Ep. 156 - Craig Geekie - "Raising NHL players & good people." - Up My Hockey with Jason Podollan

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Again, no path is going to be the same Whether
you're at the academy or on AAA.
That AA kid can roll in andhave a growth spurt and the
light bulb kind of goes on.
He's going to surpass both ofyou, right, and that's just the
way it is, and I truly, trulythank you for saying that is

(00:24):
that our path is unique, but itstill can be done.
You just have to kind of buckthe system a little bit right,
if you can.
Again, it's tough, though,because for you to sit here and
you know you played, you playedin the NHL, I never did and
there was people around us thatyou know told us we should be

(00:47):
taking Morgan, noah and Connorelsewhere, and you know, we just
kind of said, no, we're not.
You know we're not ready to dothat yet.
So, um, it is a different path.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
That was Craig Geeky, father of Morgan Geeky of the
Boston Bruins and Connor Geekyof the Tampa Bay Lightning, and
you are listening to the Up myHockey podcast with Jason
Padolan.
Welcome to Up my Hockey withJason Padolan, where we

(01:20):
deconstruct the NHL journey,discuss what it takes to make it
and have a few laughs along theway.
I'm your host, jason Padolan, a31st overall draft pick who
played 41 NHL games but thoughthe was destined for a thousand.
Learn from my story and thoseof my guests.
This is a hockey podcast aboutreaching your potential.
Hey there, welcome back to theUp my Hockey podcast with Jason

(01:44):
Padolan.
I am your host, jason Padolan,and you are here for episode 155
with Craig Geeky.
Craig Geeky happens to be aformer teammate of mine in the
late 90s with the Spokane Chiefs.
He came over in his 20-year-oldyear in a trade from the
Brandon Wheat Kings where hespent his 17, 18, 19-year-old

(02:06):
seasons with the Wheat Kings andthen came over to us as a
20-year-old and, as hockey worldworks, it's funny.
I mean we only played oneseason together, but one season
is actually quite a lifetime,especially in the formative
years of your late teens, early20s, and Craig and I not that we
were hanging out all the time,it wasn't like we were the best
of friends on that team, but youdo spend plenty of time

(02:29):
together in an environment likethat.
Bus trips in the WHL were long72 games is an incredible amount
of time.
To be on the ice together, linebrawls, having each other's
back, practices, this, that andthe other.
You make some connections andthose connections last a long
time, whether you believe it ornot.
And that was the case withCraig and I.

(02:49):
Like we went our separate waysand as far as hockey was
concerned, when when Craig wasdone his uh, his WHO career, he
went on to play some time in theCHL and then went and played
some senior hockey in uh inManitoba, but we never kept in
touch or we never kept incontact.
And then, roughly you know, 20,almost 30 years later, with what
I was doing with Up my Hockeyand with what you know Craig was

(03:13):
doing as far as being a dad andraising hockey player sons, we
reconnected and it's beenfantastic being a part of his
boys' journeys on that level andseeing the game through his
eyes and what he's experiencing.
And I actually had him in myFacebook group, my Albany Hockey
Facebook group as an interviewa few years ago, sharing some of

(03:33):
his philosophies with thatgroup there, and now we're going
to share his philosophies heretoday.
Hockey is a really, really funplace when it comes to that, and
I'm grateful for it to keepsome of these people in my life
and and uh, and now I'm able tosupply those people to you, the
listener, and hopefully you'regoing to get an immense amount

(03:54):
of value out of our conversationhere today.
Uh, craig is somebody that ishelping me grow.
The UMH 68 brand, uh, which ismy invitational event here up in
Western Canada.
The UMH 68 brand, which is myinvitational event here up in
Western Canada, and yeah, we'regetting her going here May 29th.
We talk about the UMH 68, whatit is at the end of the
interview, why he got involvedwith me and what it offers to

(04:17):
the players of Manitoba andSaskatchewan this year in the
2011 birth class.
So if you do have somebody inthat age group and you're from
that neck of the woods, Isuggest you you listen to the
end, as this might be an eventthat you want to participate in
and um, and yeah, so, but as faras Craig is concerned, like
hockey dad extraordinaire, himand his wife, toby uh.
Toby uh, not only his hockey dad, but like just small town,

(04:42):
farmer philosophy, communityphilosophy, town of 150, which
we talk about.
All their boys grew up there,played all their minor sports
there.
They played everything there.
Morgan was the oldest.
He was a multi-sport athlete,noah was a multi-sport athlete
and Connor was also amulti-sport athlete.

(05:03):
All of them were great hockeyplayers.
Noah decided to take the routeof being baseball and went to
the collegiate route down in theStates, which he is still
pursuing.
And for those of you who followthe NHL at all, morgan had an
absolute breakout season thisyear with the Boston Bruins,
where he scored over 30 goals Ithink 34.

(05:23):
By the way, that's more goalsthan Nathan McKinnon.
That's more goals than MikkoRantanen.
Like it's crazy how many goalshe scored this year at the end
of his contract year.
So Morgan has establishedhimself as a very valuable NHLer
and a contributor.
And Connor, his youngest, was afirst rounder to Phoenix who

(05:44):
got traded in the off season andis now with the Tampa Bay
organization.
And he played his first NHLgames this year and is currently
with Tampa Bay for the playoffrun and was up and down in the
minors.
So talk about somebody that youwant to hear from you know, as
far as if you are a hockeyparent and you know what, how
did they do it and what was theroute, and you know their, uh

(06:06):
you know some of their thinkingabout what they held was
important and and Craig and Ireally align on what is
important and how to pursue someof these things, uh, in the
hockey world.
So I was really excited to haveto have Craig on very, very
well spoken, very down to earthand uh, and yeah, and you know,
performance uh speaks for itself, right.
Uh, I do believe that there'ssome proof in the pudding with

(06:27):
some of these things and uh, andif you haven't listened to the
connor, uh, geeky, interview himas, I believe, a 17 or an 18
year old.
Uh, you should, because he's hewas a super fun interview for
me and uh, and as far as 17 yearolds go, uh, I know for anyone
who has a teenage boy in theirhouse that sometimes they're not
the most wordy people or themost eloquent people, but Connor

(06:50):
was super colorful and wasgreat with his story, so that's
a good one to check out if youhaven't listened to that one.
But yeah, let's get right intoit here Without further ado.
I bring you my conversation withCraig Geeky, father of Morgan
Noah and Connor Geeky.
All right, my man.
Welcome to the podcast, mrCraig Geeky.

(07:10):
Thanks, pods, appreciate it.
Yeah, well, it's kind of.
We did this once before.
So anyone who's in my Up myHockey parent group on Facebook,
there's a plug for the parentgroup.
It's actually Grown Geeks.
We have like 3,000 people fromall across North America.
Now it's pretty cool.
But Greg came in like a coupleof years ago and we talked some
hockey and we posted theinterview in there but never did

(07:31):
put it on the podcast.
So we're like I was talking toGeeky earlier and I was like we
got to get you on the podcastfor real now.
So this is the officialentrance into the UMH community.
Happy to have you, man.
How are things going out therein Manitoba?

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Pretty good.
I feel honored to be on thepodcast.
That's all.
It's good to finally get thenod, I guess.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
But no, it's good.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
We're full swing into kind of spring here.
Hopefully over the next courseof the next few days here we're
supposed to get some warmweather.
So, yeah, I mean, other thanthat, hockey playoffs are in the
heart of it.
So I got one in, I got one outand yeah, no, it's a pretty
special time right, so it's funto watch.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
I love it.
My favorite time of year.
You got the Jays on.
Sometimes you can maybe putthat on in the background.
And then we got the playoffhockey.
Definitely background and we'vegot the playoff hockey.
It's a good time to be uh, tobe a sports fan, and I want to
talk about uh both your boys, ofcourse, but I'm going to start
with the chiefs, because I mean,as the fans, um, or the fans uh
, you know the listeners of theshow here uh would have heard in
the intro that you and I playedtogether for the chiefs uh back

(08:37):
in the day, and here they areagain.
Are you following the whlplayoffs at all?
Like they're on a run right now?

Speaker 1 (08:42):
they are on a massive run and kind of it started with
us kind of keeping track of uh,james patrick, who was a big
influence on connor uh and hisgame and his approach to the
game and how he plays the game,and, and, um, I I would say it
was probably one of his most uhprolific changes was, um, you

(09:07):
know, under his tutelage, so tospeak.
So, um, so we kept watching andobviously they were.
I believe victoria was toutedto be kind of cruise pass, not
cruise, I guess, but get pastspokane and spokane, absolutely,
you know, because I think theywent down the series to rip
maybe, and then kind of battledback and really took them by

(09:29):
storm and now they're rollingand again, that's the best part
about playoffs, like, I mean,you ride the wave right and you
know you don't have to be thebest during the season, you just
got to be the best for, youknow, for the playoffs.
So, yeah, they've been rollingNice to watch.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
That trade obviously is paying huge dividends.
With Cristal coming over, hejust seems to be a bit of a
magician out there and you putKatton and Van Holm on that line
and I've never seen scores likethat.
I mean, like it's crazy, and Iactually haven't watched them
play like a game, like I see thehighlights on social media.
I just don't have the time tobe looking right now.

