CIAC Glory Days
The CIAC Glory Days podcast immerses listeners into the world of high school athletics. Explore the purpose and impact of interscholastic athletics on student-athletes as administrators, coaches, players, officials, parents, and State Athletic Association staff take listeners on a journey from tryouts to championships.
CIAC Glory Days
Glory Days Podcast S2:E5 - Notre Dame West Haven Hockey, CIAC Division I State Champions 🏒🏆
CIAC Glory Days Podcast host Jada Mirabelle sits down with Notre Dame West Haven, the Division I Boys Ice Hockey State Champions! 🏆🎙️
Join Head Coach Larry Vieira and Senior Captains Dylan Bankowski and Lukacs Delmonico as they reflect on unforgettable moments, discuss their championship mindset, and reveal what it truly takes to reach the top. 🏒🥇
Welcome to CIC's Glory Days podcast. I'm your host, Jada Maribel, and today I'm joined by the 2024 Division I Boys Ice Hockey State Champions, Notre Dame West Haven. I'm joined by an all-time great Connecticut ice hockey coach, Larry Vieira, and two Notre Dame West Haven captains, Lucas Delmonico and Dylan Bankowski. Thank you all for joining me today. I'm so excited to have you into the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Of course. So Notre Dame hockey had an awesome season last year and has had a very successful run these past few years, making an appearance in the four past Division I state championships, and I have no doubt that this season is going to be another great one. But it'll be a little bit different because you'll be kicking it off in War Road, minnesota, one of the best hockey cities in the country to play in a Christmas tournament against some of the best Minnesota hockey teams.
Speaker 2:So what is the plan and mindset? Heading into that tournament to play against those Minnesota teams? We're just looking to put Notre Dame on the map outside of Connecticut. You know, we've made our mark in Rhode Island, we've made our mark in Mass and I just want to keep raising the bar. That's the bottom line. So that was my plan. I set it around in April and I came up with this master plan. So we'll see how happy we are. Come what is it? December 29th?
Speaker 1:we'll see how happy we are. It'll be awesome practice, though, yeah 100%. It'll be battle-tested when you come back to Connecticut.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, like you said, basically we just want to go up there and win. It's what we always try to do and try to keep on growing the organization, just making it better, keep on growing the organization just making it better, and that's probably a big step if we come out of there with a winning record.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely. It's a great opportunity.
Speaker 5:I think our mindset is definitely going to be it's any other game. Now you can't go in there thinking we're in Minnesota. You've got to take it as any other game and kind of take the punches and roll with them.
Speaker 1:True, and so this is an elite tournament. How did it come about with getting a spot to play in this?
Speaker 2:I'd like to say it was through my connections.
Speaker 3:But it was purely luck.
Speaker 2:So I started to call Division I coaches. I wanted to play Minnesota teams and as I talked to these guys, we would not be a good match. They had teams with nine Division I commits. Their extra players were USHL commits. We're good, we're not that type of level. So they said why don't you call some Division II teams but don't call War Road? So as always, people say don't call.
Speaker 3:War Road.
Speaker 2:That's the first guy I called, and it just so happened that they've had this tournament for 30 years and a team dropped out that's been in it for 20. Oh wow, so it was just pure luck. He did some research on us and he felt it would be a good. A good uh fit.
Speaker 1:That's good timing. Great timing and good luck. Yeah, that'll be awesome, great experience. And that's christmas day.
Speaker 2:You're leaving or right after we're leaving christmas day bah, humbug, yeah, um, and on the positive note with that, the parents were super supportive in the school because I did present it to them prior to committing and the parents, uh, thought it was a good idea. They'll do christmas on christmas eve and we'll we'll spend christmas together.
Speaker 1:Oh, that'll be nice, that'll be awesome I found a place on christmas eve.
Speaker 2:That's when we arrive. We got some chinese food. We'll be delivered. We'll be good to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was called king garden a little shout out to them so we're good to go, you're so, hopefully you guys like chinese food yeah yeah. So, leary, you're a phenomenal coach. You've earned your 500th career win this past season. You've coached for different schools throughout your career, but you've won countless state championships, so how do you continue to build and then maintain these incredible programs?
