Weekend Warrior Steve Knickerbocker

Foreign.

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome back to another episode. And I'm going to do something very unusual today with this episode because I'm here at an ice rink in Charlotte, North Carolina. So one of my hobbies and my fun time is actually besides playing pickleball and doing some body weight work and yoga, I play hockey with a bunch of people, all different ages. And I'm sitting here with Steve Knickerbocker. He happens to be from my hometown in Detroit. And I said, steve, I need you on my show because I'm in awe of this guy. He's an educator. He was. He's retired. I've got to know him ever since I moved back from New York City two years ago. And I asked him one day, I go, how, this was like a few years ago. I said, steve, how old are you? And I think he said, well, I said, are you like, what, 60? And he goes, no, at that time I was 68 years old. So I just, you know, being here at the rink, Steve, how you doing?

Just great, thanks, Mike.

So we're sitting next to him. I'm sticking the mic in his face through my phone. So I don't know how good the quality is going to be, but the quality of the interview I hope you'll like. Okay, so what got, how did you get into hockey and where did you get into hockey?

Well, when I was a kid in Detroit, my friends and I used to go down to this pond in the winter because in Michigan at that time, there wasn't a whole lot to do in the winter. And we really loved the Red Wings and we decided that we would start playing hockey. So we went down and one of my friends built some couple of goals out of chicken wire and two by fours and we pushed it down on the ice and I started playing and I just loved it. I think probably the thing that really got me going, though is my dad used to take me to Olympia Stadium to watch the Red Wings and I was just totally enthralled with, with goalies.

That's amazing because, well, you know, I'm amazed at the fact that you play what, three days a week, right?

Yes. Yeah, I play three days, occasionally four, but that fourth One is usually a little bridge too far.

Well, the purpose of this is like I'm envious of Steve because he's able to put his pads on. And for some of you that don't play goal, it's the hardest position to play as a hockey player in my eyes. You have all this equipment on. It's tough to, you know, you get yourself, you know, prepared and then you gotta go up and down. You know, you're being, you have to do side to side. And you could see the athleticism with the players in today's NHL game, the goalies and how tall they are. And some of them are not necessarily that they're all tall and big, but they have the ability to go side to side so quick. And we have, you know, here in Charlotte, we've had a few minor league players come out and skate with us here. And we've had so many different players, a lot of 18 and 19 year old. And I'm not just saying that you're like, you stone them like these kids play junior hockey do. You just don't worry about it or tell me how you feel when these younger kids, like 17 and 18 year old kids are coming down on you.

Well, I really love it because the faster the game, the better it is for me. I think maybe any success that I have against these guys is I started out as a stand up goalie as compared to what the guys play today, which is a butterfly goalie. And so I stand up and I'm more upright. These guys all really like to shoot high, so a lot of times I think they're a little stumped that somebody's on their feet for as long as they are.

No, that's great. I tell a quick little story. So I think it was last week we were playing and sometimes you usually have two to three goalies, but sometimes when there's four, it's just too many. And usually I could tell you, I could talk. And I'm not saying that Steve's old, he's young, you know, in this day and age, he's young. But to play with kids that I feel old at 55, playing with these 18 and 19 year old kids that play junior hockey. Some of them play at a pretty good level of junior hockey here and they're taking shots, they're not holding back. I don't think they realize Steve's age, but he was a little frustrated in the room because we heard there were four goalies coming and I saw little bit of like competitiveness coming out of you Tell me about that. You don't like missing your shifts for sure, right?

We found out long ago in pickup that having four goalies was just an impossible thing to do. I mean, when you have three, you can do a rotation and you only have to sit on the bench for five minutes and then you can go out. Then you go out and play for 10. Well, if you have four goalies, you have two choices. You can either play five minutes on and five minutes off, which you never get a time to get, you know, to feel like you're part of the game, or you can play 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off and you get cold in 10 minutes. So there's really no way to do it properly. So I did get a little hot.