(10:08):
But nine goals, nine goals.
They put up 10 the other night.
Jeez, does anyone play defenseanymore?
Are they just that good?
That's correct.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Well, and that's the thing with James, he always
preached a 200-foot game.
So it just speaks to thequality of these players that
are putting up those kind ofnumbers against to me, somebody
who maybe doesn't take away thedefense, like he's not preaching
offense, but he's a 200-footgame guy and you know if you're

(10:37):
not playing the right way thenyou're not playing.
So obviously they're, you know,doing very well against a
well-coached team.
For sure.
Yeah, that's wild, obviouslythey're, you know, uh, doing
very well against a well coachedteam for sure.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, that's wild.
I'm going to give you um, justbecause it's my damn show and
I'm allowed to talk about meevery once in a while.
Uh, it's kind of funny.
I don't know if the chiefs arewatching, because obviously for
me I know more than I'm probablycloser to it than anybody else,
but Caton and crystal, rightnow, as we speak, are tied with
me for the most points in aplayoff season by a spokane

(11:10):
chief.
Yeah, so they have 33, so like,so, like that record's long gone
, but like isn't that crazy.
Like that was 29 years ago,buddy.
Yeah, like, yeah tell me about.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
I mean, uh, my wife and I talk about it not all the
time, but I mean a couple timesa year.
It's crazy that you and I havereconnected, or Huey and I have
reconnected.
It's literally 30 years agoAgain, it just speaks volumes to
what hockey is more about thanthe game itself.

(11:41):
We all end up in beer leagueand I and I still say that.
That is the you know, theprolific sentence that I always
tell kids that we all end up inbarely your path might be
different, right, you might bein the nhl, you know, but you
might be tier two, you might gostraight from triple a to beer
league.
At the end of the day, uh, thepeople you meet and your

(12:02):
teammates is literally whyeverybody you know plays the
game, and that's the truth,right.
So to reconnect with you hasbeen phenomenal.
Uh, huey, you know, and I, andagain, I got marty murray on
that's, you know, he came backhome and and, uh, lots of other
guys that you, just, you know,throw a text.
I was just talking to chris low, you, you know, you know, throw

(12:22):
a text.
I was just talking to ChrisLowe, you, you know, you would
have played against Losey.
So it's, yeah, it's.
It's crazy to think how manypaths we cross throughout our
career and you know no matterhow long or how short it's.
Um, yeah, it's.
It's pretty amazing to have theyou know the, the, the profile
in your, in your phone of howmany kids that you played with
or against.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, no, I agree, it is one of the best parts.
I mean, that's the part thatstays with you forever.
I mean, we do we remember, weremember some of the big games I
know I do.
I mean some of the big goals,those definitely go.
But like, it's, it is thepeople and it's the connections

(13:03):
and that's the juice.
Right and like, and not thatwe're trying to do this and
architect some type of a youknow, a how do I put this?
Like we're not trying to beself-serving in our approach to
that.
Right, like, how does itbenefit me, but it does benefit
you?
Right, like you makingconnections with people, earning
trust, value, they respect youand your work ethic and your

(13:24):
approach and all these things.
Right, like they, they want todo things with you after or for
you, for that matter, after.
Right, like it just helps.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah yeah, and I think I think one of the cool
things that I always um tried totell my players you know, you,
you don't have to love eachother, you have to respect each
other.
You know being on the same team.
But further than that, youmight be going through a town
and all of a sudden you've got aflat tire.
Well, you've got so-and-so,I've got Podzi's name in Vernon

(13:55):
BC.
Well, I'm just outside ofVernon.
Hey, podzi, is there any waythat you can get in touch?
It's so much deeper than whatpeople actually, you know, look
at when they're going through it, including myself, like 100%,
including myself, like I was notgood when it came to that stuff

(14:16):
and the further.
I got away from it, the more Icherished it.
You know, back then, right, andI understood, okay, geez, you
know I should have spent moretime, but I will say this, like,
um and this is kind of veeringoff a little bit, but you know,
billets, um, I still stay intouch with John and Carrie, uh,

(14:36):
in Spokane, who were truly justamazing people like, and still
stay in touch.
Um, you know, uh, specialoccasions.
You know we share photos backand forth and stuff like that.
And when Connor was inWenatchee, we actually got him
out to Wenatchee to watch Connor.

(14:57):
And you know, obviously, whenwe went to Spokane, they were
there too.
So again, there's just so muchmore to the game than the game
itself.
And again, you're bang on.
You don't really appreciate itwhen you're going through it,
but if you can stop and kind ofsmell the roses a little bit,

(15:17):
it'll make the other stuff lookso small, right?
And again, you and I both wouldargue that you know when we're
in it, you know if you're 17, 18, 19 year old self, you would
say, oh, come on, geeks, likeseriously.
But that's the truth, right?
But I also never had anybody gothrough it, right?

(15:38):
I don't know about yourself,but I was never close enough to
anybody that had.
You know and this is this iskind of, you know, ever
expanding why we're on thispodcast.
But you know that that's partof the mental aspect.
If you can just step away for alittle bit and enjoy your
billets and enjoy yourfriendships, that you know away

(15:58):
from the game, the game actuallybecomes a lot easier because
you're not thinking about a 24,seven, right and, and that's
where you come in with yourmindset stuff and, um, you know
the ability to kind of have anescape and I, I believe that's
kind of what you know, I thinksets kids apart is the ability

(16:19):
to do that on a on a day-to-daybasis.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah, no, I mean, I love that segue on a day-to-day
basis.
Yeah, no, I mean I love thatsegue.
I mean that that I just got offa call with uh, I'm working
with uh, with an AJHL guy right,right now on my guided mission,
and, and what we were talkingabout uh is just the concept of
gratitude, and and gratitude isnothing new, right, I mean, it's
biblical right Do unto others,do unto you, almost right, it's,
it's in, it's in the sameframework, but the idea is there

(16:44):
is a performance aspect to that.
And so you're talking aboutyour billets and we're talking
about people around the game,whether it be your teammates or
maybe the trainers or thecoaches or whoever.
If we have the ability or theskill, as I call it, like the
mental fitness skill, to be ableto invest in those people,

(17:06):
right, like that, we areparticipating in those
relationships.
Our focus, then, is forcedoutside of our own head.
Right, right, and and 90% ofthe athletes that have an issue
with with performance get insidetheir own head.
Right, it's about what I'mdoing wrong, it's about what I
need to do.
It's the comparison game, it'sthis, it's that, it's the other.
But if we focus outside and ifwe want to celebrate other

(17:28):
people, and that's where thegratitude comes in.
Right, like, how is thisteammate being of value to me,
to us as a group?
Right, like, how can Icelebrate their success?
Like, now we start going outward, our energy goes outward
instead of inward, and again,that's a high performance
fricking tool, right, and whatare you doing in the meantime?
You're also developingrelationships and networking and

(17:48):
you're doing all these othergood things.
So it's kind of funny how Ilike.
Like how they layer, you canlayer on the benefits of some of
this stuff.
Right, and and I do believewell, I don't believe I know it
is a choice Some people are morenaturally, have a higher
aptitude for it, let's say, thanothers.
You know, like you said, youyourself said I wasn't good at
it, but if you were presentedwith the right context at the

(18:09):
right time, you could have mademicro different decisions in the
moment.
Right To change.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, and again, you played with me.
I was an intense guy, right Toa fault to a fault.
I never learned how to let thatgo until after junior.
And you know, we went to theAllen Cup.
I played what?

(18:35):
Seven games or 10 games down inwhat was it?
The Central League, I think atthe time.
Well, I just went down therewith just a kind of a carefree
attitude.
I'm going to enjoy this moment.
Well, I played my best hockeyand that's kind of when it kind
of a carefree attitude.
I'm gonna.
I'm gonna enjoy this moment.
Well, I played my best hockeyand that's kind of when it kind
of flipped a switch and then youknow, obviously started having
kids and whatnot and andultimately kind of said, okay,

(18:55):
this isn't, you know, hockeydoesn't define you, whether you
make it or not, it it doesn'tdefine you and that's you know.
That's where toby and I reallyjust kind of started saying that
you know, just like you said,pods is that enjoy other
people's success, like enjoyyour teammates success.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Celebrate that goal like it's your goal because it
is your goal.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
You know you're part of a group, so, um, you know
it's different if you're playing.
You know singles tennis orsingles badminton or you know,
but even baseball, even baseball, like you know, our kids played
really high levels of baseball.
Well, to me, that is a that's avery tough sport.
That's a that's a sport offailure, right, if you, if you

(19:37):
ask anybody, a teacher orsomebody that you know, and if I
could, if I could bat or dosomething at 333, you know
that's a failure.
You're gonna be in cooperstownlike, if you do that for the
rest of your life about 333,like who wants 33?
Well, I take it a heartbeat inbaseball.