Speaker 2:It's all about the players. It really is. I mean, players make coaches look good and I surround myself with really good assistant coaches that aren't ES men and that's really the bottom line, and you know, I want high character kids that work hard and the formula seems to work. So really it's about the kids and the surrounding cast really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely yeah. The kids are the main bread and butter. What do you expect from your athletes? What is the standard that you hold them to to continue to create these teams?
Speaker 2:You have to have discipline, you have to have a work ethic and you have to believe in team over eye and I'm fortunate at Notre Dame where I can look for kids like that. We try to weed out the kids who make bad decisions the kids who don't work hard, and really that's the foundation for success in all parts of life, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Yes, very true. And what are some of the other core values that you and the rest of the coaching staff try to instill besides that discipline and that hard work ethic?
Speaker 2:Well, definitely teamwork. There has to be a family atmosphere I think that's the biggest one and accountability, you know we hold the kids accountable, and these guys have always responded to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was very cool to see last year on the ice. You guys all played very well together.
Speaker 5:You're great athletes but you're also great people off the ice. Yeah, that's one of our big things at ND team bonding. Over the summer we're all together, we're working out, we're lifting, so we're together pretty much from July 5th until when the season starts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that really helps with team chemistry. Because you have it off the ice. You have it on the ice, yep.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we all just know each other, which is good. It's that makes a big difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so last year in the state championship game against New Canaan, who was seeded number one, you defeated them 4-1. So what was your game plan heading into that game and how did it evolve throughout Nice?
Speaker 5:I'd say we definitely weren't worried about the seeding or anything like that. We knew we had played a tough schedule which had an effect on our seed, but our mindset was we've played them before. We kind of understood that if we can get up on them early kind of score early the goalie would crumble and then with that the rest of the team did. We knew this was a big thing for them. They haven't been to a state championship in a long time. So, as coach larry was saying, the week leading up to it the whole town would be there and they were.
Speaker 4:they had a lot of people around them but it was nice to get to send them home early and send them packing yeah, uh, yeah, you know, for us, like you said you, we've been in the state championship four years in a row before that, or three years in a row before that. So I try to just think of it as another game For us. They had, like I think they said it was like their first state championship, like 25 years, so they had a lot of ride on that game. It was a huge game for them, obviously, a huge game for us. But, like he said, we knew we just needed to score first and then, if we scored first, we knew like the rest would just follow and we would just need to keep on scoring and, just you know, pound them hard down low.
Speaker 4:Just keep on getting shots on net and rest would just come together yeah, you guys had a strong plan going.
Speaker 1:It worked yeah, you guys had knocked them out of semifinals the year prior yeah, I think so. Yeah, the year, last couple years, we've uh taken them out yeah we've been a thorn in their side, yeah, so they came back for revenge, but you guys still came out on top. Was there a specific game or moment in the playoff that stood out as a defining moment for the team?
Speaker 5:I think definitely the end of the second period versus Simsbury, because that was a game we had walked into kind of unsure of if they were really good and they were as good as their schedule had said, because they played weaker teams but they were kind of beating them by a lot by a lot so we weren't 100 sure on how physical or how tough they'd be. And then they took a 1-0 lead early and going into that second period we knew we had to turn something around and we had to talk with the team. The whole team kind of bought in, dug in, and so we kind of rolled with that. We didn't get anything till, I think, eight minutes left in the second period when Lucas actually scored a nice rebound goal and then we kind of rolled from there and after that it was pretty much our game from there on out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, momentum definitely shift.
Speaker 4:Second period of that game uh, yeah, you know, I think the momentum shifted probably in the first period, when lane made that one save, when they came down, you know, because if they score that goal I mean that's they go up to nothing in the first period.
Speaker 4:I mean, that was the first time us even going down, I think, against the connecticut team all year so that definitely, you know, probably caught us off guard, but we just knew that we just needed to come back to second period and just probably, like he said, we just all needed to buy in and that probably changed the whole season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how do you stay focused with the ups and downs of a game or a season? Because that was a back game, for example. It was. You didn't know how it was going to go, so how do you stay focused in those?
