S3, E11: Talking with the GM of PWHL Ottawa, Mike Hirshfeld!

hello everyone welcome to this episode of the keeping at sporty podcast you can listen to us on Spotify apple or VI visiting our website at keeping at sport.com on today's episode we have a very special guest however before we introduce a special guest we have Nathan scit joining me to co-host this episode welcome back great to be here again Elias thanks great to have you great to have you okay now for our very special guest he was the former executive director of the NHL coaches association and he is now the general manager of pwhl Ottawa i w welcome to the show Mike herfeld Mike how's it going I'm great guys thanks for having me on really great to be here oh thank you for agreeing to do this we really appreciate it my pleasure um okay Mike why don't we start with this why don't you describe what you've done before becoming the GM of pwl Ottawa maybe giving us a little bit of a backstory yeah I've had a a bit of a I guess unusual uh career unique maybe is how you describe it um I started my career actually um in sports working in minor league baseball so the first ever job I had was working for the Wellen Pirates which was the rookie ball team for the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time in Welland Ontario I went from there I spent two years um working for the Ottawa links which was the triaa team for the Montreal Expos and then spent four years working in Toronto for Howie starkman uh in at the the Toronto Blue Jays so um my career started you know that was during University uh in in baseball I then went to law school I practiced four years as a lawyer um corporate law in Toronto then I went into the finance business did that for 14 years and then um was fortunate when I left Finance to um take on the challenge of of building the NHL coaches association that was back in in 2016 um the association was a small um group of coaches who wanted to get a bigger voice in the game of hockey um and so I had the opportunity to help build that Association um and then I left last year uh from that role um to take on you know this new this new opportunity to be the GM of PW Ottawa so it's been it's been a unique uh career path to get to this point um but you know obviously really happy where I am right now and uh there's been some some interesting uh interesting moves along the way yeah how about that huh what a career yeah definitely definitely so Mike how do you think that's prepared you for life as a big league GM well I think again I think I bring a unique perspective um you know so I think I come at things a little bit differently than than others would which I think is a benefit I think you know a lot of a lot of of people have done it one way for a long time and and we're trying to approach it um you know with a with a new Viewpoint um not taking things for granted just because they've been done a certain way for um you know five 10 15 years whatever it may be so I think a unique perspective is is definitely valuable um I think again it's a unique skill set um we're very we think we're very strategic in how we approach you know building our organization um you know every decision we make is is very collaborative with our team and we're really looking at you know how does that decision impact Us in the short term and the medium term and in the long term so um I think that's that's an approach that comes from you know the corporate world where I again was for many years um so that's been a benefit and I think um you know I think I think we we look at things quite critically so again we're we're willing to challenge the status quo so all of those skills I think are are quite unique and I think they've you know put me in a good position to succeed here and we're really excited what's ahead for us here in Ottawa yeah you've definitely had a variety of uh skill sets that have been leading up to this and before we get into pwl Ottawa in specific what's your outlook on the future of the league I mean with respect to fans Talent broadcasting expansion Etc look I think we're really excited about how the first year went um you know the response from from from fans across North America um was incredible um we were you know I think I think fans had the opportunity to see these athletes um perform compete and I don't think they appreciated how skilled and talented they were and so um again I think the more and more people see um the talent that's on the ice um I think they're going to just fall in love with this Sport and this game and this league and that I think you know means it's there going to be exciting things ahead and you know we're very very fortunate uh with our ownership group I think that's a differentiator from you know all the past leagues um that have come along before tried to come along before in women's hockey um Mark Walter and his family have been incredibly supportive of the league um and and you know put a lot of their own personal wealth behind it and I think that's very exciting for what's ahead um because you know again they've they've made that Financial commitment to to do what's necessary and again you saw that payoff last year so really really um excited and bullish about what's ahead um and think that uh this league is going to continue to grow and um you know excited to to be a small part of it you know here very right here at the beginning um but again we think there's there's big things ahead and so um it's really nice to um you know to see it grow and to see the support that we're getting yeah absolutely and speaking of Mark Walter in the Walter Cup last season in the pwls inaugural