Got the chance to sit down with Scott Burt and there's some great stuff about his arrival to Athens.
But past that, is his full story about his fight against brain cancer. From diagnosis, to surgery, to recovery.
Really enjoyed recording this episode, hope you guys enjoy watching it!
How do we actually keep kids playing hockey in Georgia?
That’s the question I wanted to dig into on the newest episode of Peach State Puck.
I sat down with longtime coach and Hockey Barn founder Kyle Kinzie to talk about something I think is really important for the future of hockey in Georgia: player retention.
It’s one thing to get a kid onto the ice. It’s another to create an environment that makes them want to keep coming back, get better, compete, make friends, and eventually become a lifelong fan of the sport.
We talked about what traditional player development gets right and wrong, the lack of ice time in Georgia, building hockey communities instead of just hockey players, and what the continued growth of the sport could look like here.
We also got into the elephant in the room: what would an NHL team returning to Atlanta actually do for youth hockey in the state?
I’d genuinely be interested to hear what people here think. What’s the biggest thing holding back youth hockey growth in Georgia right now?
Episode 7 of Peach State Puck is out now. I’ll drop the link below for anyone interested. 🍑🏒
Georgia hockey wasn’t built only by the people scoring goals.
It was also built by the people flooding rinks, driving Zambonis, managing equipment, preserving history and solving emergencies that most fans never knew happened.
🚨 Episode 5 of Peach State Puck is LIVE.
This week, I sit down with Kyle Schnitzer, formerly the ice manager at Akins Ford Arena and the person behind the Peach State Hockey Collection on Instagram, to trace his journey from growing up with the Atlanta Thrashers to working with the Atlanta Gladiators and Athens Rock Lobsters.
We talk about what an ice manager actually does, the frantic scramble after Athens lost its entire sheet of ice days before its first game, the growth of hockey across Georgia, the possibility of the NHL returning to Atlanta and why the history of the sport in this state deserves to be preserved.
The people behind the glass deserve their flowers, too.
Who is someone behind the scenes that you think has helped build hockey in Georgia?