Speaker 5:moments it's definitely just kind of understanding like we knew who we were as a team so we weren't worried. Once they scored, like we knew, all right, we need like the goals are going to come. We just got to stick to our game plan. We had a good plan going in four, check them hard. We knew the d down low would cough up pucks and that's kind of what happened throughout the game. We got chances during that. Their goalie made some big saves, but once the shots started falling, it was kind of our game from there on out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we just try to remember who we are as a team. We know that, like, even if we go down or if we're losing a game, that's not who we are. We know that we can always come back and that we have guys that know how to score goals and a goalie that can make big saves when he needs to. So we just knew that even if we went down, it was never like the game's already over so yeah, you could always come back, yeah, so what was.
Speaker 1:Yeah you could always come back. Yeah, so was that the most challenging in-game moment of the season, or were there other ones that come to mind?
Speaker 4:I would say probably playing prep in the SEC chip was tough, you know, we knew we had beat them, I think, the game before, but we lost to them the year before that in the SEC championship. So we knew that they're always just a tough team to beat and they always, you know, pack that game.
Speaker 2:That game's always packed, so it's a hard game to play in, but we knew that again. If we just scored first, then it goes our way sometimes. So from a coaching perspective, the simsbury game was the most challenging really, just because I don't like playing teams that are loaded with seniors true I just know that it's their last hurrah and they do special things. And then they started to trap us and I said, oh boy, here we go.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 2:Lucas was right about Lane and I would almost even counter that If he didn't make two saves, we'd have been down 3-0. I mean he made saves that you just can't make on a high school level.
Speaker 2:You just don't make them. And without that we were in huge trouble and I thought we were in big trouble Down 1-0, quite frankly, just because they weren't Simsbury wasn't playing to win anymore. And then, when you're playing in the semifinals, your heart beats a little bit, your palms start to sweat, you hold the stick a little bit tighter. It's weird. It's a different season. The playoffs are a different season If you haven't played in the playoffs, as Lucas pointed out, New Canaan, it's a challenge the first time to play in a big arena.
Speaker 2:Until you experience it, it's tough to explain.
Speaker 1:You guys have plenty of experience in that. That must be why you guys always come through with a win.
Speaker 2:We're very fortunate.
Speaker 1:So, besides you, Lucas, Notre Dame has lost their entire first line and goaltender, losing all-stars like Logan Hurd, Lane Jackson and James Mascari. So what's the plan this year? To mesh new players to the roles of those veteran players.
Speaker 4:You know, obviously it stinks losing big guys like that.
Speaker 4:They were a huge part of, like, the success last year. But we've just been skiing with the team and, lucky for us, at Notre Dame we're very deep and we have guys that maybe even last year could have stepped up in those positions and we have guys that are ready this year to always fill in and that are just ready to play at that kind of level, at that like first line and so. But we just try to get everyone together, make sure like who's working together, like early in the season, just to see who works out, and that's kind of of what we do, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys have very strong lines, not just the first line, the second and third line are very strong as well.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I, think at ND we're big on the next man up theory. Where one guy goes down or one line's not playing, well, that next line that's up is ready to go. So I think the kids that were in that spot last year are more than ready to go this.
Speaker 2:And so basically, the younger kids are going to have to mesh with these guys and it started with great leadership this summer and I don't have any doubt that the younger guys will mesh and the younger guys are going to be juniors that have been around the program. It's not like they're going to be brand new. But, we might have some younger kids that might grab a roster spot. But the kids that have been waiting they understand the culture.
Speaker 2:They understand what the expectations are so, um losing the guys we did, it's tough to replace, so we will see how much we miss them as we move along, but we feel that we have a good bunch of kids ready to step in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys have a strong roster to help replace them. So how do each of you prepare mentally and physically for a game? How do you get into that winning?
