April 24, 2025 • 42 mins
Paris O'Brien shares his remarkable journey from quitting hockey at age 15 to becoming the Chinese national hockey goaltender and Olympian. His story demonstrates how stepping away from sport temporarily can sometimes be the catalyst for future success when combined with passion, hard work, and being ready when opportunity arises.
• Growing up playing minor hockey in Coquitlam before deciding to take a year off at age 15-16
• Returning to hockey with Delta Hockey Academy before being spotted by Mike Keenan at a tryout
• Playing professionally in Finland at 17, then in Russia's VHL and KHL before the Olympics
• The critical importance of mental training for goaltenders—"90% mental, 10% physical"
• Working with mindset coach Pete Fry and now mentoring younger goalies himself
• Using technology like Visual Edge and Sensorina to train cognitive aspects of goaltending
• Comprehensive recovery protocols including cold tubs, heat therapy, and compression boots
• Playing at the Olympics against Team Canada after briefly practicing with them
• Custom gear setup including a helmet painted by his girlfriend artist
• Balancing hockey with other interests to maintain mental health and perspective
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm a huge advocate for that just because I've seen
that improvement in myself usingthose tools, yeah, and learning
how to bounce back after notcoming up with the save you know
little things like that as agoaltender are so many more like
beneficial I guess you couldsay yeah than compared to like
working on nutrition.
Obviously those are importanttoo, but the same time, the
mental aspect is so much moreimportant, right, yeah hey,
(00:26):
welcome back to the athlete.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey, welcome back to the athletes podcast.
This is 256th episode of theshow featuring paris o'brien,
the chinese national hockeygoaltender, someone who I can
now call a friend.
We've been chopping it up for45 minutes.
He's an amazing human being.
He's someone who's alsopassionate about educating,
entertaining and inspiring thenext generation of athletes.
Along with our partners inPerfect Sports Supplements, they
(00:51):
provide the best supplements onthe market.
I take a scoop of diesel, acouple scoops of diesel, a scoop
of collagen, my creatine everysingle day.
You guys see it in my shakes Ifyou're following along on
social media, whether it's theathletes podcast, dave Stark one
, I sincerely appreciate youbeing along for the ride because
we're here to get bettertogether.
I'm definitely getting betterThanks to Paris.
(01:12):
He's providing me with bothmental, physical and emotional
benefits from this conversationalone, so I know you're going to
enjoy it as well.
I want to make sure you folksknow he brought it up during
this episode.
It's kind of cool.
We get to drive around in aJeep for this podcast and, in
particular, we get to highlightthese incredible individuals on
a weekly basis.
And that's all.
(01:33):
Thanks to Pioneer Auto Group,alder Grove, they give us this
amazing plug-in hybrid Jeep.
We get around, we put it inelectric mode so it stays quiet
during this episode, and it's anamazing mobile studio, so shout
out to Pioneer Auto Group forhooking us up.
Hope you enjoy the episode.
The 256th episode of theAthletes Podcast featuring Paris
O'Brien here we go.
You're the most decoratedracquetball player in US history
(01:57):
, world's strongest man, fromchildhood passion to
professional athlete, eight-timeIronman champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in the NHL?
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, from underdogs tonational champions?
This is the Athletes Podcast,where high-performance
individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons To
(02:20):
educate, entertain and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go, here we go, therewe go.
What is this?
Episode 256 of the AthletesPodcast, paris O'Brien, welcome
to the show, thank you.
Thank you for having me Dude,powered by Perfect Sports, we're
going to be peeling aroundCoquitlam, where you kind of
grew up.
Lower mainland, british Columbiaright yeah, Doug Lynch a couple
(02:43):
weeks ago who we had on theshow.
You Lower mainland, britishColumbia, right?
Yeah, doug Lynch.
A couple weeks ago, who we hadon the show.
You got to introduce yourselfwhere you're from Chinese
national goaltender playing inthe Olympics, no big deal, and
now we're cooking here inCoquitlam before you end up
taking off playing pro somewhereelse.
I'm going to put this dieselright on my lap and I'm going to
let you talk.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Okay, yeah.
So I mean to be totally honestwith you, it kind of sounds a
little weird obviously to me,with you know, the olympics and
stuff like that it's.
It's hard to like even now tograsp my you know head around.
That actually happened, youknow, and experiencing those
things.
But uh, appreciate the littlebit of introduction there.
So obviously I grew up in thequillam area here minor hockey
(03:24):
and then I played pretty muchminor hockey all the way up till
I think I was 15, 16 years oldand then I actually decided to
quit hockey.
Not a whole lot of people knowthat, so I quit hockey for a
year, just did everything kindof on my own, pretty much
training, and then the next yearI got an opportunity to go play
at Delta Hockey Academy for theU17 prep team out there.
(03:45):
Great experience, I mean,phenomenal academy, what they
have to offer, the program.
And then kind of one thing ledto another.
I got invited to this kind oflike, so to speak, tryout, I
guess you could call it, justbecause they needed an extra
goalie, and it just so happenedthat it was kind of out of the
blue right and how I went thereand more or less kind of the
(04:07):
rest is history.
I got approached by Mike Keenanof all people you know at the
eight rinks all the way onBurnaby.
That's where I play.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Tuesday, saturday night, shl.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Right on.
So I played out there.
And then, yeah, they invited melike two weeks after that
tryout camp to go meet them infinland for their major junior
team.
So I played a year there andthen at 19 played my first pro
game or pro season, the vhl, andthen played the khl and then
the olympics and then kind ofsnowballed and now kind of
transitioning the career back tonorth america now.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
So it's been a whirlwind of events for sure you
just spent some time out atLaurier Wilfrid Laurier
University, similar to where Iwent out at Brock University.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Oh, really no way.
We both spent some time in theMiddle East there the Middle
East of Canada.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
That is and I was curious the transition from
playing pro hockey at 19 yearsold.
Mhl, vhl you're playing Deltahockey, mike Keenan comes up to
you, you have Alexander Barkov,senior coach, and, yeah, you've
had all these crazy experiences.
This all leads from someone whoquit hockey at the age of 15.
(05:22):
Was this before or after youdecided you weren't going to
pursue water polo at a full-timecareer basis?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Wow, you really did your research here?
Yeah, I mean, I just kind ofwant to touch on, obviously,
like for me growing up playingminor hockey.
At the same time my brotherhe's four years older than me.
He played for Team Canada, thenational team for water polo.
So during the summers I playedwater polo with him he's
actually my coach one of theyears and kind of balancing
(05:49):
between the two.
And then around the age of 15,like you said, I kind of decided
because of politics and I justwasn't getting the right
development for myself, goaltending wise, I decided to kind
of do my own thing with my owngoalie coaches.
You know, self pace a littlebit, so still wanted to be
competitive, but it justfiguring out what I want, what
kind of direction I wanted to gointo.
So did that and then, uh, yeah,I mean, obviously it's just one
(06:14):
of those things that you knoware really even now I mentor
younger goalies and the biggestthing that, uh, when I mentor
these guys, is that you justnever know who's watching, right
, you know having thatopportunity and just I'm a big
believer in that.
Everything kind of happens for areason, you know.
So going through the wholeexperience, obviously it's been
super kind of I mean surprising.
(06:36):
It's surreal even now.
But you know, when peoplementioned that I'm an Olympian,
you know, and stuff like thatand you're playing the KHL, but
I mean a lot of hard work's goneinto it, so for sure.
But yeah, just kind of excitedto experience and take
everything day by day.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Now you know, as you can tell you've listened to
previous episodes we bring ongoalies frequently because I
personally think they're thebest athletes.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
We are, we are Right.
