June 24, 2025 • 44 mins
Rivalries, locker room laughs, and the chaos of parenting — the Packers cover it all with Tessa Bonhomme, retired Canadian pro ice hockey player, sports broadcaster, and host of the Jocks & Jills podcast. Together, they dive into the highs and lows of women’s hockey, the reality of working moms in sports, and why there’s no “off-season” for badass women on and off the ice.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, everyone, Welcome to these packs puck. I'm Madison Packer.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And I'm Anya Packer. Madison and I are both former
pro hockey players. We met through hockey and fell in love,
and now we're married with two awesome toddlers, ages two
and four.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
These days, we're opening up about the chaos of our
daily lives, between the juggle of being athletes, raising kids and.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
All the messiness in between. So buckle the puck up,
because there is a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hey, Anya, Hey pack how are we doing?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm fabulous? How are you doing good?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I got a fresh fade, a fresh cut, fresh color,
feeling cool.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I just got my nails done. Ooh, I'm not telling
anyone where I'm getting them done, because I already have
a hard time getting an appointment. And every time I
go in there, I have my little appointment and I
walk in and a thousand people walk in after me
and say I have an appointment. I have an appointment
and they don't, but they get frustrated. So anyway, my
nail tech was venting to me today. But I've got
(00:59):
a fresh set, feel amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
You got the whole new set.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I got a whole new set.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So Anyway, I feel great too.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm excited to get into the hot take today because one,
it's got a lot of data, and you know your
girl loves some data. But two, I think it's just
been really exciting to see how everything's gone. So before
we jump two feet in Madison, are you ready for
our hockey hot take for the day?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hit me with it, hockey hot take.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Okay, the hockey hot take is, while girls' hockey is
growing at an unbelievable clip five percent up year over year,
the most increase in girls' hockey registrations, I firmly believe
that the under concentration of media representation of what's going
on in women's hockey is continuing to keep women's hockey
(01:48):
at basically the bottom of the barrel for youth sports
in the United States of America.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, go on, So when you look.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
At it by the numbers, this year, we had just
shy of one hundred thousand registry for girls hockey in
the US, as reported by Bleacher Report, and that's for
USA Hockey registration. So there's also people playing in other
capacities that aren't registered with USA Hockey. So it's kind
of like a closest to possibly knowing the right answer. Now,
if you look at other sports in the US, how
many girls are playing basketball in the US, it's about
(02:19):
four hundred thousand. If you look at how many girls
are playing soccer in the US, it's about five point
seven million. If you look at how many girls are
playing tennis just in high school, it's almost two hundred thousand.
And then if you go down the ranks of the
other most popular sports for girls, it's volleyball, track and field, softball,
(02:40):
cross country. It's all of these sports. And let me
tell you, the fact of the matter is every single
one of those outranks women's hockey. And I think the
problem is what's going on in the media and what
little recognition that our professional women's hockey players get, because
with just the scratch of the surface, we already see
a five percent year over year increase.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think it's two part. We've
talked about this a little bit before. I think that
hockey has several barriers to entry, right facilities, cost, equipment,
There's a lot of things there, but popularity is at
the top of the list, and in large part because
of accessibility and exposure flip the coin over. You look
at Canada, hockey is everywhere. Everyone plays hockey. You can
(03:21):
walk down the street and there's an ice rink anywhere
you go. The women are on TV all the time
in Canada. I think that Jocks and Jill's podcast that's
co hosted by our Up Next guest Tesabinon, does a
phenomenal job of telling players stories, getting players faces out there.
But there has to be more. We need more people
(03:41):
to cover it, and we need more people to do
it because that's what piques people's interest. Yeah, they want
to watch the game, they want to see the sport,
but they want to know the players.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
One hundred percent. And I always feel like the helmet
is the biggest barrier for us. I know exactly who
Stewie is. I even know who's up for the McDonald's
MVP in high school basketball. The fame and notoriety around
women's basketball, while I think comparatively the numbers are pretty similar.
If we have about one hundred thousand people playing, they
have about four hundred thousand people playing, And that number
(04:10):
might be a little skewed, like I said, because of
all the registration elements to it, But I don't think
we're that far off. What I think that we're incredibly
far off on is the coolness factor, and it's not
because of anything other than a lack of media exposure.
Our athletes still have to educate people that it exists.
(04:31):
I'm excited to see markets like Seattle or Vancouver that
are already riding the wave, that already have the league
hype and then come anew because we watched it back
in phf days, right, Toronto entered a league that was
already real and established. So when they did, the T
six popped off because everyone already knew what was happening.
(04:52):
But I think the six teams that currently exist, while
there was leagues and hockey happening because of former professional leagues,
the PWHL wasn't a thing. I'm excited to see how
the new markets go by way of increased registration. I
think Vancouver will see a big bump. I think Seattle
will see a huge bump, and then you know, some
of the markets that we go to tangentially are starting
to see some of those influxes. But at the end
(05:14):
of the day, a PAHL player posts a get ready
with Me video and it's got five hundred likes and
the content's the same. Marina Mainbury posts one for the
Connecticut Sun and just on views it's in the hundreds
of thousands, And I think that the difference isn't anything
other than people just don't know women's hockey. I mean,
(05:36):
we're trying jockson jills is doing the Lord's work over there,
but we're just not like cool yet.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I'm most excited for Seattle because right like, Seattle has
a phenomenal women's sports network and like people there love it.
Right Like, you've got the WNBA, You've got the Kraken, Like,
I think that there is a phenomenal opportunity. Now you're
putting PWHL Seattle in that building. Hopefully they can fill
(06:04):
that building with PWL Seattle fans. One two. How creative
can they get? Again? You're in an awesome, creative, trendy,
sexy market. Like, I want to see them do super
cool things. Fill that building. Put people in the penalty box.
Get celebrities at your game. Do something different and innovative.
You've got all those other female athletes there. Get them
(06:25):
to the games. Be creative with what they're doing at
the games. Make it an environment that people want to
be at. Now, all of a sudden, everyone's talking about it. Oh,
there's a P to BHL team in this market. It's growing,
and to your point, it's growing at a rate that
we've never seen. But how do we diversify and be
different and make it something that people want to see?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah? I mean I think we could be in double digits.
I'm not even trying to be a crazy person, but
an additional ten thousand kids playing year over year doesn't
seem that difficult to me, given the markets that we're
starting to touch. But I think when we look at it,
Rough and Tumble Pub, I'm gonna give them a shout out.
Rough Pub in Seattle had a watch party for the draft.
(07:04):
There's some really interesting stuff happening in these markets. And
when little girls start to see that and touch it,
they can dream, right like, they can dream to be
the players. If you look at the trajectory of what's
happening over there, you have a player that was a
former pro player that played in college that is now
the general manager in kind of a short run up
right in Megan Turner, which is unbelievable, right Like, you
(07:27):
can see that pathway if you like the business side
of sports, and then on the flip side, you see
these players signing these contracts, having these conversations, having all
of this power. Right, what little girl isn't inspired to
go do that other thing and take away all the hurdles.
You have companies like Franklin making street hockey really accessible.
You have companies like the NHL that are pouring a
ton of love. I wonder if the accessibility barrier is
(07:51):
going to start to be broken to kind of unlock
this double digit growth because the addiction of hockey, once
you get into it really becomes a flywheel, which is
humanously excited. Agree that is the hockey hot take. We
have to hit double digit growth by next year. If not,
I'll go hand out hockey equipment myself. Switching to a
(08:14):
little bit of a check in. Let's see where you're at.
We always do this. We run how we're doing from
one to one hundred for our new listeners that are
just getting hit with the pod, and hopefully Madison and
I can combine for a cool one hundred because I
think that way the house is balanced. Sometimes we're over,
sometimes we're under.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Where are you at?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
I'm at a ninety three? Oh so by the time
this episode comes out, this part will be dated. However,
I am leaving first thing tomorrow morning, Yeah, to go
to Stanley Cup Final Game six, and I am fired up, fired.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
So well know when this airs if you're misplaced emotion
or if you're in a good headspace, because I know
you want the Panthers to win. I know you're hoping
a little Florida to win.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
You got to see my seats. We're right behind the
net that flash shoots on twice. I'm going with my dad,
my brother, my dad's friend, his son, and one of
my best friends, Courtney Burke. Shout out Officer Burke, OPD.
I'm so pumped Orlando Police Dogar Sunrise. I am fired up.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, that's gonna be really fun. I'm excited for you
because so.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
If you're anything less than a seven, I can tick.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Up to one hundred.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Good.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Why don't you tick up? I'm not doing so hot
only because I feel like the weekend was long. You're
about to go out of town. I did get my
nails done, so I am't feeling pretty good. But I
have so many projects on my honey list, and I
did all my easy honeyless projects. So now I'm getting
my heart honeyless projects, which steaks. I hate having heard
projects so not impossible, it's just laborious, so I've got
(09:46):
a lot of labories.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Onya did a lot of driving this weekend. Yeah, I'm
stuck in almost six hour drive to Boston, and then
she got wrangled with also making the drive home that
all three of us fell asleep on.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So yeah, yeah, I'm not doing so hot.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Took one for the team.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Fine, I think I'm like I think I'm like a
twenty five. Work's been a little bit stressful. I love
the pod, so that's jazzing me up a little bit.
But I would say I'm not my finest. I am
going to try to get a workout in. I am
going to try to sit in the sauna. I have
a lot of busy work to do, so I have
some time I can run on the treadmill and do
some busy work. So I'm not doing my hottest but
that's okay. You're surging at one hundred and you're going
(10:24):
out of town, so what what could be better for you?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I'm only brought down to a ninety three because I
couldn't pre reserve my parking for tomorrow, and I'm a
little stressed about that because I don't do well in
those off the cuff situations. But worst case, we'll find
a curve and tell it.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Baby, I'm so happy that the most stressful thing for
you is you're parking when you go out of town
for games six. You're such a loser.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Heard up Cats and six? Baby, there you go.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, the Cats and six someone who we got super
fired up to talk to. And I'm actually I laugh
because I did hate this person much like I did
hate you, As at a point in time, when you
play against somebody for such a long time, there is
like a disdain. It eventually goes away because you learn
that they're a good person and like, YadA YadA YadA,
Sure that's all great, But at a point in time
I did have a serious loathing for Testa Painome. She's
(11:12):
such a good hockey player, and you gotta hate that
person for a little bit. I think that's healthy. We
talk about that a little bit in our conversation about
like the rivalries and that like innate hate and how
much fun that can be. But we talked to Tessa
Panom next. In the spirit of women's sports media, hockey
growing like crazy. Tessa Banom is the co host of
Jocks and Jill's. We know her, we love her. I
(11:33):
can't wait to have her on the pod and talk
all of the things.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
She is an Ohio State buffer, which I do hold
against her. However, she is also a woman for women
who I love to shout out on this pod. When
I went into retirement, she was a resource for me.