(19:57):
Well, those are things that, tome, you have to overcome and say
, no, I'm okay with going onefor four, right, because I just
batted two runs in, you know, orsomething.
And those are things to me.
That those other sports, youknow what you do when you're up
my hockey and all that stuff youbranch those kids out into,
whether it be lacrosse, whetherit be football, you're playing

(20:18):
flag football, I see, and youknow there's so many different
aspects, you can go with it, butI just, I truly feel that you
know the mental side of life,and the game has grown so much
that we need to, we need tospread the word basically and
that's what you're doing well, Imean I'm, I'm trying and the

(20:41):
conversations matter and I thinkI think the, I think the
awareness is just the first part.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
I didn't feel I was unintelligent while I played.
It has nothing to do withintelligence, it just has
everything to do withperspective.
That was what the call wasabout today with the guy I was
talking with.
If we can develop your abilityto see things differently, it's
going to give you an opportunityto make a different choice and
to show up in a way that's goingto allow you to have the best

(21:11):
success that you can.
Right, because we all havethese blinders.
So, like, if we can, if we cantake those blinders off and then
have have some new pathways,some new decisions where we can
participate in an empowered wayin our own development, I mean
that's a big difference.
That's a huge difference.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
And that's just, that's again.
I know it's cliche, that's notjust hockey.
No, I do the same thing here inmy work, cause I mean, every,
every challenge that is, youknow, in front of me, has to
have a different perspective,right, because it's a different
customer, it's a differentclient, it's a different's a
different scenario.
He, you know, he or she, isbuying something, you know, that

(21:47):
is really important to them,whether it's a lawnmower,
whether it's a million dollarcombine, you know.
So those things have to bethought um, you know, in a
different process.
And again, just like you said,it is it's perspective.
And so for me, I'm like I saidI that's why I love, kind of
what you're about.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Well, thank you, thank you for that.
I will shift gears, though, andI want to talk about.
You mentioned Patrick already.
James Patrick and I know thathe had an influence and again,
as we're having theseconversations, I know we're
going to end up talking aboutthe UMH 68, but there's so many
connections and bridges that getbuilt to that of why we're both

(22:29):
kind of passionate about whatthe UMH 68 is.
One is the impact of coachesand the exposure to different
coaches and what they maybe seein you and what they want you to
do or could be.
A couple of things here andthere can be groundbreaking for
a player.
So let's talk about JamesPatrick.
You said that that had quite abit of influence on Connor.

(22:50):
Let's talk about in what wayand in how that impact was able
to be received too, from Connor,from a player perspective.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
And again, I don't want to speak for Connor, and I
think I'm I think I'm correctwhen I'm saying this, but just
the accountability I mean.
I could say the same thing.
We could come after a game.
And again, one of my questionswe rarely talked hockey once it
was done, but I would always askthe question how did it go?

(23:25):
And I still text Morgan and andand Noah, my ballplayer, and
Connor the same thing how to go?
Well, again, touching on yourperspective deal, if you can't
be objective on your own game,I'm sorry you're gonna, you're
probably not gonna be assuccessful as you hoped you were
.
So if you can say and pickpieces out and say you know what

(23:46):
I, you know I struggled today.
It felt like the game was goinga thousand miles an hour and I
was in quicksand, you know oryou know, um, yeah, felt really
great today but couldn't handlethe puck, you know, or something
.
But just the accountability thatJames had on Connor, that it
was earned, like all his ice wasalways earned.

(24:08):
And to me, being a young kid,you know, in the Western League,
as you were, I wasn't that good.
At the end of the day, it's a17- 17 year old rookie league is
what it is.
That's the league.
It's not 16.
You're, you're blessed to beable to play at 16.

(24:29):
I know there's completeexceptions, excuse me, like
bedard and some of these otherkids.
You know I forget the young guyand yes, you know, those are,
those are outliers, those arenot, you know.
And being 16 to play in thatleague is crazy to me.
You know, I was 17 and I Igrinded it out.

(24:51):
So my point is is that he had toearn everything and once he
started understanding that, okay, he's not hard on me because
he's hard on me.
He's hard on me because he seespotential right.
He's hard on me because, youknow, he tells you maybe not all
the time the good things, buthe also tells you how to correct

(25:12):
it and when you do a good jobcorrecting it.
So I think out of that.
You know my kids to me have anabove-average work ethic, so
that helped them along the way.
But I think the accountabilitywas the biggest thing, pogs that
.
You know he just held them incheck, like there was.
You know, whether it bepractice, connor was always a,

(25:35):
you know, a hard practice player, like he practiced hard because
you know that's the way I wasand you know and James loved
that.
So you know that emotion andeverything kind of carried over
and they kind of had a bond thatway.
And then you know, the rest iskind of, I guess, history, so to
speak.
But they still come, they stilltalk to each other today, you

(25:55):
know, probably once a month.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
That's awesome yeah, yeah, kennedy's, I mean,
accountability is big and a lotof times, very often times, even
as adults, like we, do needsomebody to keep us accountable,
you know, because we can, we,as diligent as we can be with
that right, like we, again, weall do have our blinders and
however great we believe ourself-assessment abilities to be,

(26:17):
uh, it's nice to have somebodythere that we respect, uh, that
we're going to listen to.
And that's why I kind of framedthat question as I did is
because sometimes athletes don'twant to hear it.
Maybe they don't want to hearit from a personality
perspective, like, maybe they'renot mentally, you know, handle,
have the mental skills requiredto accept it, or they haven't
built the trust required to hearit properly, right, to know

(26:38):
what the intentions are.
Did James go about buildingthat in your, in your like, like
, do you remember in any wayshape or form, um, or was it
just more of a player coach andthat sometimes that's enough,
right, player coach relationship.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
And you know, I, I, I , that that's the standard yeah,
and then the only yeah, theonly thing that I can honestly
think of is just, you know, evenafter practice, during practice
, I would say it's still playercoach.
There was nothing, you know,extraordinary about it.
I think it was just you knowthe belief system that you know.

(27:16):
Toby and I tried to instill inConnor that you know what he is,
your coach.
He coached at the NationalHockey League for years.
He played right, and so heknows what he's doing.
A lot of times and again, I'mnot this is going to maybe come
across as arrogant too, but youknow the same principles he has.
What I had, it was just adifferent voice, right, and so

(27:37):
the instill factor I thinkreally, you know, was better
coming from him than it was fromdad, but no, nothing out of the
ordinary, for, for that matter.
But to touch on one thingthough I don't think anybody
likes getting held accountable,right.
I mean, I think it's in ourhuman nature to say you know,

(27:59):
and I'm good, and you get into acomfort zone, right, whether
it's, I don't know, working outlike, do you feel like working
out every day?
No, you don't, right, you needsomebody to hold you accountable
or something to hold youaccountable.
So, again, the more you can beobjective and listen to that
accountability come forwardagain on the flip side.

(28:22):
The other thing, too, is to beable to filter that
accountability, becausesometimes there's some blinders
too on the person giving youaccountability too Well, you
weren't doing this.
Well, again, you know that as acoach, coaches get blinders too
right.
They see certain things andsometimes you just got to be
objective and hold pat on whatyou believe and you know and

(28:48):
change some other things alongthe way too.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
I love you bringing that up, and I think that
there's a lot of parents in thesame boat as you and I hear that
all the time.
Right, talk about with playersor even some of the you know,
the, the pillars of what myprogram is.
This is not, this is not newage.
You know, fresh out of the box,stuff that I've created like

(29:11):
it's it's a lot of it's.
It's tenants that families havewithin their families, right,
like, like it's stuff that momand dad have been trying to say
or do say, and all of a suddenthey're like but now they're
doing it, or now they finallylistened, or whatever the case
may be.
And and to me, like that's acelebration, because we're all
mom and dad and mom and dad havea filter on what they're saying

(29:32):
and the kids receive thingsdifferently.
So if the message comes throughclear, just because the
messenger is somewhat differentor they're saying it a little
bit differently, who cares?
Right, like that's, that'sawesome, right, so.
So that's great and I'm gladyou you say that because I do
get that.
I'm like, well, high five to you, mom and dad, because you're
saying the right thing and it'sgreat that now we're now we're
rocking it, you know exactlyyeah, um, and I think the other

(29:54):
thing I'm gonna add on there isjust from the trust standpoint,
and I'm not sure if this isright or wrong, but I think when
players hear the idea that whenI am hard on you or when I am
holding you accountable, it'sbecause of this reason Right,
right Like.
It's not because I don't likeyou or I don't like your game.
It's actually because I do seepotential in you that you don't
see and I want you to be thebest you can be Correct.

