The Athletic Hockey Show - Kori Cheverie: PWHL Montreal Head Coach poised to make history, again!

Episode Date: November 16, 2023

Hailey and Sean welcome the PWHL Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie as training camps have began in the PWHL. Kori discusses her journey from player to an assistant coach with the Canadian national team and the first woman to have coached a Canadian men's hockey team, to becoming a guest coach for Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins and how excited she is to the inaugural head coach for Montreal in the PWHL where she will guide Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Erin Ambrose and Kristin O'Neill when the league begins in January of 2024.Plus Max Bultman joins us live from Stockholm to discuss the vibe at the Global Series, the love Swedish fans have for Swedish born NHL'ers, and Max shares his obsession for Ikea, UFO's and Swedish snacks like Vitamin well reload and Gifflar Cinnamon rolls! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is The Athletic Hockey Show. Hey, hi, hello. Welcome to the Thursday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show. It's the Internet's only Sweden-centric American podcast. I think that's what we are now. I'm in Canada. It doesn't matter. You're here all the time.

This is the second consecutive show that I've done featuring colleagues of mine who are covering games in Sweden. I'm not mad about it. I'm not upset. This is not sour grapes. I'm fine with whatever's gun on here. I'm joined by Haley Salvin and Max Boltman. Max is in Gothenburg.

Stockholm. Stockholm. How you doing, buddy? Try again. I'm doing great. This is my first time in Stockholm. Third straight season, I've found an excuse to get sent to Sweden. I bought a Trey Croner jacket today just to commemorate that I feel like by now I have Swedish citizenry.

And I'm loving it. This is the first time I haven't had any jet lag. I'm just crushing vitamin well reloads, my favorite Swedish beverage. And I'm crushing Giflar, these little mini cinnamon rolls that I've just been tearing through like a bandit. Here, I'll hold one up here. They're just little tiny cinnamon rolls. That's amazing. Are they supposed to be flat or did you like sit up?

No, yeah, they're smushed for sure. But they're very good. They're just like a little cinnamon rule. He's going to, oh. Gifflark. I think the, I think the craziest thing about all of this is that for all the time you spent in Sweden over the last, whatever, over the last few years,

probably like six, seven, nine months maybe. You have never been to Stockholm. That is insane. I feel like that would be, I know works taking you there for the most part, but it's just wild that, you know, you haven't actually made it to, made it to the, you know, the capital or whatever. It's crazy. Yeah, I was a West Coast elitist for Sweden. It was all Gothenburg and Englehem. Last time I went, I went to a UFO site. I haven't seen one of those yet. But Stockholm is absolutely beautiful. So hoping to see the old town, the history, the historic part tomorrow, because the Red Wings won't skate because it's back to back. But so far, absolutely loving it and eating very, very well, as you'll be thrilled to know. You got a game to cover in like five hours, don't you? Four hours?

Yeah, four hours. You also haven't said hello to me yet. I'm just going to say, I was just going to interject. I'm here too. Hello, Haley. I'm sorry. I did not mean to snub you. There was a delay.

Max, go ahead. This is, I mean, we just saw each other last. week at your wedding. Let's see the ring, by the way. Flash the ring, big boy. Congratulations to Max and Allison. How about that? There you go. Your trip. Your honeymoon is a work trip to Sweden with your wife. Yes, that's exactly right. It's great. I love that. But Max, please, I'm sorry. Please go ahead. Tell us about the game. It's a 2 o'clock Eastern for those of us who are still in the in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, North America. It's the Sends. It's the Red Wings. It's the first game of the global series.

You've had a good story, actually, about kind of what teams go through, like the grind of this. Because it seems like this cool thing off to Sweden for a little bit, but, you know, you have a transatlantic flight, then you're right on the ice practice, and then you've got back-to-back games, and this all counts, by the way. So can you give us a bit of a peek about what's going on over there? Absolutely. And that to me, you know, you asked, you know, about the game. That's what's going to, to me, decide it, right? You have this rivalry game, these two emerging teams that have grown a little bit of a healthy rivalry the last couple years, some physical games, some fast games. This one, I think, is just going to be decided by who managed jet lag better because they did both get in and they've had to try to kick this really quickly. You know, you go six time zones away and you think about it, if you try to go to bed at 11 p.m. here, your body 100% thinks that that's a 5 o'clock nap and you are going to wake up at 4 a.m. And you are going to have a really hard time getting back to sleep. And then you're going to be expected to go practice at a high level.