Has been very supportive of our pod, obviously being on
the show, but also just a resource in answering questions.
She does a lot to cover the game. Their show
(11:56):
is amazing. The name in and of itself is phenomenal,
but they just do lot to get athletes out there,
and so we're excited to chat with her next.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Well, we have Testapinome. We're excited to have you on
the pod. We know and love you. But for all
of our listeners, how would they know who you are?
How can we kind of give a quick bio for Tessa?
We hit you one before, so we'll compare in contrast.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
All right, former hockey player turned reality TV star turned
I don't even want to say star, reality TV participat star,
hit participant turned broadcaster who thought she was only going
to do that for a short period of time so
(12:49):
she could pay her school debt to get her masters
to become a speech language pathologist, and then that never happens,
So she decided to become a SportsCenter broadcaster and from
there turned mother.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yo, all these little things that you added, like little tidbits,
are major, humongous milestones. But I like the casualness she
left out.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
You were voted sportnet thirty most beautiful athletes on the planet.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That's where I've mentioned about that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I don't know, Yeah, how did you forget that? That?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Just like yes, if that ever was my nomenclature, it
would be the first thing I say.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, yeah, Can I tell you something though, Like I
am like a goofy person. I like make fun of
myself half the days. I don't really really like putting
makeup on and the photo shoot for that thing. I
was like, this is so like the same me, like
I can't do this this bab suit on and come
out here. Okay, Now how do you want to pose?
I'm like, you tell me, man, like you do this
(13:45):
for a day. I post for no one, Like I'll
give a peace sign in a picture once or twice
with like my mouth open and my tongue out, But
like that's it, you know what I mean. I was like,
this is so awkward. But the guy did it good.
He did it great. It turned out nice. I'm sure
there's a lot of photoshopping done, but I told forgot
about that. That was way back. That was the reality
TV days.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
That's the one that I was most excited to talk about.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Maddy wanted to jump on that one for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, we'll get into it a little bit more. But
obviously your playing career, your television career. Did you grow
up always playing hockey or was there other stuff that
you did alongside that.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I grew up in a very active outdoors in neighborhood.
So it was like we were playing kick to can,
we were playing Darky Dark, we were playing basketball, we
were playing baseball, we were playing football, badminton. It was
almost like we all had ADHD and it was like,
what can we do next? You know, I could throw
this ball further than you, Like, it was just like
that kind of thing. And all of our backyards were linked.
There was no fences dividing them, so we literally had
(14:43):
almost a football field sized playing area. Street hockey was
just legendary. But my two loves growing up were soccer
and hockey. Those were like my two that I really
jammed with. I played basketball, soccer, I did track. I
did long to since running. I had a chemistry teacher
that I was like, I am not good at chemistry,
(15:04):
and she was the cross country running coach, and I
was like, I'm going to do my damnedest to impress
you on and cross country is like straight torture. It's
like how bad can you torture yourself? And whoever can
torture themselves the most wins. That's what long distance running is. Anyways,
I promise my.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Personal policy is I run when chased. That's it.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah. I ran for grades, That's what I did. I
ran for grades, Like I got to get into school. Yeah,
my sat is probably aren't gonna be great, so I
got to make sure I do better in school.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
So you do all the things. When did you really
figure out that it was hockey that you had a
career that you could reach all the insane levels that
you have, which we will certainly talk about.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I was a shy kid, believe it or not, Like
I was super shy, and so I was embarrassed to
be good at hockey for a while, and so like,
I didn't tell any of my friends, Like I started
playing hockey when I was like four or five, I
didn't tell any of my friends I played hockey till
I was like in grade two. And the only reason
why I told them was because my teacher I played
(16:03):
against her son and she was like, good game yesterday,
and I was like not, now, why should you say that? Yeah,
And then all my friends were like, cool, you play hockey.
I'm like, oh, I mean yeah. Anyways, and my dad
was a big hockey guy, scouted for the OHL which
is a junior league up in Canada for oh my
gosh a million years, coached himself and he was a
(16:23):
national champion on the U sports side, so he was
always like guiding me through all of these sports. But
he knew that I had a knack for hockey. I
never really bought into that stuff or anything. I just
played because I had so much fun, boys or girls,
whatever team I was playing on, it was the best soccer.
I had a great coach, Frank Movass who recently just
passed away. Rest in peace, Frank. But he had a
(16:46):
group of US ladies. We were essentially a soccer team
in the summer and a hockey team in the winter.
But when we were soccer team, he vouched for us
to play in this Oysel League, which was like a
super competitive southern Ontario league like Carara Lang played in it,
Diana Mathieson played. We were coming up against these people
that we had no idea and we were actually going
toe to toe with these ladies, and so on that side,
(17:06):
it was like, oh, I could try out for Team Ontario.
Oh I can go try and do this camp. It
was just who can I compete with? That's all I wanted,
was just to compete and like be with my pals
and have some fun and like go down to the States.
And this is We went down to the Robbie Tournament,
which is in Rochester. It was this like prestige tournament
and we were Canadian and I remember we were one
(17:26):
of the only Canadians and we ended up winning it,
and like throughout the tournament there had been like chirps
like from parents to us about being Canadian stuff. So
one of the parents when we won, threw us a
Canadian flag and we sang Okayna at the top of
our lungs. And like, I don't even remember the score.
I just remember like that being so happy and having
that feeling of ha I beat you, like on your soil,
(17:48):
you know what I mean. And it was just like
we were just crazy hyper competitive and that's all I wanted.
I just needed my cup. I felt like could never
have been filled. And then like when I started getting
recruited for university, like this is cool, and they're like
and you could play soccer too, So it was always
kind of like hand in hand, just sports really, And
then when I was in university and all those weekly
(18:09):
awards or monthly awards started coming out, and obviously under
my first under twenty two tryout was after my freshman year,
so then it was like okay. And then when I
went there, I was like, man, everyone's just as jacked
as me, or even more. I'm like, all right, how
I'm going to stack up? And then I did pretty
well and I was like, well, shoot, okay. Right after that,
I got invited to the national team camp and I'm
(18:30):
sitting next to like Vicky Sanajara and Cassie's there, and
like Wi's there. I'm like, holy shit, this is insane.
And had fun at that camp and then I made
the Four Nations Cup team right after that, and the year,
like from September camp till November. When that happened, there
was like something that shifted and all of a sudden,
I don't want to say the fun went away, but
(18:51):
like the way I approached the fun in hockey completely changed.
And I think it's because I got a taste of
it and I was so scared to lose it and
I had fear run me for a long time. Yeah,
while I played which Ohio State? Why not you could
have gone?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I assuming to it anywhere?
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Right? Yeah, I had my pick. I said, why not?
Have you been there? It blows my mind when people
you scored your.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
First goal against the Badgers, which I want hold against.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
You, but yeah, it blows my mind when people come
visit Ohio State and they go to the football game,
they get the whole thing, whole nine yards and they're like, nah,
I'm like, what else do you want? What else do
you want? In school, everyone's always like, oh, it's too big.
It's like I get that. But my thing was I
was Canadian. I grew up watching little giants like all
(19:39):
that stuff, and how the Americans do up sports big,
and I was like, man, I want America to barfall
over me with whatever school they're pushing. That's what I want.
I want the marching band, I want the Nike sponsorships,
I want the food, I want the plane, like I
want it all. And like Ohio State was like here
we are, and I was like, sick, this is it.
And to be honest, it came down to Ohio State
(20:00):
in Wisconsin. Wisconsin felt bigger to me and like more
intertwined in a city, whereas Ohio State was the city,
like we had our own borders, it felt like, and
then the city was at the exterior. Wisconsin felt like
I had to have a scooter if I needed to
get around. I'm like, well, I'm never going a class then,
and it's already hard to convince me to get there.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
We did all have scooters at Wisco, and it was
It's interesting you say that because the campus is actually
pretty big, like it's spread out, but it's right north
middle of downtown.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, you got a north and south right.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I had a scooter though, but we were just at
Ohio State for the outdoor game one. It was freezing,
but it is. It's a cool campus.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
It's beautiful. I feel like it's just I like history
and I like adding to that history. Unfortunately I didn't
get to add any type of national championship to it.
But I felt like the class that I went to
school with that year, like my freshman class, there was
really something unique and special about it, like the team
that was at Ohio State before we went there. The
(21:00):
program was still very much in its infancy by the way,
I think it had only been around for five or
six years. And then our class came in. There were
six of us, and we were just the right mix
of personalities that allowed our group as a whole to
be like a leader. And we came in as freshman,
I felt like and immediately demanded change and like implemented
it ourselves and like led ourselves. And I felt like
(21:21):
that's when the program kind of started to take a turn,
But it didn't really truly hit its peak, because it
took a dip after we left, a bit after Spooner left.
I want to say it took a dip, but it
didn't truly truly take its peak until Nadine Mauserrel came
in and started coaching. And I'm just so proud of
what she's been able to do. She was a stud
when she played anyway, she was a nightmare to play against,
(21:42):
like hyper competitive, and you could see it in or when.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
She coaches, like, yeah, you can see it now.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
It's pure passion. And yeah, so it's like cool now
to like be an alumni go back and cheer those
ladies on. But yeah, man, I don't know. It had everything.
I loved that the school was bought into athletics. I
love that our venue wasn't top notch. And maybe this
is just so Northern Ontario hill billy of me, but
like I love the fact that our everyone hated playing
(22:09):
in our rank, like it was disgusting. It's the best,
you guys, regretted the.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Guest guest locker room shower was the grossest shower showers
in my entire career. Yeah, it was disgusting and it
was like always clogged and then the whole bathroom flooded.
