Sharks, Tkachuk Brothers and Briar U!

Sharks, Tkachuk Brothers and Briar U!

And we are back with another episode of the Hockey Princess podcast. I am your host, the Hockey Princess. Guys, I promised you some new faces since Crusty Old Guy is going to be out for a couple of weeks. And we have Sarah from Hot Girls Learn Hockey. Thank you so much for coming on. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here. Perfect. Perfect. Well, we’re excited to have you. Um, kind of getting into it. Do you want to kind of tell the story of like how you got into hockey and like how that led into podcasting? Was it I know a lot of has it been like a thing for you for a while? Uh did it come up like with Four Nations? How did you get into the sport? So, I guess the best place to start is just from really reading and getting really into the like book talk, like the hockey romance part of book talk with I didn’t start with Icebreaker like a lot of fans I feel like start with. I started with this series from this author L. Kennedy called the Off-Campus series. And I got really heavily into those books as well as other series all having to do with hockey. And it got to a point where a friend of mine and I were just like, let’s just go to a game and see what all this like if it kind of lives up to the hype that we have in our head. And so we went to a San Jose Sharks game. And I don’t know about her, she loves hockey, but I just like absolutely fell in love with it. and um we decided to go to more games. And the more that I was learning just kind of like the ins and outs, like how the game is played and just pretty much everything that I can learn, um the more that I was just like, I don’t really have anyone to talk about this with. And I feel like I want to educate more people about hockey cuz I I don’t know about how you feel. I think it’s a very underrated sport in the States. Oh yeah. Yeah. like you you get the publicity that comes around when the cup comes around or when like the Olympics are here or foreign nations or like a very like niche specific topics when it comes to hockey. Overall, um I mentioned this I can’t remember which episode, but like the the cup finals will never get the same numbers as like the Super Bowl, which is really unfortunate and it sucks because at least in my opinion, it’s way more entertaining to say the least. Um, but that all led me to think like why don’t I just be the person to educate everyone or like be a part of that whole movement to educate about hockey. Um, and also learn more as I go too. And so then that kind of got me thinking about, oh, what about starting a YouTube channel? But then I was like, no, I want to do something a little bit more than that. And then led me to, well, about podcasting. And then it kind of just snowballed from there. I’m someone who cannot like things passively. If I find an interest, I since I was little, I go like 150% or nothing and hockey was no exception. Do you find with going to like San Jose Sharks games, I know, you know, they’re kind of on the same playing field with Chicago in terms of like don’t aren’t the best in the standings for right now, but it seems like there’s at least as like an outsiders perspective, there’s a significant growth within like the Sharks community like that just seems to be very much building. And I don’t know if it’s the, you know, adorable friendship of Will Smith and Meline Celibbrini that is just driving that hype. Um, but did you find that was kind of one of the things that kind of like drew you in or was it just truly like the experience of the game? You’re sitting there watching it and you’re like, “Oh my god, this is fantastic.” Yeah, I think it was just like the experience of being at a hockey game. Like I could have gone to like a beer league game and I feel like I would have had the exact same experience just like loving how action-packed it is, how just kind of fast-paced it is. It really keeps your attention whereas and not to knock other sports, but whereas with other sports there’s a lot of pausing and and it’s just not as fast every 10 seconds. Yeah. You’re you’re switching out guys as a as you know a play is going on. It’s they’re not they’re not calling timeouts every time they want to switch out a new guy. It’s like go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go and they’re on there for like 30 seconds 20 seconds like it was really just the the whole essence of hockey in in of itself that really drew me in. And then obviously learning more about the Sharks. They’re just such a personable team. Um, and just yeah, all the all the really young talent that’s on there, I think is just bringing such a big breath of fresh air into the franchise. Um, at least that’s the uh opinion I got from people around me who have been lifelong or lifelong um, Sharks fans who have been fans since, you know, Thornton was on, since Marlo was on, since, you know, all that. Um, so that’s really what drew me in was just like the whole literally just the whole essence of of hockey itself and how fast-paced and how entertaining it is. Amazing. Amazing. Um, as someone I have not been to. I I actually haven’t been to any of the California teams games yet. What are some of the best things about like the game day experience going to a San Jose Sharks game? Oh, there’s just so many cool things. Like just even just the excitement of driving up to SAP Center and seeing the big banners of like Tyler Tofoley