season it was emot it was emotional uh Ottawa finished just in fifth a few a few games out very close uh emotional finish so how do you feel about improving in your approach to improving and what do you how do you feel about your playoff chances and your shot at the Walter cup yeah I mean I think last year we were really proud of the organization we built um and you know a lot of the stuff we did off the ice um we you know we led the league sellout crowds of 8,500 people in TD arena in Ottawa every night um we really connected well with the community um so you know everything we did off the ice we were we were thrilled with um obviously what happened on the ice was was disappointing um you know we controlled our own destiny and unfortunately we our last three games and that meant we missed the playoffs by a couple of points um but you know again some things some things didn't work out for us last year and you know we're we're taking that as a learning lesson and and really excited for year two and we've made a we know we've made a lot of changes um with our player group um some things that we really wanted to focus on and get better on for next year and we think that puts us in a really great position to um you know to really compete hard for for the trophy and you know you look at what happened last year Minnesota snuck in snuck into the playoffs on the last game of the season because we lost that last game and they ended up winning winning the whole thing so it's a really competitive league um you know a lot of it has you know have to get have to get some luck at the right time but it's about peing at the end of the season and and we feel like we're in a really good spot to do that and excited for what's ahead yeah I mean your team did make a lot of moves which we'll touch on in a little bit along with the core of the team but I wanted to ask you what does your day-to-day life look like as GM of pwl Ottawa during this season I mean how different is each day from the next um well I think this year it was really different every year because we just didn't know what what we were walking into and um that was the exciting part is we were really building a team in a league um from scratch so you never knew it was around the corner but that kind of made a fun to be honest with you um you know but my job primarily is really to oversee our organization as a whole and um you know I mentioned a couple minutes ago we're very collaborative in our approach we really want to empower our you know our staff so that whether that's our coaching staff our therapists our um strength coaches um our equipment manager um you know we really want to empower them and and give them an opportunity to you know succeed at their job and and grow in their roles so a lot of my job is just helping them um achieve that success so it's you know working with them to see how they can get better personally how they can do a better job for the athletes um and then you know the other big part of my job is really um removing you know barriers that they have in their way so wherever there may be a challenge um in their job or in their role you know it's how do I help them remove that barrier so they can succeed so um you know that's that's a lot of my day uh again we've really empowered our our group to um focus on the you know on the on the smaller stuff my my job is really to act at the 10,000 foot level and make sure the organization continues to move forward again we want to focus on the short term make sure we're getting better every day want to make sure we're getting better long term and make sure we're focused on how do we how do we make sure that we're better three years from now five years from now seven years from now because this isn't a one-year plan for us this is about making Ottawa pwhl you know the best in class in the pwhl this year and and Beyond and you know not not just the pwhl but we also want to be one of the best organizations in professional wom women's sports so that's what motivates us every day that's what drives us and my job is to again think about it from a high level and and how do we Empower our people to achieve those goals yeah and that's a that's a terrific way to look at things and now Elias you and I attended the All-Star Game in Toronto last year and we saw the pwl Showcase Live and Savannah Harman who scored a hattick as well as Emer smhm Brienne Jenner and Emily Clark who all had great games by the way they were all there representing Ottawa so we want to know what was it what has it been like working with such a talented and experienced core and building around them from that 10,000 foot level yeah I mean those players those players that you mentioned um you you know they're obviously incredible hockey players and that's you know that's the reason we brought them to Ottawa is to be part of our core not just last year but long term um you know they'll all be with us for three-year contracts that was the longest you know that's the longest contract to player in this league can sign and they're all signed for three years so we're excited to have them in Ottawa for two more years after this um but you know when we were looking at who we wanted to bring to Ottawa we were very specific in in you know the characteristics um of the players that we wanted to bring so for us it was again it's about building an organization long term and being Best in Class and so we wanted great hockey players obviously that goes without saying every team wants great hockey players but we also wanted athletes that are great people um and all four of those those players that you mentioned and that represented Us