(30:16):
And I think that's like thatchanges it Right, because I
think that you, you don't feelit the same way.
If you believe what?

Speaker 1 (30:23):
that that statement's true, right, right yeah, and
and and one other person.
I'll give him a plug.
He doesn't get much recognition.
Um, and connor will say this ismark what.
Mark watton coached him and hewas actually alongside me
through, uh, connor's u15 andu18 excuse me years, and you

(30:45):
know Waddy was what was he?
17-year pro and he was yourabsolutely perfect pro.
He knew when to call you, heknew when to say good job, but
he also knew when to break astick and you know and say you
can't, you know you can't,lollygag back here or you know

(31:05):
again and you'll see this, but Ican remember this to a T was
Connor was just lazily gettingback on a change.
Right, he's just, he knows he'schanging.
Well, you know, meanwhile thepuck gets turned over.
Well, he still lollygags backto the bench, right, and Waddy
was, you know, living.

(31:26):
Well, again, it's such a smallthing, it's a change, you know,
and there was no goal on it.
There was no, nothing right, itwas just the fact that you know
you have to change.
If you don't have enough energyto change hard and come hard to
the bench, then you're on theice too long, right, or

(31:46):
something of that nature.
So, uh, and again, mark Wattonwas a was a big influence.
And again, him and James had alot of similar characteristics,
right.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
So yeah, that's awesome.
I'm going to take a short breakfrom my conversation with Craig
Geeky to talk about the UMH 68,because that's what this has
been inspired.
This interview is our event,our Western Canadian event here
that is going to be launchingMay 29th in Brandon, manitoba,

(32:19):
at the Keystone Center home ofthe Brandon Wheat Kings and
close proximity to Craig Geeky.
We are hoping cross our fingersto have a special guest
appearance from Morgan, hisoldest son.
That's going to be inattendance, and we are hosting,
for the first time in Manitoba,a UMH 68 Invitational that will

(32:41):
be delivered to 2011 bornplayers from Manitoba or
Saskatchewan.
There are some challenges, ofcourse, right Launching a new
event to new people in a newarea that haven't heard of what
it's all about, maybe aren't asfamiliar with Up my Hockey,
maybe already had their springprogram set, and so there's lots

(33:03):
of hurdles, and one of thehurdles is getting the right
players there, getting the wordout and having the access to the
parents so we can even givepeople the invitation.
So the idea of the UMH 68, ifyou haven't heard of it is to
deliver a best-on-bestexperience that goes well beyond
hockey into the field ofpersonal development and how you

(33:27):
know all the areas of being agreat hockey player, which is
has some pillars in how to be agreat human, so we talk about
that there.
We make connections with peoplefrom outside of your normal
geographic region.
You're placed on teams with newcoaches experienced coaches
that are going to provide youvaluable insight on your game

(33:48):
during your time there.
There's lots of swag, there'slots of fun stuff like that.
We treat them likeprofessionals.
The dressing rooms are set upas close to junior scenario as
you'll ever have maybe evenbetter than some junior
facilities and it really is anevent.
In the case of the 2011s, it'salso an event that does get

(34:09):
attention from WHL scouts.
There is a showcase aspect toit, as that is their first
opportunity to see the upcomingdraft class.
Uh, cause, the WHL draft isover at that point and now
they're focusing on the nextyear, so there is an exposure
element to this as well.
And um, and yeah, and if youwant to be a part of the UMH 68,

(34:29):
and if you are a 2011 bornplayer, uh, that feels has the
credentials required to attend,uh, remember, you should be
playing competitive hockey, highcompetitive hockey, whatever
your area is.
Generally speaking, this is forAAA players.
I know in Saskatchewan there'sonly the AA level, but if you're
playing AA as a first yearthere, that is a great statement

(34:51):
to say yes, I belong.
If you were exceedingly doingwell at the A level as a first
year, that is also an indicationto say hey, I think I belong to
be there.
So, by all means, if you aresomebody that thinks they should
be there, if you are a coach ofsomebody who thinks you have a
player that should be there, ifyou are an aunt or an uncle or a

(35:11):
manager or a hockey director itdoesn't matter where it comes
from by all means, please putthe name forward.
We are finalizing the rostersfor the 2011 event and I would
love to get to the 68 that weset out to do.
So, yeah, to do that, you go tothe Up my Hockey website,
upmyhockeycom, and you also fillout the watch list for the

(35:33):
according event.
We are full in British Columbiafor the U14, for the 2012s.
We do have some space for the2011s.
So if you are in BritishColumbia, you are a 2011 player
and you would like to come toVernon, by all means get on the
watch list, put in yourcredentials, put in your resume
and we will do some homework onyou, and you might receive an

(35:57):
invitation to the event.
Same holds true forMartinsville in Saskatchewan.
We are hosting a U14 eventthere for 2011 born players from
Saskatchewan or Alberta.
We only need defensemen forthat event.
We are looking for a last fewquality defensemen to round out
the rosters there.
So if you have a defenseman ineither one of those provinces,

(36:17):
by all means fill out thewatchlist form at upmyhockeycom.
We would love to have you.
These events have been wildlysuccessful in British Columbia,
and this is the first time we'reventuring outside of it and are
looking for the support fromthe hockey community to make it
what it has been in the past.
So thanks so much for listening.
Now let's get back to thepodcast with Craig Geeky.

(36:47):
Let's get back to like raisingthese, these, these three young
men that you have.
You already mentioned.
Um, sorry, what's your?
What's your oldest name?

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Noah oh right.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
So Noah, Noah's the goal player, but he was also a
hell of a hockey player too.
And just to share, like wherethey were drafted in the WHL and
a little bit about theirupbringing, because like small
town you were at and like howthe whole sports system worked
there and what your philosophywas with your wife Toby- so,
yeah, three boys Morgan's theoldest, noah's the middle boy

(37:21):
and Connor's, obviously, theyoungest and a town of 150
people.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
It's very tough to explain, like I mean, there's
just, there's a school K to K to12, it's one hallway right, and
you know there's there's agrocery store and a hardware
store, and the rest is literally.
You know what.
I would consider you, whenthose kids are growing up,
they're all family, because youknow it takes a community to
raise a family, and that's whatwe had.

(37:45):
So, with that said, youcouldn't play sports without
everybody playing sports, right,because there's just not enough
people, and so we dideverything.
And, again, when I say this,like I said, a lot of things
have changed, and I know yourlisteners are going to probably
roll their eyes kind of when Isay this, but it is something

(38:08):
that I believe was veryimperative for their growth,
which was we played every sport,like I'm talking badminton,
curling, basketball, volleyball,um, you know, they did all the
track, um, baseball, hockey, um,you know everything, and part

(38:29):
of that reason we could do that,though, was because we're in a
small community, um, but I mean,I can remember paying.
I believe I was president ofminor ball and minor hockey at
the time and we were paying like50 for for all our kids to play
, you know, 25 to play baseball.
You know, we'd give fivedollars for badminton, you know,

(38:50):
and that's not, that's not thatlong ago, right?
So, um, again, we couldn't havedone this with uh in a larger
center, you know, in differentdemographic demographics.
We couldn't have done it and wecould have done it without the
help of Toby's mom and dad.
Toby's mom and dad wereimpeccable grandparents, right,

(39:12):
they just anything we needed,they would just pick them up and
take them Right.
Anything we needed, they wouldjust pick them up and take them
right.
So when I tell people that Iwant them, you know playing
other sports.
That's why I just think it.
I think it develops so manymore skills.
Um, unknowingly, but it's verytough in today's society though,
with you know in the largercenters what you're in, but

(39:34):
you're trying to do that on theon the umh side, um, and the
compete side.
But to me that is that is oneof the biggest uh changes that
I've seen, since they've kind ofcome out, because we have to
really toe our own road.
We we would say no to so manythings.
You know whether it be, youknow, um, a baseball tournament,

(39:55):
a hockey tournament or or orsomething, um, you know, because
it was, it was more involvedthan we wanted to be right once
they got to kind of that certainage.
Then we said, okay, you know,let's start channeling a little
bit.
But we never gave it all up,like, uh, morgan missed, you
know, he.
He went for volleyballprovincials in the middle of the

(40:17):
season, for, you know, intriple a um, the rest of the
kids did the same.
Connor actually went to curlingprovincials, you know.
Noah went to basketballprovincials, you know.
So there's all that sort ofstuff that we just believed in
yeah with all that said.
Um, again, I also know, knowthat, without the three of them

(40:39):
competing, at home, right whenthey were, when they weren't
doing stuff, they were alwaysoutside.
They were always either at therink or on the ball diamond or
at you know, we have a prettybig lot in our yard, so they
were always doing something.
So they were the, the threethat held each other accountable
, if you know what I mean.
Like you know and again, yourthree boys are probably very

(41:01):
similar, right, anything they do, it's a competition.
There's a lot of chirping, andyou know you monitor that and
you go through all that andthat's where life lessons come
in, that's where you knowparenting comes in and stuff
like that.
But you know, at the end of theday, we're pretty, we're pretty
thankful.
I mean, you want to talk aboutgratitude, like we have so many