and Will Smith and Mlin and just like all the guys up there is just like it gets you so excited. And then going in, I mean, it just looks like any other arena going in with all your like concession stands and such, but then getting down to the actual ice, like the fandom of sharks, like in the Shark Tank is insane. Like they have some real die hards. I’m sure you can attest going to like um Blackhawks games, got people with face paint. We got people in full body shark suits. like excellent going down to the ice and asking for pucks and sticks. We got like people in full like um like uh what’s it like Mexican wrestler outfits that are like teal and black and white. Excellent. Just just with that with that Sharks jersey you just slapped on. Um, so it’s just like insane energy and they’ve the Shreks community and just the hockey community in general have been like so kind and welcoming in general. Um especially just some some little girl who goes to her first game and it’s like what’s an offside? Why? Why did they pull I had to Google actually because we um the first game I went to they pulled the goalie and my friend and I had no clue what was going on and we were like wait why is the go why is he skating away and we had to Google well she googled and then I asked our neighbor next to us like what’s going on and there there’s really no such thing as a stupid question in hockey they’re I found hockey fans and Sharks fans especially more than happy to talk your ear off about everything that they That’s awesome. That’s That’s definitely awesome because it like I from an outsers’s perspective, just kind of seeing like the Tik Toks and different social media of either the like San Jose Sharks actual page or just people going, “You guys look like you’re having so much fun.” Like regardless of the score, regardless of like what’s going on on the ice, you guys just seem so positive just all the time. Yeah, I mean I think being a fan of a team who really are like truly the bottom of of you know the standings. Um you got to just have fun. like it can’t all be all about wins and wins and and making playoffs and standings and all that because you know at the end of the day there’s still the team that you you chose to like and there’s still the team that you’ve dedicated so much time and effort and love and money into. So, I think I mean just from like just from what I think and from my perspective like my I’ve had just as much fun at the games where they’ve lost and it’s complete shut out as I have at games where they’ve won. There’s really there’s like no difference in energy. Gosh, I’m so jealous. Ours are night and day if we the few games that we do win. But it can get pretty uh tense. Yeah. In the United Center. But I think that’s also, you know, kind of the comparison of like an original six team versus like a newer market. You know, there’s like the expectation to be great. So being bottom of the standings, we’re like, hey, we’re not used to this. We haven’t been this bad in like 20some years. Um, but jumping to so we we love the Sharks. Do you have any guys outside of the Sharks or any other teams? I always like to refer to, you know, I have I’m primarily Chicago Blackhawks, but I have what I refer to as the April team. So, when we’re completely out of the playoffs, there’s ones that I’ll hop on the bandwagon for for the postseason or other guys that I just really like watching. Do you have any or your allegiance 100% to the Sharks? I I love my Sharks. Love them to death. I have a soft spot and I’m I’ve I’ve been flamed for this, but I I I stand proud. I am a Florida Panthers fan. My My number one player is Matthew Kachchuck. And you know what? It’s not a bad player like stats wise to like. So, but yeah. And it’s hard. I’ve only ever been to one um Panther Sharks game and obviously, you know, Panthers won. But it just it was so hard. I wore neutral colors because I didn’t want to choose which team. I just wore all black and I didn’t want to choose which team. But yeah, other than Sharks, definitely Florida Panthers. And then I have family down in in SoCal. So, they’re big uh Kings fans. So, I I I’ll catch a Kings game every once in a while, but I’d say yeah, mainly Sharks and then also Panthers. Amazing. I also Panthers are my my April team. Uh very big loyalty to them kind of during the postseason. One, because they’re just really fun to watch, point blank. Um and two, you know, I’m one of the few Chicago fans with me and my co-hosts that we are Seth Jones supporters. So, we’re very happy to see him lift the cup after going from truly bottom of the barrel in standings. Um, how was it just kind of like watching a Florida Panthers game? How did you sort of like branch out to like being interested in like watching other players that aren’t necessarily on your team? Because a lot of mine are they were a part of our team and now have since gone elsewhere. Like I’ll I’ll still always watch Patrick Kane no matter what team that he’s on. It’ll be a little painful if it’s the Nashville Predators, but because he was our because in my head he’s will always be a Blackhawk. Yeah. Yeah. Um it honestly was watching the um Face Off docky series on Amazon Prime where they did the um they did I can’t remember which episode it was, but it was um a profile on Matthew Kachchuck. And honestly, he just had me like locked in the minute that he started talking and the minute they started playing his game footage and just