Speaker 4:mindset. I just try to think of it as like enter the game. I don't try to make games blown out of proportion like too big, like one game is bigger than the other, even though it is true. But I just try to tree every game like every game is the biggest game so that I can just play the same. Sometimes I just put on my headphones. Listen to music. A music choice is probably not the best. I probably listen to. Like the Trolls music from the Trolls movies.
Speaker 1:The Trolls music yeah, I didn't expect that from you. No, yeah, the Trolls music Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I just put that on.
Speaker 1:Do you like that movie Lucas?
Speaker 4:I do. It's a good mood because sometimes when I'm on the ice, I can maybe be a little mean, so I try to get in a good mood before the game and just try to smile, have fun, and then when we get on the ice it's all business.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a good strategy, Whatever works for you.
Speaker 5:Do you?
Speaker 1:listen to any movie soundtracks. Not quite like that. Mine is a little different.
Speaker 5:I'm normally on the speaker, so that's a big thing for me, kind of getting the music setting the tone for the team.
Speaker 5:But, also, like Lucas said, not blowing games out of proportion. Everything's just another game. One game might be more important or might mean more, but at the same time it's just five guys on the ice and you have your teammates. So I trust my teammates. I know that if I have a bad play or a bad shift, that they're going to come up and help me out. So I trust that and kind of roll with that throughout the game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are both really good ways to think about it. You don't want the pressure to get to you, just take it as a normal game. Yeah, so, as individual athletes, what does training look like for you in the offseason?
Speaker 5:I spend a lot of time in the weight room in the offseason and like so. I play lacrosse in the offseason, so I'm on the field a lot. So I'm staying active because it's a big thing. You can't if you sit down and like, take every kid that's around you is going to get better. So the kids are taking advantage of that. Get better, and all you are is behind when the season starts. So I like to stay active, stay doing something. Even if I'm not in the weight room that day I'll be out of the field or doing something physically active yeah, like he said, I just like to stay active.
Speaker 4:I play baseball, so we're in the weight room for baseball too, so I'm never really fully stopping. I also try to just stay on the ice, like private lessons or maybe just playing with like a summer team or spring team. So I don't get away from being on the ice as I don't want to get rusty. I just try to think about like the next year going like last year. I was just thinking about going in my senior year. You know, I wanted to be the best I could for this year because hopefully we can try to win it again.
Speaker 1:And everyone needs to be at their best for that to happen. Yeah, it's so important to stay active throughout your office.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and a big advantage we have at nd is the summer workouts we do so. Not only are you working out, but you're also with the team. So, as the team's getting better, you're getting better and you're also building that chemistry for the upcoming season that's very true.
Speaker 1:so how do you think that the new ciac rule allowing for practice two days a week for two hours per session will help benefit your team and other teams for the season?
Speaker 2:I think it's a positive. Absolutely, ciac did a great job approving that and it just gives us a chance to work with the student athletes more than we would. So the kids did get a chance to skate for a limited period of time, along with the off-ice stuff which we can do year-round. So I think it's a positive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some extra time to get the team ready and get them together. So what games are you most looking forward to this year and which ones do you think will be the biggest challenges? Besides War Road, of course, yeah.
Speaker 4:I would say I always look forward to playing Prep because it's just always a big game. There's always a lot of people there, it's just a big rivalry and I just always want to beat them and but they're also like a huge challenge. So that's probably one of the biggest challenges we're gonna have this year trying to beat them, and probably Darian and New Canaan. They're always strong and those are just games that a lot of people always go to, so those are just the most fun games to play in, for sure yeah, I'm with Lucas there, like perhaps always a fun game to play in when we play Darian at home.
Speaker 5:Towards the end of the season we're gonna play New Canaan.
Speaker 5:I'm very excited for those games because those are good teams from last year. I'm also excited to play Simsbury again, kind of because we got to play them last year. They're on our schedule this year, which hasn't happened, so I'm excited to get to see them and see how they are without all the seniors they had last year. But I think one of our big games this year is Archbishop Williams, which is an out-of-state team which we know is good, and that'll be towards the end of the season. So we're hoping we have everything figured out by then. We can kind of give them our best shot.
Speaker 1:You have a really stacked schedule this year.
