Pucked Up Hockey Mums
Get ready to lace up your skates and laugh along with Pucked up Hockey Moms, the ultimate podcast for anyone who knows the chaos, camaraderie, and quirky charm of life at the rink. From zany carpool stories to sideline shenanigans, our team of hilarious hockey moms dishes out unfiltered tales of parenting on ice.
Whether you’re a die-hard hockey parent, a weekend warrior, or just someone who loves a good laugh, you’ll enjoy our playful banter, behind-the-scenes rink drama, and interviews with fellow hockey enthusiasts, coaches, players, and any other professionals we can grab some advice from to help us all along on our hockey journeys.
Grab your coffee (or your thermos of “mom juice”) and join us for a hilarious power play on motherhood, hockey, and everything in between.
Warning: May cause spontaneous laughter and an uncontrollable urge to cheer “Let’s go!” in random public places.
Pucked Up Hockey Mums
Episode 01 - 1st to the Puck
Get to meet some of the Hockey Mums that will be joining us this season as we take a look back into what the beginning of our hockey journeys looked like. Laugh along with us, or at us. We don’t mind. Just take a chance and tune in either way.
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Welcome everyone to our very first episode of Pucked Up Hockey Moms. I'm your host, amanda, and we are all excited to be here, maybe myself more than others. Let's start off with a brief intro on who's here and a bit about ourselves and what brings us here. We have Janai, carla, katrina and myself. We'll start off with Janai. Hi everyone, my name is Janai. I'm a mom of two hockey players, I'm 43, and I live in Victoria BC. Thanks, janai and Katrina.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, I'm Katrina. I'm a mom of three kids, one of whom is a hockey player, one of whom is just starting, and I live in Victoria BC as well.
Speaker 3:Thank you, and over to you, carla. Hi, my name is Carla. I'm a mom of two. I have a daughter who plays hockey currently, and I have a son who retired from hockey at the ripe old age of nine and I am from Victoria, nice, nice.
Speaker 1:that brings us back to me. Um, I am Amanda, obviously, um, and I am a mother of two. I have a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old had to think about that. They both play hockey and I have been in this wonderful hockey community for like 11 years. Okay, ladies, let's start roundtable style with what do you remember most about the first year of hockey? Who wants to go first? Katrina.
Speaker 2:That's a tough one. I think the first year of hockey I was kind of I had blinders on, I don't know. I was just new back in the city and, um, you know, just looking to meet some people. So when the kids started playing it was pretty fun back in the city from where? We used to live abroad, so, yeah, the kids played hockey abroad for a while, um until we moved back here, and then this really where their hockey careers started, in victoria. Was it like completely different than starting?
Speaker 1:here, like the first season, when they played abroad in victoria, was it like completely different than starting here, like the first season when they played abroad?
Speaker 2:was that what was it? What was it like playing hockey abroad? It was. It was fun because, um where we lived, there wasn't any other hockey club, so we'd have to travel away to tournaments and that would mean like two flights.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, yeah and how old were they?
Speaker 2:they're young, they're like four and six. Wow crazy, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we, we travel a lot of places actually, oh cool that's cool, but then your first like year that it was really different was coming back to Canada.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the parents here were different. They took hockey very seriously and it was a lot of fun. You know there's no hockey club. Excuse me what?
Speaker 1:Canadians take hockey seriously. What let's talk about the club you joined. How about that? Yeah probably the most serious club. We are not naming names. We are not naming names here, people.
Speaker 2:They're like how old were they? I can't remember now We've been back seven years.