how he is as a player and how and just going over like, you know, his dad and his brother and his like they’re coming from like a a hockey legacy family. And that drew me to him specifically, which then drew me to watching him on his team. Yeah. because I I had never seen him play when he was on the um Flames because I wasn’t on um you know my whole hockey grind at that point. Um but so I’ve only known him as a Panther, but yeah, I just like as soon as I locked my eyes on that man on the screen, I was like, I need to watch him play a game. And I wasn’t disappointed. No, absolutely not. Do you also have a soft spot for Brady or just Matthew? I have a soft spot for Brady. My my boyfriend’s favorite player actually is uh Brady. We both have our favorite players as the Kachchuck brothers. Um, and so we we try to we’re we’re going to catch um some Senators games uh this season. Um and we we would watch them last season too. It really was the Four Nations that locked Brady Kachchuck in though for my boyfriend. I think yeah, yes, with like the faceoff series definitely put the Kachchucks on the platform, but I feel like the faceoffs, especially like the USA versus Canada game where everybody fought everyone put them on an even bigger platform in terms of like even if I feel like there were people that weren’t even fans of hockey but knew what happened with the Kachchuck brothers the night before during foration. No, exactly. Like we had a watch party with a couple of our friends cuz only like maybe one or two of our close friends um even just know like an inkling of hockey and we had a watch party for the um uh that final game that went where Canada won. But it turned into a thing of once our other friends found out that it was that same tournament that that happened in, we had we it went from like a party of four to like a party of 20. It was like everyone even people that weren’t there that like my friends and co-workers constantly all day were asking me about the the what what’s that the three fights in the first nine seconds the book and I’m like how do you know about that? do you even watch? And they’re like, “No, we saw clips of it because it went viral.” And I was like, “Oh my gosh.” I was like, “I watched that live.” Like, let me tell you everything about chat. I let me give you the full lore on it. That was my mom watches some like bits and pieces. Um, she is very much in love with William Knander. she’s just decided that Swedish players are from the faceoff series. Um, she took one look at him and his dogs and were like, “That’s my favorite player.” I’m like, “Sure, that’s definitely a way to go about it.” But even she was like, “What happened?” Like, I was getting so many texts. I’m like, “How do you know?” Exactly. You’re like, like, “I didn’t know you were on that side of of Tik Tok or Instagram.” I was like, “No, I made news, babe. I made national news. Yeah. No, that was very very exciting. Are you excited for the Olympics come February or sad that we just have a two week gap in February? It’s like I’m I am excited because this is the first winter Olympics that I’m also going to keep up with um in terms of hockey. Um, I normally just keep up with like figure skating. But, um, I will say it is going to be a very dull two weeks of just re-watching old games while also, you know, watching the Olympics. But, yeah. Now, is there I’m not I will say that I’m I don’t have the biggest knowledge in terms of nationalities for the San Jose Sharks, but are there any that you’re kind of expecting to go to the Olympics off of the Sharks or because ours is pretty slim like it’s very much like I think Terrain and probably Bard um and that’s basically it. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I don’t think any of the Americans are going to be going. I’m so sorry, Will. I’m so sorry. I think Tyler’s I can’t remember if Tyler Foley is American or not, but I don’t think he’ll make it either. But, um, if I had to guess, I would say, uh, William, I could see definitely being on team Sweden. Um, if we still had, um, Fabian uh, Zetterland, I think he definitely would have made it. Same with um I can’t remember his first name, but Granland, the one who he got traded to. He’s on the Stars now. He he competed for um uh oh my gosh, I think it was Norway for Four Nations. Um if he was still on the team, he would definitely, you know, be on Norway’s team. Um yeah, I think as sad as it is, I think the the only guy on the Sharks that I could see being on any Olympic team is William. Fair enough. Fair enough. And also looking to next year, is there any like matchup, anything that you’re or guys that you’re hoping kind of make the jump that you’re excited to see or just anything across the board that you’re excited for the Sharks for next year? I’m very excited for obviously um seeing our draft picks on the ice and just kind of seeing, you know, you know, exactly why they were chosen for our team. Um, more specifically, you know, obviously everyone’s excited for Michael Misa. I’m very excited for him, too. I’m more excited for Simon Wang. I just um have a soft spot for um Asian-American or or just Asian hockey players. Um my boyfriend is Japanese, so anytime that he can see himself in a sport that he likes is great. Same with anyone else. If you can see yourself in a sport that you love, that’s awesome. So, I’m excited to see him play. Honestly, really just seeing all the draft picks and just seeing all