This is entire article is my bias opinion, backed-up by real-life truths. There may be science out there that backs up my claim or disputes them, but at the end of the day, I don’t really care to find either. Having a hockey podcast, followed by discovering a wealth of other hockey podcasts…and then joining a family of hockey podcasts with The Hockey Focus is just good for mental health.
My friend Steve and I had been talking about starting a podcast for a few years, but between our work schedules and very busy lives, we never actually got around to starting one. Then came the global pandemic in 2020. The pandemic was tough on mental health, and a lot of people found various ways of coping through what seemed to be endless lockdowns. Enough was enough for me, so I did a ton of research on hosting platforms, equipment, editing, and what to expect when podcasting – and thus decided to launch a podcast, birthing the Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast.
It started out of this as an “anything hockey” podcast mostly focused on the National Hockey League, but we soon found our true passion was in fact junior hockey, which also appealed to the listeners. From there we discovered that a lot of us males have a bit of a toxic trait that my wife and her friends don’t seem to have. For a lot of us, we never reach out to other male about anything unless there is something very specific to discuss — we generally don’t call each other just to chat or check-in. And this is only exacerbated if we don’t reside anywhere near each other or…as during the pandemic…couldn’t even meet up for a beer during a game.
As the initial months of the podcast followed, it quickly grew to a bunch of us guys that found a reason to talk to one another — it was to record a hockey podcast — not to chat or check-in. But in reality, Steve, Ben, Sebastian and I would talk for hours beforehand and afterwards, and we all started admitting that it was really helping to improve our mental health, especially as we each struggled through the pandemic.
The podcast continued to grow, and restrictions slowly dissipated, and we introduced co-hosts Michelle and Steffen to our team/family and our conversations continued, because after all, life can be stressful and we had discovered our outlet – we all connected on a podcast over the love of hockey. And that’s the key to podcasting — find a subject you’re passionate about, and do it because you love the subject.
Over almost two years of podcasting, I personally developed a large number of fantastic connections in the hockey world, from ex-NHL players to junior players hoping to get noticed. This stupid little podcast led to me becoming a Podcast Production Manager and a European Amateur Hockey Scout, but it has also provided the opportunity to not only goalie coach, but to become a PxP announcer. This podcast has opened more doors than I could have ever dreamed of, and all because I needed an outlet…and that outlet was ice hockey.
As amazing as the connections and opportunities have been for a hockey fanatic like myself, the friendships and conversations that extend out from the podcast have been excellent for my own mental health – and it seems to really help fans and listeners as well. We start off almost every podcast now with our hosts just catching up on life – and as it turns out, the listeners really enjoy hearing some personal up-dates and conversations before the hockey talk kicks off. This is also something I really enjoy listening to when tuning into other podcasts — because hockey is family.I hope our stupid little conversations really do help the listeners feel like they’re part of the Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast family … because for us, every single listener is important.
Follow the Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast @PHHOffical on Twitter or Instagram for junior hockey, collegiate hockey news and more! Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on a myriad of other podcast platforms!
Author: CD, Host, Pigeonhole Hockey Podcast
