you know, when my hockey career ended, I think that's part of what motivated me in the corporate world, which is, you know, hey, this, this world of professional sports, didn't work out for me, but there's no reason why this world of, you know, the of of corporate IT can't work out. Um, I don't, you know, I didn't want to, uh, I didn't want to disappoint my parents and I, and I think that's a big part of what drives me as well. So, uh, I, you know, like I said, after I got married and I can start working, I started going down a different path to success, which, you know, wasn't sports anymore, it was, uh, the corporate world of IT.

Speaker 1: 16:53

Hmm, when you when your hockey career ended, how was it harder on you or harder on my dad?

Speaker 2: 16:59

Oh, that's a good question. You know you'd have to ask them. Um, I've never asked them that question. I think it was hard. It was definitely hard for me because, uh, much similar to any professional athlete, when you get done playing sports and you come home for the very first time and you don't have that schedule, that travel, that practice, that pregame nap, those meals, and it all just comes to a stop Suddenly, you kind of look around and go well, now what? Mm? Hmm, I think fortunately for me, because that ended earlier than most people that have professional careers I felt like I was still kind of in that post college, early 20s mindset where where I thought, well, this is the time where everybody's starting careers, uh, in other areas, so this is where I'll start my career as well.

Speaker 2: 17:46

But you know, I played some fairly serious men's hockey for a while. Um, I coached, uh, my, my one of my kids who played a little bit of hockey. I coached other kids, uh, you know, I tried to stay involved with it as much as I could, um, because I didn't want to abandon it altogether and and and you know, obviously it's still a big part of my life today.

Speaker 1: 18:09

Mm, hmm, what? Um, as you think back to the stories you talked about, like hard work and humility, which I absolutely love, um, uh, my football coach in college always said you know, every day and again it might have been a little, I can't remember who we quoted from he said every day you got to, you're going to get better, get worse. No one stays the same. You make a choice. Yeah, and like I'm almost 50 and like that resonated with me all the time, like I still think about it, like I'm only going to be as good as today, and I always say life's going to humble you anyways, you might as well stay humble.

Speaker 1: 18:37

Yup and um, no one wants to be the guy that. Hey, let me talk about me. You've already got. You got five minutes. You know it's like let people ask questions. I think the, the skill set of curiosity is a lost art in life, um, which I have a lot of passion for. But as you think back to those two words, you talked about the hundred bucks a day, but was there a story or two that comes to mind where those really hit home for you? That that made you want to share with your boys as you're raising them?

Speaker 2: 19:03

Yeah, I just, you know, I think back to, to, to being a kid and there's the, the work that I put in to be a hockey player. But then there's also what you observe and you know, my mom mother was a great cook and still is a great cook today, and my dad has picked that up a little bit since he retired and you know, um, my dad's the kind of guy that has no problem getting those hands and knees and scrubbing the kitchen floor to get it clean and, no surprise, I get down and scrub my, my kitchen floor if it needs to be clean. So I take a lot of that, um, those memories and I think to myself my kids are watching me now to learn how to become dads and parents. And and I think about that in the same way that you know it was a little bit harder, because I think way, I think about my dad getting up at five in the morning and driving to Vancouver for this very laborious job and you know, my kids come down and they seem to walk into my office at my house and get on conference calls. You know, it's not quite the same, uh, intensity of work that that, that that I observed growing up.

Speaker 2: 20:08

So I need to make sure that I'm showing them that, that you know, whether you're using your hands or your brain, there's still a uh, a job that has to get done. You can you can slack off at it or you can go above and beyond, and I want to show. I want to show them that I'm going above and beyond, even if it means I'm doing it from an office.

Speaker 1: 20:26

Yeah, I am, I have to. I don't want to say this. I think if if you Googled world's worst handyman and then clicked images, you might see my face Like I, I'm a great second hand deck. Like I can help, I can. I just don't have the engineering mind to see something through. So, like I'm usually the butt of most jokes with my buddies who are like candy, and my buddy's son who plays hockey his, his, his name, steve Steve's like he could, he's like fricking my guy, or I'm like oh, dude, I don't understand. So my own, my go-to is you know when they start busting my chops on my coming words, can you type per minute?

Speaker 2: 21:00

I would say I'm handy adjacent Um. What I mean by that is that I I keep a good crew of people around me that are really handy. I mean, for instance, over the whole pandemic thing. Like most people, I bought stuff from Home Depot and fixed things, and I built a big shed in my backyard, but I didn't do it. I had three friends come over that knew how to do it and I learned as we went. You know, I I held things, I climbed ladders, I brought supplies, but I'm pretty sure if I had to do it again, I'd know what to do. So it's not that I'm hands off, it's just that I know I keep. There are people around me that are really good at this stuff, that that are always interested in helping.

Speaker 2: 21:38

Having said that, I believe that we're in a very fortunate time of our lives where every problem that you you need to solve, whether it's a broken dishwasher or wash machine or whatever you can find the solution on the internet if you're willing to dig into it a little bit.

Speaker 2: 21:54

So I'm very comfortable doing that, and if it means I need to buy a $30 tool off of Amazon to do it, I'll buy that tool. And so I have a garage and a shed full of tools that sometimes only get used once. But you know that I think with that, that probably leans back to and again going back to, parenting is is that lean in mentality right? Both my parents and early mentors in my corporate career are always talking about leaning in. When there's a, when there's a problem, when there's a challenge and something needs to get done, be your, be the first person to put your hand up, even if you don't know what you're doing, because oftentimes you'll get, you'll be given a lot of leeway to screw up, and but along the way you learn how to do it, and so, whether it's building a shed in your backyard or solving some problem at work, you become more valuable, you become more experienced, and I think I think that's really enriching.

Speaker 1: 22:46

Yeah, no, it is. I mean, you think about, like, what hockey's taught you, the lessons, the ups, the downs, what maybe talk about some of those stories that really that impact you maybe as a as a player and then also as a, as a, as a father, now as a broadcaster.