in the All-Star game last year are terrific people you know off the ice so they're great people on the ice they're great leaders on the ice great teammates off the on the ice but off the they're even better people and so again when you're trying to build an organization from the ground up um you know again that was really important for us was setting the culture that we wanted here you know again last year NE this year coming up in three to five years down the road and we feel like all those players help us help us formulate that that culture I mean we also I you know I think that's a lot of that's driven as well by our head coach Carla McLoud um she's she's just a really positive um energetic person and again that was that was important for us in in setting the culture so I have nothing but positive things to say about those four players and again what Carl has done and I feel like you know obviously I'm biased but I feel like we are in a really good spot and we have you know probably the best culture in terms of our club host in the league absolutely I mean you could feel that culture watching the games watching indeed yeah I was going to say the culture is very important obviously and build around the core is also important and so you've been active this offseason headlined of course with the signing of a second overall pick Danielle sakne to a three-year deal and for those who don't know sakne scored the game-winning OT goal against Team USA in the Women's World Championships back in April how do you feel about your new additions this year and what they bring to the team and building around that core yeah it's good question and you know again we we feel really good going into this season and that's cuz we were able to check a bunch of things off of our list um things we wanted to improve on from last year so you know one of them first and foremost was getting um you know was getting tougher getting a little grittier I don't think we appreciated the physicality of this League last year and that's on me I you know I missed that I don't think any of us recognized how how you know how those battles would be and how tough those battles would be out there so we want to get tougher we want to get grittier uh we wanted to add some size to our lineup um particularly on the back end um we felt like we got pushed around maybe a tiny bit too much um in some of our games last year um and so we wanted to make sure we clear that net in front of mash and and our new goalie went at Phillips um so that was important for us too was was um you know the size aspect of it and again we wanted to get deeper on the back end uh we gave up the second most goals last year um and so we wanted to add some size and and physicality particular on a defensive course so I think we were able to accomplish all of those things I mean Daniel sakne is an incredible Talent we think she's going to be a foundational player in this league um and that's why we're thrilled to sign her to a three-year contract um you know she brings size uh she's 59 um she brings toughness um she can carry you know she's a 200 foot player so she's gonna be really strong for us you know both in the offensive and defensive Zone she can carry the puck um you know for us the length of the ice so we feel really excited to have her as part of our part of our cor group moving forward uh Ron sabalan who joined us was our second round pick from Finland um I mean she is just she's again another tough competitor gritty you don't you don't want to be playing against her um she's gonna she's gonna she's gonna make you feel her presence um so again that was really important for us on the back end and and Ron you know she's been playing professionally in Sweden now she's 26 years old so she's a little bit older than some of the draft picks but she's been playing in in Sweden now professionally for the last couple years and they've won six straight championships the team that she's been on so she'll bring a a winning attitude as well um which we think will help us uh we wanted to get a little bit deeper in in net just to help out mash um and we're really excited about gwena Phillips who was our third round pick this year she's um you know I had some of some of my uh former former colleagues at the NHL coach Coes Association some of the NHL goalie coaches have a look at her tape I asked six different coaches to look at her tape before we drafted her and all of them were blown away by her um agility um by her speed by her quickness um and so at her age you know she's she's a young player she's now the number three goalie for Team USA but we think she has an incredible uh future ahead of her um so really excited to bring her to Ottawa and watch her work with mash and and grow and I think match will be a great mentor for her so you know again we accomplished everything we wanted to do we got bigger we got tougher we got some size on the back end we got stronger in that um you know I can go down the L Steph marosi our fourth round pick is again another tough um Defender who blocks shots Mana McMahon or fifth pick is a center who is just super competitive battles out there on every shift we really like what she brings to the table um Anna mear is uh you know a little bit older player uh she played most of her career in Europe um but again she's been a star for the Austrian team and we really like the skill set she brings um and then mington mateline weatherington was our seventh round pick and again another another big tough aggressive Defender so you know overall guys we feel like we've really um improved in areas that we we wanted to um and that's why we're