Ever wondered what it takes to make it in the NHL? Dive into this captivating episode of 'Our Kids Play Hockey,' where retired NHL defenseman Andrew Alberts pulls back the curtain on his journey to the top. From his early days in Minneapolis to becoming a Hockey Player Development Director, Alberts reveals the secret sauce: a blend of play, persistence, and the pivotal moments that shaped his career.
We also discuss how Andrew and the team at Sense Arena is using cutting-edge VR technology to revolutionize the way young athletes train, blending the thrill of the game with cognitive development to sharpen decision-making, enhance spatial awareness, and foster an unparalleled love for hockey. Alberts' insights offer a compelling look at the future of hockey training, where virtual reality meets physical prowess to create the next generation of hockey talent. .
This is not just another hockey story; it's a roadmap for young athletes, packed with lessons on nurturing talent and igniting a lifelong passion for the game. Tune in for a blend of inspiring stories, professional achievements, and a deep dive into the virtual realm that's setting new benchmarks in sports training
Our Kids Play Hockey is powered by NHL Sense Arena!
NHL Sense Arena, is a virtual reality training game designed specifically to improve hockey sense and IQ for both players and goalies. Experience the next generation of off-ice training in VR with over 100+ drills and training plans curated from top coaches and players.
Use Code "HockeyNeverStops" at Hockey.SenseArena.com to score $50 off an annual plan!
Ever wondered what it takes to make it in the NHL? Dive into this captivating episode of 'Our Kids Play Hockey,' where retired NHL defenseman Andrew Alberts pulls back the curtain on his journey to the top. From his early days in Minneapolis to becoming a Hockey Player Development Director, Alberts reveals the secret sauce: a blend of play, persistence, and the pivotal moments that shaped his career.
We also discuss how Andrew and the team at Sense Arena is using cutting-edge VR technology to revolutionize the way young athletes train, blending the thrill of the game with cognitive development to sharpen decision-making, enhance spatial awareness, and foster an unparalleled love for hockey. Alberts' insights offer a compelling look at the future of hockey training, where virtual reality meets physical prowess to create the next generation of hockey talent. .
This is not just another hockey story; it's a roadmap for young athletes, packed with lessons on nurturing talent and igniting a lifelong passion for the game. Tune in for a blend of inspiring stories, professional achievements, and a deep dive into the virtual realm that's setting new benchmarks in sports training
Our Kids Play Hockey is powered by NHL Sense Arena!
NHL Sense Arena, is a virtual reality training game designed specifically to improve hockey sense and IQ for both players and goalies. Experience the next generation of off-ice training in VR with over 100+ drills and training plans curated from top coaches and players.
Use Code "HockeyNeverStops" at Hockey.SenseArena.com to score $50 off an annual plan!
Hello hockey friends and families around the world and welcome to another edition of our kids play hockey powered by NHL sensorina. I'm Leo Elias, with Mike Benelli and Kristi Cashano Burns, and today we are joined by a defenseman who had a nine year NHL career with the Bruins, flyers, hurricanes and Canucks it just rolls off the tongue the way I wrote that which was preceded by a four year successful career at Boston College. Today he is the hockey player development director for NHL sensorina and an ambassador for the Warrior for Life Fund and an ambassador for the Boston Bruins Academy Learn to play program outside played in the NHL. That is a fun, awesome resume. Please join me in welcoming Andrew Alberts, the show today. Andrew, welcome to our kids play hot.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that it was a long intro, but thank you, I appreciate it, andrew, believe it or not, that was not the longest intro I've done. I've had pages. Kristi and Mike have had to sit through me doing that for minutes at a time at some place. Your experience made that easy. We appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for having me. I'm excited to give you guys a little more information on sensorina and talk about my hockey background and hopefully give some tips for all the hockey moms, hockey parents, hockey dads and kids out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, andrew, let's start there. I was reading up on you, obviously before the episode. Notice you're one of four kids. You grew up in the hockey hotbed of Minneapolis, minnesota. It does not get much more centralized in hockey in the US than that Was hockey on the table at birth. Was it something you found? Why don't you walk us through kind of the moment the journey began, sure, sure.
Speaker 2:So we grew up in a house that had kind of a swampy lake in the house and so when I was four my dad shoveled it off and kind of out I went, and that was kind of the start of it for me. But as I was a kid I had the opportunity to watch my uncles play hockey and so I had three goals to play D1 hockey up in Duluth, notre Dame, and for University of Minnesota, golden Gophers, wow. And so on my mom's side they're from higher range up north, if you're familiar with Minnesota hockey rain up there still does, and that was a hotbed for a lot of players coming out of Minnesota playing at the schools mostly around the Midwest there. So as a young kid I grew up watching my uncles play and they come over and play in the basement and there's stick handling and tow dragon around me, and so that kind of got me hooked. And then I had the great opportunity of playing on, you know, just the lake behind the house, and that's where, like the excitement and the love and the passion really started for me. Where it's it's no parents or coaches telling you what to do, it's it's a group of high schoolers and you're playing boot hockey or you're playing on skates and you're using a taped up ball or pocket, didn't even matter, but you're just having fun out there, and so that's kind of where it all started for me and, and you know, obviously I want to pass it on to my kids.
Speaker 3:Right, and I'm glad you mentioned that, because I think a lot of parents today don't put a lot of stock in letting their kids have that creative outlet and just go out there and have fun with no roughs, nobody telling you how to skate, where to skate, what to do. There really is a beauty in that and I and I'm glad you mentioned that because I think parents think they have to be constantly in a controlled environment for kids all the time.
Speaker 1:So what are?
Speaker 3:the benefits of that free play on the ice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm glad you asked and we're jumping into it right here and it's great. But so, liam, you mentioned a squirts and you wait and you turn and your kids and I had the same same kids that played same level and in the beginning of every practice. That's what we do, is we give them that 10, 12 minutes and we throw out a different ball or a different toy and just let them, like, be creative, be yourself, go figure out a small game, a keep away game or a three on two or whatever it might be. Maybe it ends up everybody chasing everybody or coaches versus players. But one, it's fun, so the kids want to keep coming back and enjoy it. But two, it's letting them be creative and not be afraid to make mistakes, and that's the number one thing. Like kids are, so their day is constructed and their schedules are. It's wake up, breakfast, go to school, put a piano lesson or whatever it might be, drum lessons, and then to practice, and then dinner and then sleep, and so there's a schedule for every day. So if they have some free time to be creative and try new things and make mistakes, that's how they're going to learn and really start to enjoy the game. So we always try to do something different, to be in a practice, even at the end of practice, and make it fun and not don't let the coaches kind of get in the way, is what I like to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, andrew, it's the time of year where I'm getting asked by a lot of parents of new hockey players. You know, hey, your kids skate so well. What do you do in the summer? Or who do you go to in the summer? And I say I spend 10 bucks at a public session once a week and I throw them out there and I let them chase each other and fall down and dance and have fun. And I said that that is, you know, mine is some some little bit of instruction like that. That is everything. I leave them alone, let them learn how to walk. And I said I don't think there's been a better teacher. I said I can show them stride work and knee bends and all these mechanics all day, but at the end of the day they need to want to learn it In public session. I always said or free skate, whatever you call it, wherever you're at, is a wonderful method to do that. But again, as you said, you can apply that to practice. You can allow them to have fun, even when coaching at extremely high levels. We'd like to play games right at the beginning of practice just to loosen everybody up. It's always competitive at that level, right, but but something fun. Mike, I think you were about to say something and I apologize. I jumped in.