I figured you would agree withme on that one, the best
athletes out.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
There we are, we are right.
I figured you would agree withme on that one, and I think that
stems a lot from being the lastline of defense.
Yeah, having pressure on you 247 365, like people talk about
in the hockey world.
It's like we have a job, yeah,when we show up, whereas a
player line gets scored on youchange for sure the finest one,
whatever.
As a goalie, you got to livewith that mistake for the rest
(07:24):
of your life.
How do you stay calm?
How do you stay composed?
I've heard you talk aboutgrounding.
I'm going to dive into that.
But first, calm composed,you're a cool cucumber.
How do you stay?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
like that.
I mean to be totally honestwith you, it's a lot of.
I guess time and experience isthe biggest thing.
And I guess time and experienceis the biggest thing, right?
And you know, I think when I,especially when I was younger,
nerves would sometimes get thebest of me and how, in some
cases, our enemy, our biggestenemy is ourselves.
Right, and the way we think,and I think a big help that I've
(07:56):
had the last few years now isreally working with some kind of
mindset coach.
You're going to plug Pete Fryhere, I can hear it.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, I got pete fry.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah.
So I started working with pete.
Obviously, you know great guy,he's kind of been a mentor to me
, kind of learning from him,yeah.
And then the last few years,now last two years, um, pete
asked me, just because he's gota ton of younger goalies, if I
kind of wanted to help mentorthese younger goalies and work
with them on the side, obviouslycontinuing my hockey career,
but, you know, helping out theyounger goalies in the community
(08:24):
more or less so well andthere's benefits from coaching
that you 100% learn so much.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I'm doing the same thing right now coaching
basketball.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
I'm by no means a pro basketball player, but I come
back to my high school.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, I'm like hey guys, I know a thing or two
about hard work absolutely, it'sbeing in the weight room was
especially it's.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's kind of rewarding too in a sense that I
think you know seeing, you knowdevelopment with these younger
athletes and it helps my game aswell, right.
I feel that you learn more fromteaching than you know
experiencing some in some casestotally so, but 100 super
rewarding, seeing the growth ofthese younger athletes and kind
of see them mature and becomemore confident, it's a huge
(09:03):
thing, right, and I think it'skind of transitioned into you
know my own game as well, right.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So one of our sponsors for the podcast other
than perfect sports, whoprovides the best protein on the
market is can I wellnesssupplements?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
have you heard of them?
No, I have not, dave well paris.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You take a couple sprints of that.
I'm not gonna make you do ittoday, but they provide four
separate kinds of products amend, a fresh, a boost and the
sleep super solid product.
Uh, it helps me stay calm.
I take this before I go in thesauna after a workout okay, heat
exposure cold, oh yeah, huge.
Okay, here we go see we got thegrounding, we got the heat, the
(09:46):
cold.
What?
Do, you do what's your routinetell.
Tell me more.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, I mean, obviously grounding is a big
thing.
I actually started to get into,you know, putting more
attention to recovery the lastfew years when I was in the KHL.
And you know, obviously youneed to play a ton of games.
You know, even if you're notstarting games, a lot of
practices, you know, a lot oftime on the ice.
You need to find different waysthat you can recover from those
, you know high intensitymoments.
(10:09):
So big thing is obviously hotand cold therapy.
You know, I actually have anice tub in my backyard and then
I've got the Normatec boots.
The big thing.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
The next kind of installation for my house is, I
think, a sauna of some sort, butI've been to the Tality's
wellness yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, yeah, went.
Uh, last weekend was my firsttime, yeah, heck, yeah, yeah, so
it was my birthday on on the15th, so the last weekend I went
there, yeah, with a couple ofmy buddies and stuff, so it's a
nice way to spend the morningfor sure, happy belated yeah
thank you, uh, was that a way toget rid of?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
you know?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
sweat out some of the yeah, yeah a little bit of that
and a little bit of you know,I'm just like a big morning
person so obviously usually mymorning routine is me waking up
early, going to the gym orwhatever, and then having some
kind of involvement with coldtubs, doing something like that.
I love doing stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
So recent research has shown cold exposure limits
muscle protein synthesis by like66, I'm not gonna reference.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I'm not a scientist, but I'm sure you've seen it.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, I've seen the research what's uh, what's your
take on it?
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
well, I mean to me same with most athletes I can
imagine is whatever you can doto gain that extra percentage
above, yeah, your competition'shuge right.
So obviously it's going outthere experiencing things like
that.
You know firsthand from my.
So obviously it's going outthere experiencing things like
that you know firsthand From myexperiences is that it's worked
wonders on me.
You know my body with recoveryand stuff, especially, you know,
during the summers I work withmy trainer, kai Heinen, and he's
(11:59):
worked with a bunch of pro guysand NHL players as well.
And the biggest thing that hekind of emphasized especially
because our workouts are liketwo hours and a half hours every
day, right, plus ice time ontop, right, so it's a lot of
wear and tear on the body.
So a lot of cold therapy withice tubs and then obviously the
biggest thing that he recommendsis doing like hot bath with
(12:20):
epsom salt, right, just forlactic acid buildup.
Yeah, get rid of that.
So those are big things thatI've done and learned to develop
and incorporate into my game,yeah, which has helped a lot,
right.
So doing things like that.
I've also done the cryo chamberas well, yeah what do you think
of that?
it's different.
Yeah, it's definitely differentfor sure, but uh, yeah, I mean,
(12:41):
cryo chamber is one of thosethings.
Especially the first time, itwas more of a shock factor, yeah
yeah, have you ever done it?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I haven't done the cryo.
I am a big advocate for thesauna post-workout I spend my 20
minutes.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
It's like my routine.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I can't drop it.
I literally have twomemberships so that I have a
sauna membership um, but thecold.
I can see why athletes,especially in, like the
bodybuilding, hypertrophy,hypertrophy world, are trying to
limit their cold exposure, butit's more so for after workouts
for sure, so for peoplelistening.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
If you're like hey, I really like the way the cold
exposure makes me feel, do itbefore your workout or in the
morning and it's like a greatway to start your day,
absolutely even if it's just 30seconds, a minute, two minutes
you get some crazy benefits,especially just that kind of
dopamine rush that you getcompared to you know, obviously
I drink coffee most, like mostpeople but when you do a cold
tub jumping in the water, itkind of wakes you up, you know,
(13:37):
but way better than a coffee Waybetter.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Exactly, it should be my pre-podcast routine.
Yeah, if we weren't, if weweren't cold tub going, if we
weren't in the mobile studiothanks to pioneer auto group, uh
and the alder groove locationspecifically, I'd be doing it
maybe we'll like throw a tub inthe back of the jeep I think we
can make something happen.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
You gotta get a pickup truck next time.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah put it in the back or something I'll ask cody,
he might be down, he might, wemight be able to swing it
that'll be.
That'll be for our next episodewhen we do the training portion.
Yeah, so for sure.
So we'll figure that out, we'll.
We'll get a pickup, we'll fillit up with ice, cold exposure
pre-pod train and then we'll getafter it.
What do you think has like beenthe biggest adjustment for you
(14:18):
as you go through this process?
You're flying literally allover the world playing hockey.
I heard on ingol meg's episodethat you did last year with them
, the fact that ice rinks icelike the actual nets themselves
that you're playing on aredifferent sizes.
Is that true?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, it's.
I mean when I I mean I playedoverseas for the last seven,
eight years now, and the firstcouple of years there was a
massive difference.