You've got to get your meals timed up. The first time I came, it took me like basically the whole week. And for a lot of these guys who I think it's their first time, you know, the Red Wings have certainly tried to make this all work, right? Like they did a practice, like you said, right after an eight and a half hour flight just to try to get kick started on that schedule. when I was talking to guys Tuesday and Wednesday, they all felt like they were making progress.

They were going to be on track by game time. But that is, to me, what this is going to come down to is who did a better job finding a way to do that. And it may not even be anything they can control. Maybe who got luckier with how their jet lag worked out. So I'll be very interested to see the pace of this game, I think, is where I'm going with that. What's the vibe you're getting from fans there?

I'm always interested to see how this stuff works, whether it's NHL games in Europe or whenever the NFL hits. It's London for those games. Anytime you have North American sports that are being played overseas, I'm always interested to see what the vibe is like from the fans. So are there people interested? I mean, truly. Or like, what's the vibe around the hotel and all the folks you've seen so far?

Yeah, most definitely. There was a guy in a Littstrom, Jersey, at the little taco bar I had lunch at today. I was walking by this big sporting goods store, walked into it too. They've got like a whole NHL display in there of the four teams that are here this week. saw an Eiserman in a Haschik jersey walking by the local IKEA, which I was thrilled to discover actually, like they actually have IKEA's here. I kind of, I guess always thought that that was just like a U.S. store that was like Swedish themed.

It doesn't really make any sense that that would have been the case. But yeah, so they have IKEA here. I totally thought that would be like going to Italy and seeing like a Sabaro or something. In Olive Garden, right. That's what I thought too, right? No, they have them here. So, I don't know if they have Olive Garden in Italy, though. Exactly. That's what I thought. I know that they don't. They for sure. Okay. But yeah, so there was a huge contingent. Like, I don't know, like hard to ballpark, 100, 200, whatever Red Wings fans in the stands at their Tuesday practice. And they were like giving every player in ovation as they came out onto the ice. They were chanting like, let's go Red Wings during practice. So clearly some people have made the trip. I talked to some guys who, you know, family have come along and are doing the sightseeing thing too. So.

That part I think is really cool. And I think that's why they do it, right? In spite of the hardships that are going to come with travel, a bunch of which, Haley, as you alluded to from that story, is actually going to come after this trip. Like, coming back to the U.S. and jumping right back into an NHL schedule, I can't even imagine what that's going to be like having burned so many of their off days around accounting for this jet, this jet lag on both ends of this. So it's a grind, but I think that's why they do it is that it is a really cool experience for the players. And as Sean mentioned, the fans.

I feel like I always applaud. Like it's always so humbling and this is where you have more, I guess, respect for players. And you obviously acknowledge that they have way more resource than we do. But I feel like any time I come back from a work trip, I need like a day to rest or I get a cold or something. And I've just been following them around sitting, sitting and watching, not skating, not training, not doing anything active. I'm just like watching a hockey game. but traveling always kicks my ass to the point where I have a cold right now if you can't tell how congested and ridiculous I sound. So I can't imagine. I think I was sick for like two weeks

after I came back from the Women's World Championships in Denmark. I don't know how all those teams went over there and then played and won gold medals. And I'm sitting there like day five in Denmark being like, oh, I feel so sick. I'm the same way. I flew from Pittsburgh, I heard Durali yesterday and I acted like I was, you know, crossed the Atlantic on a boat or something. I'm so tired. He should have heard me whining to Jesse and Jeff when I had to record the show yesterday. Are you hosting a meet and greet with Red Wings fans? No, I probably should.

I don't know that I have the Army like Rousseau does yet to pull something like that off. I think I'd be afraid that I'd do it. And then just like my two beer league teammates that happened to be here would be the only two guys to show up. Oh, hey, dude. Yeah, exactly. I did run into one on the street yesterday, just completely coincidentally. Shout out to Chris. Love that.

Hi, Chris. Why are your, oh, because they're just over to watch the game. They're just like, yeah, they're just like Metro Detroit Red Wings fan. They're here for Max. Yeah, why not? Yeah. Is the, uh, does Lucas Raymond get any, like, love from the mobs there? Like, is he, is he like, oh, yeah.

He, like, yesterday. I feel like, I feel like, I feel like you get, he could get, he could get swarmed coming out of a hotel or a coffee shop over over there. Yeah, he's, he's definitely been the media darling here so far having to do more than his fair share, I think. The other day, I walked into the locker room and there was a camera guy, this is two days, or I said, a day before the global series, just iso cam on him, like, changing, like taking off his, like, shoulder and shin pads and stuff. I'm sure it'll be the B-roll for, for tomorrow, but it was very funny to just like, okay, this is, this is all spotlight on you here, Lucas.

you had a profile of him that dropped a couple days ago. It was really good just kind of going over, you know, the changes that he made in his offseason, in his offseason regimen after sort of a, I think it's fair to call it a disappointing second year there. But we've seen, well, you've seen it pay off so far in year three. It seems like he's, it seems like he's stronger.

