Brooks Laich had a distinguished NHL career. Most notably with the Washington Capitals, he’s working on a new venture called “World Playground”. If you want to save on travel, then he is your man!

“We just want to provide travelers with the cost of travel and nothing more. So we never add a single cent of commission or keep a single cent of commission on any travel booking,” said Laich. “And that is the change in the industry that we want to make. Travel is so expensive. The sport of hockey is so expensive. My siblings have kids who play it. My sisters are all around North America with their three kids for softball, hockey, and baseball, and the off-ice or off-field costs of youth sports are astronomical. This website makes it more affordable for every youth sports parent out there. We simply provide to you, the traveler, the cost of the travel service as we receive it, without ever adding a single cent of commission. And so it’s the same hotel, it’s the same hotel room. All the parameters are the same. We are just removing the middleman markup from your booking so that the world is more affordable for you, and I’m a dreamer. I dream big. I think of safaris, and this could be a game changer.”

The same way that Alex Ovechkin was a game-changer for the Capitals. Ovechkin is still playing much to the surprise of Laich as well. 

“I didn’t think this long.  I thought skating would end up being a limiting factor for him, but it absolutely has not. He can still, but he doesn’t move as well now. Obviously, when he was 22, 23, he was an absolute wrecking ball. But he can still, he still covers ground. He’s not left behind in a play. He hasn’t just been absolutely reduced to the one timer. Al can still impact the game in many areas. And but to play 20 years, like he still scored 30 goals at the age of 40. I never scored 30 goals in my best year. 25 was my best.

“I saw him surprise me, even when he would score 50 goals. The next goal that he would score, I’d be like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe he scored that. And I’ve seen him do it for ten years, and he would still continually surprise me with what he was able to do on the ice. So I do feel surprised he played that long. On the other hand, I don’t because he continually surprised me.”

I asked Laich to give me a scouting report on himself since I was at the NHL Scouting Combine at the time. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2001 NHL Draft. That was the first of many drafts that I would cover. 

“I was a lanky guy. Just naturally, I’m a long, skinny guy. So I wasn’t overly powerful. I wasn’t what you would call an extremely physical or power forward. As you ask me that, I reflect on a couple of things. My dad always taught me to be able to be a guy that the coach could look down at and say, I can always put that guy on the ice. So when the coach is behind the bench, he can see your name on the back of your jersey, and he said, in the first minute of a game, in the last minute of a game, up a goal, down a goal. I can put this player, I can put Brooks Laich on the ice at any single time,” Laich remembered. “So I always had an appreciation for the entire game. And that was initially put into me by my dad. And then further to that, as you ask me this question. Another moment I reflect on is when I was 19 years old, playing in Seattle for the Seattle Thunderbirds, and Dean Chynoweth was my head coach at the time. Dean called me into his office that year, and he said, ‘I have high hopes for you. I see a lot of potential in you, and I have one question to ask you. And he said, ” Would you rather be a 100-point NHL or 100-point American Hockey League player or a 60-point NHL player? And I said a 60-point NHL player. And he goes, then we’ve got to work on a few things. We’ve got to learn to kill penalties better. We’ve got to be better on the boards.  We’ve got to be better on faceoffs. We’ve got to learn small things because I believe that you can put up 60 points in the NHL, but you’re not going to be a 100 point NHL player, but you can impact the game in other areas’ and from that was probably halfway through the season, we worked on additional components of my game that led to me being, I like to believe, a very good two-way forward in the NHL, but that was identified very early on by Dean. He ended up being spot on. My career year was 59 points. I missed four games that year, so I would have probably made that 60-point plateau, but he was spot on. He gave me great advice.”

Back to the business of travel. I put Laich through the paces. I travel a lot for hockey as well. I also have a degree in Hotel/Restaurant management, so I know how the business works. I will be using his website for my travels.

He texted me a social media post from an interested customer. It was genuine, and it’s the kind of feedback a business like this needs. 

“I want every father to be able to take his family. On whatever getaway is amazing for them, whatever they can afford. And our website just makes, we say we bring the world back within reach, and we make the unforgettable, more affordable for travelers and families out there. So it’s my new Stanley Cup.”

Laich has put the same energy into this as he did in his NHL career. He will be a success in this as well.