**Transcript is Auto-Generated**

00:00:00:15 - 00:00:24:21
Matthew Krekeler
Welcome to Girl Dad Nation. In this episode, I welcome Kyle Keefe, a sportscaster with the Colorado Avalanche, for over 25 years. You can catch Kyle hosting pre-game, intermission, and postgame coverage on Altitude Sports. He loves his job, but what he loves most is his family. He shares about their journey with IVF, supporting his wife through a cancer battle, and welcoming their daughter through adoption.

00:00:25:05 - 00:00:36:02
Matthew Krekeler
And finally, Kyle leaves his daughter, Quincy, words he hopes she'll always remember.

00:00:41:09 - 00:00:43:08
Matthew Krekeler
Kyle, welcome to the show. Thank you so much.

00:00:44:15 - 00:00:57:21
Kyle Keefe
Matthew it is good to see you. I see you actually just saw you at a hockey game. You and your dad popped in. So good to see you. Go, Avs. I mean, here we are. It's happening already.

00:00:59:06 - 00:01:23:00
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Yeah. It was great to meet you in person. I reached out to you about a year ago, but I read an awesome article where you did an interview for The Athletic. And I'll put that link in the description for other people. But yeah, you talk about family life and getting started and you had this great story about sending pizzas to McNichols Arena with your resume in hopes of getting a job.

00:01:23:02 - 00:01:42:15
Matthew Krekeler
So I just love that story. And yet I knew that you have a daughter from that article, which I thought was really awesome and wanted to get you on the show. So so I actually sent you a pizza at their at ball arena and I was so surprised that they got an email from you.

00:01:43:10 - 00:02:04:13
Kyle Keefe
Yeah. I mean, I guess it worked. You know, it got me a job and it also got us in touch. So I like to think that it's a good was for me, but it worked out for you. It's kind of crazy. I was sitting there at the desk with her and I don't even know how many miles there, but there was a couple other camera guy and then this pizza showed up and we just happened to be starving.

00:02:05:05 - 00:02:27:18
Kyle Keefe
So is this on your part? And yeah, you sent me a pizza, and I think it was either a letter or a resumé or your number or whatever. And then we got in contact and it's been a year they've been such a you're getting back together. It was busy summer but yeah, finally we we get to do this but it's a thing work and good job.

00:02:28:13 - 00:02:47:17
Matthew Krekeler
Thank you. Yeah. I mean, sometimes you have to be creative and that's that's what I've talked to other dads on the podcast about and that's what I try to do with my daughters now too is like there is on like different days at school. Like they just had like a wear read day and I was like going through the closet.

00:02:47:17 - 00:03:03:19
Matthew Krekeler
I'm like, she has nothing running around. Like, there's pink. All the different shades of pink, but there wasn't anything red. And then I finally, like, got out the Halloween costumes and she had this, like, bright red Elena of Avila dress like she's going to school and that. And sometimes you just have to be creative.

00:03:04:14 - 00:03:05:11
Kyle Keefe
What grade is that?

00:03:06:12 - 00:03:08:20
Matthew Krekeler
So she's in preschool. My oldest is in preschool.

00:03:09:10 - 00:03:34:06
Kyle Keefe
Yeah. I don't. I don't know if we have anything read either, so I have a red head. So her wearing that red hair is like, well, I wouldn't wear anything red anyway. She'd be like, Yeah, I'm not doing it. So I'm, you know, she said that she's that 1213 age. So so it's like you remember that those puberty years where you're like, I don't like my parents and I don't like anything and I just nobody tell me what to do.

00:03:34:19 - 00:03:40:17
Kyle Keefe
So, yeah, we're we're going through that fun phase of puberty. So, yeah, we, we just kind of mind our business to.

00:03:43:00 - 00:04:00:01
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. They, they start to have like, which is great. They, they become independent thinkers, which you why but then they also question a lot of things which, which can be frustrating but, but it's, it's awesome just to see them grow so much so fast.

00:04:00:01 - 00:04:16:06
Kyle Keefe
No, I don't want to so fast though, Matthew. I want to slow down a little bit. Like she was just like three like and then it just boom. And then you start looking at like, God, if she's 13, that means I'm ten years older and where where has time gone? It's crazy.

00:04:17:11 - 00:04:30:02
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. And, and for my listeners who aren't as familiar with you. Yeah, you're a broadcaster for the Colorado ads. And I wanted to ask, how long have you been with the ads?

00:04:30:02 - 00:04:50:03
Kyle Keefe
Well, I mean, going back to your story and I'll just share the story. I've been there 26 years, and the story goes, which Matthew was alluding to earlier, is I University was born and raised in Wyoming, Casper, and then went to Laramie and I spent a year over in Australia. I played rugby over in Australia for a year.

00:04:50:03 - 00:05:13:10
Kyle Keefe
It technically took me five years to graduate because I went over there and spent a year in Perth but got back here and got my degree in sports broadcasting, which is always what I always want to be a sports broadcaster. And then when you get the degree you're like, okay, so there's not that many jobs. It's not like being a sales guy or sales insurance or a mechanic or whatever, you know?

00:05:13:21 - 00:05:33:16
Kyle Keefe
So I was like, Oh no, what am I going to do? You know, I get the natural migration wants to move down to Denver. I did that. I came down here and then you got, you know, the ABC job, the CBS job, the FOX job. And then there wasn't really, really any regional sports here. So, you know, you're talking about 3 to 5 jobs in Denver Metro.

00:05:33:16 - 00:05:53:02
Kyle Keefe
And I'm like, okay, this is, you know, that sexy resume that says sportscaster was not so sexy. So anyway, I was living in my buddies who lived there rent free. And I the deal was, is that I got to live in his living room because he had four roommates that lived in the basement at that time. Everybody's just trying to make ends meet, he said.

00:05:53:06 - 00:06:08:12
Kyle Keefe
You can live in a tent, but it has to be folded up and you have to. The room has to be cleaned by 6 a.m. every morning. So they basically don't know that you exist. And I was like, Yeah, no problem, free rein, I'll do that. And I had a ten speed bike, so I ride my ten speed bike from way over.

00:06:08:12 - 00:06:31:20
Kyle Keefe
I want to say it was Colfax and like, uh, Colfax and Monaco. So it was, it was a hyped nickel sports arena. And those are familiar with McNichols. It's basically where the Broncos play right now. That's a long bike ride, side ride my bike all the way over, and I'd wait till it would turn 11:00 because that's when dominos would open and I would order a pizza and pick it up.

