Our Kids Play Hockey | Hockey Stories & Teamwork Tips

🥅 What does an NHL goalie coach see that youth goalies, parents, and coaches often miss?
According to longtime NHL goalie coach Steve Briere, the answer isn’t just better technique, more private lessons, or perfect positioning.
It starts with focus. Athleticism. Joy. Compete. Ownership. And a genuine desire to stop the puck.
In this episode of Our Kids Play Goalie, Lee Elias and Mike Bonelli sit down with Briere, whose coaching career includes seven seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, three with the Seattle Kraken, and his current role with the Wisconsin Badgers. After working with goaltenders at the highest levels of the game, Steve shares what truly separates developing goalies — and why some of the most important lessons have little to do with butterfly technique.
🔥 Inside this episode:
🥅 Why “just stop the puck” is more meaningful than it sounds — and how technical perfection can sometimes get in the way of the actual job.
🧠 Why focus, athleticism, passion, and having fun are some of the first qualities Steve notices in a young goalie.
💪 How the meaning of “fun” evolves as players get older — from simply enjoying the crease to loving competition, improvement, and the work itself.
🚗 Why some of the most valuable hockey lessons happen during conversations between parents and kids — and why those conversations should often be about life, not X’s and O’s.
🌱 Why parents can cultivate a young athlete’s drive, but they cannot create it for them.
💡 How innovation, technology, video, vision training, and tools like NHL Sense Arena can help goalies find new ways to improve — without replacing the need for athletes to think for themselves.
🏒 Why goalie development must become increasingly player-driven: instead of constantly being told what to work on, young goalies eventually need to ask, “How can I get better?”
🤝 Why coaches who begin with “I don’t know anything about goalies” may unintentionally isolate one of the most important players on their team.
⚡ How coaches can design practices that respect goalie workload, recovery, development, and the enormous number of reps goaltenders receive compared with skaters.
❤️ And why love, belonging, friendships, leadership, and community matter all the way from youth hockey to the NHL.
One of Steve’s biggest reminders applies far beyond the crease: young athletes are going to be people much longer than they are going to be hockey players.
Develop the goalie. Develop the competitor. But most importantly, help develop the person underneath the mask.
📖 Want a written version you can reference anytime? Check out our companion blog: What NHL Goalie Coaches See That Youth Hockey Often Misses
🎧 Whether you're raising a goalie, coaching one, playing the position yourself, or simply want to better understand the most unique position in hockey, this conversation belongs in your hockey education.
Listen, share it with your goalie community, and keep helping young athletes fall in love with the process of getting better.
#OurKidsPlayGoalie #GoalieDevelopment #YouthHockey #HockeyGoalie #GoalieTraining #GoalieParents #GoalieCoach #HockeyParents #HockeyCoaching #YouthGoalie #Goaltending #WisconsinHockey #NHLGoalieCoach #HockeyDevelopment #HockeyLife
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🧠🏒 Scanning the ice is important—but seeing what’s around you is only the beginning. The real hockey IQ comes from understanding what those cues are telling you.
On this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey IQ Talk with Albe, Lee Elias is joined by former NHL defenseman and NHL Sense Arena team member Andrew “Albe” Alberts to break down one of the biggest separators in player development: identifying cues.
A defender hesitates.
A teammate changes direction.
A passing lane opens.
Pressure arrives from one side.
A stick blade turns.
Those little details can completely change what the right play is—and great players learn how to recognize and process them in fractions of a second.
Albe explains what players should be looking for before they receive the puck, once they have it, and even when they’re playing without it.
🏒 In this episode, you’ll learn:
What “identifying cues” actually means in hockey
Why time, space, pressure, and support are foundational reads
How shoulder checks and pre-scanning help players prepare before the puck arrives
Why stick position, body position, speed, and direction all provide useful information
How younger players can begin developing hockey awareness
Why mistakes are essential to building hockey IQ
Why coaches should create drills that force players to make decisions
Why constantly yelling “pass,” “shoot,” or “move it” can actually limit development
How players without the puck still have important reads and responsibilities
How NHL Sense Arena’s multi-object tracking drill can help train anticipation and recognition
One of Albe’s most important reminders for coaches:
Every time you give a player the answer, you take away a decision they could have learned to make themselves.
That means development requires patience.
Players need opportunities to look, read, choose, fail, adjust, and try again.
🎧 Listen now for an inside look at how NHL players process the game—and how young athletes can begin building those same habits one decision at a time.
#OurKidsPlayHockey #HockeyIQ #YouthHockey #HockeyDevelopment #HockeyCoaching #AndrewAlberts #HockeyAwareness #HockeySkills #DecisionMaking #YouthAthletes #NHLSenseArena #HockeyTraining
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🏒 See an amazing move in an NHL or PWHL game and immediately want to try it in your next game? Go for it—but not before you’ve put in the reps.
On this episode of The Ride to The Rink, Lee Elias and Mike Bonelli talk directly to young hockey players about creativity, confidence, repetition, and knowing when it’s the right time to take a risk.
Trying new things is an important part of becoming a better player. But there’s a big difference between taking a calculated hockey risk and attempting a move in a game that you’ve never practiced before.
The goal isn’t to take creativity away.
It’s to prepare your creativity so well that the move becomes automatic when the opportunity appears.
🏒 In this episode, players will learn:
Why games aren’t always the best place to try a brand-new move
How repetition builds muscle memory and confidence
Why practice is where mistakes, experimentation, and creativity belong
The difference between a calculated hockey risk and an unnecessary gamble
How skills can be practiced at home, in the driveway, off the ice, or in VR
Why great players still work relentlessly on skills they’ve already mastered
How one skill becomes the foundation for the next
Why coaches should give players room to experiment during practice
How just 15 extra minutes of focused practice can add up over time
Why the highlight-reel move you see today may have taken thousands of attempts to master
Lee and Mike also remind players that the stars making incredible plays at the highest levels didn’t simply decide to try those moves in a game.
