Tera and Sarah sit down with Dan Miller, youth hockey coach, girls varsity hockey head coach, youth hockey coaching director, USHL scout, AAA coach, High Performance Hockey coach…… OMG, that’s A LOT!!

Dan shares with us his unique hockey experience. He started later in life (according to MN standards!) at the age of 10, played high school hockey, Junior B, Junior A and then ended his career after suffering a broken leg while playing D1 hockey in Madison.

This injury didn’t keep him from hockey long, shortly after leaving the Madison program, he started his coaching journey.

His main mission as a coach is to make it about the kids by building relationships with each player and helping them to transform into better athletes AND (maybe more importantly) better people.

He sees the girl hockey players he is currently coaching as athletes and treats them as such. Pushing them to do more off-ice than they have before and helping them understand what it takes to become strong.

He also encourages parents, players (male and female), and spectators to see all female athletes and coaches as capable. And has helped to create a supportive environment within Rogers youth hockey for attracting, supporting and retaining female coaches. Rogers youth hockey is currently ABOVE the national (7%) and MN (8.6%) average for percentage of female coaches (9%)!!

Sarah and Tera and joined by Vanessa Fuchs and Lizzy Ristano from WeCOACH.

WeCOACH is a one-of-a-kind nonprofit membership organization dedicated to recruiting, advancing, and retaining women coaches in all sports and levels through year-round professional growth & leadership development programs.

In this episode we talk about all things female coaches, from identifying who you are as a coach, creating a supportive community around you, asking for help and the importance of having females in coaching.

For more on WeCOACH, check out all of the great programs they have created at WeCOACH

Especially check out the Youth and High School Women Coaches Academy happening August 15th - https://wecoachsports.org/programs-events/hs-academy/

Tera and Sarah sit down with Jenna Thompson, the brains behind the Puck Yea! Hockey Collective.

Puck Yea! Hockey Collective is all about bringing individuals together through the love of hockey where fun, empowerment, and inclusivity are at the heart of everything.

This Hockey Collective has a place for all females of all skill levels.

Through Puck Yea! Hockey Collective Jenna has found a place for many individuals, who may have fallen a little bit out of love of the game after playing in high school and/or college (i.e. Tera!). They have jumped back into loving the game through this fun and supportive environment. Even Tera!!! She is planning on playing with Sarah’s Puck Yea! Team in a few weeks!!!

Jenna has also created a Try Hockey for Free day for females and Spanish speaking females where she has free equipment to use. She saw that paying for hockey equipment before you know if you’re going to love the sport is a barrier that not everyone can overcome, so she removed that barrier! AWESOME!!

If you are curious about whether or not there is a place for you in the Puck Yea! Hockey Collective, reach out to Jenna at puckyeahockey2025@gmail.com, she would love to help you out!!

Check out all the action around the Puck Yea! League on their Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/puck.yea.hockey

Sign up or learn more about the league here - https://www.puckyeahockey.com/