00:06:31:20 - 00:06:56:09
Kyle Keefe
And at that time it was like 399 for a large pizza. There was nothing. And I had my discovered card the my parents gave me, you know, this is all your money. I would go to McNichols front desk and I would, you know, I knew the names I went through, like the list of names of department heads, and they can you give this pizza to Paul Sanders, who is in charge of ticket sales, and then he'd get the P and arrows saying, look underneath my resonate, be there.

00:06:56:12 - 00:07:17:05
Kyle Keefe
You can't put it under the pizza or be demolished. So you put it there. You have to do that day after day after day. Different departments, you know, and say, I want to look for I would send one to building management or sales or broadcasting. And I did this for 15 days on 16th day of doing this business day.

00:07:17:05 - 00:07:34:00
Kyle Keefe
The guy by the name of blue person that called me and he said, look, I'm in charge of broadcasting here. I understand that's what you're looking to do it. I either have to hire you or arrest you because this is getting crazy. And I said, Well, I prefer the firms. And so he did. He hired me as an unpaid intern.

00:07:34:00 - 00:07:57:20
Kyle Keefe
I was making any money, but I was in the door. And, you know, four months later, they hired me as a production assistant, my first job ever, and they paid me $11,700. And I was like, Oh my God, what am I going to do with all this money? And then I forgot the two divided by 26 paychecks. So 1700 divided by 26 is not much.

00:07:57:20 - 00:08:19:05
Kyle Keefe
But like I said, I've been there 26 years. And I you know, if you look at the hierarchy of people that are still with company, what used to be decent entertainment now is turn to quality sports with I think we have 900 and some employees. I'm top five, so I've been there a long, long time. And, you know, there I am.

00:08:20:10 - 00:08:27:02
Matthew Krekeler
That's awesome. And yeah, yeah. So if I get the timeline right to you've been married, has it been 20 years now?

00:08:27:13 - 00:08:49:13
Kyle Keefe
Yeah. 22. 22. Well, 21. Yeah, we got married in 2001 just after just before 911, which sucks. But you know, it's, I guess, yeah, 20 years we dated for three years. So she's been she's been with me since the get go since the rough, rough. You know, she bought all of our meals in our first house and our cars.

00:08:49:13 - 00:08:56:11
Kyle Keefe
And, you know, it was she was like, I don't know if I can hang out with this loser my whole life, but then I slowly started to work my way out.

00:08:57:17 - 00:09:19:09
Matthew Krekeler
That's cool. Yeah. My wife and I, we've been married for six years, almost seven in January. And about the same time I started the job that I'm still in now. So I've been with the same company for about seven years now, but yeah, it was same kind of thing. Like, we are just newlyweds trying to make it work, right?

00:09:19:23 - 00:09:29:08
Matthew Krekeler
Cause we're not even really on the radar. But yeah, then in the past three years, just life is just curve ball again and just you got to just roll with it.

00:09:29:08 - 00:09:46:05
Kyle Keefe
So that's the best part of it, right, is the sort of the unforeseen things that, you know, these little gifts that start out as you know, oh, how are we going to handle this, turn into something new? Just can't even you know, it's awesome.

00:09:47:01 - 00:10:00:02
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, absolutely. And you've mentioned rugby, too. I forgot that part of your as a venue that you played rugby to my wife, actually, when we were dating in high school, my wife was playing rugby in high school. So really.

00:10:00:02 - 00:10:01:14
Kyle Keefe
Where is that? Where in Colorado?

00:10:02:02 - 00:10:13:05
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, yeah. She played while it was a club team swarm rugby if anyone's familiar with it. But yeah so I'm rugby but we went to Chatfield High School, so it was a bunch of Chatfield kids.

00:10:13:18 - 00:10:35:23
Kyle Keefe
Yeah, it was a cool program because they played at Wyoming and then you would basically swap, you know, so it didn't turn on more, so you would just pay your same tuition. I went over to Fremantle, which is just outside of Perth, to a university called Murdoch University and played rugby on their team. A funny story about this too, because I, you know, I thought I was the greatest rugby player ever.

00:10:35:23 - 00:11:01:05
Kyle Keefe
You know, I played fly half, which is equivalent to a quarterback in in football, you know, your hands are always on the ball. You go inside center, outside wing, you know, you run it whatever kick. And I got over there and you know, I thought I was just king of the hill. And I looked across me and there was this guy who was probably five, five, £240.

00:11:01:18 - 00:11:28:02
Kyle Keefe
He looked like a like a cannonball. And he was their starting flyhalf. And I had to tackle this. It just took me one practice and I was like, I'm dead. I'm never getting in. This guy's absolute mutant. And, you know, he played the majority. I probably only played six or seven games and maybe ten, 15 minutes a game, but he was just so good and our team was so good that I would only get in when we, you know, we were kicking somebody's ass.

00:11:28:02 - 00:11:43:08
Kyle Keefe
So yeah, it was it was kind of fun to be over there, to be part of it. But it was humbling at the same time because those boys are a different breed over there. I mean, it's they are some big, nasty, angry, serious rugby players. It's a little bit different than what I was used to.

00:11:44:17 - 00:12:13:07
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, well, I didn't know much about rugby until like started watching my girlfriend at the time. Now my way playing rugby and it was like, yeah, that was like sort of a unique thing. So, but it's, I admired her so much for that. And even though my daughters are super young now, but it gave me sort of the confidence like to be like, yeah, you could put your mind to anything like go out and play rugby, tackle, tackle people like Yeah, and it's legit too.

00:12:13:08 - 00:12:27:01
Kyle Keefe
And then the great part about rugby is that as soon as you're done killing each other for, you know, an hour or whatever, you go and you just tap the keg and before you know it, you're hugging and kissing and going into the wee hours of the morning of becoming best friends with the guys. You just hate it.

00:12:28:12 - 00:12:46:23
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, yeah, that's true. There's such a camaraderie to it because you're like, it's so physical, so demanding, but at the at the end of it, it's similar to, like, you know, people in the army, you're, you're going to battle. And rugby is such an intense sport. But yeah, at the end you're like, if you're really bonded with those people.

00:12:47:08 - 00:12:49:05
Kyle Keefe
100%.

00:12:49:05 - 00:13:16:20
Matthew Krekeler
And then actually if my wife unfortunately, like at the end of her short rugby career in high school, she she suffered some pretty bad concussions. So so that's actually something that's kind of still persisted. So she still has chronic headaches, chronic outcomes from that which which completely sucks. And there's all these like what ifs like what if she just didn't play rugby on tour?

00:13:16:23 - 00:13:40:13
Matthew Krekeler
Would that be better? And but yeah, she's still to this day still has like chronic headaches from that. But yeah, but you, you kind of have sort of similar stories. I wanted to ask you early on in your marriage, talking about starting a family, those kinds of things, that kind of those unforeseen difficulties. Yeah. Do you mind talking about.