I find it was difficult,especially as a goalieie, just
because of rank, size and thedifferent angles.
Um, it was harder the first fewyears that I went overseas,
just because I find it's moredifficult to go from a North
American size rank to a Europeansize rank and, uh, things are a
(15:00):
little bit off.
But I started to become moreeasier to adjust to it.
But it takes a few days to getused to it, I think.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Have you played at Sosuri and centennial arena?
Yeah, I have.
So you know the two differentsizes of those ones.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yes, yeah, but that's the thing.
Every rink is kind of differentfor the most part.
Um, I know the last few years,especially in the khl, they're
trying to make all the rinks nhlsize okay, so it's the same
yeah standardize it.
But, uh, I remember my firstyear in the kh KHL that I got
called up back in 2019, 2020,some of the rinks were a
(15:32):
European sizes and some were NHLsizes, so it's going like back
and forth between the two, whichis super difficult, especially
as a goalie.
Hmm, but you kind of get usedto after a while.
In the last few years now,because of new development that
they're doing to the league andstuff they're trying to expand,
so everybody's, every team'srank is identical, right, yeah,
it makes it easier for theplayers anyways.
(15:54):
But uh, yeah, I mean obviouslytraveled a lot and over the
years, which have beenphenomenal, but at the same time
, it's, you know, nice to beback home as well, right, yeah,
yeah trying to stick around innorth america yeah, that's the
goal, anyways, for this seasonwith uh, with the athletes
podcast, we've had 255 plusepisodes now.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Our goal yeah, over five years we were chugging away
our goal is to educate,entertain and inspire the next
generation of athletes.
Thank you, yeah, I uh.
It's kind of a very aspirationalgoal, probably something I'll
never actually be able to fullyachieve which is allows for me
to do it for the rest of my life, for sure, but I'm always
trying to dive a little deeperand be like okay, if I'm having
(16:36):
this episode with Paris today,would you prefer to educate,
entertain and inspire?
Would you like to do all threeand if so, how would you do that
with this podcast right now?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
yeah, I mean obviously you know, like I
mentioned before the episode,that uh, I'm an open book, so I
mean whatever kind of questionsyou had for me or ideas, but I
mean, for the most part, I Ilove you know, educating in the
sense of you know, obviously,with you know the position I am
playing pro hockey, having theexperience and then mentoring as
well.
Right, educating the youngerathletes is a huge thing and I
(17:08):
think, in a way, especiallybeing on you know, zoom calls
with pete and the other pro guys, yeah, um, it's kind of I've
learned a ton of things fromthem, you know, soaked up as
much information and kind ofshowing these younger guys that
you know these are the mistakesor things that I learned over
the last few years.
You know, giving them you knowtips and tricks that help their
game, right, I I think it's huge.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And then, obviously, with educating, it comes with
recovery and those other aspectsthat are huge as well, right,
the one piece that I had tobring up is the fact that you're
wearing a Visual Edge hat.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
One of our athletes at Cook Stark Management, megan
Warner is also a Visual Edgeathlete.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Okay, nice Former, uconn Husky goaltender.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
goalie of the year like sub one GAA.
No big deal, no big deal.
I was curious how has thathelped your game?
I know you used Sensorena inthe past as well.
Where does that fit in?
How do you incorporatetechnology?
I feel like that's somethingthat most people, if they aren't
privy to it yet, should be.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I don't have a code for it, but in gold mag it's a
discount code?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
yeah well, I actually I have.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
I mean, you got your own there you go my own, but uh,
yeah, I mean, obviously, whenit comes to technology, it's the
same as, especially for a proathlete, you're trying to get it
, gain that one extra percentageover your competitors, right?
And uh, it was one of thosethings that I started to do a
little bit of research intosensorino at the time back in I
think it was 2020, just beforethe Olympics and then I started
to use it more, especiallyduring the off-season, and I
(18:32):
think it's a huge tool, you know, to get some off-ice training
that you can work on.
That's similar.
Obviously, the best kind oftraining you can do is on-ice
stuff, especially as a goalie,but it's the closest kind of
comparison that I've experiencedyou, virtual reality, to work
on those skills, you know.
When it comes to reaction time,you know, catching the puck,
(18:53):
visualizing those little keyaspects, and then, obviously,
the last few years now, Istarted working with visual edge
, yeah, and I was fortunateenough to become, you know, an
athlete for them, kind ofworking with their tools.
When it comes to more cognitivesense, okay, which I think over
the last few years, I'velearned to develop that, or
learn and better understand that, especially as a goalie, we
(19:14):
don't really train our eyes atall, right, so true yeah, so
interesting yeah yeah.
So I started working with themand their program and obviously
they've got a ton of, you know,nhl teams or pro teams that they
work with and NHL goalies,right.
So I have a buddy who plays atBoston University, matthew Caron
, and he started using it and Ireached out to him kind of to
(19:34):
see you know what exactly theprogram is.
I know I have another buddy,conor Lecouve, who does it as
well and getting feedback fromthem, obviously from they've
experienced it.
So I tried it over, tried itout last few years and really
loved it.
I think there's a huge benefitin the game, you know,
especially when it comes toreactionary stuff memory, uh,
cognition, and uh, reaction timeuh, divergence, convergence
(19:58):
stuff too, right so, and I thinkit helps the overall game,
right so I've seen improvementin my game using it.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So definitely keeping that in the toolbox for myself,
but recommend using those twotools sensorina, visual edge if
you were a 15 year old goaliecoming back 16 year old goalie
in those same shoes when you'rejust starting back up your, your
hockey career.
What lessons have you learnednow that you would go back and
(20:25):
say, hey, this is something thatI would maybe do differently,
approach differently, whether itcomes to training, nutrition,
sleep.
Again, going back on thateducation piece, I'm like, oh, I
wish I knew how much it wouldhurt me if I didn't sleep or
didn't eat the right things.
What?
Speaker 1 (20:38):
do you?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
suggest.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
To be totally honest with you.
I think I mean everybody'sroutine, especially at that age
most guys who are competitivethey already have the right kind
of routine or habits.
So the biggest kind of piecethat or piece of advice I can
give to my younger, 15-year-oldself was work more on the mental
side of the game, just becauseI think it was a huge benefit
learning to how to control thosenerves, how to build confidence
(21:03):
in yourself, doing thatmovement like Pete talks about.
I think those are huge things.
I'm a huge advocate for that,just because I've seen that
improvement in myself usingthose tools, yeah, and learning
how to bounce back after notcoming up with the save.
You know little.
Things like that as a goaltenderare so more such like, so many
more like beneficial.
I guess you could say, yeahthen, compared to like working
(21:27):
on nutrition.
Obviously those are importanttoo, but at the same time the
mental aspect is so much moreimportant, right?
Yeah, it goes back to thesaying.
I mean probably everybody'sheard about it, right,
goaltending is 90% mental and10% physical, right?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, it's like golf in that sense, exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, I've actually been talking to Pete because he
just lives up the hill from methat we should go to the golf
course and, you know, work onour swing while we do the
movements and stuff like that?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Absolutely.
We should do a little rainsession and maybe film that too.
I know that's something that Istill have to work on in my game
, and I think again it appliesto everyday life, though, right
For sure.
Think again, it applies toeveryday life, though, right for
sure.
How you handle situations,adversity, when you're young,
you learn how to deal with that.
You're going to be better offdown the road too.
You touched on the mental piece, more specifically, the eyes,
(22:13):
that we don't train them.
I know you looked up to watchguys like luongo and braden
holtby growing up holtbyspecifically with his like water
bottle.
Yeah, water drops.