Speaker 4:No, no, it's all good. I mean, this is. This is exactly, I think, what happens to all of us right in the in the hockey world. We forget that that free play environment is something, unfortunately. We need to cultivate like we take it away from kids, like somebody. If, if, for instance, if parkour became a million dollar industry, right, then all of a sudden you wouldn't allow kids just to jump off things and jump on and hanging on to things, you be like no, no, no, you can't do it that way. You got to use your toe and distribute your weight this way so you can catch yourself like you know. So what we do with hockey. It's amazing to me like we use the example on the show to Andrew that you know if you go to a playground and you watch, you know and you let kids off on the playground equipment and go to the monkey bars. There's no parents instructing kids on what to do and how to do it. And you know the daring kids go on top of the, the. You know, on the top of the highest point and it's scary, right, but they do it and they figure out a way to climb up there. And then the kids that are scared and maybe don't have the confidence to don't do it, and they stay low and they stay in the tunnels and they, they crawl around the ground. So there's this whole thing where we take this away from our kids and hockey. And what your point was, you know, that free play environment. I mean, it's going to fit right into what sense what I think sensorina is to me. But this free play environment of the kids being to be in their own creative world and take out of it what they want to take out of it is so crucial later on, and every hockey, well, every sport expert there is says the same thing. But yet we do everything. We do everything to take it away, like we do everything that counter, you know, is counteractive to exactly what we want our kids to be, and that's creative, passionate, thinking outside the box type of athletes. And so it was great that you were able to grow up in an environment, and if you can manipulate that environment in your own kids, I would say do that as much as possible, no matter how many power skating classes the other group's doing.
Speaker 3:Right great environment that you grew up in, continue your journey. When did you know that you were that competitive hockey player and you had to follow your passion and your dream of making it in the big league?
Speaker 2:You know it's I never really got to the point where I thought I would make it or I'd get there, and it's I think I might be very different from a lot of different players where my mom's family was a big hockey family but my dad grew up playing basketball and baseball and golf and so that's where he was pushing my siblings and I so he didn't know a lick about hockey and my mom was pretty laid back and so I didn't really get the push or the desire from that parent side to say, hey, you got to do this camp or do that camp. And so, like Mike and Liam, you were saying, like, in the summers, I played baseball, I played golf, and I didn't touch my equipment until September, October, because hockey started back in November, back when we were little right, and so you just play for a short period of time. So, as I continue to play, I wasn't on the top teams. I was always a B player and so, as much as I love the sport and as much as I had that competitiveness within me, I was never really the best player and I was great on the pond, which I had fun doing right, but when it came down to serious team town hockey. I wasn't the best player and so I had the drive, but I didn't have that drive to say, hey, I want to go. I know I'm going to play in the NHL and this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to take these steps and go these skating coaches and shooting coaches to get there. It just it wasn't. That wasn't important to me at the time. It was having fun with my buddies and I'll kind of see what happens, and so that's kind of the mindset I had, which is very different for, I think, a lot of young kids nowadays.
Speaker 1:You know, I need to reiterate to our audience this man that is speaking. He has played for Team USA. He is a prominent college player. He played in the NHL for nearly a decade and here he is saying yeah, I played on B teams, I just had fun and I played multiple sports. Andrew, the nice part about this is you're talking to the right audience for this. We always tell our parents that listening that you're not crazy. It's the hockey world that's kind of crazy, right. So I love that you reaffirmed that. I do want to ask this too Were you 6'5 when you were 12, or did that come later?
Speaker 2:Well, so that's a great question. So I was 5'8 in high school. There you go, until my junior year when I shot up and I was 6'3, but just to go back quickly, when BAM's finished up, so I don't know, was it U15, u60, I don't know how they do it nowadays. I was around there and I tried out for my high school team. So you try out for varsity and then after a day they're like, no, you can go down to the JV tryouts. And I, two days later, got cut from JV and I was like, oh, you know what, that's all right, I know my buddies are playing there, but I still know some guys that are playing junior gold Like that'd be great to play on that team. I could play with my neighbor it's a couple of years older than never a chance to play on the same team. Tried out for them. Go check the list at the arena like he used to do, got cut from that team and I'm like, oh, what is this Right? Like I think my hockey career is over and I'm playing junior A, which it is what it is. But I'm sure there'll be some buddies coming down, tried out for that team and they said, no, we're just gonna make it seniors and juniors this year we're cut from that team, and so all left was house hockey. And so me going from playing Bannum Bs to house hockey the worst league level I could play and you know, you're crushed as a player, right, right. And it ended up being probably one of my most fun years of hockey, because all the expectations were gone at that point, cause you guys, you're moving to the high school, you want to make high school and try to make a college team and whatnot, and so every expectation was gone. I was playing with a couple of kids who lived up the street, buddies of mine, and just no pressure from yourself, from your parents, and so we had a good team, I had fun, and that was kind of the bottom of the barrel but also gave me the opportunity to enjoy it more, right. And so there I was playing house hockey as a 15 year old, and then that summer I said you know what I want more? And so I decided just mentally, hey, I'm going to put everything into it this summer and see what happens. And I had to switch in schools just for the educational aspect of it, cause I was at Eden Prairie, where there are 4,000 kids in the high school to switch over to Benilde. There was, you know, 125 in my class and so then I went to Benilde that next year and rented some very influential people in my life. That kind of molded my hockey career and mindset. Jack Bladowick I don't know if you guys know that name, yeah, and Ken Paul he's been a legend Minnesota high school hockey. So I met those two and things kind of took off from there. But yeah, it's never a straight line. There's always going to be bumps and curves and dips and fall away down to the bottom and for me that was really important that you know I had that failure to learn from it and move on.