Speaker 2: 23:04

Yeah, well, you know, some of the obvious ones that always jump out to me are things like discipline, and you know you haven't played football. You know that as well. And that when I say discipline, I don't just mean you know, showing up on time. But I went to very few, if any, school events when I was a kid. You know dances, proms, parties, nothing. I you know because I had hockey going on. And so when I think about discipline, I think about you know, deciding to do the things that you need to do versus the things you want to do, and whether that's the way you eat, the way you're prepared for the game, or the things that you miss out on because you want to perform at your best. That discipline is a big lesson that you learn in sports. That then carries over to the corporate world as well.

Speaker 2: 23:50

I think about resilience. You know how many times you played, not injured, but you were pretty sore, like you'd like you'd like to not go today, and I think we've all done things in the working world where, like, I'd like to not do this meeting or, you know, present at this conference or whatever, but I got to do it, and I think. I think that resilience is something that carries over as well. But then you know, there are other things like and this is probably my favorite one which is being a part of a team. You know, growing up I was always a part of the team, obviously playing hockey, but as I got older I became a leader on a team, the assistant captain, the captain and at the time you don't think about it very much, but Hi, I'm Leslie Vickery, the CEO and founder of ClearEdge, a company dedicated to transforming the business of talent.

Speaker 3: 24:40

Through our three lines of business ClearEdge, marketing, recruiting and rising that help organizations across the recruitment and HR tech sectors grow their brands and market share while building their teams with excellence and equity. I believe we were one of Casey's very first clients. He helped our sales and account teams really those people on the front lines of building and developing client relationships in so many ways. Here are a few. He helped us unlock the power of curiosity. For me it was a game changer. I was personally learning all about Ted based that's, tell, explain, describe, questioning and that really resonated with me. We also learned about unlocking the power of humility and unlocking the power of vulnerability. Casey taught us to be a team player, to embrace change, to stay positive. He is one of the most positive people I know. He believes that optimism, resilience and a sense of humor can go a long way in helping people achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.

Speaker 3: 25:44

And I agree Casey's book when the Relationship, not the Deal it is a must read. Listen, whether you're looking for coaching and training or a powerful speaker or keynote, casey is one of the people I recommend, when talking to companies, the end result for us, at least as one of Casey's clients our own clients would literally commend our approach over all other companies, from the way we were prepared in advance of a call, to how we drove meetings, to how we follow up. It sounds really basic, I know, but let me tell you it is a standout approach that led to stronger relationships. I encourage you to learn more by going to CaseyJcoxcom. You have nothing to lose by having a conversation and a lot to gain.

Speaker 2: 26:33

Now let's get back to Casey's podcast, the Quarterback Dadcast 20 years later you find yourself at a company as a project manager and somebody saying all a project manager is is bringing together a bunch of people that all have special skills and getting them to work together to go after a common goal. I'm thinking, oh, like a hockey championship, like building a team, like being a captain on a team or a coach of a team, and so it's no surprise to me that the world of project management was, and continues to be, a big part of my corporate experience as well, because it feels very much like a sports team. So those lessons carry over as well.

Speaker 1: 27:11

Love it. Now are you still working in corporate alongside your so?

Speaker 2: 27:16

I'm not for a couple of reasons. One is that the job I was doing with SAP had some standing meetings that I knew I just couldn't make all of them. As much flexibility as they had given me and as much ability as they gave me to work remotely. I just felt like a 40-hour job plus this full-time job with the broadcasting, even though a lot of the broadcasting work happens at night time. I just didn't think I could do both. Having said that, I'm very interested in looking for consulting opportunities in the corporate real estate world where it's 10 or 20 hours a week that I could fill in, because there's lots of time on planes and hotels and days off where I'm sitting around going. I could be doing some consulting right now. So now that I've got a pretty good idea of what the schedule looks like, I'll seek that out Very cool.

Speaker 1: 28:10

Well, I think people that are dads out there with kids playing hockey I mean I got dads with boys playing hockey. I've also buddies with girls playing hockey, which I think is awesome that how much the female is a sport of hockey is growing For people at home. Talk about how did you get into the broadcasting thing world and I'd love to just understand the ups and downs of that still being a hands on dad at home. But also the craziness of schedule with probably imagine there's some travel, even the work you did with Everett too.

Speaker 2: 28:47

Yeah, yeah for sure. Well, first of all, I'm a pretty big proponent and you create your own luck, and it's just one of my mantras. But having said that, I also recognize that luck is a big factor in our lives, and the luck that I had was I was working for a company called Washington Mutual in downtown Seattle as an IT project manager, and an old boss that had worked with me and at the company I worked for before Washington Mutual called me up Now I'll pause there for a second because, as you know, relationships are a big part of your success and I had a good relationship with this former boss and he called me up and said I just left this company on the East side. They're looking for a guy with international real estate experience. I told them they should talk to you. I said Al, you know I'm real happy here at Washington Mutual. This place is cutting edge. They're acquiring companies left and right. There's lots of work. He said. You know, never turned out an opportunity to at least hear somebody out on a job opportunity. So I called them up and I'll make that part of the story short, which is I took the job and the first day I started, one of the people that reported to me was walking me around showing me the place, and he goes oh and, by the way, I've got another job for you. And I said wait, what are you talking about? Well, he'd done some research on my background. He knew my hockey background. He said I'm a seasoned ticket holder with the Everett Silver tips and they just lost their color commentator. And I said, gosh, I've never done that before he goes. Well, talk to them. So again, I'm thinking never turned out an opportunity. So I reach out to these guys and they give them a little bit of my background and they took a chance on me.

Speaker 2: 30:37

Ten years later I've been through four different broadcasters, not because I was burning them out, but because this was their career and they were going other places to try and get to the NHL level. And you know I was helping them along and always told them hey, I just want to make the broadcast better, but never thought that it would go anywhere beyond that because at that time Seattle didn't have a hockey team. So at about the 10th year, when I was working alongside of Mike Benton with the Silver tips, I decided it was time to hang these headphones up, because my kids were still playing sports and I was missing out on a lot of it, like, although I was able to do my job and the broadcasting, I would leave the office at 4pm to drive to Everett and I wouldn't get home until 11pm. Well, if there was a football game that day that my son was playing in, I was missing that. So I realized that I can always come back to this this being junior hockey color commentating and I always thought I would, because I enjoyed it so much. But I can't come back to seeing my kids play sports. And so I hung it up and I started playing.