00:13:40:13 - 00:14:09:16
Kyle Keefe
Yeah, I know. Yeah. It's totally it's you know, it's not an ideal situation, but is anything, you know, for me to say that I that something unfair has happened in my life would be totally critical. I'm very blessed and very thankful for everything that that we have and the family that we've created. But it wasn't easy. My you know, we decided to have kids, you know, early on and without getting into too many details, it just wasn't working.

00:14:09:16 - 00:14:26:21
Kyle Keefe
We're like, where are we now? You know, for three years, we, you know, we protected ourselves. We're like, okay, it's time to have kids. And then we weren't having it. So, you know, naturally we went through in vitro and I don't know if, you know, picture of, but it's very expensive. And, you know, we weren't wealthy people by any means.

00:14:26:21 - 00:14:46:22
Kyle Keefe
And so, you know, we did three rounds of in-vitro loans from our parents. And wherever we could find the money to do it, it still wasn't working. And we we just couldn't we couldn't have a kid. So, you know, in my whole life, all I wanted was, you know, three kids, four kids, boys, girls. Didn't matter, you know, my wife's an athlete.

00:14:46:22 - 00:15:09:04
Kyle Keefe
I was an athlete. We just wanted this sort of offspring of just maniacs that we could get around. I think you see the pictures behind me. That's Quincy. Yeah. So we went through adoption to get Quincy, and it was, you know, it's it takes a lot to go through that because you have to mentally be prepared that this child that you're going to love and care for, for the rest of your life is not going to be your blood.

00:15:09:14 - 00:15:32:11
Kyle Keefe
And you have to get over that mental hurdle, that sort of that self-centered attitude that can I raise this child with the same amount of love that I would my own blood, and I struggle with that. And my wife did, but sort of didn't because she was like, you know, I just I just want to I want to love someone, you know, I want to I want us to have, you know, a little run around the house.

00:15:32:19 - 00:15:51:21
Kyle Keefe
So once I got over that sort of mental hurdle, we went through the classes together and, you know, we had opportunities to adopt certain kids. And, you know, it wasn't the right situation for us and it wasn't the right situation probably for them. And, you know, we got to a certain stage where we met this this girl without giving too many details.

00:15:52:09 - 00:16:13:02
Kyle Keefe
You know, she was in high school. She was an athlete. Her, you know, her boyfriend at the time was an athlete as well. And she was going to go to the University of Wyoming, you know, to play sports there. And, you know, this was not the greatest thing for her and it was great timing for us. The first thing, we didn't want to make a mistake so that we could have a blessing.

00:16:13:02 - 00:16:32:15
Kyle Keefe
Right. And our adoption work. So we knew her for three months. We went through the whole process with her. We cut the cord. We knew her parents and it was just a really, really good process. And, you know, we got Quincy and, you know, like two new parents. You're like, what do we do? You Oh, God, you know, all this sort of stuff.

00:16:32:15 - 00:16:51:16
Kyle Keefe
But it never if I have to go back and do it, I would never have my own kid. I would never trade Quincy for anything. I would they said, look, you can have you can have three or four of your own kids. And Quincy, there's not even a it's not even a question that this is the way it was supposed to go for for us and for her.

00:16:52:04 - 00:17:14:09
Kyle Keefe
And I think the really cool part about our relationship with Quincy is from day one, we've always been open and honest that this the situation that mom and dad went through, you know, you are adopted from day one. Here is your birth mother's name. If you ever at any point want to meet her, reach out to her. The door's open.

00:17:14:09 - 00:17:49:18
Kyle Keefe
There is no hidden agenda. There is. You're not going to wake up one morning and find out something and be, oh, you know, so we've explained that through the whole thing and she just doesn't bring it up. She's she's like, you're my parents. I mean, there's I don't have any questions because you guys have told me everything. And so it's been, you know, and I'm obviously to do things like this where I tell my story in hopes that it will give some inspiration to, you know, a younger couple that's having similar issues, you know, where they can't have kids, that adoption is such a cool another route to go to.

00:17:49:18 - 00:18:02:17
Kyle Keefe
You know, there's there's a plan for everything and it may not be your ideal plan or how you wrote your story when you were, you know, 12 years old, wondering, you know, I'm going to be a doctor and I'm going to two kids and we're going to drive a silver car and live in a house in a cul de sac.

00:18:02:17 - 00:18:36:05
Kyle Keefe
And, you know, this doesn't work that way. So it's been a it's been an awesome process. And I, you know, the only thing I would change is if I do slow it down, you know, just it goes by too fast. And like that picture of looking at mean Quincy's probably you know, she's probably seven years old but there and you know it's just like where did those where those days go so it's you know yeah I hope I've explained it well enough but that's sort of, you know, the story of our family.

00:18:37:10 - 00:19:14:01
Matthew Krekeler
That's great. Well, thank you for sharing that story. I know. Yeah, adoption can be an intimidating thing and I think kind of on both sides too, like both for parents that have desire to be parents and become parents through adoption or even people that like maybe have gotten pregnant unexpectedly and I didn't know, like if they can bring a child into the world through like, like what that what that process would be like to give that kid up for adoption, to give them a chance to, with, with parents that are going to love them.

00:19:15:06 - 00:19:45:17
Matthew Krekeler
And also, I think it's it's really cool that you've been open with Quincy about that. And different people probably have varying opinions on that in the process. But but I think that honesty like especially like with your kid but but then that openness to like with the birth mother and other. Yes. Have have she is she still have that have they been able to like reconnect?

00:19:45:17 - 00:19:46:03
Matthew Krekeler
No.

00:19:46:03 - 00:20:12:22
Kyle Keefe
And you know what we did, Matthew? We we for for I guess. Well, the I guess 12 years we always a letter to the birth mother. I won't share her name. We always wrote a letter. My Dana for my wife. My Dana, my boss. The warden would would write her a letter, always a beautiful letter. And we just broke my heart to read this just about how wonderful Quincy is in sports.

00:20:12:22 - 00:20:29:13
Kyle Keefe
And she plays and snowboard and all this sort of stuff. And now she's grown. And then we send three or four pictures, you send it in to the adoption agency, and then they send it directly to her or wherever she is. Now she has the opportunity to write back or whatever, and she has chosen not to do that.

00:20:30:07 - 00:20:47:01
Kyle Keefe
I'm sure that she may have a family of her own right now, and maybe it's too hard for her, or maybe she just, you know, we've held up our end of the bargain just so she knows. And look, I know she knows who I am. And so I'm very close to a lot of Quincy on Instagram and Twitter.