Speaker 3:Right, that is such a great message for kids. I mean there could be a kid listening right now who's going through something very similar Doors are closing, people are telling you you can't, People are saying you're no good. Yet what you did was you just adjusted your sales and you took a different direction and you made it work for you and you figured out how to navigate through those rough waters and still succeed. I think that's a great story and I hope every kid listening right now takes it, gets a big takeaway from that and doesn't get discouraged.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 4:And who the hell are these evaluators? What the heck's going on over there? It's a state of hockey, for God's sakes. You know it used to be all the, you know no.
Speaker 2:I mean, but we need to find them and say it, mike, that goes into like the politics and parents of hockey, right, like some kids is there to be certain places and they're not. But when it really comes down to it, as much as you want to get somewhere and achieve a goal, you just have to keep playing and believing yourself and do whatever it's going to take to get to the next level. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And I got Chris Myra, who's out here on the East Coast yeah, I play with my brother, yeah, and he's a big, big Jack fan. And I think, having that kind of like, think about the opportunity for you to go from where you were to go to a guy like that, which is just a technical, in-depth skating person, like somebody that could teach the mechanics of skating differently, right Then a lot, and even in Minnesota he was above grade, right. So having that opportunity, which, if you would have made that top team, you never would have left school, you never would have moved those programs, you never would have said I got to work harder, like you wouldn't have done all those things, like you would have said, hey, I'm good, like I'm a big kid and I'm better than most kids and I don't need to work on those little things. It really is, and again for the listeners, even in Minnesota you can get missed by the best evaluators in the world right, I just love your story.
Speaker 3:I love it, love it, love it.
Speaker 1:I was just saying to you not even 15 minutes in. We got to bleep Mike already. That's good, I'm sorry, kid no.
Speaker 4:I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I'm just getting passionate. No, you're passionate.
Speaker 4:I'm just getting passionate. I'm like this 15-year-old kid. How is he not making these teams Like I'd be, like they're going, oh, thank god, my kid's getting made, my kid's making it. I don't care, but my god, what a, what a.
Speaker 1:Mike, I'll say this to you and Andrew, I want to thank you for sharing that for multiple reasons. One and you said it too, we say this all the time there is no path, there is no right way to go, there is no team you have to make to succeed. At the end of the day when we've interviewed NHL players or players that have played at a high level really comes down to drive and passion. Obviously some athleticism you have to have the ability to play sports at a high level, but if the drive and the passion's not there, it's not going to happen. And the other thing I've noticed too is that it's easy to have drive and passion if you love the game, when you're playing on the team you want to play on. But I really think that it's cultivated and it's made in that molten lava of not making the team and not succeeding, because that's when you really realize man, I love this and I want this. That's the moment that dreams are born. I'm not trying to be poetic here and again. Even with that, there's no guarantees, but I think it's important to notice that and I really appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 2:No, I think. If you look at every top individual, I think at some point one of them faced adversity, and so it's kind of fun to ask people hey, at what point did you know, or what point did something happen where you flipped the switch? So you kind of think it was like your favorite failure, if you will Like, hey, what's the favorite part of your career that happened where you had to? Hey, all right, I got to make a mindset or change whatever I'm doing and pivot to get to where I want to go. So there's a lot of juicy stuff when you ask somebody a question like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, I can tell you right now that my decision point to want to work in this game and be involved in this game and make this game, my life was off of a team I didn't make. It was that year I made the decision. I was like no, I want this. So I totally equate to that. And again, look, you might not like this comparison, but that's eerily like the Michael Jordan story where you didn't make the high school basketball game.
Speaker 4:You can't do that that's not allowed. I just did. I just did it, you can throw Tom Brady in there too, but we don't get to do that in these guys.
Speaker 1:Andrew's not going to be in a Dunkings commercial anytime soon, no so.
Speaker 3:Andrew, you mentioned juicy stuff. Give us some juicy stuff about your NHL days. What was that like? I mean, we all can just imagine how grueling was it, how fun was it. You're living the dream. What was that like?
Speaker 2:Well, you just said it, You're living a dream and you're almost in like fantasy land, right? Because you go from playing college doing something you love to somebody paying you money to do something that you love, which is great. You find out it's a business very quickly, which is fine, but one year in the moment it's almost like all right, I want this to last. I'm just going to and for me, I'm a guy. Put my head down, work out, work hard on the guy cross me next to me. Whatever it might be, I'm not losing a spot because of my effort, right.
Speaker 1:My attitude.
Speaker 2:So I showed up every day hardest working guy on the team, and it's funny because my teammates will tell me that I'm the hardest practice player they've ever seen. But I take that all the time. I'll own that right Because I practice like I play right. It's a compliment for you, yeah. And so two things you can control are effort and attitude. So I showed up every day a smile on my face. I'm going to make the best out of what's going to happen today. And I kind of just rolled that wave for the first couple of years of my career, right until you start to establish yourself. And I had the just, I don't know how lucky I am. I had Zdenen Ochara is one of my mentors, right, my second year. I had Brian Leach my first year. So, guys that I looked up to Hal Gill my first year. Guys that I could try to emulate big guys, lot of reach, smart players, and so working with them in my early years was great. And again, it's like fantasy camp, right, you're showing up for the rink every day. And you got Zdenen Ochara big Zs like hell. I want to play with you. We're going to be together. We're shut down this line, this and that. So I gained a lot from those guys as my career went on and then ran into some troubles with concussions and whatnot, but continued to play and dropped back to be more of a 4, 5, 6 guy towards the end of my career, which is still fine, because any day in the night chill is a great day, right, but you meet a lot of people, a lot of teammates, a lot of good relationships and we had a great success in Vancouver and got to the San Diego finals. Obviously we lost here to Boston, which I'm reminded every day. I see a Bruins logo and everybody I see they always give me crap but it's all good, so it's a whirlwind. But I think one of the reasons that I stayed there sorry, long-winded answer here, but one of the reasons I stayed there is that I never and for better or for worse, I never felt I belonged in a way, just because of where I came from, and it was like I said, it's like fantasy camp every day and I never felt. I belonged in a way, just because of where I came from. I think that that internal kind of like pressure on myself to keep, you know, proving myself every day is what allowed me to stick around for so long, because if you ask a lot of my teammates and buddies, it's not my skill level that kept me there, you know, it's probably my skating and my work ethic and my attitude, and so if you can be a good teammate and fill a role, you can play a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, andrew, I'll tell you a couple of things based on your answer. Everybody wants to hear from you today, trust me, especially our audience. There are no long-winded answers for you. You could do this episode solo and we would all love it. The other thing, too, I love that you touched on it. You know sometimes that fear of whatever it is being cut, not making it I'm not good enough. Well, I still think it's healthy for people today to kind of dive into those and explore them. It can be a massive asset right to people succeeding right. You know, you hear stories especially about athletes from yesteryear, about I just didn't want to get cut and that's why it works so hard. I think there's a lot of different ways to do it, but at the end of the day it comes down to that work ethic that you spoke about. Like, if you don't have that, I'm guessing most players at the NHL level work pretty hard, right? Unless there's so much God-given talent that maybe they don't have to. But even then you find those guys work hard too, right? Yeah?
