Tour de Force

Ryan Cruthers is the special guest of the week. He is someone that we have been waiting to have on the show. He has been such an important part of our lives. He has not only impacted us in a positive way but he has impacted millions in a positive way. In his youth career he played for New York Apple Core. Then in college he played at West Point. After two years of playing there he transferred to Robert Morris University where he was the captain. After receiving his diploma he jumped into playing professional hockey. He played in both the American Hockey League and the East Coast Hockey League. The majority of his time was spent playing for the Reading Royals. His coaching resumes is just as impressive as his playing resume. He has coached in the ECHL, the USPHL, the NAHL, the USHL, and NCAA. Now he is coaching his two sons and helping out with the Charlotte Rush.  Tyler Dill has always looked up to Ryan Cruthers as a mentor. For this reason Tyler takes full charge of this interview. Listen to Cruthers talk about his professional career, answer questions from his previous players, and what his aspirations are for his career. 

The guest for this episode is Dan Milan. Dan grew up playing hockey in Michigan. After playing Major Juniors he was signed by Tampa. He played for the Syracuse Crunch then he jumped around in the East Coast Hockey League. Listen to him talk about his hockey career, retirement, life after hockey, and his fashion.

The first episode of the new year is here. We are starting off 2021 with Cali also known as Teenytendy. I connected with her because she is an Instagram personality that post flirtatious hockey photos. This beautiful blonde has a passion for hockey but she also dedicates her life to fitness and helping others on their athletic journey. We talk about her life growing up in Truckee as a snowboarder, her pond hockey experience, her personal training career, and much much more. This episode does not disappoint! 

We are blessed to have Anthony Yurkins with us this week. He is a hilarious guy who is always exuding great vibes. Yurkins is currently playing NCAA D3 hockey at Aurora University in Illinois. Listen to us talk about: his dream team lineup, funny stories from his hockey life, and questions from his Instagram fans.

Here we go! On this podcast is a few of my old teammates from when I played Jr. Sharks. They are the girls that I endured my awkward middle school stage of life with. Each and everyone of them is a blessing and I am so so so happy to have them in life. The lovely ladies are Keiko DeClerck, Skylar Starbeck, Emma Greise, Emily Spencer and Laura Thacker. 

This week we have two guest joining us, Sam Whitehouse and Justin Song. Sam Whitehouse is a freshman at Arcadia University. Justin Song, also an Arcadia commit, is currently playing his last year of junior hockey with the Twin City Thunder. Listen to the three of us talk about the NCDC bubble that is soon to happen, the Evander Kane vs. Jake Paul debacle, and their excitement for Arcadia’s inaugural season.

Nora MacLaine has been dedicated to the game since she stepped out of her mothers womb. She honed her skills in Massachusetts playing for the Boston Shamrocks. Then she went off to play D1 for University of Connecticut. Once her time there was finished up she packed up her bags and moved to Australia for a year to play for the Perth Inferno. Now she is starting to embark on her coaching career. She is currently coaching the Boston Shamrocks U19 team . Listen to her discuss her hockey journey, what she looks for in a player, and how she feels about girls playing their developmental years with the boys.

You know when some people just feel like home. Ethan DeMumbrum and I have the same sense of humor and I think that is why I enjoy him so much. Ethan is currently playing juniors for the Charlotte Rush. Listen to him talk about his fantastic golf game, his favorite coaches, and his juniors journey.

Savannah Willard has been a fan of hockey her whole life. She started out playing roller hockey and quickly found her way to the ice. She was hesitant at first to make the switch but once she did there was no looking back. Listen to Savannah talk about her hockey journey, moving around as a child, and her freshman adventures at Kings College. 

Colin Mulvey is a retired hockey player that is now taking on the fashion world. Mulvey played college at Norwich University and then played a year in the Central Hockey League and three years in the East Coast Hockey League. In between his years in the ECHL he played in Germany for the Erding Gladiators. He is a particular man when it comes to his clothes and his style. He is now working to create a clothing line that fits perfectly on an athletic build. Along with being charismatic and highly driven he is also very intelligent. Listen to us talk about his professional career, starting his new company, and traveling the world. 