Speaker 1:So like five, oh wow, yeah, and did she start hockey right away, like when you guys lived abroad? She's, she started, yeah she played there and then came right here and hopped right into hockey here correct.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we played.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we played with phil and amanda, yeah, oh right, yeah, and I remember having to. You guys had to get her released, yes, from abroad. Oh really, yeah, yeah, like they didn't. Yeah, yeah, they didn't want her to play hockey Canada because she wasn't like they were. They had to get released from crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's crazy, so it was a bit different, but yeah, that's where we first met was, when you first came that's right, but that was my second go around, like well, not second go around, that was like my youngest second year. That was my youngest second year in hockey, or maybe third second year, and my son had already been in it for five years when we met you. But it's amazing, like that feels so long ago, but it was still like yesterday still. But was it your son and Katrina's daughter that played together, or no, our daughter is played, okay, but your son was playing at that time too, and he's a year younger than my son. So they didn't they weren't on the same team or anything, but they were at the same association. So we crossed after a lot and my husband was coaching, I think, at that time, wasn't he? Yeah, yeah, I think he was on the bench because I I coached, or assistant coach, because, let's be clear, I can't date and I can't yeah, I can date but, I, can't stop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, stopping is a problem. Yeah, I can make it on the ice and attempt to do crossovers that look like a baby giraffe with all four legs tangled together but, I have two legs.
Speaker 1:So, um, yeah, no, I attempted, because my daughter was afraid of being the only girl on the ice. I told her I would get out and learn how to skate poorly, um, and coach her or get on the bench staff so that she wouldn't be the only girl. That's amazing. And then, fortunately, there were other people to like make sure I didn't injure a child and land on them often, um, and there was another girl, and then the second year, me too, but I broke my wrist and didn't have to go very often. I did not break it on the ice or landing on a child, let's be clear. I broke it doing something else Stupid, but then I got out of it and there was more girls and Delaney definitely did not need me by then. That's amazing, yeah. So, carla, what was your first experience like then?
Speaker 1:Both my kids started in first shift okay, and which is the best program, by the way, advocate over here.
Speaker 3:Yes we did that and it's a six-week program you get all your gear for by the time I was 263, and so that ran october, november into december and my daughter was totally hooked. Um, so we registered her to join an association. My son joined a different association and we went there and yeah, it was something a whole new world. I had no idea about it and my kid's dad had no experience with hockey at all and not much of a desire to learn anything.
Speaker 1:So interesting that you. Why did you choose hockey as a team sport?
Speaker 3:Because soccer had no appeals. Okay, and it was low commitment. It was for shit, low commitment.
Speaker 1:Somebody hooked you. You got no, oh man, I am never going to forget that low commitment. I think that's the biggest load of shit I've ever heard. The ship gets you, right? Oh, everybody joins. There's a shift against you, right? Oh, everybody joins first. What about you, Janai? What was the question? Again, we digress.
Speaker 1:I know what do you remember most about joining your first year of hockey. To be honest, I can't remember why we picked hockey out of all the team sports. Yeah, but it was my son who first joined and he was five and we hopped on the ice at tryouts at an association that we knew nothing about. Yeah, and we were like, oh my God, what have we just like? My son hardly had a skate. It were like, oh my God, what have we just like? My son hardly knew how to skate. It was like it was assessments, right, it's like. It's like it's like you hop on the ice and they do assessments and I was like what have we just put our son in?
Speaker 1:I was like there's kids skating around circles around, everyone going top shelf and my kid hardly knew even. Was he a tripod 100? And I was just like what have we got ourselves into? Oh my god. But we like, don't quit. We're a family that doesn't quit. So we persevered. And you know he's almost 16 and still playing hockey. So that was my very first experience with hockey and I was like whoa man, that is insanity. So what did we wish we knew? When we first entered the hockey world, we talked about what it was like and what we remember. But if there was something that you wished you knew ahead of time, I mean, obviously Carla here wishes that she knew about the time commitment, Cause clearly she got screwed on that one. But so maybe we can skip Carla no, I'm just kidding. Other than the time, Carla, what do you wish you knew?
Speaker 3:This sounds really weird, but it was really confusing at first to get a schedule that said your ice time was from 7 o'clock till 8 o'clock in the morning and then the girls would get off at 7.50. I had no idea what ice cleans were.