00:20:47:01 - 00:21:06:17
Kyle Keefe
And so if she wants to know anything that's going on, it's not hard to find. Yeah. So, you know, she probably gets update. I mean, I post more about my daughter than I do about my daughter. So, you know, it's yeah, I'm proud to be her dad. And so, like I said, there's no hidden agenda. And if she ever wants to reach out, meet her is an open door.

00:21:06:17 - 00:21:12:04
Kyle Keefe
So it's not something we've ever hid from. Nothing. I would never hide, you know, move forward.

00:21:13:10 - 00:21:37:11
Matthew Krekeler
That's cool. Yeah. Actually, one of my first guests, my first ever guest of this podcast on here, he was adopted, and he kind of shared that story and and he's like, yeah, like you you have he like, knows his, like, larger or dad and stuff. But, but then for Father's Day, he always posts this like very sweet post.

00:21:37:11 - 00:22:01:19
Matthew Krekeler
On Father's Day, it's like for all of the fathers, like biological, adoptive father struggling and all these kinds of things where it's like like your kids gravitate towards you and. Sure. And it's awesome that like you, you've had that relationship with Quincy and yeah. Since the very beginning, like since she was born. Yeah. That's if.

00:22:01:19 - 00:22:21:13
Kyle Keefe
You, me kind of become a byproduct of who you are. You know, they see how you treat your wife. They see how you interact with your friends, the goals that you set your self to keep your house clean. Are you reliable? You call your friends back, you know, all that sort of stuff. They learn that. And so they become a product of who you are.

00:22:21:21 - 00:22:45:15
Kyle Keefe
So, you know, by your your buddy or whoever, you know, when he sends that out, you know, his kids will want a, you know, you're trying to replicate, you know, sort of a an attitude towards the world and, you know, a a lending hand, a sense of kindness or you want your kids to, you know, to be good people.

00:22:45:16 - 00:23:05:05
Kyle Keefe
So if you're if you're a good person and, you know, you you get what I'm saying. And I think the that guy doing that, it opens doors for other people. And hopefully this conversation right here, if people are watching this, they go, oh, you know what? This isn't just a weird thing. It's not you know, not a handful of people go through this.

00:23:05:05 - 00:23:08:22
Kyle Keefe
A lot of people go through it. So it was a cool experience.

00:23:08:22 - 00:23:32:23
Matthew Krekeler
And yeah, along that lines too, we don't always get to choose like we don't necessarily like choose our own family or our own situation runs by it. But there's other things that we can choose to be a part of. And we can we can at least choose the way that that we're going to react to the circumstances that we've been given, even if it's hard, especially when it's hard.

00:23:33:07 - 00:23:53:23
Matthew Krekeler
But along that story to in the article you mentioned when you were going through in vitro, Dana was also diagnosed with breast cancer at that time. Could you talk a little bit about that time in your life and what was going through your head and. Yeah.

00:23:54:10 - 00:24:18:16
Kyle Keefe
Yeah, it's it was well, first of all, you know, we we sort of tracked it down to where we believe it was a possible byproduct of, you know, the estrogen and all of the, you know, the all the products that we were pumping in or to to basically, you know, go through the process. So, see, she had estrogen positive breast cancer and it was rather aggressive.

00:24:18:18 - 00:24:35:20
Kyle Keefe
And we did catch it early. You know, she went and had her, you know, mammogram and all that and said, you know, come back, let's check it out. And, you know, they had found out that she did have a lump that they wanted to remove. And they had said, you know, it it it's a scary process hearing the word cancer.

00:24:35:20 - 00:24:58:13
Kyle Keefe
And as you know, for her, she was she was the rock. She was, you know, let's take care of it. Let's go beat this. No problem. You know, there were some tears and crying and all that for weeks and months. But she has a strong support system. Her mom had breast cancer. Her sister right now is going through cancer as we speak and has been fighting for years.

00:24:59:15 - 00:25:27:00
Kyle Keefe
But it's just unfortunately, cancer affects every family. How you handle it is different. Dana handled it very well. I did not. You know, it was super scary for me. And just, you know, when you're in a family like ours and she's sort of in charge and runs everything and you start thinking, oh, my God, we you know, I lose Dana, how am I going to I've got this little, you know, this baby girl and what are we going to do?

00:25:27:10 - 00:25:39:14
Kyle Keefe
Um, so anyway, she went through it and, you know, she was an absolute rock star and beat it, baby, have been cancer free. 12 years, 14 years, 14 years. She's been cancer free.

00:25:39:21 - 00:25:40:01
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah.

00:25:40:14 - 00:26:08:07
Kyle Keefe
Yeah. And you know, it doesn't without side effects and, you know, opportunities for things to arise edema or, you know, for the cancer to come back or, you know, it's she's constantly on top of it. In fact, she's going to Mayo Clinic in early October because she has the genetic change that her older sister has. And so they want to stay on top of that just to monitor it and then, you know, that sort of stuff.

00:26:08:07 - 00:26:33:21
Kyle Keefe
So again, cancer is not easy to talk about, especially when they're going through it. But then you realize how many people are going through it and they're not, you know, it's you need some sort of support system. You want to hear that people are scared and that they feel the same way you do. And their anxiety and their sleepless nights and their sort of panic attacks are all normal.

00:26:34:11 - 00:26:58:07
Kyle Keefe
And and I think I've been able to sort of be that person for the other person because, you know, one of them gets the cancer. You can imagine. Frightening. I must be. It's also very frightening for the partner or kids or, you know, you have so many questions and no answers. So it was a it was a tough it was a tough time.

00:26:58:07 - 00:27:17:07
Kyle Keefe
But, you know, you wake up every day and put your first foot forward and try to do the best you can be a support system and, you know, not time. I'm sure everybody that watches your podcast, you included, have had family members or yourself or something else. Kids had cancer.

00:27:17:07 - 00:27:22:04
Matthew Krekeler
So I can at least think of two right now, just off the top of my head, just in my personal family.

00:27:22:07 - 00:27:47:14
Kyle Keefe
So yeah. Yeah. So it was tough. It was tough. And you know, battles never over, you know, cancers, heart disease and cancer. The two, you know, most dangerous disease is that we have in the United States or world. So it's you know, it's good to talk about, you know, kind of like an option. Don't be afraid to talk to cancer, say the word cancer and deal with a Peter McNabb.

00:27:47:14 - 00:28:11:16
Kyle Keefe
You know, Peter McNabb is going through it right now. Scary situation where, you know, I offer as much support as I can with deep concern. Um, and hockey has been his, has been his, you know, his saving grace takes his mind off that, you know, you go through these, these chemo treatments that are just absolutely brutal and you're sick and tired and you don't.