Have you ever met someone and been so in awe of them? That is how I felt with this interview with Cailey Hutchinson. I knew she was an amazing player but then I did my digging and I found out about all the things she does and is involved in and I was starstruck. Cailey is a player that has truly helped the women’s game grow and prosper. On top of growing the game she is working hard to become a registered nurse and some how finds the time to balance school, clinical, and professional hockey. Listen to her talk about her time at Northwood and University of Maine, her decision to play for the Riveters, and her pride in her hockey family. 

This episode we have on two special guest Phil Erickson and Joey Moore. These two have played together on a few different teams during their junior careers. Phil Erickson is currently playing at Wilkes University. Joey Moore is currently playing at Hamilton College. Listen to these two banter back and forth, tell stories from their junior careers, a few stories from their college career, and talk about which one will run for president some day. 

Soleil Archambeault is always trying to push herself each day to be better than she was the day before. She works diligently to be the best person and the best goalie that she can be. She started out her college career at Buffalo State College and soon found out that it was not the best fit for her. The transfer process has helped her find a perfect home for the next few years. She is now rostered at as a sophomore at Northland College. Get ready to watch this brick wall stop everything that comes at her for the next three years. In this interview she touches on the difficulties of her hearing deficit, the beauty of finding the perfect team for her, and the perfect pregame playlist. 

Mike Kocsis commits himself to the game of hockey every single day. He works hard to stay on the top of his game. He is a New Jersey native that is currently playing Juniors in the EHL for Team Maryland. He is committed to play at Arcadia University for their inaugural season next year. Listen to him talk about the ups and the downs of his hockey career, his family’s love for the game, and share a few funny memories from juniors. 

Katie Sonntag is a legend at the South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena. This little town that was lacking female role models in the hockey world found one within Katie. She showed these small town girls that they can achieve their dreams of playing NCAA hockey. Sonntag moved around a lot during her childhood but she found a home at Pursuit of Excellence which guided her to Union College. Listen to her talk about moving around from ski town to ski town, her time at Pursuit of Excellence, her time at Union College, and a couple of hot hockey topics that have been in the news lately. 

This week I was fortunate to lock this interview down with an insane dynamic duo! The Bolda brothers are so much fun to talk to Fletcher carries himself so well he is intelligent and articulate while Parker is very funny and brightens the energy in the room. The banter between the two of them was a blast. Fletcher Bolda is a Freshman at Arcadia University. Parker Bolda is in the midst of his junior career playing for Boston Advantage in the NCDC. Listen to them talk about the impact of sports psychology, their aspirations to potentially start an advising company later in life, the differences in going pro in golf and going pro in hockey and their bucket lists for their hockey careers. 

We are gaining a new perspective this week with Dr. Kaity Szabo. This wonderful woman has a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and a Doctor of Chiropractic. She is just as brilliant as she is ambitious. Dr. Szabo sat down with me to answer all of the medical and technical questions that I could think of. Some of the questions we discuss are: how important is rest and recovery, what is mechanical stress and how does it impact the body, elaborate on oxygen levels in the blood, how much does altitude affect the body, and how to you create an atmosphere of success?

Rob Murray is an extremely talented man that has an amazing professional and coaching career. He has played over a 100 NHL games and over 1,000 AHL games. He has been inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame and had his jersey retired by the Springfield Falcons and still holds the title for the second most penalty minutes in the AHL. He has coached at the AHL and the ECHL levels and won a championship with the Alaska Aces. Now he is the head coach and the head of operations for the Tulsa Oilers. Even with his background he is extremely humble. His love for the game resonates off of him. He will take the time to talk, teach, and mentor anyone as he knows that it will help to elevate the sport. Listen to him talk about his professional career, his coaching career, his thoughts on enforcers, and what he has seen change during his duration in hockey. 