Speaker 2: 31:39

I started going to all the sporting events with my wife, and you know, one year went by, three years went by, four years went by, and all of a sudden we started talking about getting a team, a pro team, in Seattle, and I thought, gosh, is this the right time? And so I reached out to their head of communication. They already had Dave Tomlinson pegged for the job and I wished him luck. I didn't know, but I wished him luck, and nothing happened for two years. And then I got a phone call six months ago. That kind of went something like this Hi, al Kaniske, this is Rich, senior Vice President of Programming for iHeart Radio.

Speaker 2: 32:21

I hear you're interested in the color commentating role with the Kraken and I paused and I said how'd you get my number? And Rich backed up and he's like oh well, sorry, I thought you were interested in this role. I thought somebody was playing a prank on me and I quickly realized it was not a prank and so we started talking about this and yeah, that's the longer version of it. But we went in, we did some some discussions, did some tape and I met Everett. We did a mock period of a game together, which I've got to tell you is a lot harder to do than watching the game live.

Speaker 2: 33:00

Some of these guys that broadcast that do it from monitors. I have a lot of respect for that because not being in the environment, it just makes it a lot tougher to do radio, for sure. So he and I did a period together and I think it was about a week and a half later they offered me the role. So yeah, that's kind of how it all unfolded. But I go back to had I not taken that job at Concur, had my coworker not told me about the job with Everett, a lot of things happened. And had they not happened, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today.

Speaker 1: 33:35

Well, we started this conversation with humility and I'm feeling it hit me right in the face, this humility of like. I believe too that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. I love that quote, but I love your humble nature about it, I think, announcing hockey. So I mean, I've never skated, I've never played hockey other than like floor hockey in sixth grade, but it is the coolest sport ever. I am like my son. They're all in, we watch every game If I'm driving to pick up my daughter, or hoop, I got you and Everton. It's the coolest sport. But I guess one question that I was talking to my buddy, ironically Josh McFadden, who is a former guest on the podcast and is in the commercial real estate, so I can maybe try to connect you guys when we're done. He now we're talking. He was like I just don't understand how these announcers, like what do they do to get all the names down so quick? I'm like I don't know. I'll ask him. So how do you guys, how do you do that other than?

Speaker 2: 34:35

I create sheets for every game and the sheets at the top have the crack in and the sheets at the bottom has the team we're playing and I'll go through and I'll put the lines in there, I'll put the numbers, I'll put how to say their name, because you don't have time to sound it out and look it up on the fly, so I'll put the phonetic spelling next to it.

Speaker 2: 34:56

It's phonetic words and even then I'll get it wrong sometimes. And you know, a little secret in the industry is when you are driving home, listening on the radio and I say that Jordan Everly scored the goal. If he didn't, you don't know because you're not watching, but but I would tell you that happens less than 1% of the time and certainly not on a goal situation, but it might be a pass or a shot. And so I tip my cap to the play by play guys, because I'm not sure I could do that. They are so in tune with not just, you know, the home team that they work for, but the visiting team as well. I get a chance to look down, look at the name and a number, make sure I know how to say the name, the person's name, correctly, and then talk about it, but they're doing it on the fly, so it's it's definitely a skill that they developed that I'm not sure I'd be able to develop.

Speaker 1: 35:56

Yeah, it's really impressive. Well, kind of a long one, long one to story here. Ben in your PR department got me to a Foresland and I interviewed John in season three I believe this is right after my dad had passed away and so we had. He was just super gracious in his time. We talked about that and you know, I don't know if you've heard the story of how John got into announcing. I have not. It's unbelievable. So Ian Frenes and if you don't, ian, I know I know Ian really well Okay, so Ian is a former guest in the podcast too. And Ian got me to Ben, who got me to Foresland and I just asked John, it's like, how did you get?

Speaker 1: 36:33

And for anybody that don't know, john Foresland, he's our play-by-play hockey announcer on the Rootsports. He's on him and Eddie O and they do. He's on broadcast all over the United States, big, big, big announcer. So he said, and he was like seven years old. He went to his dad and says, dad, this was back when TV barely had a cable. They had the antenna up in Boston and so there was like their house was the only houses that would get cable, and so John's dad would invite like four or five buddies over. And then John would go to his dad and said hey, would you let me announce the game? You put it on mute. And his dad said sure, and I'm, like your dad's, a saint. If my son asked me, I would like beat it, dude.

Speaker 2: 37:12

Yeah, go play, go play something. Yeah, go get him.

Speaker 1: 37:16

But his dad let him do it play-by-play with the game's mute and so like what grace that he taught and his dad's buddies let him do it. And then when he was in high school he told his guidance counselor he was like what are you going to do for your job and you can get out of high school or college? He's like I'm going to be a play-by-play announcer in the NHL. And she was like what the hell is that? That's not even a real job. And he knew it way back then and I mean I just love his dad's. You know, people can't sing. There's a song, there's a word, a believe sign yeah, that.

Speaker 1: 37:44

I love that word, teddy Lastfoot's style Teddy Lastfoot's right, and I think if you don't have self-belief, or instill that in your household or as with your kids, I mean not just, I mean to me that's like dad, one-on-one Like his dad did such a fantastic job with that and I'm always reminded of that story when I think about hockey. But when did you think you wanted to do what you're doing now and how did you get past that belief? Like me, I guess. I guess it was a corporate guy, but I guess I can go do this.

Speaker 2: 38:13

Yeah. Well, my thought was, casey, is that if I could time this right and do this, I'll say in the later years of my career where I thought, okay, I'm close to retiring, let's say in the next three to five years, transfer over to doing this and then do it for as long as it worked for my wife and I. That was kind of my mindset. Now, obviously, that's my timeline and you know you can't always control that, especially if you're not willing to move to any other of the 31 hockey cities and do this job. So when the opportunity came up I thought, okay, this is a little earlier on my schedule, but you know, my parents taught me to save. We've done a really good job saving.

Speaker 2: 38:59

So what I'm hinting at is that radio doesn't pay well compared to the corporate world, but I'm sure that doesn't surprise you. I thought you know what to jump at this opportunity, even with a significant pay cut. I might not get this opportunity again and so yeah, it's a little early on my timeline. But so what, let's go after it now. And if this ends up being a one year thing and I go back to the corporate world, so it'll be a little bit of a great story to tell my grandkids. If I do it for the next 20 years, I have no issue with that at all. I'd love to do it for as long as I can.

