The Hockey Think Tank Podcast

This week Topher and Jeff welcome Wendi Irlbeck to the podcast. Wendi is a registered dietitian, certified sports nutritionist, and lifestyle coach with an M.S. in nutrition. Wendi specializes in enhancing health, athletic performance, and injury prevention by focusing on nutrition. A former collegiate athlete, Wendi works closely with teen, collegiate, and adult athletes of all calibers. In this...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Vechs wants to talk about walking the line for D men, and ten minutes isn’t enough time for they guys to hit on everything! TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! (This episode runs a little long - it’s our week of “Medium Shift” episodes!) We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Topher wants to talk about wall play for wingers on the breakout!  TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! (AND WE RUN A LITTLE LONG BECAUSE THE GUYS WERE ROLLIN’!) We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of persona...

On this week's episode, Topher and Jeff recorded LIVE in St. Louis from Jeff’s “Taj Mahal” of home gyms, with Vechs’ NFL client and NY Jets Safety, Tony Adams. This is one of the best conversations we have ever had - TA went from being an undrafted free agent to an NFL starter in two years, and opens up about adversity and low points throughout his life. A powerful episode that is not sport specif...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, the guys finally get to put all that movie-watching and movie-quoting to good use: Vechs wants to talk about the best bus trip movies of all time! TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collect...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Topher wants to talk about what Vechs (and he) thinks is important to look for in a captain.  TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, it’s a MAILBAG episode with Topher and Jeff! Recorded LIVE in our Hockey Think Tank Community, with questions submitted via social media and from our Community members! Visit Community. TheHockeyThinkTank.com for information on joining! In this episode we talk about: — Tips for players to handle negative teammates — A good age to start mental performance coaching — The importance of tea...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Vechs wants to talk about tips, tricks, and hacks for parents to help players grow with their gear. TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Toph wants to talk about handling nerves. Every player experiences nerves - learning how to channel them to be your best on the ice is a skill. TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection...

On this week’s episode, Topher and Jeff welcome back to the show, one of their best buds, Sean Muncy. Munce was part of the “infamous rags to riches St. Louis ‘85 group” with Vechs, went on to play juniors, Division I college hockey at Brown, and then played pro with Toph. He is now a financial wealth advisor and loves helping young players learn how to make smart decisions to reach their financia...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Vechs wants to talk about mandatory bus rides, players rooming together, and phone restrictions at the youth levels; what’s a good age (if any) to mandate these things and what are the considerations from a cost and logistics perspective? TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hos...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Toph wants to talk about swagger. How can teams, how can individual players earn some swagger? Winning teams have it - how can players build it? TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collectio...

On this week’s episode, Topher is flying solo and recording in person with the leaders of the boys program at Bishop Kearney Selects, from their podcast studio on campus in Rochester, NY! (Vechs says without him on the pod, it was a “slightly less hot” episode.) Topher is joined by Chris Collins (Sr. Director of Boys Hockey Program Development), Ben McManama (Director of Player Personnel), and Dav...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Vechs wants to talk about…SCHOOL! Jeff wants to know Toph’s top three subjects in school and how they shaped who he has become. TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of pers...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Toph wants to talk about tipping pucks and this is absolutely in Vechs’ wheelhouse! Toph tees it up and Jeff runs with it! Unreal insight for forwards and defensemen… TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for informati...

On this week’s episode, Topher and Jeff welcome Matt Dumouchelle to the podcast! Matt is a contributor to The Coaches Site and wrote the series Hockey Factories, which takes a deep dive into how some of hockey’s top development programs in the world train and develop elite talent.  In this episode we talk about: — Commonalities among the world’s most successful development programs — Things that h...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Vechs wants to talk about the Morgan Reilly - Ridley Greig incident and get Toph’s insight on what happened, as well as the effect it may have on the next game of the Maple Leafs-Senators rivalry. TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Toph wants to talk about GAPS and the importance of gapping up; Vechs loves it because he tackles the topic from the standpoint of manipulating the gap. Awesome conversation! TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for i...

On this week’s episode, Topher and Jeff welcome athletic development coach, Jeremy Frisch. He’s one of the best follows on social media, and this was an unreal conversation for any parent looking to help their kids become a better athlete. His approach to training kids is truly organic and embraces long term athletic development principles. In this episode we talk about: — Movement, Strength & Con...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Vechs and Toph get asked this question A LOT: How can someone make a job for themselves out of hockey? They love the game, and want to make a career out of being involved - how should they attack that goal? TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz co...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Toph wants to talk about PRACTICE HABITS and Vechs is here for it! Great stuff, and a terrific reminder for any player looking to get better. TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection a...

On this week’s episode, Topher and Jeff are celebrating 300 episodes of the podcast! Like Toph says at the start of each episode - "a little bit of education, a little bit of inspiration," and an unbelievable experience for us each and every week for over five years! Vechs also has a HUGE announcement at the beginning and we couldn’t be more excited for him! In this episode we talk about some of t...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, the guys talk about Team Building and give some team building exercises ideas for different ages to help with culture and camaraderie in fun and competitive ways. Teams that are close away from the ice are often the most successful on the ice because they’re invested in each other and want to be their best for the team. TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We app...

On today’s SHORT SHIFTS episode, Toph wants to talk about losing streaks and how teams that are struggling in the win column can work to turn it around, and how players can stay focused on the process to keep developing. TEN MINUTES ON THE CLOCK STARTING NOW! We appreciate every listen, download, comment, rating and share on your social sites! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adsw...

On this week’s episode, Topher and Jeff welcome Jeff Lobman from Vanguard Hockey International. Jeff is from the Long Island/Staten Island area and is doing some terrific things to give back to the area where he grew up playing youth hockey. In this episode we talk about: — How hockey legitimately saved his life — Player Development — The unique experience Vanguard Hockey offers to players giving...