Yeah, that was some visual workthere.
Was that something you everincorporated, or did you?
Was that what?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, actually the last few years I started to
incorporate that into my game aswell.
Obviously, it's like a resetmechanism, same as whole beat
right throwing the water up andwatching one water droplet come
down Instead of putting myattention on, you know, those
what ifs or that negative sideof my brain when you have doubt
or insecurity or whatever popsup in your head as a reset
(22:48):
mechanism to ground you back inthe present moment.
So a cool little trick that Ilearned from holpy.
A bunch of pro guys use it aswell.
Um, but phenomenal, uh kind oftip for that anyways.
But uh, I mean a lot of othergoaltenders I looked up to were,
you know, in.
Obviously, carry price isprobably a big one for most guys
, right, yeah, and kind of, uh,kind of used kind of his game as
(23:14):
a reference to build off ofwith technique and the technical
side of the game, but kind ofadapting into more versatility,
like vasilevsky or you know thatcompete that raw, just hunger
for the puck, you know, yeah, so, but I mean, I think in a way,
as a goaltender, your best kindof teacher is obviously yourself
.
But on top of that, that extralayer is just watching guys that
(23:35):
you idolize right in the NHL orwhoever that is right in your
career was there ever a momentwhere you looked at the way you
were playing or the way otherswere playing you?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
you're like oh, I can totally do this.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I always look at those pivotal moments.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
For me.
I've now interviewed 250 plusindividuals.
You start to realize, okay,there's some consistent themes
that these high performers havesimilarities that these high
performers have.
Similarities.
And there's also those pivotalmoments where you realize, hey,
I'm a human like this human, I'mcapable of these things as well
, if I set my mind to it, if Iam consistent with my routines,
(24:17):
habits.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I can see the same success.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Obviously there's some genetic components of that,
but for you, was there thatmoment?
Was it that Delta skate thefirst time for the id camp?
Or what was that moment for youwhen?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
you, yeah, I mean for sure, I gained a ton of
confidence after having thatmoment when I was in the academy
.
I mean, funny story, when I got, I got a call from my mom who,
um, basically she just got offthe phone with a family friend
when I was at Delta and I wasjust after our practices.
Because that's how it works atDelta is you have your morning
(24:50):
practice, then you would driveby bus with the whole team to
the school.
So during that bus ride I got acall from my mom saying you
know, they're having this trialcamp in the afternoon.
So it was one of those thingsthat was out of the blue.
I ended up skipping school thatday to go thing.
Don't advise against doing that.
But um, yeah, I mean the biggestthing.
(25:11):
Obviously that was a big momentfor me, um, having that
experience which I gained a tonof confidence from.
But you know, adding to that, Ithink the biggest thing as well
was just, you know, I always,you know, just love playing
hockey and it's always been apassion of mine, right, I think,
for most guys and, to betotally honest, I had this kind
of, like most guys, this enact,you know, this feeling or gut
(25:33):
feeling that you know you wantto play at the highest level you
can, right, and but it's alsounderstanding that you know
which comes with maturity aswell that you know if you play
hard, you work, you know, putthe hours in, it's inevitable
you're going to get success,right, if you're in the right
position at the right time,because everything's kind of
(25:53):
left up to chance at that point,right.
But it's also understandingthat you know if you put the
hard work in, success issupposed to be inevitable, right
.
But at the same time you know,on top of that, it's you know,
experiencing those little thingswhich kind of helped me gain
more confidence.
And obviously it kind of goesback to, you know, that year
(26:15):
before Delta, you know, comingoff of not playing and wanting
it, getting that passion.
I never really did any of thisfor wanting it, gain that
passion.
It I never really did any ofthis for because I wanted to
play in the nhl or I wanted toearn so much money.
It was more so for just thelove of the game.
Yeah, and going back to that,and I still have that passion I
want obviously most guysincluding yourself, I can
(26:36):
imagine you know you just playbecause you love it, right, you
want to have fun, right yeah, Ialso just get asked by every
team under the sun because I'mthe emergency backup for the
lower mainland and most guyscharge money to play and I'm
like, yeah, it's all good, I'll,I'll, I'll just come play that
way, I don't feel any pressureif I let in a dozen.
Yeah, exactly Right, but itcomes part of it, right?
Obviously there's a huge amountof pressure but it's you know,
(26:59):
learning to develop that sensethat you know you put all this
work in, you're just having funand you're wearing, when you're
in that like hyper focused orlike flow state, everything
you're just, you're like glue,everything just attracts and
sticks to you.
Right?
It is crazy how that works.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yeah, when you stop thinking, almost right yeah, and
you just start living and yourealize that hey, I'm going to
attract the energy that I putout there, for sure, and if
you're able to for lack of abetter term be comfortable who
you are and understand thatyou're not going to be able to
please everyone.
I've had to learn that withthis podcast yeah, I'm like not
(27:39):
everyone loves to talk abouttraining, nutrition.
I get jazzed up about it.
Yeah, I don't mess with seedoils.
A lot of people are all up in atissy about seed oils, like
those are things that I.
I think that these kind ofconversations need to be had
more, because, sure you are.
A prime example of somethingthat I'm trying to hit home with
(28:00):
our listeners is the fact thatpeople should continue to play
sports, be active, move theirbodies after high school, after
their teenage years, because youcan still play professional
sport, you can still pursueamazing athletic feats and you
know you're supposed to livetill 70, 80, 90 now with life
(28:21):
expectancy and if you don sprintat the after the age of 18
you're probably not going to bemoving very well, for sure and
it's a scary sight to see oursociety at the state that it is
and everyone hears this podcastand thinks, oh, athletes, high
performers, whatever.
But it's like everyone's got abody.
Everyone is ultimately anathlete to some degree.
How much they are able toexpress that is another question
(28:44):
for sure, but I'm of theopinion.
That's why I bring people likeyou on, because I think it's
important to share the fact thatyou can quit hockey at the age
of 15.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Come back and play in the olympics yeah, it's I know
it's, it's kind of crazy when Isay it out loud, but those
things really did happen.
I think in a sense it's havingthat passion, having that drive
obviously is a big component ofthat, but on top of it it's just
making sure to do other things.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
When I was younger especially.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
I know a lot of friends of mine at that age.
When it came to, I believe,second year bantam, they would
just quit hockey because theydidn't get drafted or things
didn't really necessarily go theway they had planned.
Right?
So, because they lose thatpassion in a sense, right so,
even with the younger goaliesthat you know I'm mentoring on
the side and I'm starting todevelop these last few years
(29:39):
with myself, is that hockeyisn't everything.
And I think, in a sense, whenyou start to play other sports
and put more, you know focus onrecovery and getting away from
the game, you actually give backto yourself, which helps your
game, you know, in turn, rightso I mean it's you need to do
those things, those littlethings, because it's important,
(29:59):
right, especially for yourmental health as well, you know,
not get consumed by it.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, yeah, especially for your mental
health as well, you know, notget consumed by it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, we'rewrapping up here.
We're nearing back to your crib.
We got to ask, though, you're abig gear guy, I am.
Yeah, you're particular aboutsome stuff.
Tell me, what's the setup rightnow.
Who are you using?
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah, um.
Well, this season I went withthe uh.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Bauer shadow setup custom digiprint.
So I kind of went all out.
The team kind of more or lessgave me full reign to whatever I
wanted.
How nice is that?
Super nice.
Every team should do that.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
I know goalies there's only a couple of you
come on.
Yeah, I know, especially asgoalies we all love gear, right.
So having that added like alittle bit of touch was nice,
especially kind of the way thatthey treated me when I, you know
, got there was thatM.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Very professional, bauer.