Speaker 2:I think, if you want to speak to talent and work ethic, if you look at any GM, any coach Mike, you coached Liam, you coached Christy I'm not sure if you coached well, but you get to the higher levels.
Speaker 3:Just a hockey mop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I would take a kid that works so hard all the time and he's a dog on Pox and he's all over the ice, then a kid that has all the talent in the world that, because that's going to run out right, unless you're a high-end player right, which some of those guys get to the NHL. But it does take hard work. But there are third and fourth line guys. So if you're a young player out there and you're not on the top line, you're not scoring all the time. Guess what? You still need third and fourth line guys for every single team that are going to be grind away and play smart, play good defense, win face, get Pux out of the zone, get Pux in. So if you're not a goal scorer out there, don't think that you're not going to make it. There's a different type of player, there's a different position that needs to be filled on every team as you continue to move up through the ranks.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, Well, andrew go ahead, mike.
Speaker 4:No, no, I was going to say Andrew. It's similar to the way we talk to these kids coming up now 15, 16, 17 year old players that everybody can't be. Adam Fox, like you need players to play D, even in the world of positionless hockey and all this free flow. Everybody's on the offense, everybody's on the defense. The fact is, everybody's not on the defense and somebody's got to play D. And again, do you need seven of those guys? No, but you can't have seven players that don't play D. And even forward you can't have seven guys. Like I used to joke all the time like I don't need six first line centermen, I need one, and then I need somebody else to work in the corners and work the wings. I mean, the game of hockey has never changed when it comes to there's rules, there's boards, there's blue lines, there's red lines, there's positional play. And I think a lot of parents lose sight of that when their kid doesn't make a team and they're more talented than some of the kids that made the team. Because and you know this too from the professional ranks, like GM's it's a science to inject a player into a role that they can help the team, even if they're not the best player on paper. We saw that recently with a couple of players. You know like you have a player come out and they're the best, maybe the top, a top six player, but there's not top six minutes, but they can't, they're not a nine, and what happens is they just never fit that role. They're like, oh my, we need this guy, yeah, but he's never gonna get in the, he's never getting the game. And I think it's it's so important for parents to see that, not at eight years old, nine years old, but really as the kids get older, that everyone's good, you're gonna outwork everyone on the ice. It means a little less about your actual talent than your you know, attitude and work ethic and your desire to outwork your teammates. And I love the point you're making about practice, because that's really where you know coaches really learn who you are and learn to trust you Like the one. The one statement I hate the most is well, coach, I'm a gamer. I'm a gamer. I got like I know, I know I'm not doing it in practice, but I show up in the game, I go. Well, you're not gonna get a chance to show up in the game because I can't put you in a game, because I don't even see what you can do in practice. So it's just a matter I you know. I think that's a great message for any kid. It's just, you know, show who you are in practice and the coaches will reward you. They will, I mean, maybe not every year, maybe not every shift, maybe not every coach, but eventually you'll be rewarded Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And I've seen fourth lines win the game. So there you go.
Speaker 1:Well, and I would say, before we turn towards NHL Sensory Nugtok, andrew, you could probably confirm this, but I don't think it's possible to win in the NHL. I don't care if you have Conor McDavid, sidney Crosby, alex Ovechkin. If you have a strong fourth line, you're not getting all the way. That's right. It's just one of the aspects of the game today. You need those guys too, don't get me wrong. All right, but did you want to touch on that real quick before we turn towards it?
Speaker 2:If we want to use the NHL for a comparison, it's easy if you look at the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights Like Edmonton's got dry seldom with David and they is amazing as they are they can't get past the second round, third round, because they don't have four full lines and 6D that play to the role that they're supposed to play to win the game. You look at Vegas last year and they had I mean they had four lines that could roll over it right, and even you know, 6d, all mobile, all played well, played good, constructively in the D zone, like it's. They were one of the best teams I've seen the last few years, just top to bottom, I mean goal-tenning out to their fourth centermen.
Speaker 1:So it's funny, andrew, I'll tell you so our audience does this. I'm in the Philadelphia area, so I grew up a Flyers fan and as much as I'm an NHL fan. I typically don't put stuff around memorabilia-wise or hockey-wise unless it's Flyers, because that's the way it is. But there's that picture of the Golden Knights last year after they won the cup behind the net and they're somehow in the formation of a heart, and I will share that on our page. It is one of the most amazing photos I have ever seen in hockey and I got that one because, as a team builder and someone who believes in what you said, you know the hardest worker in the room and the team bond. I don't think I've ever seen a better metaphor of a team right Embodying that, and I think you're right. I mean top to bottom. That was a complete hockey team and they still are in many ways. If I get an NHL talk, we're going to turn this into an NHL show and that's not what it is. The only NHL stuff I want to talk about today is NHL Sensorina and Andrew. First off, I want to say we are all really proud to be partnered with NHL Sensorina. We purposely did not take any kind of partnership or sponsorship spots on this show for years, because we wanted the right partnership. We wanted someone who was as dedicated to us to growing the game, to creating those communities and making sure that it was the right pathway for it, right? So I just first off want to tell you that how proud we are to be partnered with you. But outside of playing, you've been around the game a lot and the business of the game in a lot of ways, right, just reading up on your career. So I want to ask you this question what was it about Sensorina that really stood out and made you want to make the commitment that you made?
Speaker 2:Glad he asked the question, so I'm gonna bring it back to the first time. I tried it. So Brian Decord, our director of goal tending, he helped develop the Goalic product. The Goalic product for all you listen is out. There has been around a couple years, longer than the player, so it's a little more polished and so the goal tenders are really gravitating towards that. And so now we're building up the player products. It's been around for a couple years and we're just trying to refine everything, keep adding new drills, work on the stick, physics and the physics within moving the puck around, and make it as lifelike as possible. So Brian called me up gosh, it was probably three years ago and said hey, have you heard a sense arena? He left a message and said hey, have you heard a sense arena? If not, give me a call. I'd like you to come down and just test it out. And I know Brian, just through the hockey world and I hadn't heard of it came down and checked it out. I thought you know, I knew it was VR. I saw it online. I saw the YouTube videos, which really don't do it justice, because once you get the headset on, you're a former. That's another conversation. So I went down and put it on and the first drill I did I think it was three on one keep away, which I believe you've done it and then done a video on.
