Episode 451 Matt Pope

-The legend is home.

-June 14 in Cardiff, Wales we are set to muck it up and celebrate our Goat, Joey Martin-Hanging up the skates and diving right into the coaching world and raising the puppies right-Helping your puppies earn their way into the hockey world and seeing their faces after earning a ride to the NCAA and the Western Michigan Broncos-The unbelievable roster of shed guys that have been and are Cardiff Devils that are going to run a muck on Chippy Lane in June-Getting to witness your old man get honoured by the Winnipeg Jets, the NHL and hockey guys never change

-June 14th in Cardiff, Wales we are going back to see our Devils hockey family and muck it up for our Goat-Getting to know each other 6 years after he met my tally whacker and got the boys going for a big W-Playing pro in Japan, Italy, Wales and mucking it up in Denmark together-The special people that we had the pleasure of being teammates with on the Cardiff Devils and legends that have been made-Joining the real world and transitioning from being the hockey guy to the business guy with an MBA from the Met

-Earning your way to the DEL and getting the role you want and playing the way you can and still doing it at 36 -The Landshut Cannibals of 2007/08 were the best teammates and hockey family you can find-Teaching the kids the lessons you've learned throughout your pro career-Earning your way on to Team Germany and mucking it up against the best in the world-Catching up with your 1st german puppy 18 years later and the special friendships that last forever that hockey gives you

-Tales of the final season for Medvescak Zagreb in the KHL and selling the farm at the deadline-Nearly going blind and sleeping in on your first professional road trip after getting your dream job-Being the first one in and the last one out and learning how to be a pro not a fan-Seeing the sites in Beijing, Bratoslava, Moscow while having harmless fun-Nowadays the Straubing Tigers have a new coach and the yachting industry has a physio guy

-Growing the game and culture of hockey in Ushuaia, Argentina-Having the only ice hockey rink in Sout America and using every hour of the 3 months of ice-Finding your hockey home in the most unsuspecting place and diving into coaching, playing and building the sticks-Starring in a worldwide documentary on the game of hockey in Argentina and the hockey family that makes it work

-Winning the Danish Championship 5 times in your hometown is really fun-Getting Gold Helmets for winning in Denmark is fun and sometimes you need to do up your chin strap to stay safe-Making up nicknames for the imports in Denmark and for my U13 fellas is fun and they can stick-Hockey seasons go by really fast and can be a grind but they bring you friendships and memories for life-Making Team Denmark for the first time and scoring your first goals for your country

-Winning gold as a player and a coach for Team Israel and putting your stamp on hockey history-Coaching U15's, U18's, U20's and the Men's Team and adapting to the players and the age group-There is a big hockey game in New York, USA March 23rd that is going to help grow the game in Israel-Living on the beach and playing in the Israeli summer league and having fun playing the game-Figuring out who is your captain as a coach and his brother was just named the U18's Head Coach for Israel in Mexico

-Winning gold helmets in Denmark's really fun and they keep you safe during the celebrations if you do up your chin strap-Switching to the Blue Foxes of Herning to find a new challenge and test yourself-Missing the finals to play for Team Denmark in the U18's and meeting the fellas a couple days into the party-Winning the pokal just this season with the Blue Foxes and winning is still really fun-Watching your brothers careers, playing as them in video games and seeing them grow up in the game

-Catching up with one of your favourite coaches 23 years later after winning and losing the Sutherland Cup together-Taking away things from every player and coach to form your way of playing the game-Coming to watch my Kincardine Kinucks decades later and giving his son and buddies a good old fashioned hockey talk-Volunteering as a coach for 43 years in countless sports and getting the best out of people and building relationships-Winning with the Elmira Sugar Kings and the special people that brought that championship home