We used to leave a time capsule in the locker
room and like it would be there the next year
when we went back. Hands down, the dirtiest locker room
I think I've ever played in.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Honestly, it's the best, That's what it's supposed to be
You're not supposed to be comfortable coming in our place.
We play this Lockers University.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, Boston University is that way too. So the men's
got men has this gorgeous rank againis arena, and the
women have Walter Brown and now it's been redone and
it's absolutely stunning. But at the time it was foul.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
It was so foul.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
BC had Conti Forum, a new rink, UVM had the gout.
There was some pretty good cool buildings. Yeah, Walter Brown
is an absolute shithole. Is like a little single plank
of wood and no one the whole team doesn't even fit.
I'm like, that helps you, guys, this is what we want.
It never helped us. Yeah, okay, well, so to get
(23:18):
into like kind of that. But also, like when you
were at Ohio State and more more so with the
national team, you just are part of a generation of
like truly legendary players like you mentioned a few of them,
Vicky Haley, Wickenheiser, right, there are some players that you
played with that bar nun have transformed the game. Yourself
included what is the moment when you think about your
national team career that is like the peak of the experience.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
So my career started off with them. In five oh
six at Women's Worlds. I was a spare player or
whatever you want to call them. I never played. I
was just in case someone got hurt. I was there,
and then I got cut in O six for the Olympics,
and then O seven was my first Worlds and that
was on home soil in Winnipeg. And it's kind of
weird because, like, looking back, I'm always like, man, it's
(24:03):
like the universe was preparing me for twenty ten, Like
that was my first world the first time I got
actual ice time, the first time I actually contributed, the
first win that I experienced, and what that felt like
and what it took to win because Alas had a
good team that year. And then eight I get cut
because a new coach stepped in and he didn't like
offensive defenders, and I was like, all right, cool, I
(24:25):
guess I'll just work on my defensive game. And it
was like okay, So now all of a sudden, I'm
a more well rounded player. And then with that, I
make the World's team in O nine and there was
a moment in that tournament where I was actually in
the gold medal game, and we were we had such
a good team, you guys that I was just so
excited to be there. This sounds terrible, but I was
just like, I don't even care if I play a minute,
(24:47):
like this team is so good, I will be happy
watching everyone do their thing. And in the gold medal game,
we didn't show up and we played awful, and I
remember at the end of that game, we were all
just kind of sitting in the locker room and everyone
there was a group of like a lot of ladies crying,
and I was pissed. I was just like, yeah, what
are we actually cried? We didn't even play so and
(25:10):
it was the first time I'd ever spoken out in
the room. I was just like, I know what it's
like to sit at home and watch you guys play.
No one should be crying, because there's a lot of
ladies at home that cried a lot of tears and
would have done anything to be in this position, and
they would have tried twelve times as hard as all
of us. And in my head, I wasn't thinking everything.
I was just so mad. I had to say it, like,
you guys don't even know what it's like to be
cutting on the other side kind of thing. And I
(25:32):
remember packing up and leaving the locker room and I
think it was Peter Jensen, our mental coach, and he
was like, that was amazing. I'm so glad you did that.
And I was like, what did what? And it like
didn't even dawn and he was like, that was amazing leadership.
I was like, that wasn't even leadership. That was anger
and emotion and passion coming out, because this team is
too good to do that, like too good, Like how
(25:53):
did we just lose before the Olympics in Vancouver. That's
what I was thinking, Like, this is huge, guys, what
do we do in And it was great. Jana Heffer
was like, everyone hanging silver medals in our stalls all
centralization year, so we know we're ready. Just a reminder, guys,
just a reminder every day we're not the best, we're
the worst, so let's get to work. And I was
(26:15):
just like, hey, no, that's a leader right there.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Well, it's so interesting that that's your guys, is like
behind you only see part of it right when you're
watching from the outside in, And like, as a player
growing up in that era, that was I was, I
was you eighteens at that time they had just start.
There was the first ability to play you eighteens. But
we all looked up to you guys so much because
it's like we're talking about what's happening in women's hockey
right now, in women's sports in general. But in my opinion,
(26:38):
that was really the time when women's hockey, Like the
younger players who were seeing what was happening were like,
wait a minute, we have potential. These players are really good,
they're starting to be on TV, they're starting to get
more opportunity. There's like more consistency in that opportunity, and
looking back watching I went to the Salt Lake City
Olympics and like that was when I first got hooked.
You couldn't you couldn't see women's hockey unless you went
(27:00):
and saw women hockey, right, And then we're watching all
of you guys like transform the game and it was
just like truly on you already side. It legendary. In
my opinion, there hasn't been a wave or era of
players like that. You're starting to you're getting some of
these young guns that are coming up. But you guys,
just like every team US Canada, it was always a battle.
(27:20):
It was amazing to watch and that really sprung and
propelled the sport forward.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yeah, and the hate was there, like it was true.
Oh my god, I'm being serious, like cleaning for it now,
it's competitive, it's not hate. There was like pure hatred there.
If we were driving down the highway, saw the other one,
no one's hitting the brakes like that kind of hate.
And I say that just figuratively, it's not for real,
but like we literally despised each other and that's that that.
(27:44):
I felt like twenty ten was one of the last.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Years we truly you need that though I was just
gonna be I kind of loved the hate so bad.
So my current into it was the hate is actually
so good for the sport because it takes away the
like cross bench camaraderie, which I think should go away.
It's really hard though, because we're all pulling in the
(28:07):
same direction, and like we do have to be friends
to get there, and then we have the Pro League
and then your teammates, right and like your teammates and friends.
But you go back to the story where Kobe was
like I'm putting pau gasol on his ass. I'm gonna
run through him. When we play spank and everyone's like, no,
you're not, this is your boy. Yeah, and he's like
he did. I don't care and he does. And you
remember that level of crazy, crazy hate to represent your
(28:30):
nation used to be such an insane thing. And so
like there's this switch. And I think this switch is good,
right because it brought us to today, but I think
it changes so kind of bring me from playing for
(28:56):
the national team having all these resources, having all the support,
to then going to the c TOHL having no support
by the way, and having to put it all together. Yeah,
and what did.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Them feel like?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Like we did have support in an Olympic year. So
outside of an Olympic year, it's okay, Well, you're still
fending for yourself. Like, the best time to play on
the national team was when you were in college. Everything
was handled for you. Your physio was there, everything was
one stop shop, Your programs were there, your gym was there,
everything was happening. You didn't have to think about a
damn thing. It's when you were out of college. It
was like, okay, now what I got to figure out
(29:29):
what time our skills coach is doing his thing. I
gotta log my time in the gym, and then I
got a practice at nine thirty at night with my
Toronto Furies team in the CWHL right and make sure
I'm performing at the best. I have no idea who's watching,
if anybody's even coming to watch in terms of scouts.
But to be honest, my best, most favorite hockey moment
is with the Toronto Furies when we won in twenty fifteen. Yeah,
(29:50):
when we won the Clarkson Cup in twenty fourteen, we
made it into the playoffs by one point. We were
like District five, like we were the Mighty Ducks, Like
we were a team of fourth liners that just worked
hard and partied harder. And we went into that playoffs
and I remember thinking, we can do it because we
have Christina Kessler, who went to Harvard University. She was
in the Canadian program. Never cut it, but she was good.
(30:11):
And I say never cut it just because there was
like a lineup of four amazing goaltenders just waiting to play,
and like she was just the wrong she was the
wrong garth year dude put her like three years later
she was in like Kessler's trying to beat out Zabby Saint,
Pierre Labonte and small I mean, what are you supposed
to do? There's a tough yeah, And she was good
(30:33):
and we our first game, we went out and I
forget who we upset, and it was all like it
was me? Was he you? Guys? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Up in Markham? I think we played you, then Markham,
then Montreal and we started loss and we were like, well,
I'm not going to lose again.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, you want to know why? You want to what happened.
I was sponsored by McDonald's at the time, and they
gave me this gold credit card, this gold McDonald's credit
card that I just swipe, and so I was like
and everyone had heard that I had gotten, and I
was like, all right, guys, we win, everybody can get
a mcflurry. And everyone's like, all right, so we win.
We're like, yeah, we have the game puck that has
no logo on it. We tape it up above the wall.
(31:10):
Everyone goes, we get free mcflurs the next game. I'm like,
all right, anything off the dollar menu, anything off the
dollar menu.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Dude, We're just ticking up.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
So we kept winning and winning and winning, and it
was because of this golden McDonald's card man, And the
craziest part is like we had you guys. You guys
had a ton of Olympians come back and play. You
had like a line of yeah, and we had Spooner
you and well I did I got cut that year.
I didn't make the team, but sure I didn't play
(31:38):
in twenty fourteen, but Spooner did. But I was training
for a triathlon, so like my cardio was like off
the hook. I could have played a six minute shift
and not I've been breathing hard. It was insane, and
we had you guys where we wanted you. It was
like zip zip. It was nothing, nothing. And I was like,
you guys, it just takes one mistake on their part.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
If we lose cool we're supposed to, it doesn't matter,
like all matters what happens to them, and they know it.
And this is gonna be so embarrassing when we beat them.
And like the goal wasn't even that great. Your goalie
was playing so good. It was just like off up
and over and in. It was like the most fluky
champion and Spooner was like swinging at it five times
and missed it and it bounced the right way. I
(32:18):
remember being like, whoof this is the best win just
because everyone bought in so wholeheartedly to their roles and
we were having so much fun doing it, and like
if our coach was like not on a hold on,
hold on, this line's not going you guys, go back
out again. It wasn't like oh people sent down to
be like all right, come on, yeah, let's go. Everyone
was there and like just wanted it. No one gave
(32:39):
a crap who was playing. And the funniest part is
before the final, we were like, oh my god, we're
going to the final, Like what do we do? And
like one of our girls always took part in some
extra curriculars the night before games and stuff, and the
other girls drank and whatever, so she was like should
I not? And we're like, no, everyone just do what
you usually do. If you go drink a bottle of wine,
go drink a bottle of wine. If you're dipping into marijuana,
(33:02):
go dip into marijuana. Like, everyone just keep doing what
we've done this whole time, and we'll all go to
McDonald's after like that's what's happening. And pulled it off.