(41:22):
people to thank throughout oursmall communities that you know
help these kids.
You know, I don't know, stay atthe rink late to do the ice.
You know so many differentthings, right?
Like I mean, all our kids hadthe same baseball coach.
I was always the assistant andthe same baseball coach.
He still stays in touch withthem today, like he's a really

(41:44):
good friend of mine.
Well, derek took them toNationals, they took them to
Western Canadians, like allthree of them.
And so, just again, thoseexperiences alone again, are to
me just imperative when growingup.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yeah, and I love that and I want to put a little
color on that because I do knowa little bit more of the
backstory and just to shine alight for some of the people
here.
So you talked about at acertain age, then they had to
commit.
But let's talk about what wasthat age first of all, and
before that you would say thatyeah, like essentially the
baseball team was the hockeyteam, right, like, and was the

(42:24):
whatever team, right, and soyou'd have sally and johnny and
jimmy and like boys and girls,just to even produce a team.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
So you had like dramatically different skill
sets on the same, on the samefield or on the same ice right,
yeah, and I and I again I'm soold school and again, I know
your listeners are againprobably going to roll their
eyes, but there's nothing wrongwith playing, you know, with
kids that are less skilledbecause you have to learn how to

(42:52):
, and again, I know we justtouched on this, but you know,
be excited for their, how goodthey do right.
Be excited that you know theyscored their first goal or made
a great pass, or be excited forthat because it takes away from
you know the individualness ofwhat's happening.

(43:13):
You can't get frustratedbecause you know little Johnny
or little Sally can't move, themove, the puck.
Well, they could probably touchthe puck back to you and use a
give and go.
So talk to them about that,right, and all my kids, like all
my kids were pretty much, uh,growing up were almost 50, 50
girls.
Connor had the worst one andnot the worst one, god, that

(43:34):
sounded bad, but the worst thewrong ratio of boys to girls.
Yeah, he was three boys to sevengirls, all the way until Pee
Wee, and they did so well, likethose girls still, you know,
still amaze me today.
We still stay in touch.
I mean, there's, you canchallenge your kids and, yes, I

(43:59):
was a coach but you canchallenge those kids to, you
know, learn how to play withthose players, right, and
because not everybody's going tohave the same skill set, some
are going to be better rightDown the line, whether it's, you
know, junior, you know whatever, but some are also going to be
worse.
So talk to them as a, as ateammate, and say, hey, can you
go here?

(44:19):
Or when you get here, you know,and all sorts of things, and I
think that helped a ton too.
And you know, again, these smalltowns we'd always have, excuse
me, we always have players wantto try hockey for the first time
at, you know, u9 or U11.
Well, again, there's a wholedifferent dynamic, right,

(44:40):
because this person can't evenskate, right?
So you're using that person toyou know, try, and you know try
and get better, whether it'sduring the game or on the ice,
or at practices or whatever.
So it's again, I'm old schoolin that regard.
Is that you, yes, you want toplay with the best players.

(45:01):
It's.
It's probably the fastest wayto get there, but I think
there's an opportunity that youknow just because you're playing
with a double A player versus atriple A player.
I think there's opportunitythere.
I truly do.
And that's not the mindset oftoday.
And don't get me wrong, I'm notsaying that's not the mindset
of today and and don't get mewrong, I'm not saying that's the
norm.
I'm just saying that's, that'swhat we had to do in our small

(45:21):
community.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Yeah, well, I think there's opportunity there is.
All I mean even if that's allanyone takes away from this is
that it is possible and it canhappen because there is room for
growth in those environments.
Yeah, and like what, what, what, uh, what pick was, was, uh,
was Morgan in the draft at WHL?

Speaker 1 (45:41):
In the oh, he was fifth round.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
Fifth round.
Okay, so fifth round, connorwas what?
Oh, connor was second overall,second overall.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
And then what was your middle guy?
Noah was third Right Overall orthird round.
Noah, he was third round.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Okay, so a fifth rounder, a third rounder and
second overall, from anenvironment that had seven girls
to three boy ratio for themajority of his sports career.
Right, exactly, playing allthese different sports, not in a
high octane, a high performanceenvironment.
Not saying that this is likeagain, I'm not saying that this
is the path that everyone shouldbe seeking, but the thing is is

(46:21):
like it is still a path, likethere's a pathway that exists
there, right, right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
And thank you for saying that, because, again I
I'm a little bit jaded, like I.
Again, the landscape's changedand I get it changes daily or
annually or whatever, and youknow, being on the ice all the
time is still not.
I think it's quite proven thatit's still not the best for

(46:48):
these kids.
So you know, to see what you'redoing in the, you know flag
football and playing lacrosseand stuff like that well, that
is still better than being onthe ice, right and again, no
path is going to be the same,like whether you're at the
academy or on AAA, that AA kidcan roll in and have a growth

(47:10):
spurt and the light bulb kind ofgoes on.
He's going to surpass both ofyou, right, and that's just the
way it is, and I truly, trulythank you for saying that.
Our path is unique, but it stillcan be done.
You just have to kind of buckthe system a little bit right,

(47:32):
if you can.
Again, it's tough, though,because for you to sit here and
you know you you played, youplayed that in the nhl.
I never did, and there waspeople around us that you know
told us we should be takingmorgan, noah and connor
elsewhere, and you know, we justkind of said no, we're not.
You know we're not ready to dothat yet, so um, it is a

(47:54):
different path.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Yeah, when did they?
When did you shift gears withthem?
Um, and again, Noah ended upgoing the baseball route and and
uh, and yeah, again, by allaccounts, a hell of a hockey
player, and the other two stuckwith hockey.
Uh, but when, when was thatshift from a family as being
okay, like we gotta be a littlebit, or not even?
Maybe there was a consciouschoice, Maybe the boys kind the

(48:16):
boys kind of chose it.
I don't know how that worked,but when did that happen?

Speaker 1 (48:18):
correct.
Uh, great call, I would say.
The boys really migrated totheir own love of the game,
right, they?
They continued like connorwould still be playing and
morgan, for that matter, if itwasn't really based on their
contract, they'd be playing ballstill today in the offseason.
They, they love the sport.
They, um, actually, morgan andnoah, or morgan and connor,

(48:38):
actually bought brand new gloves.
I'm not joking like last week,they bought brand new gloves,
they worked them in together,and so morgan actually went to
tampa to watch connor, uh, taketheir daughter and and to disney
world, but they, you know,threw the ball together right
outside.
So when was that?
I would say probably in that,probably 17 year old, you know,

(49:02):
16, 17 on the later side, right,wow, that was way later than I
thought you were gonna say yep,100, no, and because, like I
said, we still, we still dideverything, we, we still, and I
and I still am a big believer inum.
If you have the right coachesthat are willing to do that and
try and make it work, you'reonly going to miss, you know,

(49:23):
maybe half dozen practices andmaybe a game or two, you know,
because of provincials.
But again, if you get a chanceto go to volleyball provincials
or basketball provincials orcurling provincials, you know,
versus a regular season game,I'm going to tell you to go to
the provincial because it's anexperience.
There's way more pressure there, right at a provincial format,

(49:43):
than there is, you know, in aregular season game.
So what you're gaining fromthat experience trumps, you know
, playing a regular season game.
Is that the norm?
No, you have to buck the systemand kind of say no, we're going
to take them there.
So it was probably in that, likeI said, in that 17 range,
morgan actually never, when hegot drafted, and I know I've

(50:05):
told you this story, but we hadto call Tri-Cities and tell him
he wasn't going.
And you know he actually had achance to go to baseball
nationals, you know, as you know, for representing his team and

(50:26):
we chose that, hands down, youknow, to go to a, you know, a
training camp that he probablywasn't going to make it, which
he wasn't to go play a nationalevent, you know, you know, and
he ended up, you know, justtearing it up, like he ended up
with the batting average and MVPand right, and then came home
and said you know what I'mchoosing?

(50:47):
Hockey, you know, and that wasat 16.
So in a 17 year old year, he,he went for his first time in,
in, in Tri-Cities, you know, andBob was again.
You kind of think that to me youdon't know how people are going
to react to that, right,because it's no different than

(51:11):
you and me having kids say no toour expansion into Manitoba
here.
Well, no, we're not coming.
Well, of course I want you tocome, but when we talked to bob
on the phone there, he wasecstatic and completely was 100
on board, with us choosing anational baseball championship.

(51:33):
So, um, again, when you cankind of get those people and
when, and that's why, you know,that's why Morgan had such good
success in Tri-Cities, to me itwas because of Bob, right,
because because of the culturethere, right, it's, it's, it's
bigger than hockey, right so butyeah, I would say ultimately

(51:53):
that it's, it's right aroundthat 16, 17 is when we chose
that's really cool.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
What did um sticking with morgan, so fifth runner to
the whl?
Uh, where did he get drafted toin the nhl draft?