excited about next year because um again we we think you know the areas that we struggled last year won't be areas of struggle this year and and that puts us in a really good position to succeed yeah it sounds like you have a really well balanced team this year and I mean that has a chance to really do some great things and have a good chance of winning this Walter Cup this year absolutely and look fingers crossed fingers crossed yes fingers crossed hey and you know Mike you've talked about team culture and you've talked about how the fan base in Ottawa is incredible you know top tier what do you think that means for bringing talent and uh and sort of attracting talent to Ottawa for this year and and years to come yeah I mean I think that gives usage over the other teams to be to be quite honest with you like I think fan I think players come to Ottawa and they see the the excitement in the fan base they see a sold out crowd every night um so you know again I think that helps us when we' when we've had conversations this offseason with free agents that we' brought to Ottawa they've all been excited to be a part of that um we have a great situation in Ottawa it's it's a really terrific city um you can live very close to the arena five five 10 minutes away because our arena is right downtown we practice and play um in the same spot a lot of teams in our league don't have that um benefit um they have to practice somewhere different than they play their games so you know you put all that together we think we have something really attractive to offer players um we think we're a really great spot for European players to come and play just because Ottawa is obviously the capital city there's a lot of diplomats a lot of government officials here in town and so there's a lot of nationalities um you know here in Ottawa so we think you know we our team we think represents that we have three players from Czech we have a player from um Austria now we have a player from Finland last year we had a player from Hungary we had a player from Germany we had a player from Japan so I think that's always going to be an identity for us is that International um piece of the puzzle um but yeah overall we're really thrilled with you know the support we've got in autta I can't say enough positive things about our fan base and how they've gotten behind the team and I know the players that really resonates with the players and motivates them and I know they're excited to be here so I think that will give us an advantage in years ahead um you know as as we you know as we try and attract them through the free Market to come to Ottawa great stuff yeah yeah definitely a multicultural team as well which is always nice to have right yeah absolutely yeah I think you know again we we talk a lot about it but different perspectives diversity of thought um you know that's important to us in our organization you know we've fired people we don't want just you know the same the same viewpoints we want people have different experiences and different backgrounds and that's that's how you challenge the conventional way of thinking and the conventional Norms in professional sport so we've done that at a front office level but I think it also helps on the ice I think it you know it brings a different perspective and I think that'll help us you know moving forward yeah you can really feel that level of the organization definitely definitely and yeah I mean my final question is what has been your favorite thing about being the GM of this team and what's your most memorable moment or excuse me memorable moment thus far we know it's been almost a year just a few days short yeah yeah it is yeah yeah it will be a year very soon um you know what elas it's a good question I mean obviously opening night for us was was Electric in the in TD Arena uh we had a sold out crowd and um you know it was our first ever game and we played Montreal like a obviously a rival um so that was a pretty special experience I I know the players really really enjoyed it and that's something that will remember forever um I think from my pers perspective personally I I think a little bit bigger like when I took this opportunity it was about helping these athletes build a league and again I'm just a very very small part of it but you know the the fact that we're building something where there'll be a legacy long after I'm gone I mean if this league is still here and and running in 30 40 50 years the number of of young women you know ACR not just in Canada but across you know the US and Europe um that'll have a chance to play in this league and can can grow up and dream about playing professional hockey you know the legacy of being building something like that and being part of it um that to me is what really excites me and what motivates me is is you know what what will be left behind and that's you know that's that's what that's what drives me every day so um it's it's a really fun job in that respect obviously there's lots of challenges I'm not trying to say it's easy but it's it's easy to be motivated when you think about the impact it can have on these young female athletes um you know for generations to come how about that that's fantastic very well said yeah I couldn't agree more listen Mike thank you so much for taking the time to do this today we both really appreciate it and continued success in the upcoming season and in for the future of the pwl and for the team of course my pleasure guys and all the best to you I you know I hope by your podcast continues to grow and um you know I'm excited to see what's head for both of you thank you so much take care okay