#62 - MIAA Ice Hockey Playoff Preview with Phil Nicastro of Cape Ann LIVE!

Ryann Glushek is the Coach of the QU IceCats, the ECAC's only ice hockey cheer squad, who support the 2023 NCAA Division 1 Frozen Four Champion Quinnipiac Bobcats.

In this conversation, Ryann, Bob and Matt discuss: How was the run to the Frozen Four championship? How did the IceCats get started? What skills are required to be an IceCat? How good of a skater do you need to be? Plus, Wrist Shots, a quick overview of Title IX, and everything you ever wanted to know about Quinnipiac University.

Follow the IceCats on Instagram.

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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork by Ken Klein. Original music by Ken Klein, TFIC, Bob's Lounge, and the Mo'Nobs
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
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Maria Mountain is an exercise physiologist who has specialized in off-ice training for hockey goalies for more than 20 years. She is the founder of GoalieTrainingPro.com, where you can find all sorts of videos to help with your dry land training practices. Please welcome this 5-6 goaltender out of London Ontario.

In this episode, we ask Maria: How did you get into training goaltenders? What are some of the most common injuries you see in youth and high school goalies? How do you approach training beer leaguers as opposed to young hot shots? What is the deal with hip impingment? Is my kid's career over after a season-ending injury?
Plus Maria plays Wrist Shots and tells us all about her hometown of London, Ontario.
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Follow Maria on Instagram and on YouTube, or go to https://www.goalietrainingpro.com/ 
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork by Ken Klein. Original music by Ken Klein, TFIC, Bob's Lounge, and the Mo'Nobs
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram

On March 16th, Bob attended his first ever women’s professional hockey game and recorded a monologue/rant on the way home.  Here is what he had to say in the immediate aftermath of the game, a PHF playoff tilt between the Boston Pride and the Minnesota Whitecaps at the Bentley Arena in Waltham MA. Later that week, Bob crashed the PHF press conference before the Isobel Cup championship game and asked some questions.
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork by Ken Klein. Original music by Ken Klein, TFIC, Bob's Lounge, and the Mo'Nobs
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
Check out the PHF: https://www.premierhockeyfederation.com/

Where Bob reflects on his last game ever as a hockey dad under withering questioning from Matt and our special guest, The G Force. 

• 0:00-G Force joins the podcast
• 11:30-Where Was Bob Last Week?
• 23:25-G Force plays Wrist Shots
• 31:13-After the last game

Plus other fun and funny stuff.
N.B. – don’t worry folks, we’re not done making podcasts. Stay subscribed and keep spreading the word.
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork by Ken Klein. Original music by Ken Klein, TFIC, Bob's Lounge, and the Mo'Nobs
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram

Today we have a special episode produced in conjunction with Cape Ann LIVE! Earlier today, Sunday 02/26, I sat down with our friend and previous podcast guest, Phil Nicastro, the announcer for Gloucester Fisherman hockey here in Massachusetts, to preview the MIAA boys high school ice hockey playoff tournament. Our focus was mostly on the teams in the Northeastern Conference, but you’ll get a pretty good picture of which teams to look for when the games start on Monday, Feb 27.

The video of this conversation was streamed by Cape Ann LIVE! on Facebook, and it will (I think) eventually appear on Cape Ann LIVE’s YouTube channel.

For all of the information about the MIAA Hockey Tournament, check out MIAA.net and MassHSHockey.com 

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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork by Ken Klein. Original music by Ken Klein, TFIC, Bob's Lounge, and the Mo'Nobs
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram

Daryl Watts recently signed a contract with the Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation that will make her the highest paid player in the history of women’s professional hockey ($150,000/year!). She is the 2nd leading scorer in women’s NCAA history, tallying 136 goals, 161 assists for a total of 297 points over 5 seasons. In 2019, as a freshman at Boston College, she won the Patty Kazmaier award as the best player in the country, and in 2021, she scored the NCAA championship-winning overtime goal for the Wisconsin Badgers. 

In this wide-ranging and lively conversation, Daryl and Bob discuss: Coming out of "retirement" to sign with the Toronto Six; stylistic differences between PHF and the NCAA hockey; Wrist Shots; unifying women's hockey; an illustrious college career; adding body checking to women's hockey; and playing women's junior hockey at age 14. 