Speaker 1 (52:08):
uh, the third round, 67 is that about right okay,
yeah, so already kind of okay.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Yeah, so already kind of peaking late bloomer,
however you want to call itright, I love that because they,
for anyone who hasn't done it,like, obviously I'm more
involved than than probably theaverage listener here, but if
you look at a whl draft and fromthe whl draft who plays in the
nhl, from that draft, like it's,it's actually quite an
interesting experiment to look.
Yeah, uh, you know, like thefirst rounders, yes, higher

(52:45):
percentage, and then it fallsoff fast, drastically.
It's crazy.
Um, you know like a secondrounder that you were talking
like in the whl scenario, right,like yourth, overall you're
deemed the second best 14 yearold in all of Western Canada,
the hockey hotbed of fricking,you know the world, and very few
play right, like and so for afifth rounder from the WHL to

(53:10):
just have scored 34 goals orwhatever the heck Morgan just
did at the WHL and be the 30thbest goal scorer in the NHL is
like, I love stories like that,like that's so cool.
And I think it speaks to for meabout the idea of if we just
fall in love from a mindset sideof, like the process of
development and and I meanyou're talking about a holistic

(53:30):
athlete is essentially whatyou're talking about and it's
and that wasn't like the goalwasn't to make you know, morgan,
a 30 goal NHL score at thestart.
It was just that the philosophyof the more exposure, the
better, as a human Right, like,go do stuff, do as much stuff as
you can and then, once you findout what you're good at and
what you want to do, that'sgoing to help you in your

(53:51):
long-term road to be successfuland whatever Right.
Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
And thank you for saying that.
You know it was it had.
And again, this is where I'vealways been somewhat shy or
neglected, to kind of really saythis, but because nobody
believes you, right, but we, wenever talked about the drafts,
we never talked about hockeybeing like we just it was when

(54:20):
you said just be better in life,right, that's, that's honestly
what it was about.
Like, do as much as you can andwhatever you decide to do, even
if you decide to be a plumber,well, all that sports and all
those you know disciplines thatyou needed to excel at, those
sports is going to help you as aplumber, like it truly will.

(54:41):
Like you know, I'm a salesmanager now.
Well, it helps me immenselydeal with different problems.
Well, that's all we kepttalking about.
And again, leading up to thedraft, we never talked about the
draft.
You know we would talk about,yes, we knew the draft was
coming, but we would talk abouthow to handle people coming up

(55:01):
to you and how to speak aboutthe draft.
Right, they already knew thatthe draft was coming, right, so
we didn't have to talk about it.
But when you entered our house,you know, clean up your mess,
do the dishes right, seriouslyclean the table, you know, clean
the shoes away from the door,stuff like that.
That's what we talked about.
And I mean still to this day,you walk in our house, there's

(55:23):
only one or two pictures,there's not big, but
everything's still in the closet.
You know all their jerseys,like those bats, and all his
jerseys from college and, excuseme, all that stuff.
Again, you're, you're still the, the.
You know, you're still craigand toby's boy and and that's it
.
So again, I, I reallyappreciate the word that you use

(55:46):
and you know holistic, athlete,holistic, you know, person just
trying to better themselves.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
And I, again, it's just, I know it's different
timing, though, like it's, it'sthe, the, again, I keep using
the word, but the landscape isso changed, um, we've got so,
you know, engulfed in the in thegame that it's, sometimes it
does get clouded yeah, well, butI do think that the
conversation is relevant morenow than ever, though, because I

(56:10):
do think that there is there isa perception that you have to
do it this certain way becausethat's the best way, and I and I
and I'm still a firm believerthat it's not the best way, I
don't care if everyone else isdoing it, and I think that
there's a lot of science nowabout even, you know, like, the
injuries and this and the thingsthat are happening outside of

(56:30):
the game or at the NHL level nowand again.
I wanted to say that about whatthe goal was too, because if the
goal and I say that to my boysright now, because I know Hudson
wants to be in any like that'sall he wants to do and that's
all he's wanted to do Right, butI'm like, if that goal in of
itself, if that is the reasonwhy you're playing like you
honestly are in a tough spot,right.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Yeah, and your bang is that there was really never a
goal per se, we just wanted awork ethic, a time management.
You know I don't know ateammate philosophy, you know,
in everything.
And again, not to downplay it,but Toby was such an integral

(57:15):
factor there that you know shewas always the really
competitive one and I know thisis, you know, everybody's gonna
again roll their eyes here.
I was always the one that youknow would kind of sit back a
little bit, you know, but tobywas as intense as everybody.
We just had to kind of, youknow, kind of say to each other,
okay, like let's tone it down abit.

(57:36):
Like, you know, this isn't,this isn't the end, all be all
here.
So and again, I'm not, I'm notdownplaying it where we just
kind of said, ok, here it is no,we're as competitive as anybody
.
But you know, just like you said, the ability to not do the norm
is very tough, though Like Imean to me, the average person,
to to buck the system.

(57:57):
It's very hard, right, becauseyou feel like you're being left
out, right, you feel like you'remissing something.
And you know, we, we see that alot to me in manitoba, because
you know there's nowhere near asmuch opportunity as there is in
BC, just for sheer demographics, sheer numbers, right.

(58:18):
So when there is something good, right, or somebody believes in
something, um, everybody kindof falls right Um, which is good
and bad in a way.
Um, but for people to maketheir own choices and say you
know what we're not doing, thatUm very, very tough to do for Um
, very very tough to do forpeople.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Another quick stop to the show to say elite prospects
has wanted to get involved withup my hockey and they are with
the UMH 68 invitational Uh.
We have set up a uh Prospectssponsorship where every player
attending the UMH 68 willreceive a verified profile done
by Elite Prospects.
The verified profile can bewell I don't want to say

(59:10):
cumbersome, but there's somework involved in verifying your
profile.
If you come to the UMH 68, thiswill be done for you by the
great people at Elite Prospects.
That is one perk of coming toour event.
The second perk is thateverything you do there will be
tracked, not only trackedproperly by Elite, but it's
tracked properly by us.
I take goals, assists, primaryassists and secondary assists

(59:32):
very seriously.
I take shots on goal forgoaltenders very seriously.
Their goals against average isimportant and everything is done
with video and it is accurateat a UMH 68 invitational event.
So if you deserve an assist,you will get it.
We take pride in that and thosepoints however many you get or
however many you don't get willbe on your Elite Prospects

(59:55):
profile.
Elite Prospects is coveringevery UMH 68 event and this is a
pretty prestigious honor forthe UMH 68 Invitational, as
Elite Prospects only works withvery high caliber, very high
class tournaments.
They cover tournaments like theJohn Reed Invitational, like
the Brick Invitational and theyare now covering the UMH 68

(01:00:15):
Invitational.
So all of your stats will be onthere and if you happen to be
one of the best of the best atthe event and you win a UMH 68
All-Star Award, that will alsobe on your hockey profile for
the rest of your life that youwon an All-Star at a UMH 68
event.
Those All-Star Awards arepowered by Elite Prospects.

(01:00:36):
You will receive an EliteProspects hat as well when it
comes to that.
So lots of good stuff happening.
And for one special event, oneof my U15 events, elite
Prospects is going to bring ascout out there to write
evaluation reports on theplayers and to share them on
their social media and it willalso be added to their profiles.

(01:00:57):
So super exciting stuff withElite Prospects.
I couldn't be happier workingwith them.
Cam Robinson is a former guestof the show.
He does great work for EliteProspects.
The people behind the scenes atElite Prospects have been great
to deal with and really excitedthat they see the exact same
opportunity with the UMH 68Invitational as I do, and want

(01:01:17):
to grow with the event.
So if you are looking for anyother reason or any more reasons
to get involved with the UMH 68Invitational, hopefully Elite
Prospects is a big part of yourdecision-making process.
Now let's get back to theconversation with Craig Geeky.

(01:01:39):
I never really fully havecommunicated.
I don't think like what my,what my philosophy is like when
it comes to it all and and Ithink maybe this would be a good
time I'm not going to get superdeep, but like it's hard being
doing what I do from a hockeyperspective, like an on the
ground hockey perspective,because, for instance, I don't
do anything in July, right, dofrom a hockey perspective, like

(01:02:01):
an on-the-ground hockeyperspective, because, for
instance, I don't do anything inJuly.
I'm a hockey skills coach thatdoes hockey programming for
people and there's a lot ofpeople that want to do stuff in
July For the age group that Iwork with.
I've stuck in my lane andstayed with the youth people.
I don't think anybody should beon the ice in July, so because
of that, I don't offer programs.

