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The McHale family of Whitehorse is driven to succeed in sports, as well as in life.

Greg and Denise McHale are former adventure racers.

Their son Kolter, 10, is a promising hockey player.

Their daughter Yari, seven, competes in cross country skiing and running.

Kolter keeps busy with his young hockey career.

He plays at the Atom level, or U11, with the Whitehorse Mustangs and the Caribou Crossing house league team.

Kolter also does speed-skating on Wednesdays.

The Star spoke with the family on Friday.

鈥淲e shoot for two, two and a half hours a day of hockey (including time on their rink and with his teams),鈥� said Greg.

Kolter鈥檚 been playing hockey for five years.

He watched most of the games in the recent World Junior Championship, in which Canada won the gold medal and Conner Bedard broke a number of Canadian records. The young centre was asked if he鈥檚 a fan of Bedard.

鈥淣o,鈥� he replied.

Conner McDavid is a different story.

鈥淵eah, I like him. All my friends like the Oilers,鈥� said Kolter.

鈥淚 like (Trevor) Zegras, (Mitch) Marner and (Auston) Matthews.鈥�

Kolter explained how he got into hockey 鈥淲ell, it was mostly my poppa actually. He just kept on telling me I should start playing.鈥�

Kolter鈥檚 poppa, or grandfather, Brent, is a big time hockey fan.

His parents helped explain how Kolter got into hockey.

鈥淚 played hockey growing up,鈥� recalled Greg. 鈥淟ots. And when we moved to the Yukon, our initial thought was because we鈥檙e both multi-sport, more endurance athletes, that we would get the kids into cross country skiing and more kind of endurance sports that could last the whole lifetime. We never did cross country skiing but we really valued the holistic approach and life-long sport that it could provide.鈥�

Denise added 鈥淲e have a great cross country program here. We see such a crossover because we ultra run and mountain bike. We just didn鈥檛 grow up in a place to cross country ski. So we thought we鈥檇 kind of steer that ship that way but poppa steered the ship to (hockey), which is fine.鈥�

As for what he likes about playing hockey, Kolter said 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. It鈥檚 just fun.鈥�

According to Kolter, his strengths are skating and stick-handling. His style of play is simple. 鈥淧ass it when they have a better shot than you.鈥�

Not surprisingly, Kolter has lofty goals for his career.

鈥淔irst I want to play in the World Juniors and then from there, I want to get drafted to the NHL.鈥�

Greg said he values the quality time he spends with his son on their outdoor rink.

鈥淚f you have somebody that has the situation that Kolter has, he鈥檚 got good physical ability, but what he has more than anything is the heart and the drive and the want and the not-quit attitude. And is super teachable. And he loves hockey.

鈥淚 know a little bit about hockey. I can build a rink. I can be out there shooting pucks with him in the morning.鈥�

Kolter said his parents have 鈥渜uite a bit鈥� to do with him being an athlete.

鈥淒ad comes out on the rink with me every morning.鈥�

Greg added 鈥淭his is a kid that wakes up at 5:30 in the morning by himself. He sets his own alarm. I wake up earlier, I鈥檓 doing my workout and he comes down, we stretch and then it鈥檚 off to the rink. So this is who he is.

鈥淭he day that he says he doesn鈥檛 want to do it anymore is the day that he doesn鈥檛 have to do it anymore.鈥�

Denise said last year Kolter didn鈥檛 make the rep team in his first year.

鈥淭he great thing was it seemed to fire him up, which was nice to see. And then at the end of the year they invited him to come up and play a couple times. He got rewarded because he worked so hard and then he said 鈥業t was good I didn鈥檛 make it last year because it made me work a lot harder.鈥欌��

The McHales have a tourism business and some commercial real estate.

They also have a hunting show: Greg McHale鈥檚 Wild Yukon.

鈥淲e鈥檙e kind of a little bit diversified,鈥� said Greg.

The McHales have owned the Caribou Crossing resort near Carcross since 2012. They had a tough last season, post-COVID-19.

鈥淲e were hopeful for a bit of a season but it was pretty bad, with the (White Pass) train not running,鈥� recalled Denise.

In fact, business at Caribou Crossing was only at about 20 per cent of 2019.

鈥淏ut all things are looking positive for this year,鈥� said Denise.

Owning a number of different businesses, as well as their positive attitude, keeps the McHales going in tough times.

鈥淓ven if a business like that gets crushed, our attitude has always been that it really doesn鈥檛 matter,鈥� related Greg.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to survive. It鈥檚 having a professional career in adventure racing and Denise and I racing together for years, it鈥檚 taught us resilience under any circumstance.