Speaker 4:That's where my dad went to high school, really, oh really.
Speaker 1:Maybe he could give you some tips.
Speaker 3:Brain tree mask. Brain tree mask Jesus. Oh nice, yeah the schedule is packed.
Speaker 2:That's one of my brain. I can't think of the word. But in April, when I came up with the Minnesota thing, I I can't think of the word. But in April, when I came up with the Minnesota thing, I also wanted to improve our schedule even further, and that's the only way we're going to attract good kids to Notre Dame. That's the niche that kids want to play high school. It has to be on that level, If not they won't come.
Speaker 1:That's true. That's how you compete with those academies and those prep schools.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think that's also a huge advantage we have, like kind of with the summer workouts and then the strength of schedule. It kind of gets us ready for those playoff games and those big pressure situations where we might be down a goal or might have to come back in a tough game where it's zero, zero late and kind of get that goal.
Speaker 1:I think those those games are huge for us yeah, because you've already played in those high pressure moments at the beginning of the regular season so it gets you ready. So, heading into this next season, what do you think all of your strengths are as a team? Besides the strong roster and the experience, do you have any others?
Speaker 5:I think definitely experience. Like coach said, we're a senior laden team so we have a lot of um, a lot of experience from last year from kids that are stepping up into these big roles this year I think they're very capable of. But I also think from, uh, like a captain's perspective. I've gotten to see these kids play so I understand, like I spent three years on varsity, so I know, know, like how certain kids play, like what their knicks are and like the little things which on the ice is just more chemistry, which is going to only affect us and benefit us more.
Speaker 2:We are one of the strongest teams I've ever coached. I mean, we just finished up our weight room and our average for our bench is the highest it's ever been. Really.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:We have many guys benching over 200 um one kid at 245, others around 185, 175, and that's impressive that is for a hockey team. I know football um they focus more more than hockey but we're very strong, we're big. Um so depth I truly feel we have a lot of depth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'll make a big difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, so.
Speaker 1:So Dylan and Lucas as captains, how will you both help to lead the team this season along with Nick Stephenson, max Schroeder, the other two captains?
Speaker 5:So I feel definitely all four of us kind of have a role. We know like we have vocal leaders. We have leaders that are kind of going to be more friendly with the, maybe not yell and scream in between periods, but kids are going to see them working on the ice and they're like oh, I got to work like that. But also the 12 senior skaters we have this year, along with the two goalies. Kids are going to be looking up to them, like our younger guys are going to be watching them and paying attention to them. So I don't think it's only the captains leading the team this year. I think it's going to be huge having the seniors buy in and understand that we're not here to mess around like this is a serious year and every kid's going to see that and want to be like that.
Speaker 1:That's a really good perspective.
Speaker 4:Yeah, like he said, I feel like us having a lot of seniors helps with having a lot of leadership on the team, because even though we are the captains, the seniors too they should help out and should always be there for the kids and just making them understand what it's like to play for Notre Dame. I feel like that's one thing that we have to do is make kids understand what it's like to be on this team and how we always like to buy into winning and accept your role, because we need guys that, even if it's a fourth line role, whatever it is, it doesn't matter, it's an important role on the team and it helps us win.
Speaker 1:so we just need people to understand that it's not like every hockey team. I think most kids have bought into the idea that we're here to win.
Speaker 5:It's not about who's going to score the most points for the team. It's about every little thing on the ice, like who's going to forecheck the hardest, who's going to get a hit to get the team momentum switched.
Speaker 1:So I think this year is going to be a big year for that and kind of buying into that mentality. Yeah, all those little things add up, yep. So if you ought to choose one motto or one, mantra heading into this next season.
Speaker 5:What would it be?
Speaker 1:Just buying in.
Speaker 5:Buying in Like our team mentality this year is we can't, because senior-laden teams often can kind of get lazy and kind of like think that it's going to be given to them. We know that's not going to happen this year. There's great teams in the league this year so it's definitely gonna be hard. But I think as long as everyone buys in and the whole team understands and fits that role of all right, I might not be scoring every game, but I'm gonna forward check and not let them score or maybe force a goal for my line, if everyone combines that mentality I think we'll be really good, yeah, that's a really great way to go about it probably just like be gritty, because like that's what we always do, we're always just a gritty team, try to forecheck hard, get underneath team skin, maybe try to get them off their game.