Speaker 1: 39:35

So good Back to fatherhood. As you think back, now that you have, you know, a son who's working, a son who's in college, what was the best parenting advice that you ever got, from either your parents or friends or mentors, as you were a dad or when you're as an early dad?

Speaker 2: 39:53

As an early dad, I like the phrase of there's no such thing as quality time, it's just time. And you know, I told you the story about my road trips with my son. But I think that you just need to spend as much time as you can with your kids. Let them see you, be you, let them be them. Yeah, I'd love for I would have loved for my kids to play hockey, but neither one of them wanted to do it. That was okay. I strongly encourage sports because I think there's a lot of value in sports, but other than that, there were very few things that I said. You have to do this and so you know, giving them that space to become their own person, but being right there alongside of them to, you know, be available if they needed it, and maybe just offer a little bit of advice along the way. So I think that that time just straight up time, not quality time, just time with your kids is so important.

Speaker 1: 40:55

Yeah, that's good man, because I think sometimes parents who like, who either travel or they're busy or whatever the reason or story they'll tell on theirself, is it's like sometimes they feel guilty because they're gonna be gone a lot, but if it's quality and it's, you, make the most of it, because every family's situation is different. Some dads or moms have to travel every week and that's what they're, that's the you know the cards they've signed up or the what they've signed up for. But I agree with that. I just I think I try to be as present as I can and, like when you said that, the story that popped in my mind was like so my daughter's a sophomore in high school, loves basketball, has had a good high school career so far, and she's.

Speaker 1: 41:34

But like for us it's rebounding. Yeah, like that's my time to go out and I'm like, whenever you I don't care what I'm doing I will find a way to go rebound for you. And it's like, it's like that'll be the hardest part for me, like when they get done playing sports, you know I'm gonna be a disaster. You know you get a good episode of punky bruce or I might tear up.

Speaker 2: 41:55

So Well, you know, I think the other thing I would say too and maybe this is a sub bullet point to the topic of time it's that I find very few parents that have two kids, especially if they're of the same sex, that say their personalities are identical. Right, and it's the whole nature versus nurture thing, right. There's only so much I can nurture as a parent to bring out a certain part of the personality. They are, who they are, and I think it took me a while to recognize that. But my 19 year old, that's in college, he loves to golf and so he and I will go play golf.

Speaker 2: 42:34

If I took my 22 year old to golf three holes in, it be like, can we go now? And it's not his thing. But if I sit down at the dinner table with him and, you know, maybe we pour a glass of wine and we start talking about politics, I think he really enjoys that. And so I think, recognizing that your kids are your kids and you can't force them one way or the other, but recognizing how they blossom, how their personality comes out, and then being there for them when that happens, I think they're gonna look back when they become parents, hopefully, and say I remember how my dad used to sit and talk with me over at glass of wine. We talked politics. I remember how my dad and I would go golfing and then we'd just hit the ball around for three hours like, and then they're gonna do that with their kids. That's what you hope, right?

Speaker 1: 43:17

Was that a learned skill for you through like an ups, like maybe a good experience or a bad experience, or was it something how you were raised?

Speaker 2: 43:24

No, I think it was a learned skill, because I never saw my parents treat my younger brother and my older sister differently. Doesn't mean they didn't do it, just I never observed that. And I think early on, when you're a younger parent, you're thinking okay, well, I'm gonna get my kid in this sport because I played this sport and I'm gonna get my daughter into this because I did this and you know, my parents made me make my bed every day, so I'm gonna make them make their bed every day. And then you just start to realize they're their own people and sometimes you might have two and they're very different from each other. And so I think you've gotta embrace that a little bit and understand that there's only so much that you can nurture your kids, parent your kids. To be a certain way, some of it just is pure DNA, nature and you can't stop it.

Speaker 1: 44:10

I totally agree. Like one of my buddies said, he was a shout out to Virge. Virge Night worked together for years. This company called Cape Forest and he was like big military guy, big football guy, football coach and he was always structured with his words. He was saying he always made me laugh, he's like he called it like it wasn't like a business, it was a quarter, it was a season, we had seasons and everything was sports to him. But he always said you got 18 seasons with your kids and then you gotta release him to the pros. That's right.

Speaker 1: 44:38

You know, just kinda hit home with me and I think it's I'm sure you've seen it. You got a few years on me from a parenting perspective. But I see a lot of parents who get wrapped up so much in like an outcome that they want for their kid and it's so stressful and I mean I know I probably made those mistakes early on, but once I learned that this is their journey, in the end my wife's been really helpful to me, like when I was a young dad. It's like we wanna create good humans. Yeah, exactly, nice people, people that show up to work on time, people that have a good handshake.

Speaker 1: 45:09

People are good listeners, a good friend, not like what they're gonna remember. What you did, you know in the playing hockey for Surrey back in you know, it's like I mean I can't remember. I can barely remember when the War of 1812 was yeah, so I don't know. I think it's a good reminder for parents at home and I guess, if they are struggling with that, based on your experience, what would be something a dad might do to try to like get better at that so they're not falling into that trap. If they're struggling with what?

Speaker 2: 45:40

Struggling with the fact of maybe, like they're getting wrapped up with, you know outcomes of their sports, or wrapped up with, you know, trying to live vicariously through oh, if you can visualize, you know what your life, what your kids, are gonna look like when you're in your 50s, when you're in your 60s, when you're 70s, looking back and you say, you know, what will I want my kids' legacy to be? Will it be that they were on a high school championship football team or, as you said, they've become good human beings? Or what I like is they're giving more than they're getting? I heard a good quote the other day and I'm gonna try and stumble to remember it, but it's you know. Your legacy is what you were known for, not the things you achieved. You know.

Speaker 2: 46:35

So Casey was always known for. You know making dinner for the kids on Halloween or you know being there for his buddies if they had. You know a room they had to paint. Versus he achieved he hit a ball 350 yards. Like. Is that what you want? People standing up talking about when you're dead, how far you hit the ball, you know. So I think it's the things that you leave behind that you need to think about when you're older and say, well, how am I gonna parent my kids so that it's more about how they're remembered that way than the things they've done or the things they've achieved?