the young talent and just what they’re made of is what I’m so excited for because I’m I’m very fortunate that I got to watch um many games for uh Mlin Selini’s rookie year and that was really exciting seeing him play. And I think it’s just the same thing just seeing all these new faces on the ice is what I’m like really really excited about. Definitely. I don’t know about you, but for us it’s very much, you know, if we’re going to be this bad, I’d rather watch the kiddos just have a good time than being like stuck in juniors or college grade. If they want to be in college, I get it. But being stuck somewhere that isn’t the NHL and it’s like I have to watch these bad games and I don’t even get to watch these kiddos have fun. Yeah. It’s And it’s, you know, people can be real hard on these kids and it’s like they’re like 18, 19 years old. Like they’re children. They’re children. Like they would just be able to drink in Europe right now, right? That was one of my favorite week is always draft weekend just because, you know, as a team that is consist consistently in the lottery, you know, you care about draft weekend. Um, but it always blows my mind how harshly they’re all critiqued and I’m like, there’s 17. Like we drafted a kid who has to finish his senior year of high school next year still before even going to the next step. Like these are children. Granted, they do need to be like critiqued to like pick them, but I’m like they’re 18. They’re We don’t know what they’re going to be like in a couple of years. Yeah. And it’s like with any team that drafts as young as, you know, hockey does, it’s like you you can critique them at a college level just fine. Give them a chance to play at the to play in the big leagues. Just give him a you don’t even give him a fighting chance and you’re already comparing them to like Sydney Crosby. It’s like he’s a he’s literally finishing up his biology homework right now, right? Um what are your thoughts? because I know there’s been some kind of debate and floating around for the NHL to kind of adapt to other sports like football for instance where they move up the draft age. It’s it’s like I can see exactly why there’s so much incentive to up the age just, you know, because of just how young they are and just being thrust in this public spotlight and in this very very physically demanding sport at an age where your body’s not even fully developed yet. So, I can see that part. Um, and I completely get that. Uh, you know, like these 18-year-olds, they don’t have to go to the league as soon as they’re drafted. And I honestly almost kind of prefer if they if they finish off their their either college career or just any other league that they’re in um just so they can develop a little bit more because they’ll have that spotlight on them, you know, by being drafted by a team. but they’ll they’ll be able to adapt more to it without immediately having their face on the side of a building, if that makes sense. No, definitely makes sense. Uh, and I I see both sides to it, but I definitely agree with you that I wouldn’t be opposed for them to kind of bump up the age, especially I feel like you granted there’s like the tier of Sydney Crosby and Conor McDavid where you could probably play in the show when you’re like 15 because you’re from middle of nowhere Canada and you’re just bred for it. Genetically different. Um, but I feel like there’s so many cases of like kids coming into the draft and they immediately get thrown into it like Jack Hughes for an example where like there’s all this hype building around him. And I also just think Jack Hughes gets unnecessary hate more than he should. Um, but he had all of this hype, you know, go from the draft going into his first year and then his when his first year wasn’t as other people expected. They’re immediately throwing out like, oh, he’s a bust. Like, New Jersey should have picked somebody else and it’s like, no, he’s just 18 and figuring out the game. That’s not an unrealistic thing for a kid. Yeah, it’s it’s insane. And it’s like they they hype them up so much and give them so much press and so much praise and then the minute that they’re not leading the team into a playoff stand point or just even just boosting them in the in the standings, it’s like, “Oh, they’re oh, they made a mistake. Oh, it’s this is like the worst trade they’ve ever this is the worst draft they ever made.” It’s like, like I said before, give the kid a chance. It’s literally his rookie year. I’m like, also, if you’re riding, if you’re putting all of this pressure on one kid to just change the entire team and boost them in the standings, there’s probably more wrong with your team if you’re just putting all of this pressure on one player. Yeah. I God just watching I just watch I just want to give Mlin Cabbrini like a the biggest hug like and just tell him what a good job he did like he was a top three finalist for the the Calder trophy like and not every rookie is going to get that but you know he has all these like really good stats for rookie year but because he didn’t miraculously change the Sharks, you know, season and and turned it around. He’s just now, I guess, old news at 19. Yeah, it’s very very very crazy. Um, I was going somewhere, not just outside. Um, Ricky’s kids Because there’s one we always try to on the show, especially like after draft weekend or maybe we’ve acquired players kind of just break down the difference of like kids because