(01:02:21):
Now, that's how I also pay mybills.
You see what I mean.
So it's really like for me tohave some integrity in what I do
.
I feel, at least, that I needto offer what I believe in, and
so when I do a program, it's notaround the idea of, hey, how do
I extract the most money fromthe community.
The first thing is what is bestfor the athlete, right, yeah,

(01:02:44):
like period, and so I I believein like three sessions a week
for the most part.
I believe in a skill session, Ibelieve in a compete day.
I believe in having fun andhaving like a games day involved
in that.
I believe in understanding thephysical dynamics of movement
and having that being a part ofyour, of your training, as
you've talked about.
I believe that you should bedoing other sports and a lot of
times players aren't able to dothat because of this day and age

(01:03:06):
, just with how committed youneed to be to something.
So one of my facilities is theacademy where we do sports
throughout the year aroundhockey, where I bring in other
coaches and they learn how toplay other sports.
So, like, all of those thingson top of each other is my way
of like supplying my philosophyto kids that aren't my kids,

(01:03:27):
right, right, like.
I think this is the way,whether you're a high performer
or whether you're a houseleaguer, if you want to get
better at the sport of hockey, Ithink this is the best way that
we can do that.
And the other part of that, theextension, was UMH 68, which is
what you're working with me onnow in Manitoba.
And yes, this is anextracurricular event.
It is an event after the seasonis over.

(01:03:49):
It is an event at the tail endof spring hockey.
The good thing about when we'reWell, how my thought about this
was was okay, my spring programmyself.
I guess this is relevant.
I go, I have a non-weekendmodel.
That's important to me too.
Okay, so I think that, unlesswe're going to a tournament,

(01:04:11):
we're not going to be in hockeyarenas.
Right, I want, I want kids tobe able to go throw the football
around.
I want them to go to the lake.
I want them to be able to gothrow the football around.
I want them to go to the lake.
I want them to play golf right,I want them to do these things.
I want to go on family campingtrips Like that's, like that's
programmed in I we could bedoing exhibition games.
I'm talking triple A teams thatI'd coach, right, but I'm like
no, we're not doing that, we'regoing to be with you, okay.
So through that, and I alsothink that, okay, then we should

(01:04:43):
end.
I believe that it should endaround mid-May, end of June,
like that's when I think thetraditional spring season should
end, and for my own kidsthey've always been off the ice
essentially all of June andpretty much all of July.
July, I think.
Like six week minimum is kindof how I've done.
Really, I'd like to have more,but at least for me I'm like
okay, I feel comfortable withthat six weeks.
So at the end of that springseason I'm like I think this UMH

(01:05:04):
68 event is fantastic becausewe can bring people together to
your point, the networking sideof it.
Not people that you're with allthe time, right, not people that
you're been accustomed to yourwhole life, but new people from
new geographic regions, fromdifferent leagues, from
different, from different familystyles and everything else.
Different coaches, right,different accomplished coaches

(01:05:26):
that are going to believe in youand buy into you, and we're
going to give you the skillsrequired to be the best that you
can be from an off iceperspective, when it comes to
the mental aspect, or if itcomes to the training aspect and
the physical aspect.
So, like me, it was like theumh68 was like, okay, this is
like, this is kind of theculmination of everything that I
believe in that hockey can be,you know, and it can be this

(01:05:46):
development tool for athletes.
So, um, I can't, that wasdefinitely not planned, but I
just went into my wholephilosophy about how to, how to
you know, how to supply anenvironment.
But maybe you can talk to justyour side of it, of like what
drew you, because it sounds likewe definitely have like similar
ideologies.
Um, and you wanted to beinvolved in the 68.
Now you're running the eventfor me in manitoba, like is, is

(01:06:08):
that what sort of brought youinto the, into the ecosystem?

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
totally pods.
I think, again, when you end upkind of clicking with somebody
you know, based on philosophiesand ideas, you know, it's not
only the start of it.
I think it breeds more thanthat, right, because when you're
thinking the same right, thechallenges throughout our you

(01:06:33):
know planning of this, you know,always seems to be on the same
path, right, so it becomes alittle bit easier.
But why?
I joined to me, I was never abig showcase guy.
I still honestly believe thatthe right people will see the
right things at some point, ifyou know, if you're good enough,

(01:06:53):
they will find you and I trulybelieve that.
But what I do enjoy about yourphilosophy is that you're
bringing different peopletogether.
And, and again, you don't haveto have, you know, even though
we want, you don't have to have.
You know that top end triple Aguy there we're going to have

(01:07:14):
some, you know, some reallyreally good high end double A
guys.
Right, that maybe didn't makeit because just sheer numbers,
right, which is to me a juniorsituation or an angelic, you
could be in the minors, right,and you know that firsthand.
But coupled with that is ourseminars, right, our seminars
about.
You know, we've got JohnHoughton coming, who is a Navy

(01:07:38):
SE who teaches you, uh, you know, how to handle those really
inept situations that are beyondyour control.
Well, how do you handle it?
Um, you know, and he is anamazing person, just you know,
we could have a whole podcast onhim, but, you know, then we
have a goaltending session.
You to me, the education portionthrough a lot of these other

(01:08:02):
showcases to me are missed, andI think that's what we're trying
to get to is, you know, reallyestablish the education, the
development and then thecompetition right, and I just
believe in that.
I just think if you can get waymore out of the game because
everybody can go rent ice likeyou can you can put on a
showcase, but doing it this way,in a very professional manner,

(01:08:24):
is really what drew me.
And you know, you talk abouteducation, you talk about
development, you talk aboutcompete and you know, depending
on the type of person you are,you can, you can probably move
those three pieces of the puzzlearound whatever way you want.
You want the competition first,yeah, okay, well, but alongside

(01:08:45):
of that, you need an educationright of how to handle those
intentions and then you need todevelop right your workout
habits, and that's what john'sgoing to talk about, and you
know you're, you might talkabout the, you know the mental
aspect, so it all kind of fitsin there where you piece it
together, we just offer it rightand we just offer it and that's
um.
You know, that's truly to mewhy it looked appealing to me

(01:09:08):
when you, you know, when youreached out, and and again, I
just I'm like you, I love yourphilosophy.
You're doing it.
Going to Coeur d'Alene, like,let's be honest, like I mean, I
don't know whether you want toget into it or not, but you know
, we touched on it on our lastphone call Like you're doing
that.
You're not doing theprototypical.
You know big hockey academy,you know it's new, it's

(01:09:30):
different.
Well, you know and I'm surethere's some butterfly moments
right throughout the day thatyou're kind of going oh, am I
doing the right thing?
Well, just believe in it.
Right, if you believe in it,like I said, I believe in this,
the umh, you know we've stillgot spots left.

Speaker 2 (01:09:45):
So anybody listening?

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
like I believe in it and I think what we're putting
on and what we're trying to, youknow, incorporate are the three
best things you can do, whichis education, development,
development and competition.
And you know, hopefully, youknow, and we've got a, we've got
a great facility, like nobodyknows, like that Keystone center
is such an undervalued piece into me, all four provinces.

(01:10:12):
I'm sorry, but it is, you know,it's three hockey rinks, it's a
hotel, it's, you know, yeah, itis, it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
So yeah, yeah, no, it's super exciting and I guess
what we didn't also say, likethe parents get involved.
And again, like you know, youmentioned that you never played
in the NHL.
You played pro, but you neverplayed in the NHL, so even for
you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
There was a little bit of oh do, am I doing?
the right thing.
Yeah, I mean I, I, oh, on thedaily pods, like I'm, I'm
serious, like it was.
If you ever get a chance totalk to the boys, I mean they
will tell you that I, I would go, I would stay quiet sometimes.
You know, you know Morgan, inthe NHL and even in the NHL I'll

(01:11:01):
just say like it's sorefreshing to see and hear
coaches tell you what I believein, which is, you know, doing
this or doing it this way orwhatever.
And you know even Noah, forthat matter, in the game of
baseball.
Like you know, we, we stilltalk, you know, on the daily,
but we, you know, but once everycouple months I I ask him some

(01:11:23):
questions.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
He says, no, it's the same thing as what you know,
what you taught us, right and sobut again, I'm gonna cut in
just for a second, because whatI'm saying is so like, for the
moms and dads out there thathave even no hockey experience,
right, and have a belief system,or maybe don't even know what
the belief system is for hockeydevelopment or for high
performance, right, like, I dobelieve that the parents need to

(01:11:44):
be a part of discussion,especially at the ages that
we're talking to kids about,right, we're talking U14, u15
age kids, right, that's whowe're serving.
They're trying to figure it outand the parents are trying to
figure it out, right, and notthat we have this golden rail
roadmap, but here's a structure,right, here's what we should be

(01:12:05):
thinking about.
This should be in yourbandwidth of consideration,
right, and I think, if we can dothat, and then this opportunity
provides mom and dad to talkwith their sons and daughters
about what they just heard, howdoes this apply to us?
Right, like, what, what can wedo with this information?