It was great. It was just ridiculous, and they're just
a fun group of people. That's my favorite hockey moment.
Vancouver's there, don't get me wrong, Like Vancouver's there, But
we were supposed to win, right this one. There was
like no one would have put a dime on us
(33:24):
to win this. So that's that's one of my favors.
But that league was literally held together by its players.
Everyone was just bought in to just hey, we need
a place to play, man, Like we all just have
to train and play. And also this is fun.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I love that. That's your hockey memory. Mine is similar.
Mine is a c. Tohl memory as well, because like
just nothing mattered.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
It was just fun.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
But you go from that, which is real hockey and
real career and real playing, to this total offshoot career.
And I'm not going to go Battle of the Blades.
I'm going to go Choresy. You were in Shoresy, you
were in Letter Kenny, you were in Goon, you were
in all these like hilarious ideals like Canadian hockey stories
right like they are.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Clash Suorsy is the best hockey show of all time.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
I'm going Letter Kenny. I'm all Letter Kenny. I think that,
But what does it feel like to then play the role.
It's the role and it's the life that you live.
Did it just feel like going to your life? Like,
what was that like and how does it kind of
match up?
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah? Jared Kiso the creator of these shows. He's a genius.
Like he's just so good at what he does and
he gets it and everything is I feel like, so simple,
and he puts people in places where they're just honestly
and truly them. My husband's actually in the show as well, No,
is he? Yeah? Yeah, he's one of the hockey players
on the Sioux Hunt.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Is he suresy seven?
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Actually yeah, no, but Shorzy is truly Like it felt
like it was an homage to Sedbury because Letter Kenny
was filmed in Sudbury and so they hosted them. So
it felt like he was just saying thank you to
Sedbury with Shory in a sense, because a lot of
the isms and the places that he used makes me
die laugh and like the fact that Sudbury's even being
thrown out in like a world famous show is hilarious.
(35:04):
But it was nice to be a part of something
like that, to put my city that I'm extremely proud
of on the map and have my pals beyond it too,
And like other super famous people beyond it too, and
just know and see how much Kiso and all these
guys appreciate it as well. Is the greatest, Like they
all love going back to Subury. Like I get texts
from tr all the time. You know, you and Subury
(35:25):
were in Subury and I'm like, nah, I might come
up in a couple weekends. I'll let you know. And
it's like my friends are serving them at restaurants, like, yeah,
I met so and so they're the nicest. I'm like,
these people are actually the nicest, and like, yes, the
show is great, but all the people that make it
are the best. And it just warms my heart, makes
me so happy because I love I love my city
so much. We're hard working, gritty, blue collar nickel mining
(35:48):
community and to know that it's getting love on the
world stages is kind of nice, and especially in a
show that's like not soft, because Sudbury's anything but soft.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, the plot lines on the show really made me
feel like I was watching someone's family, Like it didn't
feel like the acting was acting, if that makes any sense.
I'm dead hearing that. It really just felt like a
bunch of people just completely being authentic. Yeah, that's very thematic,
by the way, for you, and like all these different spaces,
you've said it on the national team, you've said it.
You know when you talk about CHL, just letting people
(36:20):
be themselves is really the best way to let people be.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
You know you you do that really well on jockson Jill's.
So you're the co host of a incredible podcast, jockson Jills,
And I think one of the best things about your
podcast is I never feel like you guys are putting
people in a box. If they're gonna walk down a path,
like you're just gonna go with them and you're gonna
ask the right questions. You're gonna have those conversations. Why
did you guys start jockson Jill's. Is it a passion
(36:47):
project turned into a really big thing? Like what got
you there?
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Man, a lot? You knew what it was like playing
in the CWHL And I'm sure you heard it like
how do we watch you guys? Where can we find
you more? That kind of stuff where you're like, oh yeah, like.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
You live next to the rink and they're like, I
didn't know we had a team.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
You're like, well, it's just like, why is this so hard?
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Like?
Speaker 3 (37:11):
What is so wrong? Like we need a better business plan.
And now that the PWHL had it when they first launched,
I was like, oh my god, yes, what perfect timing.
I work at a major network, a sports network. I
cannot wait to pop the top off this, Like I'm
going to dive right into women's hockey, but don't care
about Sports Center, don't care about the habs. I'm going
(37:33):
to do all women. And when the broadcast breakdown came out,
I was like hold the phone. I was like, okay, well,
maybe we'll be doing intermissions or like extra coverage. And
as the season went on, it was like, what is happening?
How are we not giving this what it deserves? And
it was like having played in a league previously that
(37:54):
didn't have the financial backing that it has now and
watch it get nothing cool. That made sense to me.
But now when there's financial backing and fans that are
lining up around the corner scalping tickets for two hundred
and fifty bucks a piece, I was like, oh, hell no,
this ain't it. These ladies deserve so much better, and
I remember being happy for them, I was like, they
have to win this as Canadian as I am like
(38:15):
I want Canada win all of the time, but like, please, USA,
don't screw this up, you know, like we needed them
to win that for things to change for the Canadian
women as well, and for this league to actually come
to be. That was the start of it all, really,
and so it was like, why in God's name are
we not covering this like this? And so I was like, Julia,
(38:36):
we got to do something. And I reached out to
Julia because we had worked at a Women's World Championship
together when I was pregnant actually in twenty twenty one,
so it was the COVID World's and I was like,
she's young, she's from Northern Ontario, kid knows hockey, and man,
she works hard. And I was like I appreciate that.
And I was like, look, I'm going to do a
podcast and you're the person that knows and loves women's
(38:58):
hockey truly as much as I do, that I think
could do this with me. And she was like thank god,
I was getting so frustrated and I was like, yeah,
so it came from a place of frustration and anger.
I'm not going to lie and disappointment. Shame on us.
How dare we? We can be better? So let's be better.
So we did it, and I was just like, what
do I want it to be? How do I want
this to work? And I was like when I played,
(39:18):
people were like, Oh, we don't really recognize you guys
off the ice because you always have your masks on,
so we don't really know who you are. And now
we get to know you. We love you. And remember
hearing that, and I was like, this is such a
shame because you can pull up Google and google anything
about any of the guys in the NHL and you
know their mom's middle name and like their dog that
died when they were six, and it's like you can't
find anything on us. And so I was like, now
(39:38):
I'm going to shed light on these women. I'm not
going to make them answer any of the typical questions.
I want to know them. I want everyone to get
to know them. And it's not only for that, but
to help make them more marketable for corporate Canada or
USA to be like, oh my gosh, that kid represents
exactly what we want and need. Let's go partner with
them because I care and I want it to be
(39:59):
better than when I had it because I've got kids now,
and I want them to know and love every part
of this league, and I want them to see how
passionate their mom is about it. What disservice would I
be doing my kids if there is a women's league
and I didn't do as much as I could for
it to make it better one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
I mean, I'm blown away by some of the young
talent in the league now and what's continuing to come through.
It's incredibly fun to watch.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Dude. This year's draft's pretty good, but next year's draft,
next year it's going.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
To be it's going to be insane. We could talk
one hundred thousand years about hockey, and we should do
like a straight up just deep dive on all these pieces.
But I want to kick it over to Maddie because
we do this kind of like wrap up.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Yeah, we typically end every episode or conversation with the
same question. I have a piece of parenting advice, right,
I want to ask you a little different because I
think that it's inspiring and it's fun to watch you
doing what you're doing right now, because one, you're transforming
the media house at the PWHL. But you're doing that
while being a mom, so you're working in a very
(40:56):
fast paced startup environment. You walked away from a lot
of career things to focus on this now. But again,
you're a mom first and foremost. So what advice would
you give to other moms who are continuing to pursue
their passions while helping their kids pursue theirs.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
I would like to start off with saying that I
wouldn't be able to do any of this if I
didn't have the partner that I did, because there's no
way I could go this alone, no chance. My parents
don't live near so it's not like we can dump
our kids my parents all the time. So my husband
carries a heavy load some weeks and other weeks I
carry a heavy load. But in saying that, I think
(41:37):
that whatever moment you're in, so if you're working, work,
if your kids are home, put your work away and
be with your kids. Just be where you are wholeheartedly,
and I think that that will help you be incredibly
successful as a parent and incredibly successful as an employee,
because boundaries do need to be set. The other thing, too,
(41:57):
is holy man, and I thought I knew it well
when I was in school. What clearly I was wrong?
Time management. Time management is so key, and I find
as moms we always think we can do a hell
of a lot more in a day than we should
and stop that. My grandmother had it right, Mike Grammy.
She was always like, if it doesn't get done, tomorrow's
another day, another chance to get it done. If it
(42:18):
doesn't get done, oh well, and if she was always
oh well, And now I hear her in my head
all of the time, and it's like, I'll have my
to do list and I look, I'm like, what the
hell I only got two things done out of eight?
And then I look and I'm like, well, what if
I didn't get any of these things done? Does tomorrow happen? Yeah?
Still does. Nothing's ruined. Oh well, I'll get it done
(42:39):
another time.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
I gotta try that. Actually, that's great advice.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
We got to stop demanding so much from ourselves because
we live in a very fast paced world and it
feels like we always have to keep up. But it's
important to slow things down too, So don't throw too
much on your plate.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah, it changes your perspective when you become a parent,
because the little things become that much littler, recognize what
truly matters. I think, so, like Aanya said, we could
talk to you for hours, all things hockey, all things moms.
We appreciate you doing this. That's been a good chat,
and we'll have to have you back on These Packs Puck.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
Always available for you. Thanks for having me, appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
That's it for this week.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Thanks for listening, and if you like what you heard,
spread the word seriously right now, take your phone out,
Text a friend and tell them to subscribe, and be sure.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
To rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
if you haven't already. It really really helps until next week.
I'm Madison Packer.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
And I'm Anya Packer, and this was These Packs Puck.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
These Packs Puck is a production of iHeart Women's Sports
and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. It's hosted by us
Madison and Anya Packer. Emily Meronoff is our senior producer
and story editor. We were mixed and mastered by Mary Doo.