they’re coming from all different spots of like kids coming from the CHL or the NCAA or overseas when they’ve been playing maybe at like the professional level like in the KHL or the Swedish or the Finnish league. And those are probably the exceptions where I’m like, “Okay, maybe they can get brought up because they’ve been playing with grown men and at least have a little bit more of an experience.” Um, but I definitely like when, you know, when players have like maybe one to two years of college, like coming after the sophomore year, you know, you get knocked out of Frozen 4 and then you come on over. I’m like, that’s that’s perfect. He’s got some time unless you’re a goalender because goalies are just weird and they need the full they need the full time in college. Yeah, that’s probably best that they they they they kind of do their own thing. Let them cook. They need to be in they’re separate category. Um perfect. Uh we’re gonna jump back to kind of the beginning of how you said that you know you got in to hockey with the Brier University. I too did not so I was a hockey fan before getting into hockey book talk but I definitely have read the El Kennedy books. Um I have never read Icebreaker. I think I’ve danced around all of them but that one. It’s on the TBR. We’ll get to it at a point maybe when we have the Olympics and it’s a little bit more of a downtime. Um, are you excited for the TV series? Because I know there were a lot of people that had some big feelings um like when the casting came out and kind of everything. Yeah, I am definitely like was a part of the majority that were not so impressed to say the very least and to be the most polite um with the casting when it was announced um for for the girls that have already been you know um casted like I believe it right now it’s just Hannah and Ally. Okay, love them. I think they did a really good job. Uh, for the guys, it took me a while until I actually saw them do their character development and, you know, go and, you know, learn how to look like they are collegiate hockey players and kind of get more into their characters that at first I was like, I can’t see the vision. I don’t want to see the vision. This isn’t the vision in my head. And now I’m slowly warming up to Okay, I can see I can see something something’s clicking in my head now. Except for Tucker cuz I I mean I’m sure they’re going to well I hope they’ll dye his hair cuz in the books he’s a red head with a big bushy beard and the actor that plays him has really long like curly black hair and like I can’t I can’t vis like I can’t just I can’t picture Tucker when I see that guy with all the other guys Garrett, Logan, Dean. I can definitely see them with their actors. it. I’m sure that I’ll be, you know, proven wrong once the show actually, you know, is here and we can watch it. But for right now, it’s like I’m I’m warmed up, but I’m not completely sold. That’s That’s fair. I I’m very I’m I’m excited to like see it come to life. I don’t think I didn’t necessarily have the biggest like reaction to when the casting came out. I was kind of just like not what I expected, but will I still watch it? Probably. I mean, put anybody on skates on my TV and I’m bound to watch it in some context. Is there a particular like moment? Is there a particular book to TV adaptation that you’re just excited to see like a certain storyline? Like for me, it’s the Ally and Dean when Ally when Alli’s like telling Hannah like go get Dean and he shows up at the dorm. I cannot wait. I cannot I need that scene. Probably rewind and play it at least like 15 times the first time that I see it. But is there like a moment where you’re just like, I need to see this or that you feel very like connected to that if they goof up, you’ll be a little bummed, per se? I’m I’m totally on board. If they do not include that scene, I will I probably won’t finish the series. But the one I’m like really really looking towards is and I hope that they do it exactly like how it’s written in the book is the um I believe it’s the mistake. It’s um Logan and Grace’s the whole process of Logan winning Grace back in her list. I I cackle even on like my 20th reread of the book, cackle at the things that that Grace has this man doing for her and he does it willingly. Yeah. And it like he just he has no he’s just has no shame and is not embarrassed at all and I love it. So I’m really really hoping that they put that all of it exactly as it is in the show. Um, I am very interested to see what they do with the spice spicy scenes that are because there’s especially with Dean and Alli’s book. It’s like that’s like his whole personality really. Yeah. That we know. Oh my god. We get to see Winston. We get to see Winston. If they they probably will take out Winston, but gosh, I hope they make some sort of reference. Yeah, that whole the whole bathtub scene. I mean, as funny as it is, I think that they will probably take it out just because of, you know, ratings and trying to not be Rrated, but be like TVMA. Um, and I don’t know off the top of my head, but they’re just doing the first like four, right, for right now? Yeah, they’re just doing the off-campus as far as I know. So, the uh the deal, the mistake, the score, and the goal. Um, so just the main four guys. And then I think I mean hopefully if if there’s fan demand and the ratings are good, then maybe they’ll do the next four after that. Um, but I think as Yeah, as far as I know, they were