My Dad Used to Play Hockey Bonus #2 - (Happy Mother's Day)

My Dad Used to Play Hockey

She never got the chance to lace up the skates but she's as tough as anyone who did. Her name isn't on the Cup. But without her, my dad's wouldn't be either.

He was a Broad Street Bully. A brute. But that's only half the story of that legendary team and their everlasting impact on the great city of Philadelphia.

The other half lies in people like Lynn Kindrachuk, my mother. Dad was a rough and tumble guy who played on broad street.

Mom was a tough broad. Is a tough broad.

While this podcast focuses on the players, it couldn't exist without her. And obviously i couldn't exist without her.

It's been an experience doing this show and tapping into the memories of great men doing great things. Things that ended up on tvs and radios and in front of thousands of insane, passionate, and wonderful fans.

This episode is a little different. Because it's mother's day. I am home in Medford Lakes. I grew up here.

There's no fanfare in this house. No cameras or broadcasters. But this is very much a flyers story, and very much a hockey story.

One thing I've noticed in talking to the NHL greats for this show is that many of them take a bit to find out who they really are once they are no longer in uniform. After the applause dies down.

It's a difficult transition.

Mom never wore a uniform. She never had a building full of people chanting her name.

She never cared. She always knew who she was.

In this beautiful house in southern New Jersey, there is a lot of hockey jerseys, paintings, trophies and plaques. My dad accomplished a lot. We celebrate it. It is, and always will be a hockey house.

But more than that, it's Lynn's house. Her memorabilia is me, my brother and all the memories that never would have been if not for her.

I'm sitting amongst those memories right now. Surrounded by the world this woman who never for a second questioned herself created and nurtured.

It's the house that Lynn built. It's the life that Lynn built. That she continues to build. While the players here talk about their wonderful pasts. We are still making moments here today and tomorrow and for as long as we can.

Today is mother's day.

My mother can barely skate. She's never been on a power play or had her name enthusiastically shouted by gene hart.

Instead, she created this wonderful life for her and for everyone who is lucky enough to know her.

I am one of those lucky enough.

I'm your host Zak Kindrachuk.

My mom never played hockey.