I love a perfect mix of feminine and masculine power! Tawny AKA Beer League Blondie will leave the men in the dust and not wreck her makeup or break a nail while doing it. This amazing woman served in the military. Once her time with the military was completed she landed herself a job on the ice crew for the AHL San Diego Gulls. It was this job that ignited her passion for hockey. She picked up playing beer league hockey just a few years ago and shortly after that she created the Beer League Blondie Instagram page. Listen to her talk about her time in the military, working for the Gulls, picking up the sport as an adult, and the adventures of her Instagram life. 

Exuberant is a word to describe someone that has energy exploding from their seams, and that is the perfect description of Malcom Hayes. Malcom was able to take that forward motioned energy and plow a path for himself straight from Cushing Academy to University of Maine. After some difficulties in his last season at U Maine Malcom readjusted his route to success. Hayes took a stepping stone year at University Alaska Anchorage to help develop his skills and land him a spot in the Southern Professional Hockey League. He started the 2019-2020 season in the SPHL for the Marksmen and he ended his season playing in the East Coast Hockey League for the Mavericks. For this upcoming season you can keep an eye out for him on the Atlanta Gladiators. Tune into episode 29 of Tour de Force to listen to Malcom Hayes talk about all the ups, downs, ins, and outs of his hockey life.

Here we go! Here we go! This Thursday I will be talking about myself. If you guys had questions about the person behind Tour de Force now is the time to have them answered. Tyler Dill will be taking the role as the host while I sit in the hot spot. Listen to me tell my story about my hockey career and about starting Tour de Force. 

Zach Dill has been a part of my life from the time that he was 15 years old. Over the past four years I have watched him morph into a stunning individual. He has chased his dreams furiously to get to where he is today. Dill does not have a stagnant atom in his body. For this reason I know we will see him do great things as he is constantly on the pursuit to better himself and his career. Listen to Zach Dill talk about breaking both his legs as a young boy, taking a different pathway than his friends, growing up in a competitive family, his most memorable hockey moments, and his hopes for the future.

Melanie Jue has taken her time to explore each aspect of the hockey world. She played up until she graduated from Cornell University. After her college commencement she started coaching at Pursuit of Excellent then moved on to coach at Lindenwood University. While she was in the heat of her coaching career she received a phone call asking her to join the developing Chinese women team. Now Jue plays professional women hockey while she trains and preps herself for the 2022 Olympics. Listen to her talk about her experience each step of the way, getting back in hockey shape after taking 7 years off to coach, traveling the earth playing the game she loves, her aspirations to provide guidance to developing hockey areas and developing hockey players. Melanie Jue is very eloquent with her words and she will intrigue you with her answers to each and every question. 

Vincent Pietrangelo is the former asistant coach for Ferris State and SUNY Canton and now he is the current head coach of Arcadia University. Instead of following in the footsteps of his predecessors he created his own alternative route. He retired from playing his junior year of college and began to cut the weeds down that were in his way. After a few years of hard work he has earned himself the title of head coach of Arcadia University. With this great achievement comes a lot of early mornings and late nights. Pietrangelo now has to recruit a full roster and create a program and team that he is proud of for the inaugural season. Listen to him talk about his time playing, his career ending injury, his grind through the ranks of coaching, and his roses and thorns of starting a new program.

Where my working women at?!?!? Oh wait I have them all right here on the pod! This week I am hitting you with three interviews of women that work in the NHL: Jenni Tankard works for the San Jose Sharks, Cassie Chapman works for the Nashville Predators, and Skylar Starbeck worked for the St. Louis Blues. Listen to all three of these boss babes talk about their jobs. They will also give tips and advice to what they feel will help others who want to work in professional sports. 

Laughter and compassion are the two things that make people the most charismatic. Connor Tuttle and Brendan McCormack are two of the most charismatic people that I have gotten the chance to meet. Each one of them will make anyone smile and feel right at home. Listen to these two SUNY Canton players break down their pathways and explain to us how they got to be where they are today.