Sorry, and was that at thehockey shop?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
No, because I was back east right, oh, right,
right so it was the source ofsports out there in Ontario or
in Toronto.
That kind of did my whole gearset up out there.
But super great guys I thinkthey work with I believe it's
Franchise the source of sports,okay, but they work in unison
sometimes with the hockey shophere.
(31:08):
So but I mean hockey shops,obviously goalie utopia right, I
know it's crazy there.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I get lost.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah.
So the setup this seasonobviously cause they gave me
free reign.
I've worked with power for manyyears, basically full cost of
shadow, everything.
And then my girlfriend she'sactually an artist, so I
actually asked her if she coulddo my helmet.
So she did her first goaliehelmet, which is the helmet I'm
currently wearing now, dang sofully custom she sprayed it and
(31:37):
painted it and so made it reallyauthentic, because there's no
goalie helmet that I've seen onthe market like that.
And I've worked with Dave Art.
I know the Fred out there seenon the market like that and I've
worked with, uh, dave art.
I know the was um, uh, fred outthere or on the island trav on
the island yeah yeah, andgetting ideas, you know, having
worked with other you knowgoalie artists, and kind of
telling her what I wanted andshe obviously did a phenomenal
(31:59):
job, so kind of uh, tap hats offto her for that, but uh, that's
so cool to be able to have thatas a part of your playing, like
you've got her with youwherever you go.
Exactly, yeah, having thatlittle bit of signature from her
.
Yeah, support from her as well.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
So yeah and uh.
I like I was in bantam and Isaved up a couple hundred
dollars and I got my helmetspray painted and that was my
most prized possession foreverafterwards and that was just
some random car, auto body guythat's like yeah, I'll paint
some bricks on your helmet foryou.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I know it's, but it's phenomenal.
When you have a goalie helmet,you know, like that you can like
fully customize and the teamgives you full reign so you
don't have to put necessarilythe team logo on it.
You can really express yourselfthrough that art, right so?
But obviously I've beenfortunate enough to work with
dave art because of the olympicsand a guy that you really kind
of idolize having.
Yeah, his experience of workwith you.
(32:50):
Know numerous nhl guys rightyeah, yeah.
so having that in my back pocket, it was kind of a cool
experience having being on thephone with him and explaining,
you know, our thought processand putting it, you know, pen to
paper, right, less right, sookay.
So I'm wearing their shirt.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah, in goal I've got to ask yeah, they've been
around for a decade plus nowthey're, I feel, like the go-to
goalie resource out there theyare.
How have you been consuming?
Do you go through pro reads?
What's your?
Tell me, give me some detailson in goal mag.
We got to give them the thrillof the shill here.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yeah, yeah yeah, I mean obviously, woody and hutch
are phenomenal guys great guys.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
My uncle really no way.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
So maddie and I, that's okay, yeah because I knew
you were buddies with maddiebut I didn't know you were that
close.
But I mean, small world right,yeah, that's cool, yeah.
But uh, obviously phenomenalguys right, and you know, after
the olympics they had reachedout to me immediately and kind
of wanted to do an episode withme.
And it was, and I thought I wassuper honored, having grown up
watching them and listening totheir podcasts and stuff and
(33:51):
still do the pro reads.
I think it's a phenomenal toolthat they have that they offer,
you know, gaining experience andknowledge from these NHL guys
and you know, and learning fromthe best right, more or less.
So very cool experience to havehaving done that and had the
opportunity to do that.
But uh, yeah, I think obviously, you know, having your ties
with Hutch um is that kind ofwhy you wanted to create a
(34:14):
podcast.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It's so interesting you bring that up.
Uh, they started in goal radio,yeah, a little bit prior to me
starting a podcast.
Um, I was, yeah, it'sinteresting, I had Hutch podcast
.
Um, I was, yeah, it'sinteresting, I had hutch,
obviously, who'd been doing itfor five, six, seven years
before.
Um, andrew harding is mycousin's husband.
he started knocking point winery, yeah, and so I've had a couple
(34:37):
entrepreneurs around.
My dad was always a serialentrepreneur, so I wanted to man
keep having conversations withpeople.
I was graduating university atBrock, I was in a sport
management program, so I stillhad a sport lens with business,
and well, I can tell you're apeople person.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
That's why I figure you know podcast works perfectly
into it, right?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
yeah, and it keeps you out of trouble.
You know you're just talkingwith people like for me.
After school I now havecontinued to build my network,
chat, learn from people likeyourself.
I get to train with world'sstrongest man.
He's, like you know, benching500 pounds overweight and I'm
trying to spot like stories thatI will take for the rest of my
(35:23):
life we're gonna go step on theice.
We're going to train together.
We're going to go to the drivingrange, like that stuff that you
would never do if you weren'thaving conversations and being a
yes man.
And I've done that, or I'mgoing to try and continue doing
that.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I think, in a way, you know being on this podcast
and I've been on a bunch ofother podcasts and I think, to
be totally honest with you, youjust being in a, you know, in
your car, in your Jeep here, ordoing things like that, it
separates you a hundred percentfrom other podcasters or other
interviews and it leaves thatimpact, you know, especially as
somebody coming on like you know, as an athlete, like I'm going
(35:58):
to remember this.
You know More or less, but Ilove what you're doing with this
.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Thank you.
I appreciate that, I guess foryour way to wrap this episode up
.
We normally ask our biggestpiece of advice for the next
generation of athletes.
You drop some in there.
There's some gold nuggets.
Throughout this 40-minuteconversation You're always
talking also, though, about asan athlete growing up.
Was there anyone that youlooked up to?
Parents, friends obviously yourbrother a couple years older,
(36:24):
anyone that?
You looked up to parents,friends, obviously your brother
a couple years older.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, were there athletes that you were aspiring
to look, train, approach sport,like I mean obviously, like you
said, I think, growing up as akid and I really idolized my
brother um, obviously he's fouryears older than me, but he was
also a goaltender, right so butuh, in water polo, yeah, so it's
a little bit different fromhockey per se, but obviously I
(36:48):
idolized him growing up becausehe played for Team Canada with
the national team, our nationaldevelopment program, and he
traveled a lot.
I remember telling my parentswhen I was younger that I wish
one day that I'll be able totravel and now, looking back,
I've traveled more than he has.
Yeah, but uh, I mean it's kindof what you wish for I know
(37:09):
exactly ask and you shallreceive, right, yeah, yeah, so
obviously somebody that I lookedup to was him.
Then I got a lot of, I think,my characteristics from both my
parents.
Obviously, you know my dad'ssuper hard working, so I learned
a learned a ton from him andfrom my mom as well, I think
more patience from my mom andwork ethic from my dad.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
So it's a good balance.
Exactly yeah, you need that.
Exactly so.
Who's the better athletebetween you and your brother?
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I have to say I am.
He's a little bit uncoordinated.
He's 6'6".
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Oh, you're a little lanky, eh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
But he's filling out now.
But he's just, you know,especially when he's filling out
now.
But uh, he's just, you know,especially when he's younger, is
a little bit more uncoordinatedthan I was, but I have to say
that I'm the better athlete, I'mthe olympian in the family.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
There you go.
He pulls that card.
Pull that card out.
I love it.
You got the tattoo yet, or what?
Speaker 1 (37:56):
yeah, I've got it on the inside of my arm.
That's like the first thingwhen I go back home.
Yeah, I reached out to a bunchof tattoo artists and, uh, I got
that inked on my, on my bodyhere.
So I got that and through mysleeve here.