00:28:11:16 - 00:28:35:08
Kyle Keefe
And so hockey has been his outlet. And even though he struck the Times last year, he was still on camera, you know, doing the best he could. And all of us are like, you know, take some time. But he is an absolute warrior and doing much better. And, you know, his story is one that that everyone in the hockey world, everywhere we go, everyone's giving their support to Pete.

00:28:35:08 - 00:28:49:10
Kyle Keefe
And, you know, he's he's our leader on the broadcast. And, you know, it's you just be there to support someone. That's it. I mean, there's not much you can do with their doctor, so you just support friends as best you can.

00:28:50:22 - 00:29:16:19
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, I think, like, one of the big takeaways for me is just like being grateful for every moment that you do have. And like those kinds of hardships, like when you're battling cancer or other things like that, just it reminds me just of how precious life is and, and to just take it like day by day and celebrate even the little victories, like that's like, okay, it's another day.

00:29:17:08 - 00:29:45:08
Matthew Krekeler
But the other thing is with, with Pete, it was awesome just seeing the way that the whole hockey community and the avalanche community have been supportive around him. And then I know the Avs also does hockey fights cancer night. I think they have like pink jerseys and different things like that. So it's really cool just to see the awareness and different ways that the organization and the community is.

00:29:45:16 - 00:29:47:21
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Which is shining together in all of this. Yeah.

00:29:48:12 - 00:30:07:03
Kyle Keefe
Which is shit. And you know, any old check, you know, went through it, you know, on a national level. He works for the Chicago Blackhawks they also did in DC and that you know, you need that awareness like my God, if it can happen to him, this super popular guy, that's how it's for you. It's like only happens to people who are poor.

00:30:07:03 - 00:30:30:02
Kyle Keefe
It only happens to people. And now cancer does not care who you are or where you live, what you eat. You know, it's it affects us all in one way or another. But when you have that stage and fans watch these people on TV, it makes it more relatable. You know, it's and so you want to hear about the battle struggle, the fight you pray and hope for success.

00:30:30:02 - 00:30:49:12
Kyle Keefe
So that will give you a light at the end of the tunnel that maybe, you know, you, too, can be cancer. And I think the rates have gone you know, they've gone up and up and up and, you know, that's through donations and raising awareness and medicine and science. And so, you know, the fight against cancer will never, ever be over.

00:30:49:12 - 00:31:04:22
Kyle Keefe
But certainly, you know, the NHL and each organization is doing their part to sort of participate chip in whether it's financially, emotionally or, you know, through raising awareness that people are not alone.

00:31:06:03 - 00:31:12:02
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, absolutely. And then I want to go back to Quincy. So how will this you know.

00:31:12:16 - 00:31:14:17
Kyle Keefe
He's you're not going to know. She's 12.

00:31:14:17 - 00:31:15:11
Matthew Krekeler
She told us.

00:31:16:01 - 00:31:16:10
Kyle Keefe
Yeah.

00:31:17:04 - 00:31:26:11
Matthew Krekeler
Okay. Yeah. Everyone that I've had on my podcast that a lot of people that I've had have older kids now and they're like, Yeah, just wait.

00:31:26:11 - 00:31:34:22
Kyle Keefe
Like, I guess to just you wait all the time. And I'm like, I'm, I think I'm done waiting. I think I'm there, you know, it's like I think it's happening.

00:31:36:02 - 00:31:49:14
Matthew Krekeler
And then I've said before that I feel like I have a three major because she's so independent and then she starts to question things. She's like, No, Daddy, I don't want to go. And I'm like, No, you have to get in the car. Like, you can't just stay.

00:31:49:14 - 00:32:11:22
Kyle Keefe
All right. You know, it's it's, you know, it's it's so cool that know that that trend, this little girl to girl or teenager or whatever, it's as frustrating as it can be at times. It's also cool because you find out that all of a sudden you have another adult in the room, like you're you're having a conversation with your wife over dinner and I'm alone.

00:32:11:22 - 00:32:36:08
Kyle Keefe
And there's this voice that pipes in and like, it's very well spoken and intuitive, and you're like, Well, who said that? And you know that, you know, they're they learn so much from TV, books, social media. You know, we we have people over here all the time, dinners and, you know, not a lot of them won't bring their kids.

00:32:36:08 - 00:33:02:14
Kyle Keefe
And so Quincy is literally at the table with other adults, you know, listening and picking up on inflection and stories. And so you sort of listen to her now and you hear yourself through her. You know, she's funny. And she says quirky, weird things that, you know, that you're like, that's where did you get that? You know? So it's it's all strange of a time frame that it is.

00:33:03:10 - 00:33:06:07
Kyle Keefe
And there's also great parts of it as well.

00:33:07:11 - 00:33:10:21
Matthew Krekeler
So is there anything that you can say that you've learned from her?

00:33:12:14 - 00:33:39:13
Kyle Keefe
Oh, boy. You know. Yeah, everything. Humility, you know, it's it's funny because a lot of people, especially at the rink, or if I go around, people always want to say hi and to always try and make time, say hi and learn about them and remember their name and all that stuff. And it's, you know, people love our show and it all of that is great.

00:33:39:13 - 00:33:58:15
Kyle Keefe
Quincy has no idea and could care less. You know, her little friends will be like, Oh, your dad is. It's like, yeah, he's a nerd. He's a geek. I don't understand what everybody is, you know? So it's cute. And she loves me for who I am, right? She doesn't care about the stuff at a mac and the local weather.

00:33:58:15 - 00:34:18:12
Kyle Keefe
Man, let's be honest. It's not like I'm some superstar, but people in the hockey world get there and stuff for me. So it's yeah, it's kind of it's my favorite place on earth is right here on a Sunday. We have a TV outside on our back patio and one here and one downstairs and it's always on red zone, right?

00:34:18:12 - 00:34:42:09
Kyle Keefe
We love Sundays being all chilly and we'll stay in our pajamas and you can hear the football, you know, and we sort of just run around, make breakfast, make lines, don't move very much, go for a walk or whatever. I love being home. I love being around Quincy. And she's in that she's in that that age period where the less you ask, the more you learn.

00:34:42:19 - 00:35:02:00
Kyle Keefe
And what I mean by that is I'm always prying or how was your day? How was softball practice? Did any of your friends do anything funky? How are your grades? You get these one word answers, right? And it took me a while and a lot of Dana like just saying, okay, try this and not saying anything, which is really hard because then you're like, I'm a terrible parent.

00:35:02:11 - 00:35:23:11
Kyle Keefe
I don't care about like, you know what, I'm not interested. But if you do that, if you just try it and it's hard to do, you'll find out that they'll start speaking up and telling you things that may maybe, maybe you wouldn't have gotten had you asked. So some days are kind of fun because you're all sitting around each other.