No, that makes sense. Well, I think what people should understand is I don't want to hear excuses from people because like our show, you know, I was telling Steve consists of stories. So we tell lots of stories, all kinds of stories, bringing different athletes on, world class athletes. I call Steve a weekend warrior or the workplace athlete. And we have several different. We focus on mindset and we learn like being mindful of what you're doing. That's why last month you've heard a lot of our meditation, because I believe you need that. And champions in my eyes. It's great here because we have Steve tell us stories. You know, he's got the mindset to go in there and I'm not keep talking about age, but I don't care what anybody says. When you're in your 50s and you're playing with 20 year olds or in your 60s, but your 70s and you're stoning them and you're making great saves and you're being competitive and you're not just out there being a spectator, you're really engaged. So I love that part of it. So just tell people like what. What have you done? You know, you moved to North Carolina. Just share a little bit about your story.

Well, I had, of course I played for a long time. I played. I started playing organized hockey in Detroit in the early 60s or late 60s. And so I started at 12 playing competitive and then I played in high school and then I played one year of JV at Michigan State. And after that I was there was. I'd play a pickup game every once in a while with guys in Detroit. But for a long time I sort of hung up the pads. In those days we wore big heavy leather pads and all my equipment was worn out and so I really didn't play a whole lot until about 20 years ago, I started again when I got to Charlotte, and I bought all new equipment. And it was great, you know, because this new equipment is fantastic. And there's no way I could play at my age if I had to wear the equipment I wore when I was a kid. But, yeah, I started playing pickup, and I just. I just really enjoyed it. It's something that. That motivates me to, you know, get up every day. And I love being out there, especially with the younger guys. I like to get. I guess as a goalie, the thing you like is you like to get hit by hard shots. And that's. I mean, that's the reason you're out there. So, you know, I just love the challenge and the camaraderie of the great guys that we have here in Charlotte.

And you were a teacher for how many years?

I taught for 19 years, and before that I was in various things. I was also a Navy officer for five and a half years and was a computer programmer. I worked in restaurants, retail. So I did a lot of things. But I didn't find my true passion until I started teaching. My last 19 years were in education.

And that doesn't surprise me. I got a question for you. So I grew up in Oak park, and these guys played JB hockey for Michigan State. And there was a gentleman named Ed Lebanski who was a pro bowler from Oak Park, Michigan. He bowled a 300 game. His son was Ed Lebanski, and Paul Labansky and Rob Lebanski, they all played JV for Michigan State. Do you ever play against them back in those days?

I don't. You know, it's been a very long time. We're talking about 1970 here, but I do seem to remember that name. Absolutely.

But some of you, we don't want to hear excuses. You know, part of this stuff is what we do is doing this mindset work here. And I thought. I really wanted Steve on. He's such a gentleman. Getting to, you know, I wasn't gonna put my skates on. I took six years off, started playing again in just before I left for New York City. And I was. Then I did some alumni stuff. And now I really look forward to coming. And I want to make sure that the certain guys that are here, the camaraderie that we have, like Steve is, and we have our good group of people that come here. So I try to tell people, if you have, you know, we talk about plans, habits and goals. You know, you have a plan within your business. Let's Say you're a workplace athlete. If you're a workplace athlete, you have that plan within what you need to do. But you need habits. And some of these habits or rituals could be playing hockey, could be playing pickleball, could be doing things, keeping yourself active, building relationships. So when people say, well, why do you play pickup hockey? Didn't she play all those years of pro hockey? And I say, no. Life is built on relationships. We sit, we tell stories. These guys have to listen to some of my boring stories that I may repeat myself on, but, you know, I share the stories with people. And then sometimes we go out for a bite together. And sometimes guys, you know, we have one guy on the ice who plays a little rough. Sometimes he'll grab me and hook me, and he's a pretty good player. Now, you get a little frustrated when you're 55 and he's 40. But after we hug each other and have such a great time. And the purpose of this is, I wanted to show that anybody could do. I don't want to hear any excuses out there. I work with a lot of people, so I just. Steve, thank you so much for being here, and I'm so happy that we met a couple years ago, and thank you for showing up all the time. And you've made some unbelievable saves against some great players. And here I am. I got to share this story, and you know what I'm going to talk about. I bet maybe not.

So we were.