Speaker 4:I feel like that always helps because we're just always on teams right away. I feel like that always helps us out a lot.
Speaker 1:You got to come in strong.
Speaker 2:Punch the time clock.
Speaker 1:Punch the time clock. What's the meaning behind that?
Speaker 2:Once we start 6 am, punch the time clock. Let's get to work, Okay okay.
Speaker 4:You guys all had different mottos there, a little different meaning. We're a lunch pail team. Mickey Dowd still has the best motto for the team, does he Can't say it?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Maybe don't say it. We don't want to get canceled.
Speaker 1:Okay, as the current reigning Division I champions, if you had to share a piece of advice to fellow athletes and fellow coaches, what would it be?
Speaker 5:I think one of the big things is kind of have fun with it, because there's games like last year we were.
Speaker 5:We had a rough start, you know, we were losing some out of state games and kind of got down on ourselves and we're like people were enjoying it and then once we realized like all right, just have like, just kind of have fun, go out there, it's hockey, because a lot of times people forget that you're playing the sport you loved as a kid. So if you just kind of sit there and realize that you're going to have a lot more fun and with the fun comes the winning, because that's where the team chemistry aspect comes in- that's very true.
Speaker 1:That's a fire answer.
Speaker 2:It is, yeah, I'm not going to top that. It's a fire answer.
Speaker 4:Lucas is locked in. Probably. Just, you know, I guess, don't give up, because you know, like he said, you know we lost, I think, the first game of the year, which was kind of a surprise because you know we all thought, you know, we were going to beat that team, and then we lost pretty badly actually. But then, you know, we just bounced right back and then we won a big game against Catholic Memorial and I feel like that really set the tone for the rest of the season, winning that big game, because the year before that they beat us pretty badly and then we were able to beat them in a shootout, and then we knew that we were ready to go after that and that we were going to be a strong team again and then we just went all the way yeah, enjoy the moment
Speaker 1:enjoy the moment it goes by quick, it's another fire answer for the parents.
Speaker 3:Another fire answer. Like that, it is a fire answer fire.
Speaker 2:Answer they use that you just you know, I always tell the parents and the players that it's gonna be over like that. It's true. Yeah, take it moment by moment, yeah.
Speaker 1:And if you put the love for the sport first and that you're playing out there with all of your friends, yeah, that's what really makes it. So now we're gonna head in some rapid questions. These are surprise so first thing that comes to your mind is the answer. All right, okay, lar, okay, larry, favorite song.
Speaker 2:Stairway to Heaven, led Zeppelin.
Speaker 1:Okay, good one. I didn't know if you were going to go with a Trolls song.
Speaker 4:No, I'm going to listen to Trolls when I get home. Trolls just want to have fun.
Speaker 2:I do like Pat Benatar too, but these guys have no clue who she is.
Speaker 1:No, probably not you either. Yes, very good, see, I do know some stuff Banks overtime or shootout Overtime.
Speaker 3:Lucas favorite sport to watch besides hockey? Jesus, basketball, basketball, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, I thought you were going to go with maybe baseball. No, no, that's the worst sport to watch.
Speaker 4:I'm going to be honest I love baseball, but I could never watch baseball again.
Speaker 1:It's a longer-styled game. It takes like five hours. Larry, all-time greatest goaltender.
Speaker 2:Ken Dryden, who I'm not sure all Canadians say who he came up in 1971. He beat the Bruins Right out of the Ivy League.
Speaker 1:Banks. Are you a superstitious player?
Speaker 5:Leading up to a game a little bit, but it won't knock me off my game.
Speaker 1:What do you do? That's superstitious.
Speaker 5:Just kind of the way I get dressed, the way I warm up is normally the same.
Speaker 1:Okay, routine Lucas, shoot or dangle.