00:35:23:17 - 00:35:44:09
Kyle Keefe
Nobody's saying anything. And then she'll say, Hey, did I tell you about that? So I'm telling you, like what? Tell me, you know. But you kind of have to. You have to actually know. Like what? Like you don't care, you know? Yeah. If you get all giddy and then they're like, Oh, God, it's this guy here. So, you know, that's some days are kind of like that for us to her.

00:35:44:09 - 00:36:04:04
Kyle Keefe
So she'll speak up and say something. And I found out that she had a boyfriend. She can say his name forever. And then, you know, she would say, you know, and they don't have really a boyfriend girlfriend. They just say that they do. And run around the school. Yeah, they never she's never on the phone, she doesn't talk to them.

00:36:04:23 - 00:36:26:01
Kyle Keefe
Maybe they pass notes, but it was a real sort of instant relationship and two weeks go by and they broke up. And that's because you want to go back to being best friends and you know, so whatever, they're starting that little thing. But, you know, the more I ask, the less you tell them. And then one day she said, Hey, you know, Jacob or whatever his name, we broke up and I was like, Oh, that's why I just want to be friends.

00:36:26:03 - 00:36:48:08
Kyle Keefe
Okay, cool. And then a week later, you know, he totally misses me, and I'm and I don't really miss him, you know, I don't really, you know, so you just get these little things that you maybe you normally wouldn't have gotten. But it's, you know, Peter right now, you know, he's had I mean, he's lived with girls his entire life and he's like, oh, just wait until this age.

00:36:48:08 - 00:37:07:22
Kyle Keefe
And you're just not even going to believe it. You just you put him in the back of the car and drive him to school and yada, yada, yada. So guys like him, you know, she has I think she's probably Brooke's probably 16 or 17 or something like that. Shared experiences. You just learn as you go. Yeah. And take the advice from somebody.

00:37:07:22 - 00:37:08:14
Kyle Keefe
Give it.

00:37:09:14 - 00:37:28:19
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Well I've really appreciated conversations like this because I'm still like so new and this whole thing. So it's, it's great because I'm like, yeah, just thinking about boyfriends or whatever. Now it's like that's, that seems so far in the future, but I'm sure there'll be a day when, like, my daughter comes back from school and it's like, yeah, like something's a little different.

00:37:28:19 - 00:37:34:06
Matthew Krekeler
And, like, she's kind of interested in boys more than she is now. But yeah.

00:37:34:19 - 00:37:54:12
Kyle Keefe
Well, crazy hasn't been. And she, you know, she's a total shock. She's never something she doesn't. And that's the other thing is she she doesn't really like to play with the girls unless they're super athletic. They want a skateboard, they want to snowboard, they want to play tennis or want to do don't watch sports or everything is trampoline.

00:37:54:12 - 00:38:19:20
Kyle Keefe
She'll sit out on that trampoline for hours in flip flip flops. She wants to be active on the diving board because she doesn't want to go talk dolls. She doesn't really want to talk with boys. You know, she must always be doing something. And the boys always do that because a lot of girls don't at this age. So she's my bitch plays competitive softball now and she's migrated to that group, girls, because that's what they do.

00:38:20:12 - 00:38:21:11
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, that's great.

00:38:21:18 - 00:38:44:03
Kyle Keefe
Softball, softball, softball. So she'll go to the mall with those girls or she'll stay the night one of those girls. And there may be girls that school that she likes. But after school they're, you know, they're on their phone or they're. Yeah, whatever boy crazy. And Quincy doesn't want to do that. We have a couple of neighborhoods both here that we're going to like go down to the park and and ride their scooter there.

00:38:44:04 - 00:39:00:07
Kyle Keefe
You know, she so we haven't really been through the boy thing. And that's why I was kind of shocked when I heard, you know, I have a boyfriend, but really it didn't last very long, thank God. How am I going to be? I'm in I'm going to be a total psycho when she gets a, you know, a boyfriend.

00:39:00:17 - 00:39:12:04
Kyle Keefe
You know, I just know battles. I don't I don't even know how I'm going to handle that. That's for another day. There's still still so many days between them, but they're creeping up fast. I'm like, Oh.

00:39:12:14 - 00:39:33:20
Matthew Krekeler
Sure. Now I know we don't have too much more time left, but I wanted to ask with your particular job on being in broadcast, having to work late nights or weekends, just following the ABS schedule. How do you make it work with family life and that work responsibilities?

00:39:33:20 - 00:39:57:23
Kyle Keefe
Well, so I think the best part so I just had two months off, right? We won the Stanley Cup like eight days of craziness and then we had two months. Normally I would work at post golf and I'm going to be doing that. But we were so late in the summer that, okay, it's a two month window and then we're trying to get right here, take time, do your stuff, get your family stuff in fast beers.

00:39:58:09 - 00:40:16:20
Kyle Keefe
And we went like gangbusters. And then, you know, you spend a lot of time with your family and then they get to a certain, okay, when's work again? Because it's not just you that is in a schedule your family is going to schedule. So on a game day like yesterday was a pre-season game. So I will get up and go to practice, right?

00:40:18:01 - 00:40:44:07
Kyle Keefe
You go in the locker room, yada, yada, yada. You you talk to a few boys, hear from the coach, go home. And then I come home on this computer right here. I literally will sit right over a map and I will write and write and write. I don't use the teleprompter. So a lot of people do. But, you know, I'm more like in my studying in the morning, I read about all the teams, read about the opponent, what's new with our team, anybody struggling, any injury, all that sort of stuff.

00:40:44:07 - 00:41:05:10
Kyle Keefe
And I don't think it's storylines for tonight. So, you know, last night it's difficult because a lot of these guys never played in the National Hockey League. They're American Hockey League, they're in college or wherever they may be. They got called up to get a look out. So yesterday was not a great example. But let's just say that we're playing the Minnesota Wild during the regular season in Game six, right?

00:41:05:17 - 00:41:27:00
Kyle Keefe
I would look at that. You know, what is Kaprizov done in his last 510 games? Where is Kevin Fiala? What's their coaching staff like? I know Brendan playing, you know, Brett McClain used to be an avalanche player. Cody McCloud is now works for the Iowa Wild storyline. You can add anything different that you can't get from game notes, right?

00:41:27:00 - 00:41:57:00
Kyle Keefe
Everybody get game knows, everybody has the needed ram off it. Christoff has 12 goals and 15 assists. That doesn't tell me anything because I already know that. So you got to look and dig and find things. Maybe when Pete's telling the story and say, You know what? I met that guy nodding it got you can add some perspective so 1:00 I'll go ride the peloton or do something, you know, try and get some exercise, hit the shower over to at the rink by 330.

