The Hockey Think Tank Podcast

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Jeff and Topher discuss how to navigate the end of a long season along with the finding the right avenues for spring and summer hockey. It's questions that they get ALL.THE.TIME from parents and thought it would be really beneficial to have a really open and honest conversation on what is happening in the hockey world during the spring and the summ...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on 13 year professional hockey veteran Cody Lampl! Cody is one of Jeff's former teammates that grew up in a non-traditional hockey market (Idaho) yet has had an incredible hockey career! We talk: -Cody starting out in figure skating and how that's helped him as a hockey player -The importance of mobility in your game -PASSING being an esse...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we are re-releasing the podcast where you get to know Topher! A few weeks ago, we re-released Episode ONE where Topher interviewed Jeff...and on this one the guys flipped the script and Jeff interviews Topher. Check out his journey through the hockey world...the good, the bad, and the ugly. Thank you to all of our amazing sponsors including GELSTX,...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Jeff and Topher dive into MENTAL TOUGHNESS. -What is it? -How do you get it? -Why is it important? They share stories from their own careers (during and post-hockey), those from others they know, and detail strategies they have learned or seen that could lead to being a more mentally tough hockey player and person. Some of the areas they tackle inc...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we are getting nostalgic and throwing it back to EPISODE 1 where Topher interviews Jeff that was the start to this podcast journey. We will be hitting 200 episodes in the next few weeks and we wanted to brink it back to where we started to pay homage to the journey. For those that have been with us for a large part of our journey, you'll see how hi...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Jeff and Topher speak directly to all the youth hockey players with a dream of playing hockey at a high level. They go dive into stories of their own careers and those of others they know to give advice to all the players out there on what the journey may throw at them. Through this podcast episode, they answer three fundamental questions: When was...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Jeff and Topher take on Mailbag questions from YOU! They sent the bat signal out on social media and you guys gave us some great topics to dive into including... -Is burnout real? -Are there benefits to playing the off wing -Thoughts on International Tournaments getting canceled -Position specific skills for D and F -The nastiest goal they've ever...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we dive deep into OZONE PLAY! We bring on Ryan Ward, Robbie Murden, and our Director of Skills Karl Linden to talk anything and everything on the Ozone, including: -Getting the defense involved -Shot quantity vs quality -The importance offensively and defensively of F3 -Using analytics to drive tactics -Puck Protection -A whole lot more! This was a...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on Director of Hockey Operations for the University of Wisconsin and Topher's former junior hockey teammate, Shane Connelly! Shane was a big time goaltender playing in multiple tournaments for Team USA and won a National Championship at the University of Wisconsin. He was a great player and now a great coach, and we dive into some really a...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Jeff and Topher create a podcast surprise Christmas present for a few certain people that have been some of the best role models in their lives. Tune in to find out who and listen to a podcast full of love, family, and of course...hockey. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of p...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Topher and Jeff talk about what they can do...and what we all can do...to get the most out of our potential. They use the framework of Topher's "10 Commandments" of things he'd like to incorporate into his life....only later to be named the "Tophmandments" by Jeff. This was a really fun episode that will make you laugh, think, and reflect upon how...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on former University of Michigan standout and current owner of the hockey development company TopLine Hockey Justin Selman! This was a really insightful and candid conversation about the journey to high level hockey with a lot of really open stories about the ups, downs, and everything that goes into the grind of getting better. We talk: -...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Rob Rassey and Ryan Ward join Topher on the Windy City Hockey Roundtable to talk POSITIONLESS HOCKEY. We feel like it's a term that is used a lot but under-defined...but can have a positive effect on your team's play and individual player development. Some of the concepts we go over include: -Getting back and sorting out the Dzone -Developing versa...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on former NHL referee Tim Peel! Tim is a veteran of over 1,300 NHL games, he reffed an All-Star game, and he also reffed at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. This was an awesome conversation where we talked: -How the game has changed in the decades he's reffed -The difference between reffing players like Gretzky vs. McDavid -The "Hot Mic" incide...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we talk everything TEAM CAPTAINS on the Windy City Storm Hockey Roundtable. We bring on former Asst Coach of Harvard, Detroit Red Wings scout, and current director of TPH Chicago Rob Rassey go detail player leadership and so many ideas and insights relating to team captains. We talk: -What makes a good captain? -How do you choose them? -The importa...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on the two hosts of "NEXT SHIFT" podcast Sean Coffey and George Hughes. Sean is an NHL agent and George was an All-American defenseman and they teamed up to start a podcast on the stories of great people in the hockey world both during their careers and what they're up to afterwards. With their experiences in the game, we tackle some aweso...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we talk ENTRIES and RUSH!! What a fun episode this was...we bring on our Robbie Murden and Mike Monti to talk anything and everything regarding having successful entries. We go through... -How good defense leads to rush chances -Teaching predictability vs. creativity -The importance of entering through the middle of the ice -The give and take of Bl...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on firefighter, paramedic and aspiring professional hockey player Kevin Porter! What an inspiring episode with someone who is stopping at nothing to achieve his dreams, even in his 40's. So much positivity and so many uplifting stories of battling adversity on this one...we talk: -How to drown out the haters -How a near-death experience sp...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we have our Windy City Storm roundtable detailing our ORGANIZATIONAL WEEKEND we executed the week prior. This ORGANIZATIONAL WEEKEND was an idea we tried getting all of our youth teams in our rink for a weekend to build our culture and get everyone excited about being part of the Windy City Storm family. Here's what we did: -Split practices and gam...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on one of Jeff's former teammates who had an unbelievable journey to the NHL...going from an undersized and undrafted player to ultimately reaching his dreams of playing in the show. We talk: -Routine and preparation -Playing the role of an agitator as a smaller player -The grind of making it to the NHL. -MUCH MORE!! This was such an inspi...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we tackle one of the most underrated development habit in hockey: Wall Play If you look at a heat map of where the puck is at during a game...much of the game you would see it is close to the boards. That's why it's so important to focus on building skills in our players along the boards. On this podcast Topher, Ryan Ward, and Rob Rassey discuss al...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on the founder of Changing the Game Project, John O'Sullivan. This is a must listen for every coach and parent in sports as John has dedicated his life and business to providing coach and parent education. On this episode, we talk: -Transformational Leadership -How to be hard on players in a way that's demanding, not demeaning -The are of...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, Topher sits down with former Harvard University coach and Detroit Red Wings scout Rob Rassey to talk about the POWER PLAY. This was an exciting conversation full of talk on strategy, habits, tactics, and much much more on what makes a successful power play. They talk: -Mentality vs. Tactics -Skill sets for different roles on the PP -Data/Analytics...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we bring on Zach Jordan. Zach growing up NEVER played AAA hockey but is going to his first NHL Main Camp just 7 short years after being cut from AAA Midget hockey. What an inspiring story! Zach works with Jeff off the ice on his strength and conditioning and has worked extremely hard to play Division One hockey at University of Nebraska-Omaha and j...

On this episode of the Hockey Think Tank podcast, we are starting a new series that will air every couple weeks called the Windy City Storm Hockey Roundtable! In this series, Topher brings on a few people that he works with to really dive into a specific hockey topic. For the inaugural episode, Topher has on Rob Rassey and Ryan Ward! Rob played his college hockey at Northeastern. He then pursued c...