Speaker 1:That's fair. Ice is different and it's different at every rink. So sometimes 12 minutes, sometimes 15, like I just don't even know half the time. Yeah, when the clock like buzzes and they're in the middle of a breakaway and you're like they're gonna tie it up, and then the buzzer goes conveniently and you're like what's happening sounds weird, but ice creams, like I had no idea what they were, why they ate into our time, like, and then the buzzer goes and then conveniently, and you're like what's happening?
Speaker 3:yeah, it sounds weird, but ice creams like had no idea what they were, why they ate into our time, like why?
Speaker 1:didn't you skip? Why didn't you skip it?
Speaker 3:differently like yeah, I mean no sense, I understand yeah, I can understand that.
Speaker 1:How about you, katrina?
Speaker 2:um, I'm well obviously the crazy pocket parent thing Ready for a loop, but I actually have met some really great people.
Speaker 1:None of them are here.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Don't talk to the nice ones. We have no use for them.
Speaker 2:But like it's crazy how we knew each other so long ago and then just have kind of followed each other through three associations.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I guess that's. I mean, we're all from victoria. Victoria is small, but the hockey community is smaller.
Speaker 1:It's large but it's so small I know which is what I like. Also, I for parents getting into hockey yeah, I wish they would like just keep going Dick it out, because some of my favorite and best friends are sitting around this table and absolutely you know, you, you, you don't know that going into hockey, that they're going to be a huge part of your life for a very long time and you're going to experience a lot of, uh, good and bad and um, they're just, it's such a family, right. So I just, I just want, I would want people to know that. I wish I knew that I'm glad we stuck it out, cause obviously I have you guys, but, um, yeah, I just, if you're overwhelming, yeah, if you're in it, just stick it out because you're going to have make it the best friends um in those hard years of raising children.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know. It is so funny, though, that I have like winter hockey friends.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't you guys. Yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 2:So summer, like summer, friends that are like oh, you're out again.
Speaker 1:You're out of hibernation. I know I have my like best friends since I've known kindergarten and she's like oh, is hockey done yet? Like can we go to Hornby Island now? Is it time for summer? It's like we literally talk like once every couple months just to make sure we're alive during the hockey season, and then boom, it's summer and we're allowed to like touch base again. But but doesn't it also feel like summer's keep getting shorter?
Speaker 1:they do as the kids get older and their hockey gets more intense. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, no, I. What do I wish I knew? No, it is very overwhelming. And when I tell people what my schedule is like, they get they're like I can never do that and everything. But it doesn't start this busy, like if you're looking at another hockey family and comparing yourself to them and thinking you can't do that. Just remember that it starts off with a smaller schedule, like if you're starting in the beginning, it's not as much and you can add a little bit at a time and the commitment is really what you and your child are going to do. So it's only as busy as you really want to commit to and as your child wants to commit to. But every season you kind of add a little bit more to your plate and you don't really notice until 11 years later, when you explain it to strangers who think that you're crazy and you realize that you don't have as much time as you do, but you still. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Yeah, I don't think there's anything I would really take because I the best, like I've met some people that I want to do with in life and there's always those, yeah, and I honestly, when I see them, I look the other way because I know that they're like, just not someone I want to associate with. But I also have to bite my tongue because it's a very small. It's a very small community and those people will come around again and see them at ranks and you'll cross paths for the next 15 years and it is not worth it. So that is another thing.
Speaker 1:Another piece of advice I'd say is careful what you say and who, because you never know who or what or how they're related and you don't want to, like end your child's hockey career before it starts. And by hockey career I don't mean like the NHL or the PWHL, I just mean like their minor hockey association. Yeah, you don't want to have to move so quickly because of your work, you know, and I have so many words to say and stick my foot in it often, um. So we kind of covered our next one, which was going to be tips and advice. So, oh, tips and advice for a newbie. But now I mean, you gave some good tips, but I think we have a lot more. Yeah, I mean, if you're a very, if you're like a new to hockey parent.