Our executive producers are Jennifer Bassett, Jesse Katz, and Ali
Perry
Hi, everyone, Welcome to these packs puck. I'm Madison Packer.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And I'm Anya Packer. Madison and I are both former
pro hockey players. We met through hockey and fell in love,
and now we're married with two awesome toddlers, ages two
and four.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
These days, we're opening up about the chaos of our
daily lives, between the juggle of being athletes, raising kids and.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
All the messiness in between. So buckle the puck up,
because there is a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hey, Anya, Hey pack how are we doing?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm fabulous? How are you doing good?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I got a fresh fade, a fresh cut, fresh color,
feeling cool.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I just got my nails done. Ooh, I'm not telling
anyone where I'm getting them done, because I already have
a hard time getting an appointment. And every time I
go in there, I have my little appointment and I
walk in and a thousand people walk in after me
and say I have an appointment. I have an appointment
and they don't, but they get frustrated. So anyway, my
nail tech was venting to me today. But I've got
(00:59):
a fresh set, feel amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
You got the whole new set.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I got a whole new set.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So Anyway, I feel great too.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm excited to get into the hot take today because one,
it's got a lot of data, and you know your
girl loves some data. But two, I think it's just
been really exciting to see how everything's gone. So before
we jump two feet in Madison, are you ready for
our hockey hot take for the day?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hit me with it, hockey hot take.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Okay, the hockey hot take is, while girls' hockey is
growing at an unbelievable clip five percent up year over year,
the most increase in girls' hockey registrations, I firmly believe
that the under concentration of media representation of what's going
on in women's hockey is continuing to keep women's hockey
(01:48):
at basically the bottom of the barrel for youth sports
in the United States of America.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, go on, So when you look.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
At it by the numbers, this year, we had just
shy of one hundred thousand registry for girls hockey in
the US, as reported by Bleacher Report, and that's for
USA Hockey registration. So there's also people playing in other
capacities that aren't registered with USA Hockey. So it's kind
of like a closest to possibly knowing the right answer. Now,
if you look at other sports in the US, how
many girls are playing basketball in the US, it's about
(02:19):
four hundred thousand. If you look at how many girls
are playing soccer in the US, it's about five point
seven million. If you look at how many girls are
playing tennis just in high school, it's almost two hundred thousand.
And then if you go down the ranks of the
other most popular sports for girls, it's volleyball, track and field, softball,
(02:40):
cross country. It's all of these sports. And let me
tell you, the fact of the matter is every single
one of those outranks women's hockey. And I think the
problem is what's going on in the media and what
little recognition that our professional women's hockey players get, because
with just the scratch of the surface, we already see
a five percent year over year increase.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, yeah, I agree. I think it's two part. We've
talked about this a little bit before. I think that
hockey has several barriers to entry, right facilities, cost, equipment,
There's a lot of things there, but popularity is at
the top of the list, and in large part because
of accessibility and exposure flip the coin over. You look
at Canada, hockey is everywhere. Everyone plays hockey. You can
(03:21):
walk down the street and there's an ice rink anywhere
you go. The women are on TV all the time
in Canada. I think that Jocks and Jill's podcast that's
co hosted by our Up Next guest Tesabinon, does a
phenomenal job of telling players stories, getting players faces out there.
But there has to be more. We need more people
(03:41):
to cover it, and we need more people to do
it because that's what piques people's interest. Yeah, they want
to watch the game, they want to see the sport,
but they want to know the players.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
One hundred percent. And I always feel like the helmet
is the biggest barrier for us. I know exactly who
Stewie is. I even know who's up for the McDonald's
MVP in high school basketball. The fame and notoriety around
women's basketball, while I think comparatively the numbers are pretty similar.
If we have about one hundred thousand people playing, they
have about four hundred thousand people playing, And that number
(04:10):
might be a little skewed, like I said, because of
all the registration elements to it, But I don't think
we're that far off. What I think that we're incredibly
far off on is the coolness factor, and it's not
because of anything other than a lack of media exposure.
Our athletes still have to educate people that it exists.
(04:31):
I'm excited to see markets like Seattle or Vancouver that
are already riding the wave, that already have the league
hype and then come anew because we watched it back
in phf days, right, Toronto entered a league that was
already real and established. So when they did, the T
six popped off because everyone already knew what was happening.
(04:52):
But I think the six teams that currently exist, while
there was leagues and hockey happening because of former professional leagues,
the PWHL wasn't a thing. I'm excited to see how
the new markets go by way of increased registration. I
think Vancouver will see a big bump. I think Seattle
will see a huge bump, and then you know, some
of the markets that we go to tangentially are starting
to see some of those influxes. But at the end
(05:14):
of the day, a PAHL player posts a get ready
with Me video and it's got five hundred likes and
the content's the same. Marina Mainbury posts one for the
Connecticut Sun and just on views it's in the hundreds
of thousands, And I think that the difference isn't anything
other than people just don't know women's hockey. I mean,
(05:36):
we're trying jockson jills is doing the Lord's work over there,
but we're just not like cool yet.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I'm most excited for Seattle because right like, Seattle has
a phenomenal women's sports network and like people there love it.
Right Like, you've got the WNBA, You've got the Kraken, Like,
I think that there is a phenomenal opportunity. Now you're
putting PWHL Seattle in that building. Hopefully they can fill
(06:04):
that building with PWL Seattle fans. One two. How creative
can they get? Again? You're in an awesome, creative, trendy,
sexy market. Like, I want to see them do super
cool things. Fill that building. Put people in the penalty box.
Get celebrities at your game. Do something different and innovative.
You've got all those other female athletes there. Get them
(06:25):
to the games. Be creative with what they're doing at
the games. Make it an environment that people want to
be at. Now, all of a sudden, everyone's talking about it. Oh,
there's a P to BHL team in this market. It's growing,
and to your point, it's growing at a rate that
we've never seen. But how do we diversify and be
different and make it something that people want to see?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah? I mean I think we could be in double digits.
I'm not even trying to be a crazy person, but
an additional ten thousand kids playing year over year doesn't
seem that difficult to me, given the markets that we're
starting to touch. But I think when we look at it,
Rough and Tumble Pub, I'm gonna give them a shout out.
Rough Pub in Seattle had a watch party for the draft.
(07:04):
There's some really interesting stuff happening in these markets. And
when little girls start to see that and touch it,
they can dream, right like, they can dream to be
the players. If you look at the trajectory of what's
happening over there, you have a player that was a
former pro player that played in college that is now
the general manager in kind of a short run up
right in Megan Turner, which is unbelievable, right Like, you
(07:27):
can see that pathway if you like the business side
of sports, and then on the flip side, you see
these players signing these contracts, having these conversations, having all
of this power. Right, what little girl isn't inspired to
go do that other thing and take away all the hurdles.
You have companies like Franklin making street hockey really accessible.
You have companies like the NHL that are pouring a
ton of love. I wonder if the accessibility barrier is
(07:51):
going to start to be broken to kind of unlock
this double digit growth because the addiction of hockey, once
you get into it really becomes a flywheel, which is
humanously excited. Agree that is the hockey hot take. We
have to hit double digit growth by next year. If not,
I'll go hand out hockey equipment myself. Switching to a
(08:14):
little bit of a check in. Let's see where you're at.
We always do this. We run how we're doing from
one to one hundred for our new listeners that are
just getting hit with the pod, and hopefully Madison and
I can combine for a cool one hundred because I
think that way the house is balanced. Sometimes we're over,
sometimes we're under.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Where are you at?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
I'm at a ninety three? Oh so by the time
this episode comes out, this part will be dated. However,
I am leaving first thing tomorrow morning, Yeah, to go
to Stanley Cup Final Game six, and I am fired up, fired.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
So well know when this airs if you're misplaced emotion
or if you're in a good headspace, because I know
you want the Panthers to win. I know you're hoping
a little Florida to win.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
You got to see my seats. We're right behind the
net that flash shoots on twice. I'm going with my dad,
my brother, my dad's friend, his son, and one of
my best friends, Courtney Burke. Shout out Officer Burke, OPD.
I'm so pumped Orlando Police Dogar Sunrise. I am fired up.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, that's gonna be really fun. I'm excited for you
because so.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
If you're anything less than a seven, I can tick.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Up to one hundred.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Good.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Why don't you tick up? I'm not doing so hot
only because I feel like the weekend was long. You're
about to go out of town. I did get my
nails done, so I am't feeling pretty good. But I
have so many projects on my honey list, and I
did all my easy honeyless projects. So now I'm getting
my heart honeyless projects, which steaks. I hate having heard
projects so not impossible, it's just laborious, so I've got
(09:46):
a lot of labories.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Onya did a lot of driving this weekend. Yeah, I'm
stuck in almost six hour drive to Boston, and then
she got wrangled with also making the drive home that
all three of us fell asleep on.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
So yeah, yeah, I'm not doing so hot.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Took one for the team.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Fine, I think I'm like I think I'm like a
twenty five. Work's been a little bit stressful. I love
the pod, so that's jazzing me up a little bit.
But I would say I'm not my finest. I am
going to try to get a workout in. I am
going to try to sit in the sauna. I have
a lot of busy work to do, so I have
some time I can run on the treadmill and do
some busy work. So I'm not doing my hottest but
that's okay. You're surging at one hundred and you're going
(10:24):
out of town, so what what could be better for you?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I'm only brought down to a ninety three because I
couldn't pre reserve my parking for tomorrow, and I'm a
little stressed about that because I don't do well in
those off the cuff situations. But worst case, we'll find
a curve and tell it.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Baby, I'm so happy that the most stressful thing for
you is you're parking when you go out of town
for games six. You're such a loser.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Heard up Cats and six? Baby, there you go.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, the Cats and six someone who we got super
fired up to talk to. And I'm actually I laugh
because I did hate this person much like I did
hate you, As at a point in time, when you
play against somebody for such a long time, there is
like a disdain. It eventually goes away because you learn
that they're a good person and like, YadA YadA YadA,
Sure that's all great, But at a point in time
I did have a serious loathing for Testa Painome. She's
(11:12):
such a good hockey player, and you gotta hate that
person for a little bit. I think that's healthy. We
talk about that a little bit in our conversation about
like the rivalries and that like innate hate and how
much fun that can be. But we talked to Tessa
Panom next. In the spirit of women's sports media, hockey
growing like crazy. Tessa Banom is the co host of
Jocks and Jill's. We know her, we love her. I
(11:33):
can't wait to have her on the pod and talk
all of the things.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
She is an Ohio State buffer, which I do hold
against her. However, she is also a woman for women
who I love to shout out on this pod. When
I went into retirement, she was a resource for me.