(01:12:26):
And um, and I guess the thingthat that excites me about the
68, too, is like, and reallylike, the pretense for how the
whole thing started with me waslike this is the age where
you're figuring out that you'renot just playing hockey more
anymore, but you want to be ahockey player, right?
And I do think that there's adifferent approach, like I think
that the game changes andthere's a different approach to
that and, uh, and that'sexciting to me, right, so that

(01:12:48):
whole thing is exciting to meand you know us expanding now
into Manitoba it's a long wayaway and, and, yeah, we've.
You know, with any new endeavor, there's always challenges, but
the exciting thing is is that,however many guys we got right
now 45 or 50 or something thatare excited, ready to go, we do
have spots available.
So, for anyone listening outthere, like, this is the 2011

(01:13:08):
birth year in Manitoba.
It really has.
I mean, I say this humbly andgratefully, but, like, the
events that we've held inBritish Columbia have been
gangbusters, absolutegangbusters.
Like, how many springtournaments has anyone ever been
to where you've actually wrotea letter to the coordinator
thanking you for that?

(01:13:29):
You know, like, I've neverwritten one and I think I'm a
pretty grateful guy, right, like, but like, over half of the
people took the time to say thiswas amazing last year.
Thank you for having us.
Like we, we want to come back,like, so, like that's what we're
executing, I guess, here, like,as we move east, right Like, we
want to provide that sameexperience.

(01:13:50):
We want this to be verydifferent than anything you've
ever done and it will be verydifferent than anything you've
ever done.
So I know there's likehesitation sometimes and I know
there's other things to do and Iknow that there's things on the
plate, but this truly is anexperience that is going to
leave your athlete, you know, abetter hockey player, a better
human, a more connected person,and it's kind of Craig and I's

(01:14:12):
way to show, kind of, whatoptions are out there and what
we should consider.
So, again, I guess what am Isaying here?
Yes, there is spots available.
The 2011 watch list is the bestway to get your name on that.
We're almost like five weeksaway, so you are getting super
close.
By the time this episodereleases, which is going to be
tomorrow, which is the 29th, weessentially have five to seven

(01:14:34):
days before we have to shut offregistration.
If you do hear this, or?

Speaker 1 (01:14:40):
if you know of somebody in Manitoba and you're
not in.

Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
Manitoba or Saskatchewan, by the way, we
open it up to Saskatchewan andthat's a new audience for us
because, as Craig's point, wewere a little bit late in the
game and getting the idea outand the concept out, and
Manitoba isn't a huge province,to begin with, with trillions of
hockey players of the levelthat we're speaking to.
So we open that up to to theplayers of Saskatchewan as well
in 2011.

(01:15:02):
So if you are neither one ofthose provinces and want to
compete, by all means let usknow.
We would be happy to have youand I'll be there in person
there on on the 29th and we'llbe making sure we're delivering
a good product right yeah well,that's good pods.

Speaker 1 (01:15:16):
Like I said, I'm I'm it Really really excited and
can't wait to meet everybody,Cause I mean there's so many you
know names on spreadsheets andphone numbers and texts and
stuff like that, so it's finally, I mean I'm really excited to
kind of put names or put facesnames, I guess, and that is a
big part of it, and that's a bigpart of it for me.

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
Like you established little micro relationships even
on through the invitationprocess, which can be, you know,
as you know, a bit exhausting,but it is about, like it's about
connecting with people and likepeople need to trust me, they
need to trust you.
You know, like that, that theirtime is going to provide
something.
So I do think that that's justpart of it too, right,

(01:15:58):
especially as we're growing it.
They need to believe in, in, inwho's behind it.
So that's one of the reasonswhy I wanted to bring you on too
as well.
I know your perspective isgreat there.
I wanted to let people have anopportunity to get to get to
know you and and yeah, I meanwe're at that hour mark.
I know we could talk foreverand about your boys more, but,
uh, for anyone who hasn'tlistened, connor came on as a

(01:16:19):
young teenager just finishedbeing drafted I believe is when
we had him on and, uh, he did afantastic job.
Connor's interview I reallyenjoyed.
Uh, I have not had a chance totalk to morgan yet, but craig
said that we might be able totee that up, so maybe we'll have
them on and working to speak tohimself, because he just had a
absolute career year at a crazytime and uh and connor's just

(01:16:39):
trying to break that bubble ofgetting into the uh nhl as a
full-time regular after hisfirst year of pro, so actually
might be a good time to haveconnor back on again too.
Um, let's see, see if he'sinterested.
But yeah, I love what you'redoing there, buddy, I, I, uh,
it's so much fun following yourkids and uh and seeing the
success that they're having andyour transparency with what you
believe in and that whatever.

(01:17:01):
I mean, there's good, bad andugly with all of it, right?

Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
There is, there truly is.
And again, your listeners canagree, disagree, roll their eyes
or do whatever, but there is noone-step path and there is no
right or wrong way.
And all I'm saying is, as longas they're, you know, good
people and and good hard workersand manage their time and and,
honestly, don't get too high,all right, or low, for that

(01:17:26):
matter, which is part of themental, mental side of things
and, again, tough to do in a,you know, in a a high end sport
like hockey.
So yeah, hockey, so yeah, nokidding.

Speaker 2 (01:17:36):
Well, thanks for checking in.
I know you got a busy day there.
I'll let you go.
Um, we'll get this postedtomorrow and for everyone out
there, thanks so much forlistening and uh, and again,
hopefully we'll, uh, we'll seeyou, uh, or, if not you, uh,
maybe a relative or uh, or anephew or or somebody like that.
At the event, and, by all means, if you are in brandon, uh, or

(01:17:56):
anywhere near there, may 29th toto June 1st.
It's so cool when people justcome out and support Like we're
talking really good hockey, likehigh level hockey.
The games are fantastic and themore people there to appreciate
it the better.
So come out and say hi andshake our hands.
We'd love to meet you.

Speaker 1 (01:18:11):
You betcha.

Speaker 2 (01:18:12):
Thanks, pods, thanks Craig, all right, thank you for
listening to the entire episodewith Craig.
Awesome to have him on.
One of the things I do loveabout the UMH 68 is I get to
talk to Hugh Hamilton and CraigGeeky, two of my former
teammates, on a somewhatconsistent basis as we forge

(01:18:33):
ahead with these events.
They are the guys on the groundthat are making it happen in
their respective provinces andit's a lot of fun to reconnect
with uh, with old, with oldteammates.
So, uh, thank you, craig, forcoming on.
I hope you enjoyed thediscussion today.
Uh, just around the philosophy,around the down-to-earth,
authentic approach to justparticipating go out there and

(01:18:56):
participate in life.
The more often you can do that,the more engaged you can be as
an athlete, the more willing youare to say no to things, which
means saying yes to newexperiences and new
opportunities the better.
I do believe that that changes.
You know, as kids mature and asthey age and as they go through

(01:19:17):
puberty, and as they they findwhat they want to do, then you
know that we will tighten oursight lines on what it is, uh,
that is important and what it isthat is necessary.
But do not underestimate thevalue of rest, and I don't mean
rest in the sense of lying onthe couch, I mean rest with your
skates off.
Being on the golf courseinstead of being on the ice,

(01:19:39):
being on the tennis courtinstead of being on the ice,
being on a mountain bike insteadof being on the ice, like all
these things are super helpfulto your hockey.
Being out, being involved,being engaged, being an athlete
is something that all youngpeople should be doing, and not
only we didn't talk about itmuch in the episode, but it does

(01:20:01):
give yourself a mental break, abrain break, and allows the
brain to grow some of themyelinations and some of the
connections that it can'totherwise.
So we get an emotional letdown,we get to breathe, we get to
look forward to something, weget to be more grateful about
the opportunities, uh, to playhockey when they are presented

(01:20:23):
to us again.
So I'm not saying taking thewhole summer off ever.
I do understand that, hey, wehave to get ready for camps.
I mean that's why I offer myown camps, as I talked about.
Uh, you know in the, in theprogram there, that you know I
get back on the ice, starting inAugust, start skating, start
back on the ice, starting inAugust.
Start skating, start gettingyour reps in there.
Uh, definitely, don't stay outof the gym, you know.
Don't, don't stay off the field, don't stay off the track.
These are all different things,but as far as ice is concerned,

(01:20:45):
uh, you know, get back in in inAugust, take some time off in
July.
Hopefully most of June or someof June, you can take some time
off too.
And uh, and like I said, be a,be an athlete, be a kid, be
engaged in life, be curious.
And uh, the best we can do tosupport that as parents is, uh
is beneficial as well.
So that's my rant for the day.
Uh, hockey's amazing, but itdoesn't have to be hockey all

(01:21:08):
the time.
Uh, if we believe in theprocess of, of just development,
the process of being curiousabout life and curious about
just getting better in general,the hockey will take care of
itself.
I promise you so until nexttime.
This is Jason Padolan.
Play hard and keep your head up.

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Ep. 156 - Craig Geekie - "Raising NHL players & good people."

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 156 - Craig Geekie - "Raising NHL players & good people."