Abbey Barcless is a busy bee! She is a NCAA D3 dual sport athlete at Wilkes University. In the fall Barcless is a beast on the soccer field and in the winter she is a terror on the ice. Listen to Abbey talk about being coached by her parents, picking a school that allows her to play both sports, answer questions from our Instagram fans, and break down her 2020-2021 hockey roster. 

Today we have Matt Carson joining us! Matt Carson is the creator of The Pond which is a show about high schoolers and their lives in the hockey world. The Pond is the first TV show that Matt is trying to get off the ground after making a big career shift from the economic world to the entertainment world. I do not think I even need to wish him luck because the pilot that he created is that good. Listen to Matt talk about the process of creating the show, being the son of an NHL player, and his thoughts about creating political content in a time when cancel culture is so prevalent.

Angelina Cruzal cultivated her hockey skills playing for the Jr. Sharks. After she completed her time there she advanced to play NCAA hockey for Buffalo State College. Along with putting her blades to the ice she puts her pen to paper. Cruzal only being a Junior in college is already a published writer. Listen to her share some wisdom about breaking out of her shell and what others should do if they are similarly introverted. 

Week one at Wilkes University has just commenced. My boyfriend's new team was so thrilled about Tour de Force that they came over and put on a whole podcast on their own. Listen to what they titled the "Welcome Week" podcast. On this episode is Tyler Dill (transfer junior), Tyler Barrow (junior), Ben Stefanini (junior), Jimmy O'Kane (freshman), and Johnny Barrett (freshman).

This weeks special guest is Shae Counts, a junior at Utica College. Shae is one of the bubbliest people on the planet she loves to make everyone smile. She is also a serious person that has her life in order. Keep an eye out for her because she will be very successful in the future. Shae and I go in depth with our questions and answers. Listen to her talk about being adopted, finding the sport later in life, her struggles her freshman year, and what she thinks this year has to hold for her and her team.

A surprise episode for you guys today! I was going to wait until next Monday to release this episode but I could not wait. Sean Dickson and I were discussing when we should reschedule his interview and he tossed out the idea that we do it right then and there. The first half of this episode shows the responsible, smart, hard working, athletic side of Dickson. Then the second half of the episode is a larger conversation with a group of roommates and friends that crashed our interview. Please enjoy!

Here we are with another bad ass bitch, Meghan Galanos! I love a girl with a big smile and a lot of banter and Meghan does not disappoint. Meghan is going to be a senior at Bowdoin College. Listen to her discuss the idea of switching pathways from the legal world to the nutrition world, her time with the Boston Shamrocks, her time at Bowdoin College, and the struggles of a herniated disc in her back. Then the cherry on top of the episode is her doing a breakdown of her roster for the year. This episode will not disappoint!

This week we are double packing the action with two different segments. The first segment is an interview with one of the founders of Stand Out Sports Hockey, Adam. Listen to Adam break down what his business is, the staleness of our current stat system and the reason to switch it up, the importance of a highlight video, and the important magnitude of a highlight video during the covid-19 pandemic. Then the second segment is the Quarantine Q&A. I put together a list of interesting and controversial topics to ask the players that I have been living with. Listen to Tyler Dill, Jasper Korican-Barlay, Zach Dill, and Eric Larsson talk about their opinions of is juicing a problem in the hockey community, contract lengths in the NHL, can aggression in a game be taken to legal court, and should Jeremy Roenick have been fired for his inappropriate comments about Kathryn Tappen.

Alea Bowen is a childhood friend and a current coworker of mine. She is a force of nature in the way that she smiles and everyone else around her smiles; she brings the good vibes. I feel so lucky that I was able to convince her to help me out with Tour de Force. She will be working on planning events, designing merchandise, and making an appearance here and there on the podcast. Listen to Alea talk about her experience with the Jr. Sharks, what it was like to be high school age and have the majority of your team leave town to go to boarding school, the rebuilding process, playing hockey at Lindenwood, living in San Francisco, and her dreams to be a physical therapist.