Has been very supportive of our pod, obviously being on
the show, but also just a resource in answering questions.
She does a lot to cover the game. Their show
(11:56):
is amazing. The name in and of itself is phenomenal,
but they just do lot to get athletes out there,
and so we're excited to chat with her next.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Well, we have Testapinome. We're excited to have you on
the pod. We know and love you. But for all
of our listeners, how would they know who you are?
How can we kind of give a quick bio for Tessa?
We hit you one before, so we'll compare in contrast.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
All right, former hockey player turned reality TV star turned
I don't even want to say star, reality TV participat star,
hit participant turned broadcaster who thought she was only going
to do that for a short period of time so
(12:49):
she could pay her school debt to get her masters
to become a speech language pathologist, and then that never happens,
So she decided to become a SportsCenter broadcaster and from
there turned mother.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yo, all these little things that you added, like little tidbits,
are major, humongous milestones. But I like the casualness she
left out.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
You were voted sportnet thirty most beautiful athletes on the planet.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That's where I've mentioned about that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
I don't know, Yeah, how did you forget that? That?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Just like yes, if that ever was my nomenclature, it
would be the first thing I say.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, yeah, Can I tell you something though, Like I
am like a goofy person. I like make fun of
myself half the days. I don't really really like putting
makeup on and the photo shoot for that thing. I
was like, this is so like the same me, like
I can't do this this bab suit on and come
out here. Okay, Now how do you want to pose?
I'm like, you tell me, man, like you do this
(13:45):
for a day. I post for no one, Like I'll
give a peace sign in a picture once or twice
with like my mouth open and my tongue out, But
like that's it, you know what I mean. I was like,
this is so awkward. But the guy did it good.
He did it great. It turned out nice. I'm sure
there's a lot of photoshopping done, but I told forgot
about that. That was way back. That was the reality
TV days.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
That's the one that I was most excited to talk about.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Maddy wanted to jump on that one for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, we'll get into it a little bit more. But
obviously your playing career, your television career. Did you grow
up always playing hockey or was there other stuff that
you did alongside that.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I grew up in a very active outdoors in neighborhood.
So it was like we were playing kick to can,
we were playing Darky Dark, we were playing basketball, we
were playing baseball, we were playing football, badminton. It was
almost like we all had ADHD and it was like,
what can we do next? You know, I could throw
this ball further than you, Like, it was just like
that kind of thing. And all of our backyards were linked.
There was no fences dividing them, so we literally had
(14:43):
almost a football field sized playing area. Street hockey was
just legendary. But my two loves growing up were soccer
and hockey. Those were like my two that I really
jammed with. I played basketball, soccer, I did track. I
did long to since running. I had a chemistry teacher
that I was like, I am not good at chemistry,
(15:04):
and she was the cross country running coach, and I
was like, I'm going to do my damnedest to impress
you on and cross country is like straight torture. It's
like how bad can you torture yourself? And whoever can
torture themselves the most wins. That's what long distance running is. Anyways,
I promise my.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Personal policy is I run when chased. That's it.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah. I ran for grades, That's what I did. I
ran for grades, Like I got to get into school. Yeah,
my sat is probably aren't gonna be great, so I
got to make sure I do better in school.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
So you do all the things. When did you really
figure out that it was hockey that you had a
career that you could reach all the insane levels that
you have, which we will certainly talk about.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
I was a shy kid, believe it or not, Like
I was super shy, and so I was embarrassed to
be good at hockey for a while, and so like,
I didn't tell any of my friends, Like I started
playing hockey when I was like four or five, I
didn't tell any of my friends I played hockey till
I was like in grade two. And the only reason
why I told them was because my teacher I played
(16:03):
against her son and she was like, good game yesterday,
and I was like not, now, why should you say that? Yeah,
And then all my friends were like, cool, you play hockey.
I'm like, oh, I mean yeah. Anyways, and my dad
was a big hockey guy, scouted for the OHL which
is a junior league up in Canada for oh my
gosh a million years, coached himself and he was a
(16:23):
national champion on the U sports side, so he was
always like guiding me through all of these sports. But
he knew that I had a knack for hockey. I
never really bought into that stuff or anything. I just
played because I had so much fun, boys or girls,
whatever team I was playing on, it was the best soccer.
I had a great coach, Frank Movass who recently just
passed away. Rest in peace, Frank. But he had a
(16:46):
group of US ladies. We were essentially a soccer team
in the summer and a hockey team in the winter.
But when we were soccer team, he vouched for us
to play in this Oysel League, which was like a
super competitive southern Ontario league like Carara Lang played in it,
Diana Mathieson played. We were coming up against these people
that we had no idea and we were actually going
toe to toe with these ladies, and so on that side,
(17:06):
it was like, oh, I could try out for Team Ontario.
Oh I can go try and do this camp. It
was just who can I compete with? That's all I wanted,
was just to compete and like be with my pals
and have some fun and like go down to the States.
And this is We went down to the Robbie Tournament,
which is in Rochester. It was this like prestige tournament
and we were Canadian and I remember we were one
(17:26):
of the only Canadians and we ended up winning it,
and like throughout the tournament there had been like chirps
like from parents to us about being Canadian stuff. So
one of the parents when we won, threw us a
Canadian flag and we sang Okayna at the top of
our lungs. And like, I don't even remember the score.
I just remember like that being so happy and having
that feeling of ha I beat you, like on your soil,
(17:48):
you know what I mean. And it was just like
we were just crazy hyper competitive and that's all I wanted.
I just needed my cup. I felt like could never
have been filled. And then like when I started getting
recruited for university, like this is cool, and they're like
and you could play soccer too, So it was always
kind of like hand in hand, just sports really, And
then when I was in university and all those weekly
(18:09):
awards or monthly awards started coming out, and obviously under
my first under twenty two tryout was after my freshman year,
so then it was like okay. And then when I
went there, I was like, man, everyone's just as jacked
as me, or even more. I'm like, all right, how
I'm going to stack up? And then I did pretty
well and I was like, well, shoot, okay. Right after that,
I got invited to the national team camp and I'm
(18:30):
sitting next to like Vicky Sanajara and Cassie's there, and
like Wi's there. I'm like, holy shit, this is insane.
And had fun at that camp and then I made
the Four Nations Cup team right after that, and the year,
like from September camp till November. When that happened, there
was like something that shifted and all of a sudden,
I don't want to say the fun went away, but
(18:51):
like the way I approached the fun in hockey completely changed.
And I think it's because I got a taste of
it and I was so scared to lose it and
I had fear run me for a long time. Yeah,
while I played which Ohio State? Why not you could
have gone?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I assuming to it anywhere?
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Right? Yeah, I had my pick. I said, why not?
Have you been there? It blows my mind when people
you scored your.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
First goal against the Badgers, which I want hold against.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
You, but yeah, it blows my mind when people come
visit Ohio State and they go to the football game,
they get the whole thing, whole nine yards and they're like, nah,
I'm like, what else do you want? What else do
you want? In school, everyone's always like, oh, it's too big.
It's like I get that. But my thing was I
was Canadian. I grew up watching little giants like all
(19:39):
that stuff, and how the Americans do up sports big,
and I was like, man, I want America to barfall
over me with whatever school they're pushing. That's what I want.
I want the marching band, I want the Nike sponsorships,
I want the food, I want the plane, like I
want it all. And like Ohio State was like here
we are, and I was like, sick, this is it.
And to be honest, it came down to Ohio State
(20:00):
in Wisconsin. Wisconsin felt bigger to me and like more
intertwined in a city, whereas Ohio State was the city,
like we had our own borders, it felt like, and
then the city was at the exterior. Wisconsin felt like
I had to have a scooter if I needed to
get around. I'm like, well, I'm never going a class then,
and it's already hard to convince me to get there.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
We did all have scooters at Wisco, and it was
It's interesting you say that because the campus is actually
pretty big, like it's spread out, but it's right north
middle of downtown.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, you got a north and south right.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I had a scooter though, but we were just at
Ohio State for the outdoor game one. It was freezing,
but it is. It's a cool campus.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
It's beautiful. I feel like it's just I like history
and I like adding to that history. Unfortunately I didn't
get to add any type of national championship to it.
But I felt like the class that I went to
school with that year, like my freshman class, there was
really something unique and special about it, like the team
that was at Ohio State before we went there. The
(21:00):
program was still very much in its infancy by the way,
I think it had only been around for five or
six years. And then our class came in. There were
six of us, and we were just the right mix
of personalities that allowed our group as a whole to
be like a leader. And we came in as freshman,
I felt like and immediately demanded change and like implemented
it ourselves and like led ourselves. And I felt like
(21:21):
that's when the program kind of started to take a turn,
But it didn't really truly hit its peak, because it
took a dip after we left, a bit after Spooner left.
I want to say it took a dip, but it
didn't truly truly take its peak until Nadine Mauserrel came
in and started coaching. And I'm just so proud of
what she's been able to do. She was a stud
when she played anyway, she was a nightmare to play against,
(21:42):
like hyper competitive, and you could see it in or when.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
She coaches, like, yeah, you can see it now.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
It's pure passion. And yeah, so it's like cool now
to like be an alumni go back and cheer those
ladies on. But yeah, man, I don't know. It had everything.
I loved that the school was bought into athletics. I
love that our venue wasn't top notch. And maybe this
is just so Northern Ontario hill billy of me, but
like I love the fact that our everyone hated playing
(22:09):
in our rank, like it was disgusting. It's the best,
you guys, regretted the.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Guest guest locker room shower was the grossest shower showers
in my entire career. Yeah, it was disgusting and it
was like always clogged and then the whole bathroom flooded.
