Sammi Silber and Ryan Rudy are coming out with a new kind of hockey talk show this October.
Coming this October, The Hockey News: Washington brings you a new hockey culture podcast based here in the DMV.
Probably Not Pro Hockey with Sammi “Sams” Silber and Ryan “RVR” Rudy joins our local beer leaguers as they explore the world of hockey with a “probably not so professional” mindset.
Covering topics from the Xs and Os of playing rec league to insight straight from the Washington Capitals locker room, our two young athletes and reporters share their experiences the game has brought them on and off the ice.
Silber and Rudy met back in spring of 2023 when the two individually signed up for Hockey North America’s Adult Learn-to-Play program. Eight weeks later, the DC Ghost Pirates were born, and the rag-tagged crew of new skaters were suddenly benchmates, ready to hit the ice in full stride.
“It’s crazy. It was me and 16 other people basically put together in a locker room and told, ‘Hey, you’re going to be on a team together. Let’s see how it works.’ Since then, it’s gone from a weekend hobby to a bit of a lifestyle," Silber said. "I think RVR and I really want to open up about that because it’s definitely an experience worth sharing that people can learn a lot from too.”
Joining an adult league seemed the obvious path forward to learn the ins and outs of a game they love and wanted to experience for themselves. But with all the on-ice lessons to be learned, there are the equal, if not greater, off-ice lessons as well. The two navigate what it means to be a teammate, balancing comradery and competitiveness.
“At first, I was gung-ho on self-improvement. Get better at skating, get better at passing, get better at shooting. But the team element has such a bigger impact than I could have imagined, even at this introductory level," Rudy said. "You can be McDavid out there, but if the group isn’t all on the same page, success will be difficult to manifest. These relationships we are building as teammates are formed on and off the ice and both contribute to the group excelling.
"We want to share this experience and point-of-view with people who also love this game from the couch and maybe encourage them to get out there and lace up some skates.”
So grab your light beer of choice and sit back for an hour of some not-so-professional takes on hockey culture, your local pro heroes and playing the game we love. Be sure to expect plenty of tangents and last-minute play calls as the pair comments on all sorts of social topics, ranging from pop culture to music to professional life and everything in between.