Pucked Up Parents - Youth Hockey

This week on Pucked Up Parents, Michael and Angela kick things off with This Week in Hockey, including a huge first weekend of college hockey for their son—complete with his first college goal and then a hat trick! They also talk about the unique experience of heading to a midnight hockey game and what that does to the hockey-parent sleep schedule.Then they go Beyond the Boards with special guest Ashlee from Beyond The Boards Travel. The conversation focuses on one of the biggest challenges of tournament travel: what the heck do you do between hockey games?From museums and hiking to checking out local attractions, finding great places to eat, and exploring the city, Ashlee shares ideas for keeping the family entertained without packing the schedule so full that the kids are exhausted when it’s time to hit the ice.Ashlee also explains how Beyond The Boards Travel helps youth hockey families plan the non-hockey part of their tournament trips—providing ideas for things to see, places to visit, food to try, and experiences to make the most of each destination.Because a hockey tournament doesn’t have to mean rink → hotel → rink → hotel all weekend!Stick around for the hockey, stay for the adventure—because there’s life beyond the boards!

The Hockey Stink is real—and Michael and Angela are diving straight into it!This episode Pucked Up Parents, the 12-year-old’s team kicks off the season with a trip to Cleveland, college hockey gets ready to drop the puck—including a midnight game—and Michael celebrates a second-place finish in a firefighter 5K. Plus, Michael has some choice words about out-of-control rink rats and the parents who reserve rink-side seats but apparently forgot they’re supposed to sit in them.Then comes the main event: THE HOCKEY STINK.From sweaty gear and hockey bags to locker rooms, rinks, cars, garages, and whatever room in your house has been sacrificed to hockey, Michael and Angela break down the smells every hockey parent knows all too well. They share listener stories, explore the science behind the stink, and try to figure out exactly why hockey equipment can smell like something died inside it.Most importantly, they share tips and tricks to help fight the funk and keep the hockey stink under control.Because hockey doesn't just get in your blood…It gets in your nose, too.

This week on Pucked Up Parents, the hockey season is officially in full swing!.Michael is wondering if it’s completely ridiculous to buy a replica jersey of his own kid, while hockey practices are ramping up with new additions like off-ice training and technology that is pretty cool.Then we get down to the foundation of every hockey player: the skate. From entry-level skates to those “that costs more than my first car” models, we break down the wildly expensive world of hockey footwear.Angela takes us inside the skate, explaining the different components and what all those pieces actually do. We talk steel, blades, laces, tying techniques, and the eternal question: How tight is too tight?And if you're looking to save some money, we’ve got you covered with what to look for when buying used skates, what to check before handing over your hard-earned cash, and when that “great deal” might actually be a trip to the skate shop waiting to happen.So lace 'em up, sit back and enjoy this episode!

Michael and Angela kick things off with a quick trip through This Week in Youth Hockey, including the college kids’ media day and their shiny new hockey jerseys. Meanwhile, the 12-year-old officially begins full-time practices for the new season—which apparently means missing one already because Mom and Dad have tickets to see Third Eye Blind. Priorities.Then we fire up the Pucked Up Parents Time Machine and head back to 2013, when Michael and Angela were wide-eyed, inexperienced hockey parents with absolutely no idea what they had signed up for. What would our 2026 selves tell those rookie versions of ourselves before embarking on the next 13 years of hockey?Would we warn them about the cost? The endless miles? The tournaments, hotels, equipment, early mornings and general insanity that comes with raising a hockey player? Would we tell them to enjoy it more, stress less, or simply buy stock in hockey tape?Michael also climbs back onto his favorite soapbox to once again rail against the lack of local media coverage for youth hockey, because apparently 13 years of experience has not made him any less salty.And finally, we look at how getting involved in hockey can evolve over the years—from coaching and volunteering to the ultimate leap: actually strapping on the skates and getting out on the ice yourself.It’s a look back at where we started, what we know now, and all the things we wish someone had told us before we became hockey parents.

Michael & Angela kick things off with their usual “This Week in Youth Hockey”, where Angela shares the highlights from the 12-year-old’s Welcome Back to Hockey parent meeting. The message from the hockey "powers that be" is pretty simple: parents, don’t be aholes this season. With the 2026/2027 hockey schedules finally coming together, it’s almost time to officially unleash ourselves back onto the rinks.Then it’s time to go WAY back.This episode tackles the history of hockey, tracing the game from its earliest roots in games like shinty to the organized sport we know today. Michael and Angela explore the days of homemade equipment, questionable hockey surfaces and even some truly disgusting early attempts at creating something resembling a puck—including the use of frozen cow dung.Yep. Hockey has come a long way.They look at the evolution of hockey organizations, including the rise of the NHL and USA Hockey, while also examining how the equipment has transformed over the decades. Skates go from simple strap-on blades to today's highly engineered, 3D-customized footwear. Sticks, protective equipment and pucks have all undergone their own incredible evolution as well.And naturally, Michael decides that 150 years of hockey history is the perfect opportunity to unleash dad jokes, much to Angela's increasing dismay.From shintys and cow pies to custom skates and modern hockey organizations, Michael and Angela attempt to cover roughly 150 years of hockey history in about an hour—because apparently that's all the attention span a hockey parent can spare.It’s history. It’s hockey. It’s educational. And unfortunately, there are dad jokes.