Speaker 1: 47:10

Love that. That's like such a great exercise. Everybody like visualize what is. You know Steven Covey always talks about begin with the end in mind. I love that and you know some people are really good at visualization. Some probably have no idea what we're talking about. But if you don't research it, visualize because I believe and you can create what the future kind of you can kind of like make it happen a little bit if you really put your heart and mind to it and think about the regret, even your kids in your 50s. You're like man. I wish I could go back in time and not be that psycho parent that got kicked out of games, that got teed up in the stands and all things we have control of are our dads.

Speaker 2: 47:46

Yes, I mean, hey, listen, I've had mom swing purses at me from the stands. I've had a lot of insults thrown my way from parents because I was hitting their kids on the ice, but my parents weren't that way. You know the one thing I recall with my parents I could hear my mom from the stands yelling turbo, which just meant go harder, you know.

Speaker 3: 48:09

Oh, that's just a tan.

Speaker 2: 48:11

My dad was more of a mental clipboard guy, but he would never yell anything, he wouldn't get into it. You know we would talk after the game. He would be a little critical, but nothing with the fans, nothing to be embarrassed about. And now I carry myself the same way. Or I carried myself the same way when I would go to my sport events. You know, like yelling at an umpire or a referee as a parent, it's just such a bad look and I just hate seeing it.

Speaker 1: 48:36

Yeah, I used to run. Somehow my local community got me to sign up, become the president of a local basketball association. I did that for like five or six years. I'm like, how's a football guy running? I'm not the right guy, but I keep finding myself in these random leadership roles, which is maybe I realized they're playing me versus I'm playing them.

Speaker 2: 48:54

Or you should think it's a compliment that they see you as a leader.

Speaker 1: 48:59

Well, I hope. But when you said that I used to joke with parents at, like, our annual meeting, that I would speak and I would say, in all my history of playing sports, of coaching sports, of watching sports, I've never seen a ref man or woman say, make a call and then call time out and then get back on the mic and say, hey, everybody, that call was atrocious, I'm sorry, we're gonna put time back on the clock, pretend that didn't happen. Yet we get so wound up and emotional and yelling at them like we think we're gonna change the outcome and all we do is embarrass our kids.

Speaker 2: 49:28

Right, right. And sometimes it almost feels like it's more of a reflection of the parent that's yelling at the referee than it is the referee. Yeah, like I'm embarrassed that my kid's playing bad, so I'm gonna yell at the referee, and you know.

Speaker 1: 49:44

No, totally what, as you think. One question I like asking dads is specifically you who's now? You got kids out of the house from an emptiness perspective is if you could go back and do something different as a dad. That maybe where you weren't your best, that you're like man. If I go back and I do this differently, I'll maybe I'll leave my witness For me. My dad, rest in Peace. Pops was the most impatient guy ever and I have to fight that all the time and I think by having this podcast it's almost like weekly therapy. I gotta remind myself like patience as a competitive person, that's my. I gotta be careful of that. And so like, maybe for you tell me what comes to mind for you is like an area of your dad game that maybe you wish you could do differently, or maybe you're still working on becoming that better leader of your home.

Speaker 2: 50:30

Yeah, I think that I have a very long fuse, but unfortunately, when it does finally burn out, it snaps, and it's only happened a few times.

Speaker 2: 50:39

But I think back on those few times and I've never hit my kids or anything like that. But you know, maybe I threw a toy across the room or something like that, yeah, and I always think to myself, ah, I wish I could take that moment back. I just I don't think there's any value in physically hitting your kids, throwing things across the room. I think there is so much more value in speaking to them, helping them understand, maybe, why you're upset, why you're disappointed, why they should hold themselves to a higher standard. I think they get so much more out of that and I think that the you know small handful of times over the last 22 years where that has happened. I'd like to go back and erase the event and just go to a conversation. I just think there would have been so much more value in that. My dad was a lot more strict than I was Again, no physical abuse or anything but I never wanted to get him upset either, and I think I want my kids to understand why I'm upset, not just see me upset.

Speaker 1: 51:50

That's good. That's good. I thought you were gonna say like you got two minutes for boarding in the house or something, but nothing like that was good. Do you remember the name Nathan Gerby? Nathan Gerbe, no, so Nathan Gerbe. I think, if I have my stats right, he's the shortest player in NHL history, is that right? Yep, he is the cousin of a former well, she's a great friend of mine. Shout out, leslie. It's Leslie's cousin. Okay, and I had Nathan on in season two, I think, and I was just like he played in the NHL forever.

Speaker 1: 52:29

One of the stories that I asked him about was like what were the car rides home like? Because one of the dads I interviewed who's got like wisdom out the Gazoo. His name's Bruce Brown. He's done. He runs a company called Proactive Coaching. He's wrote one of the most famous articles called the car ride home, which it talks to parents about. Instead of like lighting your kids up after every single thing, it's like just tell them man, I love watching you play, love watching you compete, and if your kid cares and they want it more than you, they'll bring it up. We try to force it on them, and so we talked about that.

Speaker 1: 53:01

But I asked him. I said what is your? What's your most like craziest memory? He goes. Well, I learned that I had to wear dress shoes in the car at home. I go, how come? Because my dad sometimes would make me get out and run. I go like running home. He's like, yeah, I go how far? He's like sometimes three to five miles. Oh wow, I'm like I go your dad be arrested for this. Times have changed a little bit. Do you have any of those crazy stories when you were growing up?

Speaker 2: 53:28

Yeah, you know, I think as a 11, 12, 13 year old Al Knisky, in the back of the car I got very frustrated with some of the car rides home and, like I said, my mother did a good job of putting it in balance. But I'd get angry. But I think that I also wouldn't change it because I think what it did is it made me hold myself to a higher standard. It made me push myself harder, maybe practice harder, maybe do stuff after school harder and, like I said, I believe those lessons set me up for being drafted into the NHL and then they carried over into the corporate world. So, you know, there's a. There was nothing extreme, but other than my dad was critical of the things that I didn't do right when I played hockey and I would initially get angry but then I'd be like I don't want to feel that way again, so I would play harder next game. You know my wife and kids like to make fun of me because when I was in that window probably I'll say 12 to 14, it was before I'd left to go play hockey.