Along the way, we look back at moments from past episodes that put Daryl's accomplishments in historical context, including colorful and poignant stories from these distinguished figures in women's hockey:

• Ep25, Rebecca Morse (Moose), PHF all-star, 6-year veteran (2016-22)
• Ep31, Digit Murphy, President of the Metropolitan Riveters
• Ep17, Cara Morey, Head Women's Hockey Coach at Princeton University
• Ep32, Kaleigh Fratkin (Fratty), Boston Pride, 2x PHF Defender of the Year

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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork by Ken Klein. Original music by Ken Klein, TFIC, Bob's Lounge, and the Mo'Nobs
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram

Gabriel Foley is Recruit Scouting's Head of North American scouting. This 6-1 left winger out of Peoria Illinois returns to Rink Stories discuss his 2023 NHL draft rankings and other topics.
Foley cracks open the notebook to give us an overview of some of the names we'll likely hear called  in the 1st round of the 2023 NHL Draft, including Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Will Smith, Oliver Moore, Ryan Leonard, Jacob Fowler and Gavin Brindley.
During Advice for New Hockey Parents, the boys discuss: My kid’s team is arranging to play at an NHL arena, before or during a game. It’s expensive. Should we do it? And, what should I do if the coach is not playing my kid the same as other kids?
Finally, in Your Fair City, we discuss the history, hockey and famous people associated with Foley's hometown of Peoria, Illinois.
Follow Foley
https://twitter.com/nhlfoley?s=21&t=frh4Cc509uhelN7wkHX15Q
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork and music by Ken Klein
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram

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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a d!ck. THIS is Rink Stories.

Anthony Ciardelli covers schoolboy sports in California and has been a contributing writer to a range of publications including, The Hockey Writers.com, The Hockey News, USCHO.com, and the LA Times. He is also a co-executive producer for the Sundance-accepted 2022 film, God’s Country, a thriller starring Thandiwe Newton. Please welcome this 6-2 left winger out of Hanover, New Hampshire, #3, an LA transplant and still a Boston Bruins fan.

During this lively conversation, the boys discuss: Which California school will be the first to have an NCAA D1 hockey program? How does one get involved in youth hockey in California? What is the scene like at a USC club hockey game? Who are the famous people from Hanover NH?

Plus, our usual fun and funny stuff, including Wrist Shots, the Wayback Machine, and our newest segment, Advice for New Hockey Parents, where we tackle two new questions: If my kid is a complete duster but loves hockey, should I pull the plug? And, what do I do if other parents are being loud-mouthed a-holes in the stands?

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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf

Artwork and music by Ken Klein

If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends

Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube

Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram

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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a d!ck. THIS is Rink Stories.

Phil Nicastro – a 6-foot right winger out of Gloucester MA – is “the voice of the fish,” the announcer for Gloucester High School Fishermen hockey and football games on Cape Ann LIVE!
This was our first ever in-person interview. After some pizza and salad at Bob’s house, Matt joined Phil and Bob via Zoom, and the boys discussed: the electric playoff atmosphere at “The Tank,” the Dorothy Talbot Rink in Gloucester; the Fishermen’s magical year; Gloucester’s 4 victories over Marblehead last season; fun facts and famous people from Gloucester; and an invitation for Bob to join Phil in the broadcast booth at the 2023 Greasy Pole contest.
Plus: Wrist Shots and Advice for New Hockey Parents.
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork and music by Ken Klein
Game audio courtesy of Cape Ann LIVE!
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a d!ck. THIS is Rink Stories.

In this episode, Bob and Matt catch up after a hiatus and introduce a new segment called New Hockey Parent Advice, which may actually be useful to some people. Plus, the boys run through a bunch of topics from the notebook: Will Bob’s goalie dad anecdote be chosen for inclusion in a hockey book? What is the least popular Rink Stories episode? After recent visits to two of the most notorious rinks, how are renovations to the Kasabuski Memorial Rink and HockeyTown USA progressing? Which restaurant on Route 1 pairs most nicely with an evening of hockey in Saugus MA? How did our podcast sign-off phrase get us in trouble? And, much much more!
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The Rink Stories podcast is produced by Matt Hopf
Artwork and music by Ken Klein
If you like this podcast, please help us out by subscribing, following, rating, reviewing, and telling your friends
Follow @RinkStories on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Follow Matt on Twitter and Instagram
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Work hard. Have fun. Don't be a d!ck. THIS is Rink Stories.