00:41:57:06 - 00:42:18:07
Kyle Keefe
And then we have a production meeting. We're on the air, it's 30 pre game. You go all the way to our post game. By the time I get home midnight you know. So and then it's a cycle when you get out, you got to have coffee with Brian. How's your day and how's your dad? But depending on whether or not they're traveling, you go to practice or you, you know, you started all over.

00:42:18:07 - 00:42:37:16
Kyle Keefe
But it's it's a really cool sort of now I'm not going to lie the dog days of March are top had 17 games last March that's going to tie the NFL season in one month. So it's a lot you know and I don't think people understand that hockey and football are similar from a physical standpoint, except they're doing it on skates.

00:42:37:16 - 00:43:01:00
Kyle Keefe
Right. They're going back for an NFL player on average, seven stars in NHL F is like 50. So yeah, that the taxing on your body is off the charts and like to say it's a broadcaster, you know, it's 12 hours a day, but, you know, you have 17 games in 30 days. That's a lot of hours. All of a sudden a month.

00:43:01:00 - 00:43:18:03
Kyle Keefe
So mentally, fatigue is through the night. Your team's really good like we were last year. It's easy, kid. You just can't wait. Can't wait. But you go back to that. You go back to, you know, five, six years ago when I'm throwing out Peanuts McNabb in the Avs lose the.

00:43:18:03 - 00:43:20:01
Matthew Krekeler
Calgary was a great story too yeah.

00:43:20:08 - 00:43:41:09
Kyle Keefe
Late at night and I'm like, yeah, we could even talk. It's like what I did, we lost again. Oh, my God. But it's a again to get back to. It's a rhythm that you you start to like and appreciate and I think Sam, my fans, Dana works so she's got her own gig. Quincy is pretty self-reliant. So we're like a machine that just figures it out.

00:43:41:09 - 00:43:47:21
Kyle Keefe
And then you get, you know, all star break, break a couple days. You know, you really recharge the battery. And, you know.

00:43:49:09 - 00:43:53:07
Matthew Krekeler
Are there opportunities for your family to come to the games with you?

00:43:53:07 - 00:44:16:10
Kyle Keefe
Yeah. Yeah. You know, they don't really like I mean, Dana would like Dana likes Sunday afternoon games or Friday night games with her girlfriends. They're not gone Monday through Thursday school and all that sort of stuff. That's why one of my biggest complaints about the National Hockey League is every single team in my mom should play every Sunday, not doing football.

00:44:17:07 - 00:44:43:00
Kyle Keefe
There's there's no point, especially from a television revenue standpoint. But from February to mid-April, every team should play Sunday at 1:00 and invite youth hockey teams to do car washes, snow shoveling, whatever, raise money for your for your particular thing and all those upper deck kids right now. How are you guys out there on the ice? Our Saturday at 1:00.

00:44:43:00 - 00:45:00:01
Kyle Keefe
It doesn't matter, but make it easier for families to bring their kids that not every game has to be Saturday at 830 or Sunday at 730. People have school. I mean, I wish these would do this more. I mean, you look at why every NFL arena is packed and there's a ton of kids because the families can. Yeah.

00:45:00:11 - 00:45:01:23
Kyle Keefe
That's their time to do.

00:45:02:00 - 00:45:03:12
Matthew Krekeler
Even an 11:00 game.

00:45:03:18 - 00:45:04:01
Kyle Keefe
Yeah.

00:45:05:01 - 00:45:10:06
Matthew Krekeler
Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Football has early games like 11:00, so.

00:45:10:06 - 00:45:31:00
Kyle Keefe
Yeah, right. And I just think that, you know, they don't want to compete with the NFL's schedule. I get that. But yeah, diehard hockey fans will do it. And that's why I say if your window would just be more February to April, some days we're going to make these big games. And, you know, it's that's when that's when you like to take your kids.

00:45:31:02 - 00:45:50:01
Kyle Keefe
You get home at three, 4:00 in the afternoon, you can get your crap done for the week and have dinner and go to bed, you know, so Quincy but you know, last week we I was home and David called and said, hey, what are you guys doing? And we were doing nothing. It was a Sunday. And he said, Well, come over to our house.

00:45:51:03 - 00:46:05:04
Kyle Keefe
Lois and I are having a few friends over over there, and he had the Stanley Cup. So I have a video of Quincy drinking out of the car to is picking out of the cup and he only had it for an hour. This wasn't his date of the cup, it was just there. It was Dallas. And he's like, Come on over.

00:46:05:05 - 00:46:18:03
Kyle Keefe
So we did. And she gets to meet the captain of the of the ATL. She's met him. We've come over here a few times for dinner. I actually married Gabe Landeskog, he and his wife, Melissa. So we're friends with them.

00:46:18:03 - 00:46:18:13
Matthew Krekeler
Wow.

00:46:19:01 - 00:46:21:16
Kyle Keefe
Yeah, I think that's amazing.

00:46:21:19 - 00:46:22:01
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah.

00:46:22:23 - 00:46:26:11
Kyle Keefe
That's a whole another story of the time, but we're friends with them, you know, he.

00:46:26:11 - 00:46:34:06
Matthew Krekeler
Has a daughter, too so. Yeah, my wife and I are have been big fans of him. So she was like, If you ever get him on the podcast, that would be awesome.

00:46:34:06 - 00:46:51:17
Kyle Keefe
Yeah, he's ridiculous. Lennon, Lucas I mean, just a family guy and a great buddy. I call them all the time. But, you know, you're you, you make these relationships with these guys and not necessarily on purpose. They're organic, but you have the same like the same way back for forth like, oh, it's got beer, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:46:51:17 - 00:47:10:00
Kyle Keefe
Like you're on the road, let's do this. The Internet or golf partners during the summer years, we do a lot of golfing together and you just, you know, you build these relationships that you don't abuse. You don't you know, you're not out there tweeting, you know, X, Y, Z, you know, you treat it like a friendship like you would anything else.

00:47:10:00 - 00:47:23:11
Kyle Keefe
So, you know, they Quincy has gotten to experience a lot of that, but I don't try to push it on her at all. Like I said, she thinks I'm a nerd, a geek, which is perfect, which is what I am. And I that's how I prefer that she sees me.

00:47:24:09 - 00:47:33:21
Matthew Krekeler
Cool. I have just two more questions. I know we're close to time, but is there a favorite dad daughter activity that you do with Quincy? How are.

00:47:34:08 - 00:47:55:17
Kyle Keefe
I mean, I just it's funny that you say that because, you know, she plays competitive softball, but she doesn't want hear anything from me about softball. When she played hockey at the EU for four or five years, she don't want to hear anything from hockey for me. So it's almost she listens. She listens to her coach, like, do it this way, do it this way.