鈥淵ou just move forward and you build up again. But as long as everybody鈥檚 healthy. That鈥檚 ultimately what matters. It鈥檚 all about health, relationships, and then you can look at finances after that. But those are the things that matter.鈥�

Denise added 鈥淚 think that adventure racing was the catalyst to really having that kind of attitude about everything. We did some physically, mentally challenging 鈥� like, with adventure racing you race for five, six days in remote locations, run, bike, paddle, all navigation with a map and compass and with a team of four. So there was a lot of dynamics there and a lot that can go wrong. But you choose to put yourself in those situations, obviously, but I think we鈥檝e learned a lot from them, for sure.鈥�

Greg said 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 pretty safe to say that we鈥檙e retired from adventure racing. I think if we started out doing it just for fun, we would probably still be doing it. But whenever a professional athlete does something, and then it鈥檚 time you鈥檙e no longer at the top of the game, or where you expect to be or life 鈥� we chose to have children, so that the amount of time that you needed to exercise per week, and then run businesses and all these things. Something鈥檚 gotta give. And when we decided to have kids was the decision that okay, we will and then we鈥檒l kind of retire or at least take some time to focus on the family, focus on business, get it to a place where we could come back in 2016. And, then, as you get older, things just literally don鈥檛 rehab as quickly.

鈥淲e were actually in a great position. We were back physically super strong. But the mental side is so important in that game and we had a plan, for getting a year in and then the mental game would be back because the physical would be there, the mental game鈥檚 back and then let鈥檚 push for a season to be the best that we could ever be. I got injured. And then that was 鈥� we always decided that we weren鈥檛 going to race without each other.鈥�

Denise added 鈥淲hen he got injured and trying to juggle the kids and leaving the kids I found it got really hard and it just wasn鈥檛 as important. I was like, 鈥業t鈥檚 not as important anymore to put this amount of effort that takes away from the kids.鈥欌��

Starting in 2016, the McHales raced for Team Tecnu for a few years.

鈥淚 think we did four races that year,鈥� related Denise. 鈥淎nd then 2017 we were set to go to Paraguay and one more World Championships and then you (Greg) hurt yourself.鈥�

Greg severed three of the four ligaments in his ankle in New Zealand. Fortunately, he received exceptional medical treatment.

鈥淚 was literally in an advanced sports medicine facility within five days.鈥�

Denise still runs in races like the Reckless Raven and the Klondike Road Race.

鈥淚 did Leadville 100 miler just before COVID and then COVID of course put a little damper on the plans but after that, we鈥檙e doing a 50k in Vancouver in April. And then we鈥檙e gonna do more of an adventure run in Europe this summer for my birthday. So just trying to enjoy being outside. This isn鈥檛 a race in the summer, but it鈥檚 still a 170k loop in the Alps in four days so we鈥檝e got to be in shape. You want to enjoy it, want to be able to have a glass of wine in the evening.鈥�

鈥淎nd be able to walk the next day,鈥� chimed in Greg.

He then reiterated the family鈥檚 philosophy.

鈥淲e come from this background; we know what it takes to be successful, whether it鈥檚 in business or in sport. And I know that this is the path 鈥� 鈥榠f this is what you want, then this is what we have to do.鈥� When the kid says 鈥業 want to go play in the NHL鈥�, he鈥檚 very realistic about, OK, the amount of kids that actually make the NHL 鈥� we鈥檝e had these conversations. And if you truly want that, then there鈥檚 a path to there, whether it happens or it doesn鈥檛. Life is about failures as well. And picking yourself up when you do fail.

鈥淲hen you make the commitment and you put in all the effort that you can and it doesn鈥檛 work out, at least you can be proud of yourself for the fact that you put in all that effort. It鈥檚 really about life skills.

鈥淚f you want something, you鈥檙e going to have to work for it and you have to make a plan and follow a path to get there. And the path to playing hockey is not to just play hockey when the rest of the kids are playing hockey. It鈥檚 putting in an extraordinary amount of effort because in order to be a professional at anything, you must put in an extraordinary amount of effort to get there.

鈥淎nd this is what our parenting style is with the recognition that when the kid says 鈥業 don鈥檛 want it鈥� and then if you don鈥檛 want it, why don鈥檛 you want it and what are we shooting for, because you have to have a goal. Cause if your goal is to be thirty years old and sitting in my basement playing video games, you got another think coming.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 our philosophy. Some people will agree. Some will not agree, but we鈥檒l see where it all shakes out. We know what has worked for us in life and business and our relationship and I don鈥檛 think I could be much happier. When I can spend as much time as I do with my kids, in life, what more is there? And we鈥檙e not just putting food on the table. When you have those three things: health, relationships and your finances in check, then the world is a really good place, even when it鈥檚 not a good place.鈥�

To be continued Wednesday.