He's definitely, definitely heavier and seems like he's maintained, you know, the speed that we've all seen from him over the last couple years, right? Like this is all, I guess what I'm saying is this isn't like a best shape of his life cliche thing that you see from people whenever they're, whenever they come into camp after after working out a little bit more. It seems like this actually did stick in a pretty functional level for him, right? Yeah. And some of it's pretty logical, right? Like you think about he, he was this five foot 11 170 something like he was always going to get stronger. He needed to get stronger. And of course that was going to unlock all these components to his game. The point though, I think, is. is, you know, he really took it serious, took the nutritional aspect of it serious to make it happen. And so far, I think that's, that's been successful.

He's got nine points in his last 10 games coming into these, these games. And I'm sure he'll be revved up to perform in them. So, Max, what's your schedule for the next couple of days? I know, like we said, we know you have a game to deal with in a few hours here after we're taping. But is there, you know, what's the, what's the work, you know, Stockholm visitation balance like for you over the next few days? Because I feel like you're there until December at this point. It's a long trip for you guys. It's winding down quick, though, right?

Like, it felt that way to me too. And then I woke up today and I was like, oh, geez, like I fly out Saturday. So they play the back to back. They're the front two games. And today, like, was their last morning skate. Like, they won't morning skate out on a back to back tomorrow. So, yeah, we'll do the game tonight right off that. And then I'll wake up tomorrow and there won't be anything until game time.

So may see if there's anything, any stories to find. If not, it may just be walking around that kind of historic old town area and, you know, getting the good Instagram content for old SG to like on my page. That's me. Big IG guy. Let's go. Yeah. Thanks, buddy.

Have a good. This was fun. Have a good couple days. Keep eating your weird, keep eating your weird little donuts and also bring some back. Do you have any more treats to share with a class? I have the size cinnamon buns that are even cooler. These are like woven. I have.

Big cinnamon guy. And I have big cinnamon buns. Oh. Yeah. Is that a cardamom bum? Allison had a cardamom bun this morning. I haven't had one yet. Are you a fan?

You got to, yes, go get one. Wherever you can find them. All right. You think they make them in mini variety? Yeah, you know what you should. Do you think they have this small ones? What you should do is ask for a bag of little ones and then sit on them. I'm overwhelmed.

I'm getting very warm. Every time I speak, I say something poorly. I'm just going to use my platform really quick to say that I know you might just think this is just like a vitamin water. But I have had like three of these a day. I need these in the United States. What is it? Is it like Swedish Gatorade? It seems like Swedish vitamin water, but it's so good.

It's shockingly good. Okay. This episode of The Athletic Hockey Show is brought to you by Vitamin Well. Thank you, Vitamin Well, for sponsoring this episode. Hey, whatever happened to our plea for a steak sponsor. Yeah, Omaha Steaks. We probably have to like revisit that segment here soon so that we can justify it. Omaha Steaks, Omaha Steaks in Swedish.

He's eating cinnamon buns while we're recording. He can't stop. He can't stop. Went in Stockholm. Yeah. Please refer to them by their proper name, Giflar. Giflar. Giflar. Oh, my God.

I feel like I just have to not try to say anything Swedish because I always mess it up. Okay. Thanks. Thanks, Max. See you guys. All right, we are very excited to bring in our, I guess, second guest of the day. We're done with Max Boltman. He's in Sweden. We don't care anymore because Corey Chevry's with us.

She joins us from Montreal, from PWHL training camps, which just opened on Wednesday, really exciting time in women's hockey and got a great coach to chat for the next little bit. Corey, thanks for doing this. Thanks for having me. I was excited when I got the call. Oh, great. Well, we were very excited when we heard that you were going to come on. And yeah, we literally booted our third co-host.

Said, go back on your Swedish vacation. Get out. Ten minutes with Max. We need more time with Corey. we don't we don't care about the red wings today so training camps are officially open in the pw hl on ice starts friday it's kind of medical's fitness testing going on right now it was in the tronel camp yesterday and it was a pretty cool setup seeing everyone getting fitted for whatever equipment they wanted like that spooner's buzzing around being like which kind of gear should i get

it's like first day of school like book fair day almost like everyone's just buzzing trying to to pick out all their stuff for the school year. So what can you tell us about the vibe in Montreal right now, Gory? Yeah, I mean, it was a very similar vibe. I think it was really cool for us as staff members to finally have everybody in person, all of the players, you know, in the building. And we had a pretty cool picture posted of all the players walking towards our first meeting, which was just surreal, right?