00:47:55:20 - 00:48:15:21
Kyle Keefe
And if I try and change anything like we'll go golf. There's a par three over Kennedy to go golf. Yeah it's you know, and I'm a pretty good golfer. I'm like, well, let's move your hand a little over like this and let's do a flatter swing. So she doesn't she doesn't want to learn necessarily any of the athletic stuff together.

00:48:15:21 - 00:48:39:13
Kyle Keefe
But if she brings up the topic snowboarding or anything else, I can't I'm not very good at that. And we connect, of course, like things that she can teach me that we're close on when we rent car. A lot of our conversations happen in the car. I wouldn't say we go out and do anything. Her mom and I do a lot of hikes.

00:48:39:13 - 00:49:03:03
Kyle Keefe
We go to the mountains. So yeah, I wouldn't say that. Like it's an added honor that, you know, we go play putt putt or something like that. There's nothing that we like set out to do together that is our thing, like fishing or anything like that. And again, right now we're we're in that age where I just kind of yeah, yeah.

00:49:03:07 - 00:49:09:12
Matthew Krekeler
So yeah, they're venturing out on their own, doing more things with friends. Like, Yeah, parents aren't as cool on the weekends.

00:49:09:17 - 00:49:11:09
Kyle Keefe
Yes, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

00:49:12:01 - 00:49:24:21
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Well, I'm hoping to take my daughter actually snowboarding for the first time this year. She's only three, but she's like at that point where she is more willing to try different things. And I'm like, Hey, if you're up for it, like, let's just go half day like.

00:49:25:07 - 00:49:39:06
Kyle Keefe
And we she's like, she started on skis right? And she's like, Cool. Yeah. Mom and I always say a word, and she's like, No, no, no, no. I want to do that. We're like, Well, you got to learn how to ski first. And then she was, you know, she's bombing it down blues on girls and she's like, good.

00:49:39:06 - 00:49:54:16
Kyle Keefe
Now we're like, okay, for your lessons, it, it. And then the teachers like, she's ready, ready to go. And so now it's, you know, I got to keep up with her like she's an absolute psycho on the mountain. So it's sweet. Yeah, it's cool.

00:49:55:22 - 00:50:04:02
Matthew Krekeler
And then final question and I ask all of my guests this. Imagine Quincy's listening to this. What would you tell her directly?

00:50:05:18 - 00:50:33:16
Kyle Keefe
Well, the first thing that came to my mind that I love her and I'm so proud of her. I mean, that's I you know, I always think that the worst punishment you can give a child is saying that you're disappointed in something they said or something they did like. The word disappointment to me is the harshest thing that you can say if you really, truly love and respect your parents, if you disappoint them, that's got to hurt the worst.

00:50:34:04 - 00:50:57:18
Kyle Keefe
So, you know, I don't know. Maybe I've said it once or twice, something that she's done. She won't wear a helmet, do something or whatever. But I always tell Dana tonight, this is why do we always say we love each other? Yeah. Before we go to bed, it's always I love you. Kiss when we never leave the house about kissing or telling each other.

00:50:57:18 - 00:51:15:18
Kyle Keefe
I love you, but don't tell them that you're proud. I told her the other morning, you know, she's doing really good in school and she's had her struggles. You know, she's I don't think she's ever gotten to see she's never got to see that she's had some these you know, some of the report cards are all these this was a long time ago.

00:51:15:18 - 00:51:44:19
Kyle Keefe
But she's she she just got a 100 on her math test. And this is this is seventh grade. I don't know if you looked at seventh grade math, but I don't even know how to. Yeah, I guess dividing fractions ends in multiplying percent. It's just weird. Like I forgot how to do it. Some trigonometry, but she got 100 and I told her, I said We just looked at your grades because I'm constantly online, like looking at her grades and making sure all of her assignments are then turned in is all A's.

00:51:44:19 - 00:52:06:01
Kyle Keefe
And I said, I go, Do you know you have straight A's right now? She goes, Oh, I didn't know that, and I'm not going to tell you the amount. But I said, if you get straight A's, I will give you X amount of dollars. And she was like, and it's not as much money as you think, but to them it sounds like a lot of money and it's you know, it's one of those things where I say, I'm so proud of you.

00:52:06:01 - 00:52:26:01
Kyle Keefe
I can't believe how good you're doing. So when you ask me that question, that's what I would say to her, is that that I love her, but I'm so proud of her because it's not an easy it's not easy to be our kid because we're both nut jobs. You know, we're both loud and sort of always moving and going.

00:52:26:02 - 00:52:48:21
Kyle Keefe
And it's not easy to be our kid and considering, you know, she's stopped and she said that she will have to deal with some ridicule and some razzing at school. Oh, you're adopted and oh, you got red hair. You know, it's there's look at how beautiful she is. Just, you know, just to tell her I would just tell her that I'm proud of who she's becoming.

00:52:48:21 - 00:53:04:18
Kyle Keefe
And, you know, she's very respectful adults. She's always. Thank you. Appreciate it. She's she's she's got her manners down. So I would tell her that I love her and that I'm very proud.

00:53:04:18 - 00:53:27:00
Matthew Krekeler
Thank you. That's so sweet. I love that. And that's something I try to do with both my girls is say like, I'm so proud of you for even like sometimes the smallest things, but it makes all the difference. And then it's funny because you can hear my dog. Yeah, I'm sure she'll parrot to where she'll say, Well, I'm so proud of you.

00:53:27:00 - 00:53:41:16
Matthew Krekeler
To you or to my mom or to her mom. And it's it's wonderful.

00:53:41:16 - 00:54:00:13
Matthew Krekeler
Thank you to Kyle Keefe for sharing his journey and being part of Girl Dad Nation. Check out the links in the description for more of his story, including that article I mentioned at the time of this episode release. We are saddened to hear of the passing of Peter McNab from cancer at the age of 70.

00:54:01:04 - 00:54:24:13
Matthew Krekeler
Cancer sucks. Kyle and I talked about it in the episode and it was really beautiful to see the way that the avalanche organization honored Pierre McNab's legacy. I've heard nothing but good things about him, and although I never had the opportunity to meet Peter watching him alongside Kyle and the rest of the broadcast team for so many years made me feel like I knew him in a very small way.

00:54:24:13 - 00:54:46:04
Matthew Krekeler
I dedicate this episode to you, Peter. As Kyle can testify, things don't always go the way we envisioned. But it's important to recognize the blessings we do have and cherish them every day. Thank you for joining with me this far. If you've enjoyed these stories, please share the show with a friend. Girl Dad Nation is on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

00:54:46:16 - 00:54:58:13
Matthew Krekeler
You can also email me at girldadnationpodcast@gmail.com. There is no greater joy than being a dad. Oh, and one last thing. Go, Avs!