Um, like a dragon, I gotta pullit out here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but uhcareful.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
This is the.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
This is the r-rated portion of the podcast.
Yeah, but I've got this dragonhere all the way down and then
I've got the uh, this word meanslike home in chinese okay, so
it's really important to me.
And then obviously the rings onthe inside here with Beijing.
Yeah, on the inside there.
But yeah, kind of cool Workingdown the arm here, hopefully now
Heck yeah.
But we'll see how things panout in the future.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
Last question the VancouverCanucks and the Montreal
Canadiens both offer you acontract.
You're making carry price cash10 mil per year.
You had to decide betweenMontreal and Vancouver.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Putting me on the spot.
I know these are your hometownversus your raised family ties.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Obviously, you play in any team that offers you a
contract in the NHL.
But you choose between thosetwo.
You go on East Coast or WestCoast.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
I mean, obviously it's a tough choice between the
two but I've got to give it tothe Canadians.
I mean with you know theheritage that they have, you
know, especially growing up, mydad's from Quebec, you know
watching their games when I wasyounger, montreal kind of holds
a place in my heart.
I've never actually been to thebell center but uh, I mean I've
seen games and stuff like thatwith the crowd and the
(39:25):
atmosphere there.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah, so much more electric yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
So definitely, if I got the option between the two,
I have to give it to Montrealand you bring up the bell center
story.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Now it's bringing up like where has?
It been your favorite place toplay.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Um, I think like overall.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean obviously the Olympicswas a big thing for me, right
Center stage, yeah, center stageAgainst Canada I know, against
Canada, and I mean funny storywith that.
Actually I, a month before theOlympics, I got invited to join
the national team with Canadafor the channel one cup.
(40:01):
No way, yeah, so they need anextra goalie.
So I stayed with them for a fewdays for training camp and
stuff and yeah, butunfortunately, because of IHF
ruling, I couldn't play anygames with them, I could only
practice.
So but they obviously allowedme, the Chinese Federation
allowed me to go there, practice, gain some experience from them
, and it was kind of coolbecause obviously went through
(40:23):
that experience with Team canadaand then later going to the
olympics and playing againstcanada, which was essentially
the same players more or less,that I practiced with before,
right, so yeah, so it's kind ofcool with that.
Olympics was a big moment, thatcenter stage with that.
Um, I think other big rinksthat I've been to obviously ska
in st petersburg's got a massivefacility.
(40:45):
I believe it's like 15 or 18, Imean correct me if I'm wrong,
but it's massive.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Someone in the comments will.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, 15 or 18,000 people, that kind of the seating
capacity there.
So electric in that building.
I mean a bunch of the NHL orKHL rinks I can imagine are very
similar to NHL size withcapacity, so it's just
absolutely electric.
But for sure, the Olympicsprobably is the biggest moment
in my mind that comes, you know,front stage for me.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Yeah, tough to beat.
Hey, this has been fun dude.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
I appreciate it tremendously.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
I'm excited to get some cold therapy in.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, we should Get some training on the range.
With Pete We'll work on themental game.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Pete was one of our first 100 guests.
Now we're getting Paris onPretty soon, over the next 5, 10
years we're going to befeaturing your athletes that
you've been working with who areon the next stage.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
That's the goal After my career doing something like
that, Right.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
That's what the Athletes Podcast is all about.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Paris O'Brien for coming on.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Thank you, folks for tuning in.
This is the 256th episode ofthe show and you folks are
hopefully learning being alittle bit more educated and
inspired from every singleperson we have on.
And if you're not enjoying theepisodes and who we're having on
, let me know who we shouldbring on down below in the
YouTube comments.
I'll reply to every single one.
If you let me know, we'll.
I'm a huge advocate for that just because I've seen
that improvement in myself usingthose tools, yeah, and learning
how to bounce back after notcoming up with the save you know
little things like that as agoaltender are so many more like
beneficial I guess you couldsay yeah than compared to like
working on nutrition.
Obviously those are importanttoo, but the same time, the
mental aspect is so much moreimportant, right, yeah hey,
(00:26):
welcome back to the athlete.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey, welcome back to the athletes podcast.
This is 256th episode of theshow featuring paris o'brien,
the chinese national hockeygoaltender, someone who I can
now call a friend.
We've been chopping it up for45 minutes.
He's an amazing human being.
He's someone who's alsopassionate about educating,
entertaining and inspiring thenext generation of athletes.
Along with our partners inPerfect Sports Supplements, they
(00:51):
provide the best supplements onthe market.
I take a scoop of diesel, acouple scoops of diesel, a scoop
of collagen, my creatine everysingle day.
You guys see it in my shakes Ifyou're following along on
social media, whether it's theathletes podcast, dave Stark one
, I sincerely appreciate youbeing along for the ride because
we're here to get bettertogether.
I'm definitely getting betterThanks to Paris.
(01:12):
He's providing me with bothmental, physical and emotional
benefits from this conversationalone, so I know you're going to
enjoy it as well.
I want to make sure you folksknow he brought it up during
this episode.
It's kind of cool.
We get to drive around in aJeep for this podcast and, in
particular, we get to highlightthese incredible individuals on
a weekly basis.
And that's all.
(01:33):
Thanks to Pioneer Auto Group,alder Grove, they give us this
amazing plug-in hybrid Jeep.
We get around, we put it inelectric mode so it stays quiet
during this episode, and it's anamazing mobile studio, so shout
out to Pioneer Auto Group forhooking us up.
Hope you enjoy the episode.
The 256th episode of theAthletes Podcast featuring Paris
O'Brien here we go.
You're the most decoratedracquetball player in US history
(01:57):
, world's strongest man, fromchildhood passion to
professional athlete, eight-timeIronman champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in the NHL?
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, from underdogs tonational champions?
This is the Athletes Podcast,where high-performance
individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons To
(02:20):
educate, entertain and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go, here we go, therewe go.
What is this?
Episode 256 of the AthletesPodcast, paris O'Brien, welcome
to the show, thank you.
Thank you for having me Dude,powered by Perfect Sports, we're
going to be peeling aroundCoquitlam, where you kind of
grew up.
Lower mainland, british Columbiaright yeah, Doug Lynch a couple
(02:43):
weeks ago who we had on theshow.
You Lower mainland, britishColumbia, right?
Yeah, doug Lynch.
A couple weeks ago, who we hadon the show.
You got to introduce yourselfwhere you're from Chinese
national goaltender playing inthe Olympics, no big deal, and
now we're cooking here inCoquitlam before you end up
taking off playing pro somewhereelse.
I'm going to put this dieselright on my lap and I'm going to
let you talk.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Okay, yeah.
So I mean to be totally honestwith you, it kind of sounds a
little weird obviously to me,with you know, the olympics and
stuff like that it's.
It's hard to like even now tograsp my you know head around.
That actually happened, youknow, and experiencing those
things.
But uh, appreciate the littlebit of introduction there.
So obviously I grew up in thequillam area here minor hockey
(03:24):
and then I played pretty muchminor hockey all the way up till
I think I was 15, 16 years oldand then I actually decided to
quit hockey.
Not a whole lot of people knowthat, so I quit hockey for a
year, just did everything kindof on my own, pretty much
training, and then the next yearI got an opportunity to go play
at Delta Hockey Academy for theU17 prep team out there.
(03:45):
Great experience, I mean,phenomenal academy, what they
have to offer, the program.
And then kind of one thing ledto another.
I got invited to this kind oflike, so to speak, tryout, I
guess you could call it, justbecause they needed an extra
goalie, and it just so happenedthat it was kind of out of the
blue right and how I went thereand more or less kind of the
(04:07):
rest is history.