We've had phone conversations. we've had emails, we've had Zoom calls, and now for everyone to be in the building was pretty cool. And, you know, we just had such a great setup for the first day in Montreal from our meeting to the press conference and getting some of the medical accomplished yesterday as well. So, you know, the energy was really high. The vibe was good. The players were so excited to be there and to finally meet each other. And so, you know, we feel like we've got a really good.

group of people. Take us back to getting this job. I know it's, I know the past few months have been, I'm just, I'm continually blown away by how much work you guys have put in really since the, since the announcement. But I mean, what was the process like for you landing, landing in Montreal? Because we all were so, so excited when we saw you pop up as a, is the person there. Yeah. I mean, you know, I had established a relationship with some of the staff and with Danielle. Vosho from working with Team Harvey's in the PWHPA last year. And, you know, my vision and Danielle's vision aligned. And it was something that really excited, excited me.

Montreal was a city that I haven't lived in yet. And I knew that, you know, with the team that we were going to put together, I had a lot of trust in that. And, you know, I'm currently working on my French. and that's actually been something that I've wanted to do over the past few years. I took French all through school, but if you don't use it, you lose it, so they say. Yes, that's true. So that's been kind of cool, too, just to, you know, really dive into my French lessons.

It kind of gives my brain a break from hockey, and it makes me think differently. And so that's been pretty cool, too. So Montreal was a no-brainer for me, and I was really excited to get the opportunity. And kind of looking back on the process now, it's like, wow, we are the original six coaches of this league and a pretty coveted position to be one of the six. And so I'm forever grateful for that opportunity to start this and be with the team that we have. And, you know, being a player back in the day in the CWHL and seeing how far it has come to this point, it's exciting for me as a former player and now a coach to be able to go into this new era, side by side, shoulder to shoulder with these players and really create something special.

I'm curious that I was going to ask this a little bit later, but I'll just do it now because you mentioned the CWHL. So you're with the Furies from 2010 to 2016. And I know we're still in the early stages of this league. You know, Puck hasn't dropped yet. But like what is different to you already about the PWHL and like what makes this league so important for the future of the sport? Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, back in the CWHL days, we did the best we could with what we had. And I think the biggest difference is just the investment and the resources that are now going into this league, you know, and having people in place for the positions that I think we're lacking back in the day.

So now we have, you know, not one person doing 10 jobs. We have 10 people for those 10 jobs. And I think that that is so, so important. I mean, kudos to all the pioneers back in the day who did all of those tasks. and gladly did them to keep women's hockey on the ice. But, you know, now we're in a place where women's sports are supported and women's sports are watched. And so, you know, it's a really exciting time.

And we wouldn't be where we are today without everybody and all their work from the past. But now we're just supported in a much different way. And it's so amazing to see. Can you take us through the draft day, Corey? Like I was there. I guess I kind of was working two jobs that day, going from the broadcast, then down to the draft floor. So I don't, I didn't totally get the whole experience of when it started, but you obviously see all the GMs at the draft tables and all the players are there, their families are there,

Montreal makes its 15 selections. Like, what was that day like for you? And I guess how much, and this might be a silly question, but how much input did you feel you were putting into with like Danielle Sovajot at the table and saying like, oh, I could really use a player like this on my, you know, second line or this could be really good for a D pair. What was that kind of process like? Yeah, so really cool day. I don't think I'll ever forget that day, but there's so much that goes into it. The level of preparation before the day actually happens. You know, we obviously had a team of people working together, watching the players, ranking the players, really coming up with plan A, B, C, D, E for every scenario that could possibly come our way. And, you know, that was, that was pretty cool to, you know, see like, oh, yeah, we got our A plan

or, hey, we need to pivot quickly here with our next plan. And so, you know, having to think on the spot and having to make decisions on the spot was was a really cool opportunity to go through that. And then Danielle, I mean, her and I, we work together on everything. So I was heavily involved in all of those picks. And, you know, I think the biggest thing is we have to trust each other, but we also had to trust our list. We had put a lot of time and effort into the list that we had created.

And, you know, we were really aware. that going off track or going off script on the final day was something that, you know, we didn't want to do and we weren't prepared to do because we knew we had done our research. We knew we had done the homework. So we really had to trust what research we had done. It was a long day or so the outsiders say, but it literally felt like five minutes. And so I can imagine for the players, like it was so cool, their families were there. The players were waiting for their names.

to be called. You know, people flew from all over the world to be there. And then obviously, you know, the structure, the stage, the professionalism of it all, it was really a really cool environment to be in and to see how much time and effort was put into a women's hockey draft was just incredible. You know, going up on stage and announcing picks, that was a whole other scary thing. But you got used to it, you know. And I ended up doing a couple of picks in French because, and that was totally last minute.