They practiced.
They failed.
They repeated.
And eventually, the skill became part of their toolbox.
💪 Your challenge: Pick one hockey skill you want to improve and spend 15 focused minutes working on it consistently. Don’t worry about making it perfect immediately. Get the reps in.
Because when the right moment comes in a game, the best skills don’t feel forced.
They just happen.
🎧 Listen now, get your reps in, and keep adding tools to your game.
📖 Want a written version you can reference anytime? Check out our companion blog: Prepare, Believe, Reset: Want to Try That Hockey Move in a Game? Put in the Reps First
#TheRideToTheRink #YouthHockey #HockeyDevelopment #HockeySkills #HockeyTraining #HockeyPractice #YouthAthletes #HockeyPlayers #SkillDevelopment #HockeyConfidence #HockeyCoaching #HockeyMindset
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🏒 Raffle tickets. Chocolate bars. Coupon books. Car washes. Poinsettias. If you’ve spent enough time around youth hockey, chances are you’ve been asked to sell at least one of them. But does fundraising still have to work that way?
On this episode of Our Kids Play Hockey, Lee Elias, Mike Bonelli, and Christie Casciano Burns sit down with Ryan and Justin from Hero Picks to explore how technology could reshape fundraising for hockey teams, charities, and communities.
Hero Picks was created around a simple question: What if fundraising felt less like asking people for money—and more like inviting them to be part of something?
Ryan and Justin explain how their platform combines fundraising with prediction games, friendly competition, leaderboards, prizes, unique experiences, and social engagement. Instead of simply sending another donation link to the same friends and relatives, teams can potentially create an experience that gives supporters a reason to follow along, participate, and stay connected.
🏒 In this episode, you’ll hear about:
Why traditional youth sports fundraising can create donor fatigue
💡 How Hero Picks is trying to make fundraising more interactive
Why community and connection may be just as important as the money raised
How individual players and families can participate through personalized fundraising links
How leaderboards, prizes, and unique experiences can motivate participation
The difference between sports betting and Hero Picks’ prediction-based fundraising model
How supporters can potentially engage with a team even when they live across the country
Why transparency matters when teams are collecting and distributing money
How technology and AI can reduce administrative work while keeping a human element
Ways teams can raise money not only for themselves, but for charities and access-to-hockey initiatives
Why Ryan and Justin believe fundraising could become far more experiential in the years ahead
The conversation also goes beyond hockey. Ryan and Justin share how the same model is being explored with veterans, first responders, nonprofits, combat sports, and other charitable efforts—and why they believe experiences people can’t simply buy may become an increasingly powerful fundraising tool.
And yes, the group also asks the most important question of all:
Can we finally retire the poinsettia fundraiser? 🌺
🎧 Listen now for a conversation about innovation, community, youth sports costs, and what fundraising could look like when the experience becomes part of the reason people participate.
📖 Want a written version you can reference anytime? Check out our companion blog: Prepare, Believe, Reset: Is There a Better Way to Fund Youth Hockey?
If your hockey organization is looking for new fundraising ideas, this episode may give you a very different way to think about the possibilities.
#OurKidsPlayHockey #YouthHockey #HockeyFundraising #YouthSportsFundraising #HeroPicks #HockeyParents #YouthSports #HockeyCommunity #SportsTechnology #HockeyTeams #NonprofitFundraising #FundraisingIdeas
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🏒 What separates a good hockey player from a great one—and what can young players start doing right now to improve?
In this special Q&A edition of Our Girls Play Hockey, Lee Elias and Mike Bonelli put Hayley Scamurra in the hot seat with questions submitted by young players, parents, and coaches.
From starting hockey at just three years old on a backyard rink (with a little help from M&Ms!) to competing at the highest levels of the game, Hayley shares the lessons that shaped her development—and many of them have less to do with flashy skills than you might think.
🔥 In this episode, we explore:
🏒 Why work ethic and hockey IQ can separate players as much as individual skill
💪 What young athletes can do every day to keep improving
🧠 What it really means to be a coachable player
📈 Why players should develop weaknesses and continue building their greatest strengths
👀 How Hayley identifies areas of her own game that still need improvement
🎯 How visualization and routines can help athletes prepare mentally for competition
🥅 Why goalies may need a different approach to staying focused during games
❤️ How injured players can stay connected to their team and continue developing
👨‍👩‍👧 What parents can do when their child is sidelined by an injury
One of the biggest lessons from this conversation? Development never really stops. Even at the professional and international levels, players are still identifying areas to improve, learning what makes their game unique, and finding ways to become better teammates and competitors.
Whether you're a young player trying to make the next team, a coach looking to develop the person behind the player, or a parent supporting your daughter through the ups and downs of hockey, this episode is packed with practical perspective you can take straight to the rink.
And this is only Part One of the Q&A with Hayley Scamurra—more listener questions are still to come!
📖 Want a written version you can reference anytime? Check out our companion blog: Prepare, Believe, Reset: What Really Makes a Great Hockey Player? Lessons on Development, Coachability and Mental Toughness with Hayley Scamurra
🎧 Listen, share the episode with a hockey family who could use it, and keep the questions coming for Our Girls Play Hockey.
#OurGirlsPlayHockey #GirlsHockey #WomensHockey #YouthHockey #HockeyDevelopment #HockeyIQ #HockeyTraining #HockeyParents #HockeyCoaching #FemaleAthletes #MentalPerformance #HockeySkills #HayleyScamurra
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