I got approached by Mike Keenanof all people you know at the
eight rinks all the way onBurnaby.
That's where I play.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Tuesday, saturday night, shl.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Right on.
So I played out there.
And then, yeah, they invited melike two weeks after that
tryout camp to go meet them infinland for their major junior
team.
So I played a year there andthen at 19 played my first pro
game or pro season, the vhl, andthen played the khl and then
the olympics and then kind ofsnowballed and now kind of
transitioning the career back tonorth america now.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
So it's been a whirlwind of events for sure you
just spent some time out atLaurier Wilfrid Laurier
University, similar to where Iwent out at Brock University.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Oh, really no way.
We both spent some time in theMiddle East there the Middle
East of Canada.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
That is and I was curious the transition from
playing pro hockey at 19 yearsold.
Mhl, vhl you're playing Deltahockey, mike Keenan comes up to
you, you have Alexander Barkov,senior coach, and, yeah, you've
had all these crazy experiences.
This all leads from someone whoquit hockey at the age of 15.
(05:22):
Was this before or after youdecided you weren't going to
pursue water polo at a full-timecareer basis?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Wow, you really did your research here?
Yeah, I mean, I just kind ofwant to touch on, obviously,
like for me growing up playingminor hockey.
At the same time my brotherhe's four years older than me.
He played for Team Canada, thenational team for water polo.
So during the summers I playedwater polo with him he's
actually my coach one of theyears and kind of balancing
(05:49):
between the two.
And then around the age of 15,like you said, I kind of decided
because of politics and I justwasn't getting the right
development for myself, goaltending wise, I decided to kind
of do my own thing with my owngoalie coaches.
You know, self pace a littlebit, so still wanted to be
competitive, but it justfiguring out what I want, what
kind of direction I wanted to gointo.
So did that and then, uh, yeah,I mean, obviously it's just one
(06:14):
of those things that you knoware really even now I mentor
younger goalies and the biggestthing that, uh, when I mentor
these guys, is that you justnever know who's watching, right
, you know having thatopportunity and just I'm a big
believer in that.
Everything kind of happens for areason, you know.
So going through the wholeexperience, obviously it's been
super kind of I mean surprising.
(06:36):
It's surreal even now.
But you know, when peoplementioned that I'm an Olympian,
you know, and stuff like thatand you're playing the KHL, but
I mean a lot of hard work's goneinto it, so for sure.
But yeah, just kind of excitedto experience and take
everything day by day.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Now you know, as you can tell you've listened to
previous episodes we bring ongoalies frequently because I
personally think they're thebest athletes.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
We are, we are Right.
I figured you would agree withme on that one, the best
athletes out.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
There we are, we are right.
I figured you would agree withme on that one, and I think that
stems a lot from being the lastline of defense.
Yeah, having pressure on you 247 365, like people talk about
in the hockey world.
It's like we have a job, yeah,when we show up, whereas a
player line gets scored on youchange for sure the finest one,
whatever.
As a goalie, you got to livewith that mistake for the rest
(07:24):
of your life.
How do you stay calm?
How do you stay composed?
I've heard you talk aboutgrounding.
I'm going to dive into that.
But first, calm composed,you're a cool cucumber.
How do you stay?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
like that.
I mean to be totally honestwith you, it's a lot of.
I guess time and experience isthe biggest thing.
And I guess time and experienceis the biggest thing, right?
And you know, I think when I,especially when I was younger,
nerves would sometimes get thebest of me and how, in some
cases, our enemy, our biggestenemy is ourselves.
Right, and the way we think,and I think a big help that I've
(07:56):
had the last few years now isreally working with some kind of
mindset coach.
You're going to plug Pete Fryhere, I can hear it.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, I got pete fry.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah.
So I started working with pete.
Obviously, you know great guy,he's kind of been a mentor to me
, kind of learning from him,yeah.
And then the last few years,now last two years, um, pete
asked me, just because he's gota ton of younger goalies, if I
kind of wanted to help mentorthese younger goalies and work
with them on the side, obviouslycontinuing my hockey career,
but, you know, helping out theyounger goalies in the community
(08:24):
more or less so well andthere's benefits from coaching
that you 100% learn so much.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I'm doing the same thing right now coaching
basketball.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
I'm by no means a pro basketball player, but I come
back to my high school.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah, I'm like hey guys, I know a thing or two
about hard work absolutely, it'sbeing in the weight room was
especially it's.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It's kind of rewarding too in a sense that I
think you know seeing, you knowdevelopment with these younger
athletes and it helps my game aswell, right.
I feel that you learn more fromteaching than you know
experiencing some in some casestotally so, but 100 super
rewarding, seeing the growth ofthese younger athletes and kind
of see them mature and becomemore confident, it's a huge
(09:03):
thing, right, and I think it'skind of transitioned into you
know my own game as well, right.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So one of our sponsors for the podcast other
than perfect sports, whoprovides the best protein on the
market is can I wellnesssupplements?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
have you heard of them?
No, I have not, dave well paris.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
You take a couple sprints of that.
I'm not gonna make you do ittoday, but they provide four
separate kinds of products amend, a fresh, a boost and the
sleep super solid product.
Uh, it helps me stay calm.
I take this before I go in thesauna after a workout okay, heat
exposure cold, oh yeah, huge.
Okay, here we go see we got thegrounding, we got the heat, the
(09:46):
cold.
What?
Do, you do what's your routinetell.
Tell me more.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, I mean, obviously grounding is a big
thing.
I actually started to get into,you know, putting more
attention to recovery the lastfew years when I was in the KHL.
And you know, obviously youneed to play a ton of games.
You know, even if you're notstarting games, a lot of
practices, you know, a lot oftime on the ice.
You need to find different waysthat you can recover from those
, you know high intensitymoments.
(10:09):
So big thing is obviously hotand cold therapy.
You know, I actually have anice tub in my backyard and then
I've got the Normatec boots.
The big thing.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
The next kind of installation for my house is, I
think, a sauna of some sort, butI've been to the Tality's
wellness yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, yeah, went.
Uh, last weekend was my firsttime, yeah, heck, yeah, yeah, so
it was my birthday on on the15th, so the last weekend I went
there, yeah, with a couple ofmy buddies and stuff, so it's a
nice way to spend the morningfor sure, happy belated yeah
thank you, uh, was that a way toget rid of?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
you know?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
sweat out some of the yeah, yeah a little bit of that
and a little bit of you know,I'm just like a big morning
person so obviously usually mymorning routine is me waking up
early, going to the gym orwhatever, and then having some
kind of involvement with coldtubs, doing something like that.
I love doing stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
So recent research has shown cold exposure limits
muscle protein synthesis by like66, I'm not gonna reference.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I'm not a scientist, but I'm sure you've seen it.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, I've seen the research what's uh, what's your
take on it?
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
well, I mean to me same with most athletes I can
imagine is whatever you can doto gain that extra percentage
above, yeah, your competition'shuge right.
So obviously it's going outthere experiencing things like
that.
You know firsthand from my.
So obviously it's going outthere experiencing things like
that you know firsthand From myexperiences is that it's worked
wonders on me.
You know my body with recoveryand stuff, especially, you know,
during the summers I work withmy trainer, kai Heinen, and he's
(11:59):
worked with a bunch of pro guysand NHL players as well.
And the biggest thing that hekind of emphasized especially
because our workouts are liketwo hours and a half hours every
day, right, plus ice time ontop, right, so it's a lot of
wear and tear on the body.