Speaker 1:I did, I did. Thank you for watching that.
Speaker 2:Put the headset on, I looked around. We had Massive Square Garden as the arena at the time, so you feel like you're in Massive Square Garden, very cool, and I thought this was neat. All right, I like it. Try to grab a puck. And I understood quickly that, all right, well, it's virtual rally. There's no way through a stick, there's no flex in the stick, there's no way to a puck. The physics are going to be different. Ok, I can get by that, right, because I know this is a cognitive tool. This is what they told me. So we go into three on one. Keep away. I understand the stick physics. I'm moving the puck around, I'm scanning, I'm pre-scanning, I'm reading off the defender what's available. I'm like, all right, I get this and I can kind of see where this is going. But give me game scenarios. Because if we can't do a game scenario, this is great and it's a fun tool. But if we're going to teach kids development-wise patterns in the game time and space recognition, all these things, we have to have game-stimulated drills. Yeah, no problem. So I go into shoulder check colors and I believe, if you have not, if you users have not seen this, it's a drill where you have to shoulder check behind you to get a puck that's in the corner. And once you do shoulder check, a color appears and you see the color wheel and then you can find the stick that corresponds to that color. And so I got in there and I did that drill the first time and I could understand that now we can teach kids things that are very hard to teach on the ice and they can go through that as many reps as they want to do Thousands of reps, they want hundreds of reps and no one's going to hit them. They're not going to get hurt. They can work on having their heads up. They can work on scanning, pre-scanning one of the most important tools in the game to understand the environment Behind you, in front of you, where are you going to go through next play. And so all these things started coming to my head and thinking, if we can keep developing this, this is such a great tool for any kid 10 years old. We have our pros that use it to stay sharp mentally in the NHL, which is really cool. So I jumped on board. I was super excited about it and since I've been on board, we just keep trying to refine and polish up things and create new scenarios and create new ways to teach kids and keep developing their cognitive process of quicker decisions, understanding patterns in the game, using their scanning ability and getting their heads up, because players just give their heads down, and so that's a huge part of it. So that was again long-winded answer, but that's kind of my first interaction with Sensory and I've loved it ever since.
Speaker 1:Well, andrew, I can tell you this too. So when I do the videos and I say I said like 10 times that video, I can't believe how immersive this is. When I say in my video, it's like I feel like I'm in the arena, it's one thing, but when you say it, it's so it's actually played on that ice, it is a whole nother level. But yeah, I think that kind of connecting the two halves of this episode. What I love about it that you mentioned is this creativity aspect. For the kids that use it. You can do as many reps as you want. No one's really watching you unless you want them to, of course and you can learn at your own pace with it. It's fun. And when you dive into the NHL season mode which again they have with goalies too, we'll talk about that there's your gamification. You want to keep going in the next drill, you want to improve upon yourself and it's a real game In the sense of not hockey game. I'm saying you got to go through it and you have to improve. It's not easy. You got to learn these skills. And then the last point you made that I want to reiterate 100% as a youth coach, when I coach the kids. I don't necessarily have the ability to go one on one on one to teach scanning at a practice. I get killed by the parents for doing that. So these are skill sets and, mike, you can touch on this too. These are really important skill sets that are allowed. You can't really do them off the ice until now. I'll say it that way, you might learn some of them on the street, in a way just looking around. But this is such a great way to do it. It's unlimited ice time. It's a lot cheaper than ice time.
Speaker 3:And I got a mom question for you, Andrew. You mentioned the kids with their heads down and that was the biggest pet peeve when our kids were just learning the game, to the point where all of us parents in the stands would be yelling heads up, head up, Pick up your hat, because you're all down like that. It drives us crazy and I know that's not what the coach is teaching them, but they're in that bad habit. How in the world does this break the kids' and then have it of having their heads down? I need to know that.
Speaker 2:All right, great question. So the beauty of sensorina is the constraints and parameters in which we can change within the drill. So the number one thing that we want to make this easy for kids to get their heads up, because that is one of the most important parts of the game. So if you don't know what's in front of you or what's coming at you, being able to judge time and space, you're in trouble. So the default mode on sensorina is no matter where you lay your stick, that puck is going to find your stick every time. So what that tells the player is that I can have my stick on the ice and I can have my head up the whole time. And I know that puck's going to come to my stick. And then I have to realize all right, well, I know I can't stick out on the puck that well, in VR, which is one of my favorite things, because it forces you to put your stick in a position to catch, pass and give a pass and become a more efficient player. So that's the simple answer right, oh, wow. And then once they get better at all, right. Well, now I know how this works and I'm keeping my head up. Now you can change the constraints that. All right, the pass is going to be six inches in front of you or six inches behind you and you have to adjust to that pass. So the constraints within each drill is the beauty of this. But the default mode that that puck is going to come to your stick every time allows young players to get their head up and then as they progress they can change it and and and Christy.
Speaker 3:OK, parents, you are so lucky because it's a dry pass, not with our kids.
Speaker 1:So yeah, Christy, I got to tell you too and like I was amazed at this too what Andrew's talking about. And again, I'm going over this because this is something I wish I had as a kid. But in the video I make on that three-on-one keep away there's a moment you can actually see me realize. Oh, I don't have to look down Like well, andrew said it right Once you get the physics down, which doesn't take long I was making one touch passes because there's some vibration in your hands when you're holding the stick. You can feel it kind of quote, unquote, right. But I had my head up and started making one touch passes and I'm really amazed because logic would dictate the deck. That's not possible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm impressed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it was totally possible, right, and we're just talking about the player side of things.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I want to touch on the goal tending too, because and this is something that's really cool we do another show here called Our Kids Play Goalie, which really is to open up the eyes of all hockey coaches and parents to the position, not just goal tenders, and we are always preaching as coaches. Everyone should try goalie once, right Now, once you get past 10, 12 years old, in historically speaking, if you're not in net, you're probably not getting in net. Now, suddenly, in my 40s, I'm in net. I'm seeing the game from this position per se, right. Obviously you're not doing anything with your legs or dropping down, but I'm talking about it from a coach standpoint, about learning a lot more about that position that I've never known. And then we know from the Decorat family that NHL goalies are using this to warm up for games. So why don't you just touch on the goal tending side of this? Because there's a lot of different ways it can be utilized.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I'm not going to do as well as Brian Decorat do. We'll get him on too, I'll just give you a best presentation here. So for goalie usage, obviously we have our NHLers Joey Decorat and Devon Levi and others that use it for priming their brains before practice. Or if you're a bearded goalie, every shot you're seeing is going up by your ears Right. So we don't want to use it for a warmup, because that's the only way you're seeing real shots, catching pucks, tracking pucks and whatnot. But the other big thing for me is, besides the priming the brain aspect of it, which our NHLers use for either in between periods before games if there's no pre-game skate, joey will use it right.
