On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by my favorite guest of all time – my son, my main man, Mikey Lee III.  Mikey was born in 2013 and plays on the Junior Canes Super 8 hockey team as well as the 8U Snipers of the PHHL.  Mikey started skating when he was three years old and fell in love with the game after attending his first Carolina Hurricanes game back in 2015.  Our discussion covered Mikey’s early days in the game from learning to skate, to the Hurricanes First Goal Program, his first hat trick, all the way up to recent days and winning the championship at the Country Western Showdown in Nashville TN with the Junior Canes Super 8 Red Team.  Mikey also had an opportunity to share an amazing story about the time he met Sebastian Aho in the grocery store.  Sebastian Aho happens to be Mikey’s favorite player so we wanted to make sure we reserved Episode #20 for Mikey.  Recording this episode with Mikey was such a blast and I’m thrilled we were able to create this memory together - I will cherish it forever.

On April 6, 2018, sixteen people died and thirteen others were injured after a bus taking the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team to a playoff game collided with a transport truck in a rural intersection.  The tragedy moved millions of people from across Canada and around the world to leave hockey sticks by their front door to show sympathy and support for the Broncos.  On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by Kaleb Dahlgren, the former assistant captain of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team and one of thirteen survivors of the tragic bus crash.  In the face of adversity, one can either back down or stand up and fight – Kaleb is a fighter, someone who will never back down.  Having an opportunity to meet Kaleb and learn about his inspiring life story of heart and grit in the face of unprecedented loss and adversity has changed my life forever.  Kaleb recently wrote a book titled Crossroads:  My Story of Tragedy and Resilience as a Humboldt Bronco, the book Crossroads is available wherever you purchase your books – please go out and purchase a copy, I hope it has the same profound impact on your life as it did mine.

On this episode of Blue Line Banter I am joined by Alyssa Gagliardi, head of Girls & Women’s Youth and Amateur Hockey for the Carolina Hurricanes.  Outside of that role Gags is also an Assistant Coach & Player Development Coach for the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes as well as a Board Member for the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA).  Our discussion covered Alyssa’s early days playing youth hockey and moving to Raleigh around 10 years old, her time spent playing at hockey powerhouse Shattuck St. Mary’s where she won a National Championship, her college playing days at Cornell, winning gold in 2014 with the US National Women’s Ice Hockey Team, all the way up through her time spent competing in the CWHL and later joining the Boston Pride of the NWHL.  We also spent some time talking about the growth and future of women’s hockey, some important concepts around developing youth hockey players, and we wrapped up with Gags sharing an awesome story and memory about a triple overtime game while playing at Cornell.  You’re not going to find many people with a more impressive hockey resume than Alyssa Gagliardi and I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun I had during this conversation.  Thank you for listening.