Mickey Lang is a man of many words and even more chirps. There is no way to be within a football field of this man without being captivated by his energy. Listen to Mickey discuss his hockey path, the pivotal moment everything changed, his coaching career, and his current goal to help grow hockey in his hometown. Mickey played D3 College hockey and was able to make the jump to play professional hockey in the East Coast League and eventually in the American League as well. After pushing himself towards his dream it all came to a sudden blockade when he was injured in a game. The injury shifted his life into the role of being a mentor and a coach for the youth of the game. Now his goal is to help develop the sport in his hometown of Reno, Nevada by getting a hockey stick into the hands of every child possible.

MJ Peters is a triple threat! She is very intelligent, super beautiful, and extremely athletic. Listen to her discuss her internships working to help fix stigmas around concussions, talk about her passion of being a goalie, her opinions on boarding schools, and finally her freshman year at Connecticut College.

Parker Bishop is a very down to earth person with his head on straight. Listen to him discuss his path way from Roseville Capital Thunder to Northwood School Huskies to Stony Brook Seawolf. He elaborates on his experience of debating going to juniors or straight to college. Then he explains his career in the D1 ACHA program. Finally he tells the tail of his early retirement from the sport. Concussions are no joke and Parker Bishop reiterates that for all of us to hear. 

Leila Kilduff is a bad ass bitch; it is as simple as that. She has dedicated herself on and off the ice since she was a young child. Listen to us talk about her training regimen, the goal for women professional players to make a livable wage, playing for a college coach that had only ever coached mens hockey before, and how she feels being bisexual when it comes to her hockey community. 

Scott Aaron is a very close friend of mine. He has navigated his hockey career while moving from location to location with his military family. Scott talks about his experience at Wilkes as a first year program. Then he lets us in on his transfer process and moving to Southern New Hampshire University. He also speaks on what he thinks he will be doing during his post collegiate life.

Here we are this week with Lexi Stanisewski. Lexi is so bubbly and so much fun! Listen to us laugh as we tell stories about Utica College. Then we do dig a little deeper and discuss her passion for athletics, the decision to play juniors for a year, selecting a college, and where she sees her life after college going.

Blake Bennett will be a red shirt freshman at AIC this fall. He is a phenomenal person inside and out. He has pushed himself to be better in every aspect of his life. At a point Bennett struggled with both his weight and his grades. He was able to gain the motivation to do the difficult thing and get on the grind train and find a solution to his obstacles. He is a great example that hard work and dedication truly do pay off.

The guest this week is Micheala Boyle; Micheala is a fantastic hockey player! She grew up in Massachusetts surrounded by professional athletes. After her brain was sparked by the process of ignition she set out on her journey to accomplish her dreams. She won a NCAA championship her freshman year with Clarkson University and then suffered a season ending injury her sophomore year. She then transferred to Robert Morris University and she now says that she has never been happier. Listen to her talk about her journey in the hockey world and much more.

Jaxon Rutkowski is one of the wittiest people that I know. Jaxon is going into his Sophomore year at Utica College. Listen to him discuss his training in Virginia, his passion for fishing, talk about some old teammates, his path way to Utica, the pros and cons of having a family business, and much more.

I am so super excited for the guest on this weeks podcast. Lizzie Aveson was my roommate back in boarding school. Lizzie is a phenomenal hockey player that is now transitioning into her first year of coaching. Lizzie also just got back from playing a season abroad in Australia. I am so thankful to be able to get her on the podcast! Please enjoy!

Chris Collins is the head coach of Tahoe Hockey Academy. He is one of the loudest individuals that I know. The man is full of wisdom, laughter, and motivation.

Leah Marino is a NCAA D1 athlete. She is going into her Junior year at Robert Morris University. Leah has worked nonstop to achieve her goals in hockey. Leah is one of two girls to receive a division 1 scholarship for hockey from South Lake Tahoe.

Listen to the three California men discuss their pathways to success. Tyler Dill is going into his junior year at Utica College. Jasper Korican-Barlay is going into his senior year at SUNY Fredonia. Nate Kallen just finished up his last year at Ferris State University and began his first season with the Maine Mariners.