Speaker 1:Or.
Speaker 2:Devon will use it. But for younger players that want to experience the game and learn about the goal tending position and understand it better and become better at it, the biggest question is and I'll just address it now because there's no going down. You can go down, right, but the sensors are on the hands of the glove and blocker, right. So what the idea behind this is with this technology is that we have so many young goal tenders that just drop on every shot. I think they're just going to square up and they're going to drop on every shot. Hope their angles are right, right, but we want you to make that read first. We want you to make that read. Read the release. Where's the puck coming, get to your spot and then make the stop, as opposed to just dropping every time. So one, that's the wear and tear in the body, right. So goal tenders go down and it's between 130 and 180 times of practice. Typically that's a lot on the hips. There's a hip adenic going on and more labor surgery is going on than they were 20 years ago, right, so that's part of it. But then you get to again, so you're reacting to the shot and then, within all this, there are different tools you can use. You can turn on the angles button so you have lines that show you every shot, or you squared all your pucks. There's box control. Are you jammed the box to make sure you're protecting the little imaginary box in front of you instead of trying to protect the whole net? So again it goes back to little features that we can add that are going to help you understand where you are on your net, how to make better saves, how to get on your angles, how to track pucks, and then reading the release with our NHL videos, which is really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Andrew, I'll add on too, because the other half of that, oh, you can't go down. Well, in the player mode, skater mode you don't skate either, right, but that's the point, right, because you're doing that on the ice. This is forcing you to work on some of these other aspects of the game that you might necessarily not even think when you're on the ice. And again, that actually kind of brings me to my next question, like the objections, right? So I don't like to use the word generational divide, but this is a newer technology that's coming to the forefront, right, and a lot of people could scoff at it or not understand it. And my kind of direction when I talk to people about it is like, look, this is what your kids are going to use, right? This next young generation is going to grow up on these things. They are not going away, they are only going to become more prominent. So, as a parent, there's a minor responsibility, even though it's really fun. It's a really fun responsibility, but there's a responsibility for me to want to learn this, just to have a clue, right, because I think, technologically, when you don't have a clue what your kids are doing, that might be when you get in trouble. But also, the technology is only going to get better and better and better. So you mentioned one of the quote unquote objections about the platform. What are some other common objections that you hear, and then what is your retort to them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, if you look at the player pride, it's easy to see movement, right. So I believe in your video you had an 8 by 10 area, if that. So movement is tough, right. So what we've done is we've created a situation where you've already created time and space and now you're in a position to make a play right. So that's kind of the mindset of the player version, right? Or you need to make a pass and then Get on to a different angle or get to an open spot within that parameter in which you created To make your next play. We have something coming up. It's gonna be a little more movement wise, and so that's gonna help. Come back, that, and we're gonna try to move into some movement type stuff coming in the future here, which is very cool. But that's probably the number one thing in the player version, and obviously I touched on the goaltender version of Going down. Players want to go, always want to go down all the time. So that's the biggest complaint on that. But To combat, that is, you can take this on the ice, right. So, players, you can go on the ice as long as you're not running the board's goaltenders. You can go on the ice and you can calibrate to your post so you know exactly where you are and you can go on the ice and get a workout in. I know bonesy did a great video if he went on the ice for a 15 20 minute workout session and he's dripping because he's like this is the real thing, it's the post of the post right, all the marks on the ice within sensorina all are within the same boundaries of a regular ring. So there are ways to changes or kind of Get on the ice and have some movement. But obviously you know, we know this, we have our limitations, but as technology changes we're gonna keep changing with it and make it better.
Speaker 3:That is a perfect lead to my next question. So what do you see is the future for sensorina, where we had it with this technology?
Speaker 2:So I'll let you know a little secret. So so our next mode, our next Kind of cool thing come out. It is gonna be kind of continuous play, right? So can we take a drill and can we turn it into a shift? Yeah, you know, you have gameplay, wow. So so this is where we're headed and that's in, that's coming up sooner than later. And then beyond that, you know, obviously, if you look two, three years down the road, you know AR has become a big thing or it's gonna be a bigger thing, right? Because then it's like all right, well then we have augmented reality in. Now I can be in my driveway and and see holograms and pass them right. So Wow. Yeah and then one more thing is is all right, well, can Lee and be in his basement and I'm in mine, and now we're passing to each other, right? Or? Or Mike's a gold tender in his basement and I'm a player and I'm shooting on. You know, these types of things are what we're working on right now.
Speaker 3:So right, so teams could actually practice in their homes right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no more snow days, no more cancel. You know it's funny you mentioned augmented reality, because that just gave me a ton of ideas about even just being outside with a net and having Someone to play with. Yeah, even if you don't right, that is amazing when you think about it, not to mention the the ability to even be at games. So you heard it here first the 2075 Stanley Cup final will be played in AR, not on, realize? No, it look, it really is amazing technology. I also want to tell you to Christie, this is this is what I got was well, how do you know where you are with that thing? On right, obviously, depending on on what headset you have. The newer ones allow you to see the room that you're in. But it was funny is the first time I used it and Andrew said I was in a kind of a small space. This thing lets you know very clearly hey, you're getting close to a wall or a barrier and it would freak me out one time as I got too close and it's tough to explain if you're not in it but a little portal opened up in front of me, like and it's my point of view it's 3d and I could see my room. It was like coming out of a movie or something like that. Again they're gonna use this clip in 30 years and make fun of all of us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, old people talking about this, but I did some police training where they had as for a new story where they had that technology and there were choices given. You know, should you do a, should you do be, and there are different scenarios and you would pick one and then they would tell you what the outcome would see with that. Is that something also you think could be? We've did to that down the road.
Speaker 2:Christie, it sounds like you've been listening to some of our meetings. Journalist Andrew that's what she does as we're pushing forward here. Yeah, it comes All right. Well, can we create a scenario where you have to choose based on your leads? Are you identifying the correct cues to move to the right position for the next play? So then now we're teaching the game. Right now we're staying in the patterns and where players should go. You know just off a read, but they're making that read right. So you're hitting on something pretty good there.
