Why we built Honest Hockey

A short story from our founder, a hockey parent and coach, on why Honest Hockey exists.

Honest Hockey started on the same rink most hockey families know well. As a parent and a coach, I watched kids who loved the game but didn't always know what to do between practices, and I watched the tools that were supposed to help turn training into another scoreboard. Leaderboards, rankings, kids stacked against each other. For a twelve-year-old, that's not motivation. It's pressure, and it's the fastest way to make a kid quit.

So we built the opposite.

Effort, honestly reported

Honest Hockey is off-ice training that the coach sets and the player logs, push-ups, planks, sprints, shooting, stickhandling, stretching, and real off-ice goalie work. A player who does 30 seconds of a 45-second plank logs 30. That's 67%, not a failure. The whole point is that a kid competes with one person: who they were last week. Rings fill, streaks build, and their monster reps the grind. No leaderboards. No ranking. Just showing up.

Private by design

This is a kids' app, so we treat it like one. A player's effort and information are seen by exactly two people, their coach and their own parent. Never other players, never other parents, never the public. We don't sell data, we don't run third-party ad tracking, and a parent can see and delete everything at any time. Trust is the product.

The honest part isn't just the name

Self-reported effort only works if kids feel safe being honest, which means no shaming, no public failure, and no nagging. Reminders go to the parent, not "you missed a workout" guilt-trips to the child. The coach owns the plan; the player owns the effort; and getting better is the only thing being measured.

Where we're headed

Honest Hockey is live for the '26-'27 season, for coaches who want their players showing up ready, and parents who want a private, positive place for their kids to build good habits. If that's you, open the web app and get your team set up today.

Mike, founder, Honest Hockey · info@gethonesthockey.com