just green lit to do those first four stories. Makes sense. I didn’t even think of it until right now, but and I’m awful for blanking on the kid’s name, but I’m very curious as to how they handle the um football player. Oh, Bo. Bo Maxwell always in my heart. That Oh, that’s going to break. That’s going to make me cry. That’s going to break me. I I I reread um the score the other day and I sobbed. I’m like, I know. I know what’s happening. I I literally know the chapter leading up to it. I still sobbed. I cried. Yeah, that that one’s going to hurt. I didn’t even think of that. I’ve just been too excited to just see the fun moments. The um like in the first one where he puts when Garrett puts the whole campuswide band. Like I’m just excited for like the funny parts. I’m like, “Oh my god, this is going to like wreck me emotionally.” Yeah. Um to see like Garrett’s plotline, especially now that we know who his been casted as his dad, it’s going to be very interesting how they handle really like him and Hannah’s. It’s going to be very interesting how they kind of go about like go about that topic and how they approach it. Um, which I mean I’m excited to see like there’s not a lot of without spoiling it for people who haven’t watched it, but there’s not at least that I’ve seen a lot of Garrett’s storyline um with what he goes through like coming from a male’s perspective. Yeah. Um, and through the lens as an adult, looking back at what he goes through, it’s hard to not it’s hard to like not spoil it, but right, it’s very much like you’re told through dialogue. You’re not really necessarily like shown it through like too many flashbacks. It’s kind of just let partially what you get from the dialogue and then left up to like your imagination. And so I imagine they deviate slightly just to give us more of that background. Yeah, it’s probably a lot of alluding until like if they include it, the big Thanksgiving scene. Oh my god. God, I hate Garrett’s dad. I hate Garrett. I’m not spoiling anything. I Garrett Graham. I am not a fan. Or sorry, not Garrett Graham. Oh god, what’s his dad’s name? I can’t remember. I don’t I don’t care to remember. Not a fan. I was like, I don’t care to remember. Actually, you’re I’m not a fan of you, sir. Yeah. No, but it should be it should be very interesting. I saw I don’t know where exactly. I’m assuming they’re filming somewhere in New England, but I’ve seen Tik Toks of like banners being posted, like people finding pictures of it being filmed, and I was like, “Oh my god, it’s actually happening.” Yeah, I saw like a Tik Tok of a girl who was at a concert at her college and she like looked up at like the Jumbotan thing and she just saw the Brier University banners there. So I guess while they’re filming they’re also I mean it also is like a functioning college campus, right? So she like went to the concert at her college campus. She’s like is this where they’re off campus is being filmed? Then she made a Tik Tok of it and I was like that’s so random. It should be very exciting. Are we Have they set a date for it or like a expectation like next year or they’re kind of just like we’re filming and we’ll see what happens? I think it’s like a we’re filming and we see what happens. If I had to guess, I’d probably say at the earliest, maybe spring of 2026, depending on how much filming they can get done before the end of this year. And then obviously they have to go and edit it and then they have to do press and advert or whatever. But I’d say like earliest I can see it is maybe spring. Um or if they really wanted to do a big roll out, they could do um uh September, fall of next year, do it with the beginning of the hockey season. Yeah, I could see them doing that. I feel like from a marketing standpoint, that would probably be a really smart idea, but I mean they didn’t hire me for the marketing, so what do I know? Um, aside from Brier You and kind of that universe, are there any other sort of like series maybe standalones in like the hockey book talk world that you’ve read and you’ve liked or some that you’ve read and you’re like, I absolutely can’t stand that. that I’ve read a large variety from like dark romance to really fluffy sunshine rainbows romance where absolutely nothing spicy happens. It’s like I’ve I’ve crossed all those spectrums and I have to say for any recommendations um I think her name is Becca Mac. She has really good book series. Yes, I have such an emotional attachment to all all those characters. I love them so much. I um also love h I think there’s only one hockey player book in this series, but it’s the the Windy City series from Liz Home for There’s two. The new one the new one dropped recentlyish. Um, I only know this because I had like a three-week gap of doing absolutely nothing and I didn’t realize that Becca Mac and Liz Tomford both dropped books and I was like, “Let me read them in one day.” Like, let’s do this. Um, it’s it’s the one that’s obsessed with Ryan Sheay. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yep. All right. Yep. I haven’t read that one. Highly recommend. Yeah, I I need to I’ve only read the first two um in that series, but I’ve just I’m on that side of of book talk where like it’s just when the book when the latest one came out, everyone was exploding with how good it was and it made me be like, “Okay, that’s I got to add it to my my my my TBR list.” All right. But um yeah, Becca Mack, List, Tom Ford, uh El Kennedy, there’s so many there’s so many good book series. It’s just like even like even the dark romance books. I can’t remember her name. She has she has like a couple books where it’s like the wrong uh pucking teammate or something like that. Walking Red Flag, guys. But the writing is really good. Like do not take any romantic advice from these books, but they’re for entertainment value. They’re good. I feel like that’s it. I feel like that’s most hockey player books, like how they start off where it’s just like if you were a real person, absolutely not. And then like halfway through it, I’m like, “Oh my god, I’m in love with this hockey player. How do they do this?” Um, have you read SJ Tilly’s the Vancouver Viper ones? If you haven’t, highly recom I got to see what’s up with this. And then immediately read all of those. Yep. Yep. I Oh, I’ve totally forgot about those. I’ve only read them like one time like altogether, but oh, it’s so good. Oh my gosh, she just unlocked a bunch of memories for me. I like reading hers cuz it’s like, yes, she has the hockey series, but like if you want to like delve outside of hockey, she’s got other options. But that was definitely my version of Icebreaker and my gateway into that world. And I was just like, wait, there’s so many. This is dangerous. There’s the other one, and I’m blanking on her name. It might be Megan Quinn, but they’re like all of these hockey. One of them, it’s like a they’re all in like the vacation house for the summer and this girl like her car gets stuck in a ditch and he’s got to go like save her and then she ends up just being stuck in a strange house with these four hockey players. I think it’s Megan Quinn’s. Those are absolutely wacky, but highly recommend. Um, yeah, those definitely you have to like read in order because I accidentally was on book three and I was like, hold on, what is happening? Like I feel like there’s some where you can read it as a standalone and like pick up context clues and then there’s some where it’s like there’s so many things that I’m missing clearly, so I’m going to have to like go back and reread this. Yeah, it I mean I was with the off-c campus series. I read the mistake first and I had no idea that there was a whole universe around it. So when he was talking about when John uh Logan was talking about being in love with his best friend’s girlfriend, I’m like, you’re referencing all these things. Like, am I supposed to know about these? Who are these people? Who are these people? Like, yeah, there’s definitely books where you can you can just you can hop in the middle of them and you you don’t really need that much context um because the book is really good at it. But then there’s other ones where it’s like I I just I need to start I need to start from square one. I’m I’m just completely lost. What is happening? Like what is going on? Um, well, I’m so glad to hear because I feel that I’m so glad to hear that, you know, you’re also a hockey bookt talkerly like myself because I feel like and maybe it’s just the meattheads of the hockey universe that very much there’s kind of like I don’t want to say hatred, but like an eye roll of female hockey fans that also get into like the book world. I love both sides of it. Like be a stat nerd. Watch all the games and then read the romance books. Like there doesn’t need to be like an eitheror. Have you kind of also seen that like may more like I guess like online kind of the eyeal of gosh I hate to say the word puck bunny but they it that’s very much like a quick thing a quick response for people when you’re like yeah I watch hockey and I read the hockey romance books. Yeah, I mean I’ve, you know, very fortunately never encountered any hatred over because I’m very open if anyone like I’m not secretive about it. You ask me how I got into hockey. Oh, it’s from reading hockey or men’s books. Yeah. And you know, fortunately for me, I’ve never had anybody come and question my loyalty to my team or do like the whole name five songs by this band kind of thing. Yeah. Um, I’ve seen just rando old nobodyies and and other girls comments just roasting them being like, “Oh, you only like them cuz they’re hot. You only you’re not a true fan.” And it’s like, you don’t know that. Like, and also, what if she had just gotten or not even girls, but what if what if this person had just gotten into hockey or they wanted to dip their toes into it? they’re got starting off on a completely negative foot in a community that is generally really positive and you’re just you’re not giving us a good rep and you’re not being very welcoming. Um, so yeah, I kudos to like any girl that’s gone through the whole song and dance of being in question about whether they’re a true fan or not. Mhm. Oh, it’s a lot from what I can see. It Yeah, I I personally haven’t. Um, but I, you know, like you said, we’ve all seen like comments of other people and I definitely agree with you that the hockey community can be positive, but I think it the like outside of it and the initial of like trying to get into the community is one of the most negative aspects. Like even outside of like the romance books aside, but of like trying to get into it, maybe some sports teams are better than others. Happy to hear that the Sharks are on the more welcoming side, but I feel like with the outside and like trying to like dip your toes into it being so negative, it’s really hard to like look past that as a new fan. Like I would figure it’s