Speaker 4:Dangle 100%.
Speaker 3:My shot's terrible oh okay, Leary favorite movie.
Speaker 2:Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the best movie ever. Really Ever Watch it. If you're super bored, you have nothing to do.
Speaker 4:It's two and a half hours. That movie has made people run a lot of laps around the track.
Speaker 5:That question right there has made a lot of kids do laps and push-ups. Why?
Speaker 4:Because he always asks a random person.
Speaker 5:A freshman, yeah, a freshman who?
Speaker 4:obviously has no idea what the answer is. What's his favorite?
Speaker 1:movie. It's always the good, the bad, the ugly, and they have no idea, never yet okay, well, maybe next year I have a tattoo on my leg do you really that's? Why I asked them oh, I figured, if they were observant they could figure it out, and they never figured out if they didn't watch. I don't think anyone knows what the tattoo is no they don't look close enough. All right, thanks, favorite athlete uh favorite athlete, charlie mcavoy okay, lucas favorite quote.
Speaker 4:I'm him. That's my senior quote, that is.
Speaker 1:That's you right there in a quote.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:Larry, ever been around the Stanley Cup.
Speaker 2:Yes, dean Lombardi, who I played college hockey with, brought us the Stanley Cup into Massachusetts that's where he's from, from Springfield Mass so when he was the general manager of the Kings he brought it down and invited some of his old players from UNH to go see it.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's a beautiful thing. Did you get to touch it or no?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, of course there's actually a guy that that's his job with the NHL. He takes the cup, protects it, and then he goes from player to player, coach to coach, general manager to general manager and they go to every town where those folks live.
Speaker 1:And he just guards it. And he guards it. What did he do this year? When Florida jumped in the ocean with it, I was there. That probably wasn't too good for the. It was funny because I was in.
Speaker 2:Fort Lauderdale in the Keys for that time and I was doing my jog. It was the Florida boys, and then we watched them jump with the cup. It seems like it would get rusty after that I'm sure they cleaned it up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they'd have to Okay Banks, best player in the NHL right now.
Speaker 5:I mean it's got to be Connor McDavid. I don't think that's really a question.
Speaker 1:Maybe not Sidney Crosby or anyone like that.
Speaker 5:No, it's definitely Connor McDavid.
Speaker 1:Lucas, what kind of curve do you use?
Speaker 4:McDavid curve it. It's the best curve Right now. I think I use the cane curve, though, because I wanted the white proto and they didn't have it in the McDavid curve, so I was like, whatever, I'm just going to end this curve.
Speaker 1:Second option I guess Beautiful Larry favorite moment of your career.
Speaker 2:Coaching, yeah, coaching Playing.
Speaker 1:You could give me one of each Playing. We'll do playing.
Speaker 2:Playing is. When I played, we almost beat Lowell. That's 56 shots. I played really, really well, but we came up short.
Speaker 1:And you played for UNH, was it?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:That was D2 at the time that was D2, and they were D2.
Speaker 2:And coaching, I mean, there's just so many. I would probably think the first time we won a state championship at Notre Dame was special.
Speaker 1:I'm sure. Yeah, it had to be so, banks, best piece of advice you've ever been given.
Speaker 5:Probably my dad. He always told me growing up appreciate everything, expect nothing. So it was kind of like a work hard mentality. He always told me you can't go into something thinking it's going to be given to you. That's kind of our mentality for this year. We're not going to be given a state championship or an SEC championship, so we've got to work for it.
Speaker 1:You've got to go out there and work for it. Yeah, that's a really good piece of advice. Lucas favorite move in a breakaway Listen up.
Speaker 4:Favorite move on a breakaway, probably like I did it one time in like Bantams, I like did fake in between the legs and then I brought it back and then I brought it back again, and then I went back in and scored. Okay.
Speaker 3:Fancy Maybe we'll see that this year. No, no, no, no, please don't. No, I peaked in bantams, so probably not.
Speaker 1:Okay, coach, what type of style does a Larry Vera team play?
Speaker 2:I feel it's boring.
Speaker 1:Boring.
