It happens to all of us: before we know it we’ve left our youth behind and with each passing day move further away from it. Life comes at you fast, they say, and despite modern medicine and science, father time remains undefeated. So it’s only natural to look back and reminisce about simpler times, when there were less responsibilities, and all that mattered was going to sleep so we could wake up in the morning to play hockey again.
That feeling doesn’t just hit us normal hockey fans who never got a chance to play in the NHL. It hits NHL players as well, and the later they get in their careers, the more they look back at the road that got them to where they are. Thousands of early morning practices, years of their life spent at rinks taking power skating, puck handling and shooting classes and putting on and taking off their gear. To play the game at the highest level takes a huge sacrifice of a large part of childhood, so while we all look back fondly on our youth, what we appreciate and remember will greatly differ. Here are some of the things that NHLers remember when looking back on their youth hockey careers.
Their Parents
Most athletes will thank their parents for the sacrifices and hard work it took to raise a child that is destined to be a professional athlete. But hockey parents can truly say they put in the work. Getting up before dawn in a Canadian winter, and then driving to practices before school and work is no easy task. There’s a reason why NHL players are so quick to share their success with their parents: if it weren’t for them they really wouldn’t be in the NHL. We saw a glimpse of this when Walter Gretzky passed away earlier this year, and the entire hockey world felt like it had lost a father figure. We saw it again at the end of this season when great American goaltender Ryan Miller had an emotional moment with his parents after his last NHL game. NHL players never forget the reason they get to live their dreams and play hockey for a living, and without their parents’ support and sacrifices, the players’ lives would be much different. In Alex Ovechkin’s case, it was his older brother who took him to his games when his parents could no longer do so. In a devastating turn of events, Sergei Ovechkin dies of a blood clot following a car accident when Alex was 10. Even now Ovechkin pays tribute to his brother by kissing his glove and pointing to the sky after he scores a goal.
The Friendships
Even at the young age of youth and minor hockey, there is a sense of competition and going to battle with your teammates. Your teammates on the ice become your friends off the ice, and if you’re like me, they turn into some of your lifelong friends. Every NHL player has stories of friends they played with as children. Some make it to the NHL together, while others give up their dreams of playing in the NHL at a young age. Sidney Crosby famously would call one of his friends at 7:30 AM during their summer vacations, so they could go and play roller hockey all day. Edmonton Oiler superstar Connor McDavid played with current Florida Panther Sam Bennett all throughout their childhood, and are lifelong friends. But when Bennett played for the Flames, it became a heated rivalry on the ice, no matter how much love there was off it. Sometimes, like with McDavid and Bennett, friendships continue into the NHL, but most of the time they just continue on into normal life. Either way, youth sports teammates are some of the best friends you’ll ever have.
Playing the Game
Most players who make it to the NHL just have the desire to play hockey all day and every day. The stories of players skating around after practice or going home to shoot more pucks are not exaggerated, and while other kids may go home to play videogames or other activities, the very best continued to eat, sleep, and breathe the game. Think about Crosby phoning his friend at 7:30 AM every morning to play during the summer. Other players love the game so much they dedicate their later years to moving away from home to attend a hockey school or University, especially if they live in a smaller town. Nathan MacKinnon did this when he was a teenager and transferred to Shattuck-Saint Mary’s in Faribault, Minnesota. There are plenty of European players who came to North America at young ages, knowing zero English, to try and one day have a chance of playing in the NHL. Some even went to College here to play for strong NCAA hockey programs. Gustav Nyquist, Carl Hagelin, and Thomas Vanek all went down this road to the NHL. The one thing all these players love is playing the game, no matter where in the world they are.
The Fun Stuff
A lot of NHLers look back at their youth hockey years as some of the best years of their lives. Many of them look back to team road trips and tournaments as the highlights of their youth hockey careers. Others remember smaller things like going for breakfast after practice or team pizza parties after games. For example, Auston Matthews reportedly became interested in playing hockey at the age of 5, because he loved watching the zamboni clean the ice at Phoenix Coyotes games. The Sedin twins began playing much later at the age of 8, and they remember fondly that Daniel had to change his position from center to wing so that they could play on the same line together. It is fun little memories like these that illustrate just how long the path to the NHL is, and even though every player takes a different route, the youth hockey years are often remembered as some of the funnest years of their childhood.