And I was like, hey, I want to do these picks in French. Write me my script. And obviously it's pretty easy script. But, you know, it was kind of cool to go up there. And even just, you know, I had gotten comfortable going up and announcing picks. And then it's like, okay, now let's make it more challenging. Started getting bolder and bolder as the day went on. Increasing the degree of difficulty.

That's right. Danielle, give me a couple sentences this time. Yeah, let's go. I want to say something else. I was at that time, I wasn't ready for a couple of sentences. But, you know, I was ready to try. And I think that that's the biggest thing. You know, it's kind of like what we expect from our athletes.

And so if I'm not willing to put myself in that, you know, state of vulnerability, like, how can the athletes? So did you, did you call the Chris and O'Neill pick? Was that one that you announced? No, so the first four were all announced by either a special guest or the GM. Right. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. Something that's something just is so interesting to me about the makeup of this league and the roster is the idea of seeing players who are kind of slotted in as one thing maybe on the national team getting a chance to flourish maybe in like a different kind of way. I feel like Kristen O'Neill is potentially one of those players. She's like she's a bottom six forward on the national team. But, you know, seems like she could, she certainly has, has the potential for more with your group in particular.

Is that, is that something that, you know, makes sense? Totally. Kristen O'Neill has just continued to climb the international stage. You know, she has become an extremely reliable player for us on the national team with Team Canada, especially if you watched the last rivalry series, playing big minutes five on five, very good on the kill, you know, and can even slot in on power play in certain situations as well. You know, she's a player that is hard to play against and annoying to play against. And you want those types of players on your team.

And so, you know, with Kristen's work ethic, the sky is the limit for her. So for us, having somebody like that on our team was made sense. And obviously, you can't deny the chemistry there with Laura Stacey, you know, and their ability to play five on five together, but also be, you know, arguably the best two PKers in the world. And so, you know, that was important for us to have someone like that who could come in and we know what we have. We know what we're going to get every single day. and that she's just continuing to climb in her game. I heard she's a beast in fitness testing.

That is accurate. I mean, we'll get to see here today. But yeah, I mean, I think she takes a lot of pride in her fitness. And it shows on the ice. And her compete level, you know, she goes up against the biggest players in the world and she goes up against the strongest players in the world. And she's hard to play against still.

So that's something that she definitely prides herself on. You mentioned that your approach is like well aligned with Danielle Sovajo. How much of that was like, for you guys like, yeah, I think we should go out. I think we should go out inside Marie-Fili-Poulin. I think that's something we should do. Do we have any disagreements here? Are we on the same page? It seems like a conversation you probably had early.

Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, there was a little bit of a debate. No, I'm just joking. No, but, you know, like for someone like Poulin, I mean, I mean, her game speaks for itself on the ice and her ability to be a game breaker. But, you know, aside from that, the level of effort that she puts in away from the rink in the gym, on the track, in practice, you know, it's something that a lot of people don't get to see. They often see her on the big stage where her level of preparation has now met the opportunity. And so she, you know, she flourishes in those moments because she puts in the level of effort away from the rank. And that was a big piece for us as well.

When we were drafting, it was important for us to, you know, select players, select people who had similar alignment in how how their work ethic was. And so, you know, we know that when they come to Montreal, it's going to be a very hardworking environment. And that is led by players like Poulin and Stacey and O'Neill. And so we knew that there had to be some alignment there throughout our thought process with our draft picks as well. Maybe this is unrelated, but I guess not.

Like, do you think you guys are going to name a captain in year one? Yeah, you know, that's something that we, haven't formally talked about yet as a staff, as you could probably imagine, the amount of things that have needed to be taken care of leading up to the opening kickoff of camp has been through the roof. But, you know, I don't know what the league mandate will be. And I'm sure each team may be on their own to do what they will. But I think it's important to have a leader of the team. and a leadership group who can help guide. I mean, you know, we're in year one.