Speaker 2: 54:39

But old enough to write is. I kept the journal and we've had journal night many nights in the last few years. Well, I'll read five or 10 pages from this journal Now, probably not the most grammatically correct of writing, but you got the feeling of reading it. As I read it, you know, 40 years or 35 years later, that I would get very angry with my dad and I would get angry that I didn't play better. I would write, hey, we're playing this team tomorrow night and we're going to beat them bad, because last time, you know, they beat us and like that emotion would come out in the writing and I think I have to believe a lot of that came from the way I was parented, that I was always. I was always pushed to do better, and so I wouldn't change any of that because I think a lot of that feeds into some of the successes I've had later on in life.

Speaker 1: 55:31

Love it. Yeah, there's a love. That story. I can't remember if someone told me this, but I've always challenged my kids. I say you'll never regret working out. Yes, yes, you'll never regret it. You never go. God dang it, I'm in better shape. That sucks.

Speaker 1: 55:47

Yeah you get stressed out. And so I have a son who's a golfer and my daughter who's a Hooper and like I mean I was my son's a way better golfer in high school than I was Now we both. It's fun, we get to compete, but like I sucked at basketball I mean I was ninth grade and that was it. My daughter was like I don't know where she gets her handles for toughness or shooting, but it's like and I was like reminding them of their goals they set for themselves, like have something, told me, has anything changed? Like wow, well, because you told me you wanted to achieve this, you want to achieve that, and I just don't see you putting in the work to get that. So if it's, if your goals have changed, that's totally cool. Let me know. Yeah, next thing you know they're out shooting, or next you do.

Speaker 1: 56:25

You know, I like making other people's idea and helping them remind you know. And then they're like hey, dad, thanks for pushing me. Yeah, so do it because of me, do it because you want to do it For sure. I think it's a balance because it's, it's easy to sometimes get wrapped around the axle with that stuff. Yeah, so I have to like constantly check myself of, just like this is your journey and I don't. I'm not going to measure success based on your athletic ability. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 56:49

Yeah, yeah. Exercise, nutrition has been again something that I've taken from sports that stays with me, even today, in fact, when I, when I got done with hockey in my early twenties, there was a little bit of dip in that mentality and it was a family member of mine who came up to me one day and grabbed my arm and he goes when did you quit? I was like what are you talking about? I tell you, from that day on, I probably worked out five days a week on average, and it's, it's not a bragging thing. It's just to say that I think about exercise in the same way that most people think about brushing their teeth. Like when you got up and brushed your teeth this morning and you didn't post on your social media brush my teeth today, good tooth brushing.

Speaker 2: 57:34

I'm the same way with exercise. I worked out yesterday, I'll work out today. You'll never hear about it on this podcast. It's just. It's just part of my day and it's everything from two mile walks with my dog to hour long CrossFit sessions with 20 year olds that I work out with. I still play hockey and it just has to be part of my day because not only are the straight, are there straight up biological benefits to it, but I also like the way it makes me feel like what it does for my brain. And so guess what? My 22 year old works out every day. We built out a gym during COVID and he's out there every single day. And my 19 year old he gets into the gym and works out. So I think again, this goes back to your kids seeing you do it, they end up doing it. And my wife's the same way. She's on the Peloton, she's yoga and she's working out. So my kids have two really good examples of what exercising parents looks like.

Speaker 1: 58:34

Love that. We got that in Common Brother, that's I mean my kids, since they're younger. All they know is that mom and dad work out. I'll tell you this?

Speaker 2: 58:42

The step backwards I took this year is I enjoy golfing, like you, and I enjoy walking for all the same reasons. My wife bought me one of those electronic golf carts, the battery operated ones. Oh boy, and I tell myself, okay, this is, this is not. This doesn't align with my exercise mentality. But then I say I'm still walking five miles, right. So so, whether it's walking a golf course, walking the dog or, like I said, you know, hardcore cross foot exercise, I'm into all of it. I love it.

Speaker 1: 59:12

Are you going to be one of those golfers that have the electronic cart that actually put in the lake, because they got a little little, little little?

Speaker 2: 59:18

little? I hope not, but full transparency. It's hit me twice.

Speaker 1: 59:24

We got where I play golf. I got this dude. I saw him from like the crossfair. I'm like he's got no idea where that thing's going. He just like hits the button, like he's like Joe, cool, I'm like that thing's going in the lake. Next thing, you know, right in the lake and mom, oh yeah, I've laughed so hard. Okay, as we wrap up before we go into lightning realm, if you were to summarize kind of everything that you talked about, that maybe a dad listening can take from our episode on key themes or values they can say man, that was something I learned, that I can. I can work hard to become, to apply to my family, to become maybe a better leader of my home or better husband or better friend or better employee. Tell me what. What two or three things come to mind.

Speaker 2: 1:00:04

I think about, you know, raising kids as being a gardener. And a gardener doesn't just prune. A gardener fertilizes, you know. A gardener takes the plant out to the sun. A gardener, you know, helps shape it, and I think too often as parents we just try and prune. So this is what it's going to look like, even though that's not what it, what it's meant to be. So I would say, you know, be more like a gardener, a well rounded gardener, than someone that, just you know, hacks away at a bush. I think that sitting, you know, leading by example. As a big one too, I talked about that with my dad, cleaning floors, and you know the exercise that my wife and I do today. I think your kids are constantly watching you. They're listening to what you say. They're watching how you react to a situation. They're watching you in a restaurant, when you know a waiter or a waitress says something to you. They're constantly watching and you have to recognize that and realize that you're teaching them based on how you respond to those situations.

Speaker 1: 1:01:00

That is so true. And if younger parents if you take one thing, man, that is that is gold right there that they are. I'm seeing that now, older as my kids are older, every everything they're watching and how we treat our wives. They're watching how I love that. That's such good, good advice.

Speaker 2: 1:01:18

Let me ask you a question case before we get to let me around. How often do you talk about the topic of masculinity? Because I feel I feel like in society today, the word toxic is what comes before masculinity, and I think our boys are suffering because of it. How do you? What do? You do to teach your boys how to be men?

Speaker 1: 1:01:42

Like a man and from a toughness, from a physical or mental.