We used to leave a time capsule in the locker
room and like it would be there the next year
when we went back. Hands down, the dirtiest locker room
I think I've ever played in.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Honestly, it's the best, That's what it's supposed to be
You're not supposed to be comfortable coming in our place.
We play this Lockers University.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, Boston University is that way too. So the men's
got men has this gorgeous rank againis arena, and the
women have Walter Brown and now it's been redone and
it's absolutely stunning. But at the time it was foul.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
It was so foul.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
BC had Conti Forum, a new rink, UVM had the gout.
There was some pretty good cool buildings. Yeah, Walter Brown
is an absolute shithole. Is like a little single plank
of wood and no one the whole team doesn't even fit.
I'm like, that helps you, guys, this is what we want.
It never helped us. Yeah, okay, well, so to get
(23:18):
into like kind of that. But also, like when you
were at Ohio State and more more so with the
national team, you just are part of a generation of
like truly legendary players like you mentioned a few of them,
Vicky Haley, Wickenheiser, right, there are some players that you
played with that bar nun have transformed the game. Yourself
included what is the moment when you think about your
national team career that is like the peak of the experience.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
So my career started off with them. In five oh
six at Women's Worlds. I was a spare player or
whatever you want to call them. I never played. I
was just in case someone got hurt. I was there,
and then I got cut in O six for the Olympics,
and then O seven was my first Worlds and that
was on home soil in Winnipeg. And it's kind of
weird because, like, looking back, I'm always like, man, it's
(24:03):
like the universe was preparing me for twenty ten, Like
that was my first world the first time I got
actual ice time, the first time I actually contributed, the
first win that I experienced, and what that felt like
and what it took to win because Alas had a
good team that year. And then eight I get cut
because a new coach stepped in and he didn't like
offensive defenders, and I was like, all right, cool, I
(24:25):
guess I'll just work on my defensive game. And it
was like okay, So now all of a sudden, I'm
a more well rounded player. And then with that, I
make the World's team in O nine and there was
a moment in that tournament where I was actually in
the gold medal game, and we were we had such
a good team, you guys that I was just so
excited to be there. This sounds terrible, but I was
just like, I don't even care if I play a minute,
(24:47):
like this team is so good, I will be happy
watching everyone do their thing. And in the gold medal game,
we didn't show up and we played awful, and I
remember at the end of that game, we were all
just kind of sitting in the locker room and everyone
there was a group of like a lot of ladies crying,
and I was pissed. I was just like, yeah, what
are we actually cried? We didn't even play so and
(25:10):
it was the first time I'd ever spoken out in
the room. I was just like, I know what it's
like to sit at home and watch you guys play.
No one should be crying, because there's a lot of
ladies at home that cried a lot of tears and
would have done anything to be in this position, and
they would have tried twelve times as hard as all
of us. And in my head, I wasn't thinking everything.
I was just so mad. I had to say it, like,
you guys don't even know what it's like to be
cutting on the other side kind of thing. And I
(25:32):
remember packing up and leaving the locker room and I
think it was Peter Jensen, our mental coach, and he
was like, that was amazing. I'm so glad you did that.
And I was like, what did what? And it like
didn't even dawn and he was like, that was amazing leadership.
I was like, that wasn't even leadership. That was anger
and emotion and passion coming out, because this team is
too good to do that, like too good, Like how
(25:53):
did we just lose before the Olympics in Vancouver. That's
what I was thinking, Like, this is huge, guys, what
do we do in And it was great. Jana Heffer
was like, everyone hanging silver medals in our stalls all
centralization year, so we know we're ready. Just a reminder, guys,
just a reminder every day we're not the best, we're
the worst, so let's get to work. And I was
(26:15):
just like, hey, no, that's a leader right there.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Well, it's so interesting that that's your guys, is like
behind you only see part of it right when you're
watching from the outside in, And like, as a player
growing up in that era, that was I was, I
was you eighteens at that time they had just start.
There was the first ability to play you eighteens. But
we all looked up to you guys so much because
it's like we're talking about what's happening in women's hockey
right now, in women's sports in general. But in my opinion,
(26:38):
that was really the time when women's hockey, Like the
younger players who were seeing what was happening were like,
wait a minute, we have potential. These players are really good,
they're starting to be on TV, they're starting to get
more opportunity. There's like more consistency in that opportunity, and
looking back watching I went to the Salt Lake City
Olympics and like that was when I first got hooked.
You couldn't you couldn't see women's hockey unless you went
(27:00):
and saw women hockey, right, And then we're watching all
of you guys like transform the game and it was
just like truly on you already side. It legendary. In
my opinion, there hasn't been a wave or era of
players like that. You're starting to you're getting some of
these young guns that are coming up. But you guys,
just like every team US Canada, it was always a battle.
(27:20):
It was amazing to watch and that really sprung and
propelled the sport forward.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yeah, and the hate was there, like it was true.
Oh my god, I'm being serious, like cleaning for it now,
it's competitive, it's not hate. There was like pure hatred there.
If we were driving down the highway, saw the other one,
no one's hitting the brakes like that kind of hate.
And I say that just figuratively, it's not for real,
but like we literally despised each other and that's that that.
(27:44):
I felt like twenty ten was one of the last.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Years we truly you need that though I was just
gonna be I kind of loved the hate so bad.
So my current into it was the hate is actually
so good for the sport because it takes away the
like cross bench camaraderie, which I think should go away.
It's really hard though, because we're all pulling in the
(28:07):
same direction, and like we do have to be friends
to get there, and then we have the Pro League
and then your teammates, right and like your teammates and friends.
But you go back to the story where Kobe was
like I'm putting pau gasol on his ass. I'm gonna
run through him. When we play spank and everyone's like, no,
you're not, this is your boy. Yeah, and he's like
he did. I don't care and he does. And you
remember that level of crazy, crazy hate to represent your
(28:30):
nation used to be such an insane thing. And so
like there's this switch. And I think this switch is good,
right because it brought us to today, but I think
it changes so kind of bring me from playing for
(28:56):
the national team having all these resources, having all the support,
to then going to the c TOHL having no support
by the way, and having to put it all together. Yeah,
and what did.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Them feel like?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Like we did have support in an Olympic year. So
outside of an Olympic year, it's okay, Well, you're still
fending for yourself. Like, the best time to play on
the national team was when you were in college. Everything
was handled for you. Your physio was there, everything was
one stop shop, Your programs were there, your gym was there,
everything was happening. You didn't have to think about a
damn thing. It's when you were out of college. It
was like, okay, now what I got to figure out
(29:29):
what time our skills coach is doing his thing. I
gotta log my time in the gym, and then I
got a practice at nine thirty at night with my
Toronto Furies team in the CWHL right and make sure
I'm performing at the best. I have no idea who's watching,
if anybody's even coming to watch in terms of scouts.
But to be honest, my best, most favorite hockey moment
is with the Toronto Furies when we won in twenty fifteen. Yeah,
(29:50):
when we won the Clarkson Cup in twenty fourteen, we
made it into the playoffs by one point. We were
like District five, like we were the Mighty Ducks, Like
we were a team of fourth liners that just worked
hard and partied harder. And we went into that playoffs
and I remember thinking, we can do it because we
have Christina Kessler, who went to Harvard University. She was
in the Canadian program. Never cut it, but she was good.
(30:11):
And I say never cut it just because there was
like a lineup of four amazing goaltenders just waiting to play,
and like she was just the wrong she was the
wrong garth year dude put her like three years later
she was in like Kessler's trying to beat out Zabby Saint,
Pierre Labonte and small I mean, what are you supposed
to do? There's a tough yeah, And she was good
(30:33):
and we our first game, we went out and I
forget who we upset, and it was all like it
was me? Was he you? Guys? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Up in Markham? I think we played you, then Markham,
then Montreal and we started loss and we were like, well,
I'm not going to lose again.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yeah, you want to know why? You want to what happened.
I was sponsored by McDonald's at the time, and they
gave me this gold credit card, this gold McDonald's credit
card that I just swipe, and so I was like
and everyone had heard that I had gotten, and I
was like, all right, guys, we win, everybody can get
a mcflurry. And everyone's like, all right, so we win.
We're like, yeah, we have the game puck that has
no logo on it. We tape it up above the wall.
(31:10):
Everyone goes, we get free mcflurs the next game. I'm like,
all right, anything off the dollar menu, anything off the
dollar menu.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Dude, We're just ticking up.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
So we kept winning and winning and winning, and it
was because of this golden McDonald's card man, And the
craziest part is like we had you guys. You guys
had a ton of Olympians come back and play. You
had like a line of yeah, and we had Spooner
you and well I did I got cut that year.
I didn't make the team, but sure I didn't play
(31:38):
in twenty fourteen, but Spooner did. But I was training
for a triathlon, so like my cardio was like off
the hook. I could have played a six minute shift
and not I've been breathing hard. It was insane, and
we had you guys where we wanted you. It was
like zip zip. It was nothing, nothing. And I was like,
you guys, it just takes one mistake on their part.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
If we lose cool we're supposed to, it doesn't matter,
like all matters what happens to them, and they know it.
And this is gonna be so embarrassing when we beat them.
And like the goal wasn't even that great. Your goalie
was playing so good. It was just like off up
and over and in. It was like the most fluky
champion and Spooner was like swinging at it five times
and missed it and it bounced the right way. I
(32:18):
remember being like, whoof this is the best win just
because everyone bought in so wholeheartedly to their roles and
we were having so much fun doing it, and like
if our coach was like not on a hold on,
hold on, this line's not going you guys, go back
out again. It wasn't like oh people sent down to
be like all right, come on, yeah, let's go. Everyone
was there and like just wanted it. No one gave
(32:39):
a crap who was playing. And the funniest part is
before the final, we were like, oh my god, we're
going to the final, Like what do we do? And
like one of our girls always took part in some
extra curriculars the night before games and stuff, and the
other girls drank and whatever, so she was like should
I not? And we're like, no, everyone just do what
you usually do. If you go drink a bottle of wine,
go drink a bottle of wine. If you're dipping into marijuana,
(33:02):
go dip into marijuana. Like, everyone just keep doing what
we've done this whole time, and we'll all go to
McDonald's after like that's what's happening. And pulled it off.