very easy to be like, “Yeah, okay. this is this is not for me cuz you think that you know that interaction can be every interaction of like oh this is just how the hockey community is and I’m like I promise it’s not I’m standing here yapping about hockey wearing a tiara like I promise it’s different it’s like not and know we’re not all like that I swear and it just gives a bad rep to hockey fans and it’s just not very inclusive. If we if we want pe more people to like the sport that we like, I feel like it’s very counterintuitive to bash on someone for why they got into the sport that you like. It’s like you can’t you can’t want more fans, but then when we when we get when you get more fans, question them, you know, you want to get more fans, but get them the exact way that you got into hockey. And that’s unrealistic. Like I feel like there’s been so many times where, you know, I’ve seen comments or heard things of like, “Oh, they’re bandwagoners because of this.” And it’s like they weren’t around at this point. Okay, now we’re getting to the point where some of these younger fans might not even been born yet. Like especially with the dynasty, um, you know, 2010, 2015, there’s kids now who weren’t like watching during the Canon Taves era. they weren’t around through no fault of their own. Also, I feel like not everyone granted I had no choice. I was very much getting into hockey since birth. Uh because my dad is massive Blackhawk fan and was kind of just like this is what we do. But not everybody has that. Um you know, everybody takes different time and like takes longer to get into it because maybe they aren’t necessarily like exposed to it from the jump. Yeah, I totally get that. Like I my dad is a Bruins fan. As long as I can remember, has loved the Bruins. He’s a Boston team guy except for football for some reason. He’s he’s a Vikings fan, but like Celtics, Red Sox, Bruins, loves them. And so I knew about the Bruins. I knew about hockey. But it’s like I had that the opposite thing of like the other sports took precedence for at least in my little like five six year old brain when I could you know form my own memories and yeah it took me until I was like 26 years old to like cocky. So I can’t go in a time machine and and go back to 1998 and and force my parents to shove me in front of a TV with a Bruins game on. Also, if that were to happen, you wouldn’t have, you know, jumped to maybe you wouldn’t have jumped to being a Sharks fan. You’d be stuck being a Bruins fan, which is fine, right? Yeah. Which which is fine. Which is good. We like the Bruins. I like pasta. Love that. Love that guy. Um I feel like I would have I would have definitely Yeah, I feel like I would have definitely been a Bruins fan if I had started in childhood. Although my grandparents were massive um Sharks fans because they’re um they lived in Liverour. Uh so they were very close and my uncle played um roller hockey so he was very much into hockey. So you know I’m hindsight I’m thankful for them because now I have a bunch of vintage Sharks merch so like 90s stuff which is really cool. But yeah, um it’s just yeah, it’s it’s hard to be a fan whether you started when you were little because then you’re just like, “Oh, you’re just, you know, a fake fan, like just jumping on a bandwagon because that’s all you know, or you join later in life and you’re still a fake fan and still joining a bad bandwagon.” It’s never the correct answer. There’s no correct answer. Yeah, you can you can never win. Um, yeah, I really didn’t get it a a ton. I think maybe like occasionally, you know, being a fan from the jump be like, “Oh, you’re just a fan because your dad’s a fan.” And I’m like, “Well, yeah, like I’m nine and he’s taking me to get like I’m going to cheer for them obviously.” and you know, growing up with the dynasty, like sure, what kid in the city of Chicago in 2010 isn’t going to be like, “Oh, never mind. Actually, I’m gonna like not watch this team that’s winning a lot.” Like, duh. Yeah. It’s like, what else do you expect me to do? Exactly. All right. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for coming on our show. Do you want to take a second and plug where folks can find Hot Girls Learn Hockey on different socials and where your podcast is at? Yes. So, my um podcast is called Hot Girls Learn Hockey. Um I upload every Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. I upload video versions on YouTube with the same uh name as the podcast. It’s Hot GirlsLre Hockey as well as audio version on Spotify. Again, it is Hot GirlsLearn Hockey. Um you can also follow me on my Instagram. It’s @ Sarah xcra. That’s s a r a h the letter x c r a i k. And you can also follow me on Tik Tok which is at hg l pod. And I I upload highlight reels, compilations of funny parts of my episodes. I put up polls on what episode topics you want to hear about. My next one’s going to be about Sydney Cosby. I’m very excited about that. And yeah. Um, go watch it if you want. Go listen to it if you want. I’m appreciative even just listening to me say all that. Well, perfect. All right, guys. That is all for this week and we will talk at you guys next week.

This week we are joined by Sarah from Hot Girls Learn Hockey! Make sure to tune in as we talk about what it’s like getting into the sport, what you need to know about the San Jose Sharks and our thoughts on the future of Briar University.

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