One thing that is not too uncommon in the sports world, especially as a younger player, is having a parent as a coach. Senior Logan Flay is a defenseman for the Cherry Creek Bruins, and his dad, Coach Rob Flay, is the assistant defensive coach.

Coach Flay started coaching in his early 20s and has been coaching for close to 35 years, “I started coaching just because I love to be around the game and I love to give back to the players and the sport, I mean it’s such a good sport,” Coach Flay said. 

Logan on the other hand has been playing for close to 14 years and he plays because of his family. “I’ve been playing for about 13 and a half years. It’s been a family sport. [Hockey] is something we all grew up around,” said Logan. 

Always being together may be challenging at times; however, according to Coach Flay, he strives to find the balance between being a dad and a coach, “There are situations where I get frustrated with him and I have to make sure I treat him the same as I treat everyone else as a player. I really try my best to keep the coach hat on and leave the dad hat at home,”

Logan believes that having his dad as a coach makes for a healthy relationship, “As soon as I leave school I’m here, he’s here. We’re just always here,” Logan said. Coach Flay also responded similarly when asked about his favorite part of coaching his son, “I get to spend more time with him. We’re here at the rink 5 days a week.”

Although sometimes it may be hard to have a parent as a coach and a child as a player, especially if the sport of which is involved is something that both have a found passion for, the Flay father and son duo continues to find ways to make it work.