Speaker 2: 1:01:46

I'm just saying like if you were to list, bolt, list, three or four things for me and you said said to your boys, or you had a group of boys that you were mentoring, you said this is what men are supposed to do. How do you teach them what those things are? Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 2: 1:02:02

I, you know, I have two sons. I don't have daughters, and I believe that boys and girls should should be able to try anything they want to do. We talked about girls and hockey. I love it, but I also want my boys to know that they are men and that it's okay to have masculinity. It shouldn't be something that they shy away from, like, oh I shouldn't do that because that will be feared as talking masculinity. Do you talk about that a lot with your guests? Do you talk about that a lot with your kids?

Speaker 1: 1:02:34

I don't talk about the word, not because I don't want to, I just haven't had. This is the first person bringing up which I love. I'm gonna now look into that a little bit, but I teach. I like to talk about the word vulnerability with dads a lot. I think a man can not be a man by letting his ego get in the way. I think it's.

Speaker 1: 1:02:55

I see more strength in dads from a masculinity perspective just by saying, hey, I don't know everything, I'm not gonna ever be good at everything, but I'm gonna go find someone who is better and try to help. But I do believe that you there's only one reason to be you is because everybody else is already taken. So own it, love it, embrace it. I mean, I think we're going through a time where there's a lot of sensitivity with every single topic out there, and so for me, I think if you go in with the right attitude, right mindset, right tone and you're only and you're being your best every day, then and if you piss people off, then who cares? Because you were your best. But I wish I could teach my son more masculinity about, like how to work a band saw, but unfortunately I don't have that skill set Well, and that's just it right, is that just because your son doesn't know how to work a band, so it doesn't make him any less of a man?

Speaker 2: 1:03:48

but I also think that you know, when you have a guest come over to your house to stay overnight and they come on the front door, your son should say can I bring your bag up to your room? Yeah, now, it doesn't mean that your daughter couldn't say, couldn't do that, it's just. I think that's what boys should do. You talk about shaking someone's hand. Of course I shake girls' hands all the time, but I teach my boys to look someone in the eye when they shake their hand and I also tell them if it's a female, don't grip their hand so hard that it breaks, but if it's a male, grip it a little bit harder. I think that's masculinity. I think that if I'm driving along with my wife and we get a flat tire, I don't look at my wife and go. I'll wait here, you know, and I-.

Speaker 3: 1:04:32

I'll be there when you're done, I.

Speaker 2: 1:04:35

We have spiders this time of year coming in. I don't look at my wife and go, hey, will you get that spider off the wall, please? Like again. It's not that girls can't do it, it's just that I think that we are. We are embarrassed, might be too strong of a word, but we don't teach our sons enough of that stuff anymore. To be a man means to do these things. It doesn't mean that a girl can't do them.

Speaker 2: 1:04:58

It just means that when someone comes to your house with an overnight bag, you should come up and say, hey, can I bring them up to the room for you? Can I open the door? Can I open the door for you? You know, and I think too often in society we're in a place where you open the door for somebody and they go hey, I can get that on my own, and it's just like I'm just being polite. Maybe that's not masculinity, maybe it's just politeness, but I tried to. I've tried to raise my son to do sons, to do all of those things, not just because they're becoming men, but because, to your point, I'm also teaching them to be good human beings. And whether it's killing a spider or taking the garbage out, or carrying someone's bag up to the room, all these things that, as a male, I grew up, being parented to do, I want them to know that they should be doing them too. It's part of what they should think about it as a man.

Speaker 1: 1:05:48

Love it, love it, that's it. I love these. No, I love that. You said that, alan. I think it's a good reminder for us.

Speaker 1: 1:05:53

Is you know, one of the great wisdom quotes I got shared with and my life is you are what you allow. And so if we don't, if we allow our kids to be lazy and do those things and whether it's going to a restaurant, take your hat off, or, like you, shake a hand, or like we do, handwritten thank you notes in our family, actually, I love it when it matters and, like my son, he got his first college opportunity to go play golf and I said, as we were flying back this on yesterday or Saturday, I said I want you to think about, well, take five minutes and write down every single person that's positively impacted you to get this goal. And I said when you're done, then I'm gonna see if you miss anybody, but we're gonna write either, you know handwritten note or personalized text or something to show how much we appreciate, because they'll remember that and then they'll teach someone else to do that and it's like it's trying to find this way of just I call it having it you know, boomerang mindset, where you're serving people with positivity but you don't keep score. Yeah, just keep doing the right thing, so I love it.

Speaker 1: 1:06:55

Okay, it's now time to actually, before I go and lighten around, I wanna ask more questions. If people want to learn more about you the Seattle Kraken, the Everett Silver Tips, anything about hockey, talk about how they can go about doing that. If they wanna follow the work you do, what's the best way to lead people to learn more about that?

Speaker 2: 1:07:16

Well, the best place is probably gonna be Twitter at Al Kinniske. Since I started this role with the Kraken, I am trying my best to provide as much information to people as possible that they wouldn't get from the main Kraken websites or other areas, whether it's morning skate, information on the road or conversations with the team, that sort of thing. Individual players they can also read about my background on LinkedIn. I guess that's gonna be more of a corporate background, but the Kraken stuff I would say 90% of the information is gonna come through my Twitter handle.

Speaker 1: 1:07:54

Okay, and if you're in the car and you wanna listen to Al and Everett, 93.3 is the way to go about doing that, him and their team. They do a fantastic job.

Speaker 2: 1:08:06

Yeah, I'll add a little bit onto that too is not just 93.3, but 950 AM. Because of this oh yeah, of the Husky Games on Saturdays. Sometimes we're on 950. Get the iHeart media app. You can listen to it. If my wife were in the room right now, she would say pro tip is if you watch us on TV and you wanna listen to the radio broadcast, Everett does a really good job of telling you the time. Hey, there's three minutes left in the first period. If you sync up the TV to that three minutes and hit play, then everything's lined up, Cause for some reason the radio broadcast and the TV are always a little bit off. Remember, you can pause your TV to line up with the radio broadcast. So that's my wife's pro tip for anybody that wants to listen to Fitz and I while watching the game on TV.