It was great. It was just ridiculous, and they're just
a fun group of people. That's my favorite hockey moment.
Vancouver's there, don't get me wrong, Like Vancouver's there, But
we were supposed to win, right this one. There was
like no one would have put a dime on us
(33:24):
to win this. So that's that's one of my favors.
But that league was literally held together by its players.
Everyone was just bought in to just hey, we need
a place to play, man, Like we all just have
to train and play. And also this is fun.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I love that. That's your hockey memory. Mine is similar.
Mine is a c. Tohl memory as well, because like
just nothing mattered.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
It was just fun.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
But you go from that, which is real hockey and
real career and real playing, to this total offshoot career.
And I'm not going to go Battle of the Blades.
I'm going to go Choresy. You were in Shoresy, you
were in Letter Kenny, you were in Goon, you were
in all these like hilarious ideals like Canadian hockey stories
right like they are.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Clash Suorsy is the best hockey show of all time.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
I'm going Letter Kenny. I'm all Letter Kenny. I think that,
But what does it feel like to then play the role.
It's the role and it's the life that you live.
Did it just feel like going to your life? Like,
what was that like and how does it kind of
match up?
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah? Jared Kiso the creator of these shows. He's a genius.
Like he's just so good at what he does and
he gets it and everything is I feel like, so simple,
and he puts people in places where they're just honestly
and truly them. My husband's actually in the show as well, No,
is he? Yeah? Yeah, he's one of the hockey players
on the Sioux Hunt.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Is he suresy seven?
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Actually yeah, no, but Shorzy is truly Like it felt
like it was an homage to Sedbury because Letter Kenny
was filmed in Sudbury and so they hosted them. So
it felt like he was just saying thank you to
Sedbury with Shory in a sense, because a lot of
the isms and the places that he used makes me
die laugh and like the fact that Sudbury's even being
thrown out in like a world famous show is hilarious.
(35:04):
But it was nice to be a part of something
like that, to put my city that I'm extremely proud
of on the map and have my pals beyond it too,
And like other super famous people beyond it too, and
just know and see how much Kiso and all these
guys appreciate it as well. Is the greatest, Like they
all love going back to Subury. Like I get texts
from tr all the time. You know, you and Subury
(35:25):
were in Subury and I'm like, nah, I might come
up in a couple weekends. I'll let you know. And
it's like my friends are serving them at restaurants, like, yeah,
I met so and so they're the nicest. I'm like,
these people are actually the nicest, and like, yes, the
show is great, but all the people that make it
are the best. And it just warms my heart, makes
me so happy because I love I love my city
so much. We're hard working, gritty, blue collar nickel mining
(35:48):
community and to know that it's getting love on the
world stages is kind of nice, and especially in a
show that's like not soft, because Sudbury's anything but soft.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, the plot lines on the show really made me
feel like I was watching someone's family, Like it didn't
feel like the acting was acting, if that makes any sense.
I'm dead hearing that. It really just felt like a
bunch of people just completely being authentic. Yeah, that's very thematic,
by the way, for you, and like all these different spaces,
you've said it on the national team, you've said it.
You know when you talk about CHL, just letting people
(36:20):
be themselves is really the best way to let people be.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
You know you you do that really well on jockson Jill's.
So you're the co host of a incredible podcast, jockson Jills,
And I think one of the best things about your
podcast is I never feel like you guys are putting
people in a box. If they're gonna walk down a path,
like you're just gonna go with them and you're gonna
ask the right questions. You're gonna have those conversations. Why
did you guys start jockson Jill's. Is it a passion
(36:47):
project turned into a really big thing? Like what got
you there?
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Man, a lot? You knew what it was like playing
in the CWHL And I'm sure you heard it like
how do we watch you guys? Where can we find
you more? That kind of stuff where you're like, oh yeah, like.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
You live next to the rink and they're like, I
didn't know we had a team.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
You're like, well, it's just like, why is this so hard?
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Like?
Speaker 3 (37:11):
What is so wrong? Like we need a better business plan.
And now that the PWHL had it when they first launched,
I was like, oh my god, yes, what perfect timing.
I work at a major network, a sports network. I
cannot wait to pop the top off this, Like I'm
going to dive right into women's hockey, but don't care
about Sports Center, don't care about the habs. I'm going
(37:33):
to do all women. And when the broadcast breakdown came out,
I was like hold the phone. I was like, okay, well,
maybe we'll be doing intermissions or like extra coverage. And
as the season went on, it was like, what is happening?
How are we not giving this what it deserves? And
it was like having played in a league previously that
(37:54):
didn't have the financial backing that it has now and
watch it get nothing cool. That made sense to me.
But now when there's financial backing and fans that are
lining up around the corner scalping tickets for two hundred
and fifty bucks a piece, I was like, oh, hell no,
this ain't it. These ladies deserve so much better, and
I remember being happy for them, I was like, they
have to win this as Canadian as I am like
(38:15):
I want Canada win all of the time, but like, please, USA,
don't screw this up, you know, like we needed them
to win that for things to change for the Canadian
women as well, and for this league to actually come
to be. That was the start of it all, really,
and so it was like, why in God's name are
we not covering this like this? And so I was like, Julia,
(38:36):
we got to do something. And I reached out to
Julia because we had worked at a Women's World Championship
together when I was pregnant actually in twenty twenty one,
so it was the COVID World's and I was like,
she's young, she's from Northern Ontario, kid knows hockey, and man,
she works hard. And I was like I appreciate that.
And I was like, look, I'm going to do a
podcast and you're the person that knows and loves women's
(38:58):
hockey truly as much as I do, that I think
could do this with me. And she was like thank god,
I was getting so frustrated and I was like, yeah,
so it came from a place of frustration and anger.
I'm not going to lie and disappointment. Shame on us.
How dare we? We can be better? So let's be better.
So we did it, and I was just like, what
do I want it to be? How do I want
this to work? And I was like when I played,
(39:18):
people were like, Oh, we don't really recognize you guys
off the ice because you always have your masks on,
so we don't really know who you are. And now
we get to know you. We love you. And remember
hearing that, and I was like, this is such a
shame because you can pull up Google and google anything
about any of the guys in the NHL and you
know their mom's middle name and like their dog that
died when they were six, and it's like you can't
find anything on us. And so I was like, now
(39:38):
I'm going to shed light on these women. I'm not
going to make them answer any of the typical questions.
I want to know them. I want everyone to get
to know them. And it's not only for that, but
to help make them more marketable for corporate Canada or
USA to be like, oh my gosh, that kid represents
exactly what we want and need. Let's go partner with
them because I care and I want it to be
(39:59):
better than when I had it because I've got kids now,
and I want them to know and love every part
of this league, and I want them to see how
passionate their mom is about it. What disservice would I
be doing my kids if there is a women's league
and I didn't do as much as I could for
it to make it better one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
I mean, I'm blown away by some of the young
talent in the league now and what's continuing to come through.
It's incredibly fun to watch.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
Dude. This year's draft's pretty good, but next year's draft,
next year it's going.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
To be it's going to be insane. We could talk
one hundred thousand years about hockey, and we should do
like a straight up just deep dive on all these pieces.
But I want to kick it over to Maddie because
we do this kind of like wrap up.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Yeah, we typically end every episode or conversation with the
same question. I have a piece of parenting advice, right,
I want to ask you a little different because I
think that it's inspiring and it's fun to watch you
doing what you're doing right now, because one, you're transforming
the media house at the PWHL. But you're doing that
while being a mom, so you're working in a very
(40:56):
fast paced startup environment. You walked away from a lot
of career things to focus on this now. But again,
you're a mom first and foremost. So what advice would
you give to other moms who are continuing to pursue
their passions while helping their kids pursue theirs.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
I would like to start off with saying that I
wouldn't be able to do any of this if I
didn't have the partner that I did, because there's no
way I could go this alone, no chance. My parents
don't live near so it's not like we can dump
our kids my parents all the time. So my husband
carries a heavy load some weeks and other weeks I
carry a heavy load. But in saying that, I think
(41:37):
that whatever moment you're in, so if you're working, work,
if your kids are home, put your work away and
be with your kids. Just be where you are wholeheartedly,
and I think that that will help you be incredibly
successful as a parent and incredibly successful as an employee,
because boundaries do need to be set. The other thing, too,
(41:57):
is holy man, and I thought I knew it well
when I was in school. What clearly I was wrong?
Time management. Time management is so key, and I find
as moms we always think we can do a hell
of a lot more in a day than we should
and stop that. My grandmother had it right, Mike Grammy.
She was always like, if it doesn't get done, tomorrow's
another day, another chance to get it done. If it
(42:18):
doesn't get done, oh well, and if she was always
oh well, And now I hear her in my head
all of the time, and it's like, I'll have my
to do list and I look, I'm like, what the
hell I only got two things done out of eight?
And then I look and I'm like, well, what if
I didn't get any of these things done? Does tomorrow happen? Yeah?
Still does. Nothing's ruined. Oh well, I'll get it done
(42:39):
another time.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
I gotta try that. Actually, that's great advice.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
We got to stop demanding so much from ourselves because
we live in a very fast paced world and it
feels like we always have to keep up. But it's
important to slow things down too, So don't throw too
much on your plate.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah, it changes your perspective when you become a parent,
because the little things become that much littler, recognize what
truly matters. I think, so, like Aanya said, we could
talk to you for hours, all things hockey, all things moms.
We appreciate you doing this. That's been a good chat,
and we'll have to have you back on These Packs Puck.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
Always available for you. Thanks for having me, appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
That's it for this week.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Thanks for listening, and if you like what you heard,
spread the word seriously right now, take your phone out,
Text a friend and tell them to subscribe, and be sure.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
To rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
if you haven't already. It really really helps until next week.
I'm Madison Packer.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
And I'm Anya Packer, and this was These Packs Puck.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
These Packs Puck is a production of iHeart Women's Sports
and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. It's hosted by us
Madison and Anya Packer. Emily Meronoff is our senior producer
and story editor. We were mixed and mastered by Mary Doo.
Our executive producers are Jennifer Bassett, Jesse Katz, and Ali
Perry
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