It's an important year for this league. And so, you know, you do need some good leadership in place. So that will definitely be a topic of conversation that will likely start to happen as training camp kicks off here on the ice. And it's going to be interesting, too, because as we're talking to you, there hasn't actually been the on-ice sessions yet. So I just want, like for anyone listening being like, I want to hear about. players that you've gotten to know a little bit more, like we're still early in the process, but I am really excited to see, because obviously, Corey, you have the relationship with players that you've coached before from the national team with the PWHPA, but there's going

to be players in the fold at Montreal camp that you and Danielle are getting to know. You're getting to know their game. Kennedy Marchment is one. I mean, her stats, like we can see how she played in the PHF. We can look at her numbers from when she played in Sweden, and that's a really exciting player, I think, for a lot of people and someone I'm excited to see play with you guys, but we're going to have to wait a few more days, I guess. Yeah, I mean, you're bang on. Like, we've had some good interactions with these athletes so far off the ice over Zoom calls on the phone. And it's been nothing but a great experience.

And obviously, we know that, you know, it's early. And so everybody's excited. and obviously as the season goes on, we start to get to know people just a little bit more. But Kennedy Marchman is definitely somebody who we were really excited about, excited to select in the draft. You know, when you can get an MVP from a league

that has been, you know, in existence and playing games and someone who knows how to put the puck in the back of the net, you know, that's hard to find. And especially, someone who's willing to go to the blue paint and go into the areas that are a little bit harder to play against. And I think that that sums up Kennedy Marchman. And, you know, from my experience so far with her, she's a great human. And, you know, with testing, it's a little bit tricky because everybody's kind of everywhere on these first few days. But trying to have little conversations

here and there with them, getting to know them just a little bit more so that when we do hit the ice, it's a little more comfortable for them. And I mean, as coaches, we're kind of used to, you know, no one tells you that when you sign up to be a coach, you basically sign up to be a public speaker. And I think, you know, that's something that just comes with the territory. So for us, it's really common to try to have small talk and to, you know, try to speak to little groups.

And it's a little more comfortable for us. And I think it's a little less comfortable for the players. And so having those ones. one-on-one touch points are just a good way to ease people in and to allow them to feel comfortable in a new environment. Was that something you were prepared for? Like when you got your first big coaching gig, you were like, oh, I didn't think I would need to talk this much.

I'm just here for like the systems, you know? Well, it's funny because, you know, if you talk to any of my friends or family, they would tell you that I never stopped talking. and that I'm also probably the loudest person they've ever met as well. Okay, great. Love that. That has actually helped me quite a bit as a coach. But I think what I wasn't prepared for was just how nerve-wracking it is to stand up in front of a group,

especially when you're up there and there's like a Marie-Philip Poulin and an Anne-Rene-Dabian all staring at you basically like, hey, what's the solution here, coach? Meanwhile, you know, it's your first world championship. There's players on that team. Like, I say this all the time. Like, you know, I showed up at my first world championship. And I think Poulin had already been to three Olympics and 10 world championships. Like, there's things I can learn from those players, too.

And so, you know, my approach as a coach is, you know, very much that it's important that it's a collaborative process and that we want to learn as much from the players as they're going to learn from us because everybody has different experiences. Like I've never coached overseas in Europe. So, you know, for some of those players who have played over there, like, what a great opportunity to pick their brain on things that they like, things that worked, things that didn't work. Now I know the ice surface is a little bit different, so things may change. But, you know, what a great opportunity to meet players from all over the world who have so much to offer for us as coaches, too. And I mean, you've had such an interesting and, like, impressive coaching resume.

I mean, you were the first woman to be named full-time assistant with a men's hockey program in youth sports when you're with TMU, which was Ryerson at the time, assistant coach with team Canada, first woman to coach a Canadian men's national team at U18 Worlds. And then you had the guest coach with the Penguins this year. I believe you did something similar with the coyotes a year or two before with the female coaches program. So just like so many different touch points in the sport, so many different experiences. But I wanted to ask about this penguin's guest coaching this year. Because there were some cool things that came out of that for you too.

Like, you know, I saw the moment where Mike Sullivan congratulates you on the PWHL Montreal job. You do the puck drop in Halifax against the Sends. It was you, Crosby, Batherson, all like Nova Scotia kids. So let's seem like a good summer for Corey Schoery, good September. Honestly, that was kind of a dream come true to be called by the penguins. For me, growing up, like, Sid was someone that I was like, oh, we're the same age, but he's my favorite player. And so to be able to work with the penguins and work with their staff and be on the ice with their players, like it was, it's been really. really a dream come true in terms of just, you know, you grow up and, you know, before this year,

we didn't necessarily have a full-time opportunity in a women's pro league. So you were kind of always looking to the men's side because that's where truly you would get a full-time position. And so, you know, Pittsburgh has been nothing but a classy organization that really truly recognizes the importance of how the important role that women. women play in the sporting industry. And they've been incredibly supportive of my career and my journey. And, you know, a pretty cool moment was, so Pittsburgh was my first ever training, NHL training camp. I had gone to coyote's development camp year before, but this was my first, like, with all the big guys, all the stars. And so I was on the bench and I was going to be calling

the forwards. And this was just during camp. But, like, like my first team, I was like, I was coaching Sid. And so like to look down and see like Crosby on the back of a jersey, I was like, where am I right now? Like what is happening? So that was pretty cool moment for me. And then, you know, they've been so, so incredible with, you know, with whatever I need. I can pick their brains.