Speaker 2:I really do.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:I always tell these guys if they can't score on us, they can't beat us. So, we don't take a lot of chances. We pick our spots and we're gritty and we compete and we attack in the defensive zone.
Speaker 1:But I think it's a little joy. I think you guys are fun to watch.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's too boring. There's other teams that are wide open. I hope we're fun to watch. That's from our perspective, my perspective.
Speaker 1:It's just the basics. He's strong on all the basics. Yes, I guess, okay, banks. Is it called clear tape or sock tape?
Speaker 5:Clear tape, clear tape. Or, unless you're West Van Halen, cleap. Yeah, we had a West Van Halen, he called it cleap. He called it cleap on you.
Speaker 4:He tried to convince me it was called cleap. I was like so.
Speaker 5:It's definitely clear tape If you say Socko.
Speaker 4:Sock.
Speaker 1:Tape Clay. Just you're wrong, You're not allowed.
Speaker 2:Do you have a? Are you clear tape or sock tape? If they say clear, I'll go with tape.
Speaker 1:Okay, good answer, Lucas. Greatest NHL center of all time.
Speaker 4:All time. Mm-hmm or just your favorite. If you can't think of the all time, my favorite is probably.
Speaker 3:Nilan.
Speaker 4:Lucic Played for the Bruins Used to lay people out, so that was always fun.
Speaker 1:Larry favorite hockey drill.
Speaker 2:Hockey drill. I love the 45-second drill. That's going to happen at 6 o'clock, about 6.01 in the morning. The kids are going to have to do a blue line, red line, blue line all the way down and back within 45 seconds. So we do blue line, red line, blue line all the way down and back within 45 seconds.
Speaker 1:Wow, so we're going to see who's in shape and who's not. It's light work. It says a lot about certain players. I'm sure it does. Yeah, that must not make you feel too good at 6 in the morning.
Speaker 2:No, it's fun.
Speaker 1:It separates the boys from the men Banks hat trick or game-winning goal.
Speaker 5:Game-winning goal 100% Good answer.
Speaker 1:Lucas biggest role model.
Speaker 4:My uncle, uncle Brett, your uncle the goat, the goat.
Speaker 1:Hello, Brett Leary, favorite rink to play at.
Speaker 2:Favorite rink to play at Wow, that's a great question.
Speaker 1:The thinker.
Speaker 2:Favorite rink? Any rink that we win a game at.
Speaker 1:Okay, what an answer. That was a good answer that covered everything.
Speaker 2:Then it's a nice rink.
Speaker 1:Then it's a guess Anything where there's a win. Okay, Binks favorite celly.
Speaker 5:Oh, the fishing rod celly I hit last year. Oh, you did that in the semis, right yeah, that was my favorite.
Speaker 1:That was a good one Student section. That's when they got to jump like fish. After that I don't think they caught on. They didn't catch on to that Okay Lucas pregame hype song. Besides the Trolls, I didn't Ice Ice Baby. Okay, yeah, besides.
Speaker 4:Trolls. If I'm not listening to Trolls it's like Ice, Ice Baby. It's a big switch.
Speaker 1:I was going to say you got some versatile playlists right there.
Speaker 2:That's why you don't know what you're gonna hear.
Speaker 1:Yeah all right. So lastly, on the glory days podcast, we always like to wrap up by asking our guests what do you think the purpose of high school sports is?
Speaker 4:uh, probably, just uh, honestly.
Speaker 5:Besides just becoming better at players for the sport, it's probably just being able to make new friends and bonding, because that's something that you always do during high school sports and you have that, you can have that your whole life, those friendships yeah, 100%, like lucas said, making those friends, the memories Also, like the little things, like the working hard, like not expecting stuff, kind of earning it, because that's a way better feeling than being given something. So I think kind of having that mentality in life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a good life skill to learn.
Speaker 2:Transferring the skills that we utilize in practice and in games into real life, because they go hand in hand. Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're going to learn so much from all your years playing hockey, so, yeah, that's awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today, and I wish you all the best of luck in the upcoming season.
Speaker 2:You're the best. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Of course.