Speaker 3:So yeah, the police training. It was really fascinating because it was a shoot or don't shoot. Decision and you have to make these, just like in hockey. You got to make fast, quick decisions. Yeah and it's. It was fascinating to see and unfortunately I kind of failed, failed the test here. I didn't end well for me, but somebody who was better trained than me could make the right decision and and be reinforced and see the outcome of it. It was just incredible. Training yes.
Speaker 2:So the beauty of this is is now a player can do that a thousand times like think of doing that. Yes, you have to get teammates or players, you have to have a coach, you to set the scenario, you have to rent the ice.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Now you can do this a thousand times over and over and over generated Simulation. So it's not. It's never gonna be the same play. Yeah, it's in different positions, players in different positions, different speeds, and so you're just running through different puck touches.
Speaker 1:Incredible yeah, and I'll say this last one, this last objection that I'll bring up. You know, sometimes when it looks at you, people can look at the cost of this, which really is not a deal breaker at least for more I'm standing. But when you look at a sensor in the subscription, you look at the headset you have to get, which is a one-time purchase, right, and then compare it to one hour of ice time, you know you're in a you're, it's an easy decision at that point, right, keeping inside, keeping in mind you can have unlimited ice time, so it's well worth it. The last thing I want to say to the audience and and Mike, I know you've used this too there is just no way to express how immersive this is and how real this feels. Until you try it Right, you can watch all of the videos we put out, you can get a pretty good idea, but until you're really in this headset in your room with a stick in your hand or the glove in the blocker on, and that puck Is coming at you and it feels like it's coming at you, there's just no way to know. Until you try it right, I don't know. I don't know how else to say that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think once people start, you know, obviously we'd love people to, you know, leave this episode and really dig into like cognitive Training and cognitive development and where that's come. I mean, you know, like five or six years ago I was, I was so, you know, focus on the fact that everything we do with our players has to be on the ice, and every movement and every decision and every, if we want to make players faster, it has to be on the ice. And you know, a couple of years ago I was introduced to this guy, reggie Grant, who was, who was a trainer with the New York Rangers and he had it before right, a little before sensorina there's this, this is company called microgate, which does real cognitive, true agility training. So the way I use it, like the way I use sensorina, is I take that cognitive development training and and all of that's off the ice. And you know, one of the things that Reggie certainly sold me on because I had good debates of them Like I wanted to bet you with this because I think you're wrong, and it came out to be like, listen, once you stick skates on and once you start asking kids to balance and once you start asking people to be in situations that you, as the coach, can't control and fine-tune, it becomes harder to process. And if you process your brain quicker, everything the muscles and the movement and all that stuff will happen, like the brain has to happen first, like so if you impede it by saying I want you to think fast, but I also want you to balance, that's a lot of, that's a lot to do. So I think you know, using that off ice training, I know we use sensorina for the last. I think I have 13 goalies and sensorina right now. Now using this and not as a gimmick and it was a gimmick at first like everybody's. Like, oh, mike, you're just trying to sell us. I go, listen, I just don't want you to be, I just don't, I just don't think you need to get your car, pack your bag, go to the rink, have a coach. Like if you're a really good, great goalie coach, you could still be a great goalie coach and say get all your extra, do all your homework in this, and I can then see it Like I can contribute to your success. And I think we're seeing that now with the forwards, like I don't care that I'm not skating or the puck doesn't feel like a puck. What I care about is your brain recognizing where you're supposed to go right, and eventually it will happen. Your brain will tell you where you need to go, so you don't need to like. Like to Andrew's point. You're not. You're really. You're not really like. I'm not a big fan of the shooting piece, because it doesn't, but I've gotten better at it and now I'm getting better at it. What I'm, what I'm getting better at, is not the actual shooting, it's recognizing where to shoot right and I think that's where. That's the piece that people have to get by. And I have to say, you know, as far as the cost goes, come to cook, come to the good tona, come to the sensorina lab we have you could try it out. You get unlimited use. I mean, all our players get unlimited use. So, yeah, I can be in it for five minutes and not like it. Or they could be in it every day for and again. This is not. I don't think it. Andrew can just say what he needs to, but I don't think this is like you're sitting in this for an hour. This is like 20 minutes a day figure, getting a piece that you want to work on on your own time, on your own dime, without anybody else. And and the beauty is, you still can have a coach review this. You still can be with a Instructor saying I really don't like, and then you know I don't like the way you're doing this. But then really, what it's a transferable skill? To me, it's training the brain to be faster. Then we get on the ice and then we go back to the virtual reality piece and we we fine-tune it, then we go back to the ice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I would also hope it is. A lot of my kids injuries came as a result of them not having their heads up, not having spatial awareness, being in situations where they weren't aware of the players coming around them.
Speaker 4:This, this might have prevented an injury with one of my kids that they had that kind of skill ahead of time and and and you mentioned earlier about these coaches like oh, we know the coach is teaching that and the fact is they are teaching that, though Every drill they do is doesn't result in an end result. It's like my feet is private lesson coaches every drill they do ends up in a shot. But in this, in sensorina, the majority that's like I, most of my kids that use it don't even use the hockey piece, they use the cognitive piece like they're just using the timing piece. They're using the recognition piece because it's recognizing, is recognizing is recognizing. Yeah, knowing and being able to pick up speed is really more important than the actual, like physical, piece of hockey, and I think that's where I that's where I think it's, I don't think it's a standalone. The first one, yeah, the vice, although I guess if you're in a place where there's no hockey, you could do it, right, you could be playing hockey, like you guys are saying. But I think it's part of the trifecta of hockey development is that you can, you can use all these tools to help you get your end result, and I don't know, I'm certainly not leaving us and I think it is. I mean I, I know the first, my, my first. I got my first headset right here. I mean like so that first head, the first headset was like and I think we need.
Speaker 3:We need to get Christy and a headset, just to get that footage of you guys I would love to do this, I don't have my daughter.