It was around. It was Christmas time, and we were on the ice, and this kid comes out. He's got nice equipment. I look at this kid, he looks like a hockey player. So I'm sitting on the bench with this kid, and he plays one shift, and he's not really trying. He's keeping his. It looks like he had new skates on. And I said to him, I said, okay, where do you play? He goes, I play for Mankato. Mankato State. So I plan a line with him, and usually I'm the guy moving the puck around with some of these kids or their younger kids are moving it to me, I'm giving it to them. They got a little speed and having fun. But this kid was like. They couldn't get the puck from the kid, and he was just so modest. So then I get back to the bench. I said, okay, were you drafted? He goes, yeah, I was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets. And I go, great. This is great. So then we're, you know, we're playing again. And I said, man, I said, you got skill. I said, Are you going to sign with the Jets? He goes, well, they want to sign me, but I'm not sure. But I am. I have some things on my plate. One of them is possibly playing on the Olympic team. I go, wow. And next thing I know, he's on the Olympic team. But, Steve, I'm going to say this. I don't care if he was here. You made some unbelievable saves against him. Now, I'm going to ask you if you knew he was a top player and he was going to play on the Olympic team this past year. His name is Nathan Smith, I think. I think Nathan Smith and I saw something on the news that he moved. His mother just moved here from like, I think he's from California or something, and his mother moved here. But you made. I don't mean one, you made five. And I'm not just saying you made five good saves against him and he was trying to score. And did you think. Did you know this kid was a good player?

Well, you can tell when somebody comes on the ice, they have a certain presence, and you can see the skills immediately. But, you know, in my mind, these are the guys that I'm out here to play against. And, you know, it's. I think a guy is. With that kind of talent is just makes me concentrate more. And I think I probably play better against better players than I do against guys who are not so skilled.

Yeah, but you're not 23 years old, and neither am I. And he made me look good. And it's fun because, you know, I didn't have to skate. And I got home and, you know, Cheryl said to me, how did you do? I said, I'm not tired. I played with this future NHL Olympian. You don't realize you don't have to skate. He just gives you the puck and you give it back and let him go. And it was a lot of fun. But you're not taking me. You may have played the whole game at the holiday or rotated.

We might have had only two goalies that day. That's true.

So you're out there the whole time playing, and we're not spring chickens here. And I don't want to keep bringing up age. And someone's going to say, well, you always say age is only in your head. It's the mindset. But your mindset against this Olympian was like, wow. Like you just. You stoned him a couple times.

Well, it's kind of like it's. Bring it on. You know, I just want. I want the very best quality players. I Want the best quality shots to play against. That's when I play my Boston meds. That's what it's all about for me is getting out here and playing against guys who are really good and seeing what I can do.

Well, I often send you texts because. And I sincerely mean it, I'm not trying to be a nice guy. And I just. Because I get home and I'm a little tired and I say, wait a minute, there's a gentleman that he's got a few years on me. We're one of the oldest ones here. You know, you're gonna keep saying, why are you talking about age? Because we gotta be real sometimes. And I messaged Steve and I said, oh, you did great. Because, I mean, just to have the mindset to go out and face a shot. And I'll challenge anybody if anybody wants to come here and put a goalie gear on and take shots from some of these kids that play junior hockey and some of them in the USHL, a lot of Division 2 and some Division 1 players and Olympian. And we have Steve standing here. So, Steve, I'm proud of you. I'm proud to be your friend. I want to just. This was like a. We're sitting here, the last two in the dressing room, and I said, I want to do a quick interview with my phone so that I don't know how good the sound is going, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to. We're going to play this anyways. And thanks so much, Steve, for letting me do this and just putting you on the spot.

Well, thanks, Mike. And you know, it's a dream for me to be able to play with not only an NHL player, but a guy who's won the Stanley cup, too. So we just love playing with you out here and we hope you keep coming out for the rest for as long as you can, as long as you want to.

Well, thank you. And if anybody, if you want, go to Hartman Academy, we have our program there. Our book was just released so we could share a little bit about our book, about having that healthy mindset for athletes and workplace athletes. And if we could help you in any way, go to Hartman Academy. Steve, thank you so much.

Thank you, Mike. It was fun.

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