Speaker 1: 1:08:49

Love it. Pro is pro. Right there, I love it. Okay, lightning round. This is where I joked you before we started recording. This is where I show you the negative impact of taking too many hits not bong hits, but football hits in college quarterbacks. We have a screw loose and I'm about to prove it to you right now, al, but your job is to answer as quickly as you can and my job is to hopefully get a giggle at you. Okay, are you ready? I'm ready. Okay, if there was to be a full on cage match with all the announcers you, forzland, eddie maybe we'll throw a nick in there. Jt, who's coming out on top?

Speaker 2: 1:09:25

Oh, I'm coming on top. I mean I'm 64, 260. Now Everett's going to give me a run for my money. But the biggest difference between Everett and I is he doesn't like the gym. He's a big guy because he's a big guy. I'm a big guy because I trade for it. So now I'll tell you, jt is scrappy, he's going to come low on you and he's not going to give up easy, but I believe I'd come out on top of that one.

Speaker 1: 1:09:52

Okay, true or false, you've accidentally dropped an F bomb on the air before. False Well done. That'd been weird if it actually was true.

Speaker 2: 1:10:00

Honestly, I'm not a big cursor to begin with. Once I get skates on, maybe, but as soon as I again I know we're doing lightning around here. Dad always taught me, when you put those skates on, you become the meanest son of a bitch out there, love it. If you take them off, you go back to being a nice Canadian, and so when I take my skates off, I'm not person, and that's why I can do the radio without dropping F bombs.

Speaker 1: 1:10:27

There you go. Favorite hockey movie of all time is Flapshot Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:10:34

No, there's not second place. I don't care what second place is. There's a big gap between first and second place. Flapshot's number one.

Speaker 1: 1:10:41

Okay, true. Should Strange Brew ever won an Academy Award?

Speaker 2: 1:10:46

No, just like Napoleon Dynamite should never won Academy Award, doesn't mean it's not a good movie.

Speaker 1: 1:10:52

Oh, 24 Elstor beers please. I watched that in college too many times and it is so, so bad, so bad.

Speaker 2: 1:11:00

A good way to practice your Canadian accent.

Speaker 1: 1:11:03

Oh yeah, if I was to go into your phone right now, what would be the one song that fits? It'd be like what you listen to, that.

Speaker 2: 1:11:12

Oh gosh, Neil Diamond.

Speaker 1: 1:11:16

There we go. Okay, tell me the last book you read.

Speaker 2: 1:11:22

I'm actually reading one right now. I'm three quarters of the way through. It's actually Hockey Systems in 2023. Because my mind is stuck in 1997 and maybe even before that. So yeah, current day hockey systems.

Speaker 1: 1:11:37

Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:11:38

Boring right. You were hoping for some Stephen King scary book.

Speaker 1: 1:11:46

You never know. I'm actually kind of intrigued. I'm gonna talk to my buddy, steve, about this. He might wanna read it. Tell me that your favorite 80s comedy sitcom Sign film. Good answer. If there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title.

Speaker 2: 1:12:00

I don't know.

Speaker 1: 1:12:01

When did you quit? Okay Now, when did you quit? Believe it or not is crushing it. Every road trip you're on, you're in the airport, you're going to Arizona soon. You're like, hey, wait a minute, that's my book and that was. It's selling out everywhere. When did you quit? But now Netflix has heard about this and they're gonna make it into a critically acclaimed hit movie, and now everybody wants to watch this thing. But before they watch it, I need to know you as the casting director, who's gonna star you in this critically acclaimed, hit new movie.

Speaker 2: 1:12:31

Ryan Reynolds.

Speaker 1: 1:12:32

Well played, well played. I didn't know he could skate, but I think we have to see that.

Speaker 2: 1:12:36

That wasn't a requirement. Yeah, I answered the question the way you asked it.

Speaker 1: 1:12:43

Favorite, most bizarre hockey Donnie Brook you've ever been in. Oh, that's an easy one 16 years old.

Speaker 2: 1:12:53

I am in Flynn Flawn, manitoba. It's a city I've never even heard of that.

Speaker 1: 1:12:57

Flynn, flawn.

Speaker 2: 1:12:57

Yeah, look it up, it's a city that's built on a rock at the bottom of what looks like a mining pit, and I'm 16 years old. I'm in my first year of junior hockey in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. I don't remember how many games this season were in, but we're 10 or 12 games in. We go to Flynn Flawn and play this game and halfway through the first period I get a penalty. I'm in the box, it's five on four and a line brawl breaks out. Well, a line brawl when I'm in the penalty is five against four.

Speaker 2: 1:13:32

I look over to my coach and he gives me two fingers and points towards the line ball. I put one leg over the boards. I looked down the ice at their bench and their entire bench is coming onto the ice. I get down to the five on four. I jump in. Their bench is in, my bench is in. We had an entire bench clearing brawl and I remember fighting with three different guys. Both hands were bloody. I don't remember getting off the ice but we had a police escort out of town that night. When I talk about slap shot, it was right out of slap shot, Holy cow.

Speaker 1: 1:14:14

I got a buddy named Lee who's he told me some just beauties. He played mind only hockey. I don't think it to the Tiber level, maybe one level blow that, but like some, just crazy stories like that. So I was I'm always the only full bench clearing brawl I've ever been.

Speaker 2: 1:14:29

I've been in a lot of line brawls, but never other than that when I never have full bench, clearing brawl Wow, okay, two last questions.

Speaker 1: 1:14:39

If you could go anywhere on vacation right now with your wife. No kids, where you going? Maui, love that. And then, lastly, tell me two words that describe your wife Gorgeous smile and great sense of humor. Sorry, that's not too, so I'll say smile and humor. Well, won't make them hyphenated. So you get it. We count those Lighting rounds over. We learned a ton of things, al this has been an absolute blast.

Speaker 2: 1:15:00

Thank you for spending time with us today.

Speaker 1: 1:15:04

Shout out to Craig for making this episode possible. Shout out to Craig eating that a boy. I want to say thanks to our friends up at latitude Sitka for supporting this podcast, being a leader in the community up there, and if you don't know what latitude Sitka is, no-transcript, the city of Las Vegas. And I'm going to say thanks to our friends up at latitude Sitka and I'm going to say thanks to our friends up at latitude Sitka for supporting this podcast, being a leader in the community up there, and I'm going to say thanks to our friends up at latitude Sitka and everybody else has been using promotions for that Very important. Hit the like button. We appreciate it. Hit the subscribe button. Hit the yellow button you.