I can call them at any time. Like the pens are on a five game win streak right now. And I can easily just text. Sully and say, hey, keep it going or, you know, it's, and we, we chit chat like that. So it's been a really cool experience. I don't know what the process will be moving forward with my time now with, with Montreal. But my experience to date with Pittsburgh has been nothing short of amazing. You could probably take some notes on the public speaking aspect of stuff from Mike Sullivan, too.

Short and sweet. I feel like you could pick some stuff out and use it yourself from his approach there. He's a great speaker. Yes, he is. He is very to the point and very clear and concise. And, you know, but that is, it doesn't go without practice. Like, you know, he's a veteran in the league and him and his staff are still talking about, you know, the vocabulary that they're going to use. every word that they use, the word selection is important to them.

And that's important to me as well. Players don't want to be inundated with, you know, long, wordy explanations of the way you run a power play. It's like, how do we score more goals? How do we get the puck to the net? How can I shoot this puck more quickly? And so I've definitely taken a page out of his books and just, you know, how he carries himself in front of the team and how concise he is. It's a, it's a pretty cool, pretty cool experience to hear him speak. Well, this has been a very cool experience for us to have you on the show, Corey. I feel like

we wish we could have you on for like another half an hour, but you have a team to run. So we should probably just, we should probably let you go. Oh, yeah. But we appreciate it. It's sad. But I, like I said, when I saw, I saw who I was going to be on the call with today. I was like I emailed back in like two seconds. I was like, yes, sure, for sure. When is it? Talking about me, of course. You saw Sean Chitilly and you were like, I'm in.

Let's go. No, but, you know, Haley, you and I always see each other around the rink. And so it's nice to get to sit down and chit chat and get to know each other a little bit more. And Sean, it's been a pleasure to get to know. you on here. I know it's only been, you know, 30 minutes, but, uh, thank you very much for having me today. I appreciate it. This was great. This was way better than me accidentally ignoring you in, in hallways and arenas all the time. Or randomly being on the same airplane. Read about that one. Read about both of those. No, I literally stared at Corey once.

So she like, waved. And I was like, uh, who is that? What's happening? Well, I feel like, like I'm one who it was, but I'm the one who's like, she's definitely waving at somebody else and I'm like the only one in the hallway. Who is it? It's me. Could it be me. So this was great. We appreciate it, Corey. No, I enjoyed it a lot.

So thank you very much. That was great stuff from Corey. Yeah. Good to see you guys actually have a conversation that started normally and ended normally. I know that seems like it's been a challenge for the two of you this far. I, we always see. each other at the rink, and I obviously mentioned the awkward waving incidents that have happened over the years. But we're also always randomly on the same flights. And I know it doesn't sound

random when we're talking about two people who work in hockey who are in the same places and going back to the same places. But I'm talking like I spent an extra eight days in Copenhagen after the Women's World Championships and still was on the same flight as Corey Chevri on the way home. Like, we just ended up spending the same amount of extra time in Denmark. same flight, same time, just always ran. We've been like, oh, hey, how's it going? Okay, see you later. So she's great.

I honestly was a little sad that she took the Montreal job and wasn't in Toronto, so honestly. But Troy Ryan's also a very kind person who I enjoy speaking to, so I shouldn't be too disappointed because that would be a little rude. She's passed that along. Haley Salvin would rather you have gotten the, yeah, gotten the,

whatever, trade jobs with Corey, put Troy in Montreal and Cory in Toronto. It's fine, it's fine, but that was great. It was happy to have her on. Obviously,

this episode has been a little bit more like postcards from Sweden and PWHL focused. You know, we could get into the Vancouver Cadux a little bit. They're top in the Western Conference, but we don't really have time. And the one thing that I think

we should talk about very quickly as it relates to the PWHL is the big announcements of this week. Obviously, training camps have opened, as we said with Corey, on a session start on Friday. And earlier this week, the jerseys were announced. And the early reviews are quite bad, as you can imagine, because the jerseys are just very basic, right? There's no team names. There's no logos. and this is something that we kind of knew was going to happen for a while. We reported it in the athletic several months ago.