Speaker 1:I think another tip is to just go with what your child is pushing to go with. So don't overdo it with like the edge work and the power skating and the did it. Just whatever your child is asking for, just lead with that. So if your child is asking to do power skating, great, sign them up, yeah. But don't go. The Joneses are asked, are doing this? And the joneses are doing that. Smiths are doing this. That doesn't mean that little johnny wants to do it, that's right. Let's see what little johnny wants to do, because at the end of the day, if they're not on board, you're just in for a battle and it's not worth it, you're just gonna burn them out, right.
Speaker 1:You can't sign up for everything unless they're wanting to do it and then kind of take it one step at a time, yeah, sure, yeah, I know my kids do a lot of things. But I always say to them do you want to do this? Like? This is an option. If you want to do it, if you're not going to finish this and keep doing it through the entire course or season, we're not doing it. Yeah and so unless you're going to commit to this, keep doing it through the entire course or season. We're not doing it. Yeah and so unless you're going to commit to this now, we're not signing up, but you don't have to do it. It's just an option. So they always choose what they want to do and then we do it or don't do it another tip for newbies um if you have no hockey background skates need sharpening and your skate guard
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah. And then, once you really get into it, you find out that your skates need to be profiled. Yeah, that's intense. I was like what? I was like my daughter kept falling all the time on the ice and I just thought, oh man, she's just whatever. She's awful, yeah, she's terrible, she'll get better. Somebody's like oh, did you like, have you gotten her skates profiled? I was like what are you talking about? Never heard about this in my life. Was it a dad? Was it dad? Was it a dad? And did he mansplain that to you? No, it was a mom.
Speaker 3:Oh good, oh good, I'm just making sure I was like mom, like why didn't you tell?
Speaker 1:just making sure.
Speaker 1:I was like, fuck mom, like why didn't you tell me about this? She's like, wow, they say, if they're falling all the time, you need to get the skates profile. I was like, okay, or you could just, you know, buy her a skate sharpener when you're next level. Yeah, because you're tired of driving in from suit. Yes, yeah, um, is there anything that you would change if you could? Or would you change anything if we haven't covered it already, because I know we're kind of like pre-adding, answering some of the questions I had what would you change if you could, about like, if you could go back and change anything in your first year of hockey? Is there anything that you would be like that you change? I don't think so. That was a really good, awkward silence.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I do. I do like for, and I've blacked out a lot more time, do you like? I think for me? I learned a lot from my first child being in hockey compared to then my second child. Because I it was so hard to get my five and six year old out of bed for 6am practices on the weekend.
Speaker 1:I was like we battled through it for like two, three years and then when my daughter came along, I was like I'm not doing that, I'm not getting her up when she's five and six to do the 6am practices. I'm like she can skate in the afternoon, you know, like you can just do her thing. And then she started when she was seven. So I was like we just didn't have to do that grind Right. I just wasn't Look at you cheating the system. I wasn't going to do it. I was like it's such a grind. So I think I learned a bit there. So basically, what we're saying, ladies, is we're awesome and we wouldn't change anything. That's right and um, even though we had a lot of bumps and bruises in the beginning, we still have had a pretty good go-round of it with our kids so far.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's awesome I am super happy you guys joined me, because I've been very excited for weeks to do this and like spamming your inboxes for all of you two people listening to this podcast right now.
Speaker 1:Spamming your inboxes, yeah, okay, totally not listening. Don't even say hi. Don't not listen. It's my mom, and then she's gonna give us three shots of instagram of what we need to know for for female hockey, because she's got the best grandma vote and she's gonna be even happier that she made the podcast. We're super sad that kelly couldn't join us today, so I mean, if, if I had better editing skills, I could figure out how to add her in there. But maybe we'll figure that out next week. But thank you, ladies, for joining us. We're going to drop an episode every week and figure out how we roll this every week whether we just keep drinking while doing this or we interview people in between um.
Speaker 1:If you guys have any questions or anything, you can drop comments in instagram or um through. There should be a text link in the show notes as well and it goes to the fan mail and we will answer. So thanks again, cheers, cheers.