Speaker 4:And just being the development though of the product again and Andrew mentioned earlier, it really was oh, that's goalies, that's for goalies, because goalies can just stand there and see pucks. But when you're in that thing and you go like NHL mode, I'm like how do you see that puff like that much? That just went fast. I didn't know. The kids shot, you know, and I love the fact that, like there's real players in there now and there's like it, like there's like a lot of stuff that they have in it. I shouldn't even call them kids. These are young men, right that these aren't. These are like the devon leave, you know, leave I. Kind of kids like these are the the court kids. These aren't like recreational hockey players, these are elite athletes that have found the secret to getting more reps in without killing themselves. Yeah, and and and you know, and then be able to turn it off when you want to turn it off, right, like, imagine going to the rink and saying I only want to do five minutes today. Your coach's head would explode Like and your parents, if you're paying for it right now, I'll come back to it. You turn it off, you go, you get back in and I think that's what's. You know the beauty about that self, you know the self teaching piece of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to touch on a couple things. You said One just for users. It, mike, was talking about the cognitive platform. It's a separate platform. That's on the sense arena and it doesn't involve goalie gloves or or hockey stickering. It's just about working on your focus, your reaction, your memory, your reaction, and then you have to work on your decision making skills and how fast you can do it. So that's that, and then also, like you touched on the stick part of it and shooting, and Liam, I kind of left that out by accident, but but shooting is a part where kids get in there to get frustrated because they can't Snipe bar down every time, right, and they can't stick handle and and you know, back and forth, back and forth. But but again it comes back to for for us what we've developed is obviously a way to get extra attention on our job if you get to the point where you do need to take that shot or you are making that pass, and obviously we want, we want that pass to go, take the tape and we want you to score top shelf right. But again, they've already done the work part right and that's the fun part to keep them coming back for more.
Speaker 4:So we're going to need to refine that stuff, but really it's the cognitive piece that they're working on so and you're just from a multi sport piece like so, our athletes at the school, our basketball, baseball, and we're going to use the cognitive piece so they log in and they don't even care about hockey, they don't need to stick hepatitis, they don't need any of the stuff, they just use the, the controllers which come. You know, the controllers come with the. You know, you got your head, you got your head set and the controllers and that's it. You're, you're, you're in the cognitive mode, and I think what that does, if you're, if you're, if you're a parent and you're like oh, I got one hockey kid and the rest are, you know, soccer and baseball kids Well, I think, I think that cognitive piece is so important because and it's fun you get in that thing, you're sweating, I mean you get out of that you get out of it. You know we got. You know we have to hold, we have a whole. You know we have to devise a whole system of the kid coming out of the headset, cleaning it, you know, putting a new put. Each kid has their own I piece piece, you know whatever silicone piece, so it's. But it's all the process of saying, you know, we love the fact that the kids are excited to get into something new and get into something on their own time and get into the sense arena. Where could you do that, like, where could you? Where could you go down for 20 minutes in between class and get reps in? You can't do it. So this is the way to do it. It's become like the modern shooting room and you know, and I think, if you have that and and every and you, I mean I, I, I don't know if you can divulge all the teams, but like every NHL tour that I've or any every NCAA tour that I've done with my 16 and 7 year old kids, when we go to the shooting room and they all have sense arena in them now they got their sticks, got their real pucks, but then they got the space because now they can put their headsets on. I think it was at Boston College that you guys did a good clip on like and the guys like freaking out like VR, what the hell is this Like? This is unbelievable, like you know, and I was laughing because I kind of picked up and I'm like we have VR. I mean, that's, that's the you know we're. We're trying to be a modern, you know, development program, but again, use it at the same time. And that's what's great about going into the different pieces of this is you find what you want to work on and you can go in and log in and do it and a great thing until your kids.
Speaker 2:Mike is, uh, is like, how many shots you take a game, mm? Hmm, all right, how many passes, how many pre scans, how many scans, how many times you identify in cues to to make a certain play over thousands of times? Right? So that's the part of the brain and you know we really want to get going right now. You know you have your, you have your health, you have your your sleep, you have your nutrients, you have your shooting, but it's that cog in the piece that's kind of been left out, and so we're trying to fill that void and and for for young players and for NHL players, or well as well.
Speaker 1:So I will say this you have to look at NHL Sensory and as a tool to improve your game, right? That's for actually any age that wants to use it, really, even beyond that. I think that's also, too. I think it's important to say and I think people can get lost on this sometimes VR is not a coming technology anymore. It's here, right, it's here and it's only going to get more prominent and and I think we're all on agreeing, agreed here that this technology for today is at a really good place for hockey players and athletes to be using. I wouldn't say this is experimental anymore. Maybe, maybe five, ten years ago, you could have said that, like, this is a really good place for athletes to be. We want to find that advantage, right. This is one of those advantages. It's that everyone can share. Andrew, it's been really great having you here today. I've really enjoyed this conversation. You know we wanted to provide value to the audience, both from your career but also about NHL Sensory, and I really feel like we've accomplished that.
Speaker 2:No, I appreciate having on, and one thing I want to add to those points you just mentioned is that we try to make it fun too right, because kids aren't going to do it if it's not fun. So you know you have to play against your buddy at his house when you're at your house, have some fun with it, and if you can, train and have fun at the same time, it's a win-win and there's always something new happening in NHL Sensory, which is also really fun.
Speaker 1:Every time you go in there there's a new arena to go to. Um. You guys just added MetLife Stadium for the stadium series that's coming up. The All-Star Game had a whole thing going on, um. You know you look forward to see what are they going to do next. It keeps you coming back and, mike, I'll have to tell you this I'm going to have to set a timer because I'm in there and I'm in there, um, and that that's saying something. But, andrew, again I just want to thank you for coming on today. Uh, this has been a fantastic episode.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me. I appreciate you. Uh one, uh, pumping our tires a little bit, but also just just talking about Sensory what's good, what's bad, the reality of it and how it's going to help kids in the development Absolutely.
Speaker 1:and look, lozie, listening, you can tell we're all pretty passionate about this, and if you're not intrigued about it after this episode, I don't, I don't know what to tell you. If you are intrigued, though, you should know we do have a link in the description using the code hockey never stops at hockey dot censorina dot com. For those of you watching the episode, mike has his head set on. There's just no way to look cool on a headset, just yet. At some point it's going to become a mainstream thing and everyone will do it.
Speaker 4:It's just a mirth to my faith.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just, it's just a funny thing right now. But uh, yeah, in, uh in. In 20 years, 10 years, no one will be laughing at it. It'll just be a normal thing that we see. But for Andrew Albert, christy Cash, hannah Burns and Mike Vannelli, I'm sure you're going to love the episode of our kids play hockey. Head over to our kids play hockey dot com for more information or make sure you join our Facebook group, our kids play hockey, to continue the conversation off the ice. We'll see you next time. Everybody, have a great day. We hope you enjoyed this edition of our kids play hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right now if you found value. Wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network or our website, ourkidsplayhockeycom. Also, make sure to check out our website, ourkidsplayhockey stops dot com. It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life. We're very proud of it. But thanks so much for listening to this edition of our kids play hockey and we'll see you next time.