I had heard when the jerseys got ordered back in August, like the jersey orders in, they're just city names. It's just Toronto. It's just Ottawa. And so I feel like I've had a lot of time to think about that. Right. And people keep saying to me, like, you don't have to do PR for the league, like, say how you really feel.

I don't care. I personally don't care. But I also don't want to, this has gotten, we've gotten into this cycle of, like, people telling fans how to feel. And that's what I don't want to do. Like, if you're a fan of this league and you wanted a cool team name and you wanted a logo and you wanted a jersey to buy and you're pissed, that's valid. totally get it. But at the same time, I think the player experience and what's important to them and what's important to the fans are very different, right?

Like, I think we keep, this conversation keeps going back to why would they boycott the PHF when the PHF had X, Y, Z better? And I just think one thing I'll say is like the PWHPA players weren't boycotting because of jerseys. Right? Like that was not what they're fighting for. They were fighting for player protection for resources, for infrastructure, for the backing, right? And like this league has all those things in a way that we have never seen.

Even just the facilities, the facility Corey Chevries in, the facility that the Toronto team's in, they're practicing where the Leafs practice. Like they have a gym, they have the rinks, they're having a new locker room being built. you know the Boston Sport Institute where their training is something we haven't seen so I don't know I get it I get why fans are upset and I also understand it's it's possible to hold both of those viewpoints right where you say like yeah the infrastructure is in a place right now that it wasn't in the past you know the arrows pointing up in general but also like but also we're disappointed yeah It's disappointing.

And also like this, and we're still on day, whatever, it's been 48 hours or however long it's been since fans, you know, have been,

have come to the realization that they're not going to have permanent jerseys to buy for this season. So, you know, we don't know that. Oh, well,

permanent, I guess. Like, we don't know what the merch is going to look like, but yes, you're right, year. There,

that there's, that there is that disconnect between what they're going to wear, you know, a year from now versus what they're, what they're, what they're currently wearing, right?

Totally. So I think everyone just needs to, it feels like a situation where everyone just needs to remember that you can feel two ways at the same time. Totally. And that they're not necessarily, it's not an either or proposition. Like things are going well,

but they're also, you know, the task was also to cram a whole bunch of stuff into like six months. And, you know, it's, it is what it is. There's going to be,

there's going to be bells and whistles and little, and, you know, finishing touches. that aren't, you know, that aren't quite in place. I think the issue here, and it seems like the issue that people had, is that jersey, like permanent jerseys and team names and arena locations in November and all that stuff,

those aren't, that's not crown molding. That's not, you know, nice, nice fixtures. That's not the window dressing. Yeah. That's not nice fixtures in a, in a, in a bathroom. This is like serious bedrock fundamental stuff. And it's understandable that people are frustrated that it's not in place. at the moment. That doesn't mean it won't be. That doesn't mean that it's any kind of, you know,

uh, you know, negative bellwether for what's going on. And it also, and it also doesn't mean that the league is like inherently bad or worse than what we previously had, right? Because I, I just think like jerseys and logos is not always like the accurate barometer for like the overall health of a league. The CWHL had great jerseys, great logos, awesome team names. They didn't pay players and. until 2019 and they had no money. They had to go to their sponsors at the end of every year and say, can you please make a donation or we're screwed?

And WHL had great jerseys for day one launch. And they slash player salaries by year two. These are not like, you know, we don't need to bring up the past every time we have these conversations. But I think that is part of this conversation is like, look at what we had and now we don't have it. And I do think it's important to say like jerseys are not always the most accurate representation of what's under the hood.

So I understand why fans are upset, though. Like, I think there's too many media people telling fans how they should feel and how to act as fans and not interested in doing that either. So what else is new? That lets you know that the league is really starting to make it. When you have media people that are telling fans how they should feel about any given situation. Totally. Totally.

Okay. Sean, I think you need to leave. Sean has some cool things that he's, I can't speak. Sean has some cool things that he's working on in Raleigh. So we just want to remind you all that you can subscribe to the athletic NHL's YouTube channel at YouTube.com slash at The Athletic Hockey Show. If you want to see Max's little cinnamon buns and the big cinnamon buns, check out the YouTube. That's going to be the clip for sure. We're telling Danielle to clip just the cinnamon bun chat, not the Corey Shepery Chat.

Who doesn't want to see Max's little cinnamon buns? Yeah. That's making me feel uncomfortable. And the athletic hockey show returns on Friday with the Prospect Series with Max Boltman again and Corey Pranman. Thanks everyone for listening to this Thursday show with myself. It's me, Haley, and Sean and a little bit of Max. Thanks.