So a lot of cold therapy withice tubs and then obviously the
biggest thing that he recommendsis doing like hot bath with
(12:20):
epsom salt, right, just forlactic acid buildup.
Yeah, get rid of that.
So those are big things thatI've done and learned to develop
and incorporate into my game,yeah, which has helped a lot,
right.
So doing things like that.
I've also done the cryo chamberas well, yeah what do you think
of that?
it's different.
Yeah, it's definitely differentfor sure, but uh, yeah, I mean,
(12:41):
cryo chamber is one of thosethings.
Especially the first time, itwas more of a shock factor, yeah
yeah, have you ever done it?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I haven't done the cryo.
I am a big advocate for thesauna post-workout I spend my 20
minutes.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
It's like my routine.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I can't drop it.
I literally have twomemberships so that I have a
sauna membership um, but thecold.
I can see why athletes,especially in, like the
bodybuilding, hypertrophy,hypertrophy world, are trying to
limit their cold exposure, butit's more so for after workouts
for sure, so for peoplelistening.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
If you're like hey, I really like the way the cold
exposure makes me feel, do itbefore your workout or in the
morning and it's like a greatway to start your day,
absolutely even if it's just 30seconds, a minute, two minutes
you get some crazy benefits,especially just that kind of
dopamine rush that you getcompared to you know, obviously
I drink coffee most, like mostpeople but when you do a cold
tub jumping in the water, itkind of wakes you up, you know,
(13:37):
but way better than a coffee Waybetter.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Exactly, it should be my pre-podcast routine.
Yeah, if we weren't, if weweren't cold tub going, if we
weren't in the mobile studiothanks to pioneer auto group, uh
and the alder groove locationspecifically, I'd be doing it
maybe we'll like throw a tub inthe back of the jeep I think we
can make something happen.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
You gotta get a pickup truck next time.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah put it in the back or something I'll ask cody,
he might be down, he might, wemight be able to swing it
that'll be.
That'll be for our next episodewhen we do the training portion.
Yeah, so for sure.
So we'll figure that out, we'll.
We'll get a pickup, we'll fillit up with ice, cold exposure
pre-pod train and then we'll getafter it.
What do you think has like beenthe biggest adjustment for you
(14:18):
as you go through this process?
You're flying literally allover the world playing hockey.
I heard on ingol meg's episodethat you did last year with them
, the fact that ice rinks icelike the actual nets themselves
that you're playing on aredifferent sizes.
Is that true?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Yeah, it's.
I mean when I I mean I playedoverseas for the last seven,
eight years now, and the firstcouple of years there was a
massive difference.
I find it was difficult,especially as a goalieie, just
because of rank, size and thedifferent angles.
Um, it was harder the first fewyears that I went overseas,
just because I find it's moredifficult to go from a North
American size rank to a Europeansize rank and, uh, things are a
(15:00):
little bit off.
But I started to become moreeasier to adjust to it.
But it takes a few days to getused to it, I think.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Have you played at Sosuri and centennial arena?
Yeah, I have.
So you know the two differentsizes of those ones.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yes, yeah, but that's the thing.
Every rink is kind of differentfor the most part.
Um, I know the last few years,especially in the khl, they're
trying to make all the rinks nhlsize okay, so it's the same
yeah standardize it.
But, uh, I remember my firstyear in the kh KHL that I got
called up back in 2019, 2020,some of the rinks were a
(15:32):
European sizes and some were NHLsizes, so it's going like back
and forth between the two, whichis super difficult, especially
as a goalie.
Hmm, but you kind of get usedto after a while.
In the last few years now,because of new development that
they're doing to the league andstuff they're trying to expand,
so everybody's, every team'srank is identical, right, yeah,
it makes it easier for theplayers anyways.
(15:54):
But uh, yeah, I mean obviouslytraveled a lot and over the
years, which have beenphenomenal, but at the same time
, it's, you know, nice to beback home as well, right, yeah,
yeah trying to stick around innorth america yeah, that's the
goal, anyways, for this seasonwith uh, with the athletes
podcast, we've had 255 plusepisodes now.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Our goal yeah, over five years we were chugging away
our goal is to educate,entertain and inspire the next
generation of athletes.
Thank you, yeah, I uh.
It's kind of a very aspirationalgoal, probably something I'll
never actually be able to fullyachieve which is allows for me
to do it for the rest of my life, for sure, but I'm always
trying to dive a little deeperand be like okay, if I'm having
(16:36):
this episode with Paris today,would you prefer to educate,
entertain and inspire?
Would you like to do all threeand if so, how would you do that
with this podcast right now?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
yeah, I mean obviously you know, like I
mentioned before the episode,that uh, I'm an open book, so I
mean whatever kind of questionsyou had for me or ideas, but I
mean, for the most part, I Ilove you know, educating in the
sense of you know, obviously,with you know the position I am
playing pro hockey, having theexperience and then mentoring as
well.
Right, educating the youngerathletes is a huge thing and I
(17:08):
think, in a way, especiallybeing on you know, zoom calls
with pete and the other pro guys, yeah, um, it's kind of I've
learned a ton of things fromthem, you know, soaked up as
much information and kind ofshowing these younger guys that
you know these are the mistakesor things that I learned over
the last few years.
You know, giving them you knowtips and tricks that help their
game, right, I I think it's huge.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And then, obviously, with educating, it comes with
recovery and those other aspectsthat are huge as well, right,
the one piece that I had tobring up is the fact that you're
wearing a Visual Edge hat.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
One of our athletes at Cook Stark Management, megan
Warner is also a Visual Edgeathlete.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Okay, nice Former, uconn Husky goaltender.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
goalie of the year like sub one GAA.
No big deal, no big deal.
I was curious how has thathelped your game?
I know you used Sensorena inthe past as well.
Where does that fit in?
How do you incorporatetechnology?
I feel like that's somethingthat most people, if they aren't
privy to it yet, should be.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I don't have a code for it, but in gold mag it's a
discount code?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
yeah well, I actually I have.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
I mean, you got your own there you go my own, but uh,
yeah, I mean, obviously, whenit comes to technology, it's the
same as, especially for a proathlete, you're trying to get it
, gain that one extra percentageover your competitors, right?
And uh, it was one of thosethings that I started to do a
little bit of research intosensorino at the time back in I
think it was 2020, just beforethe Olympics and then I started
to use it more, especiallyduring the off-season, and I
(18:32):
think it's a huge tool, you know, to get some off-ice training
that you can work on.
That's similar.
Obviously, the best kind oftraining you can do is on-ice
stuff, especially as a goalie,but it's the closest kind of
comparison that I've experiencedyou, virtual reality, to work
on those skills, you know.
When it comes to reaction time,you know, catching the puck,
(18:53):
visualizing those little keyaspects, and then, obviously,
the last few years now, Istarted working with visual edge
, yeah, and I was fortunateenough to become, you know, an
athlete for them, kind ofworking with their tools.
When it comes to more cognitivesense, okay, which I think over
the last few years, I'velearned to develop that, or
learn and better understand that, especially as a goalie, we
(19:14):
don't really train our eyes atall, right, so true yeah, so
interesting yeah yeah.
So I started working with themand their program and obviously
they've got a ton of, you know,nhl teams or pro teams that they
work with and NHL goalies,right.
So I have a buddy who plays atBoston University, matthew Caron
, and he started using it and Ireached out to him kind of to
(19:34):
see you know what exactly theprogram is.
I know I have another buddy,conor Lecouve, who does it as
well and getting feedback fromthem, obviously from they've
experienced it.
So I tried it over, tried itout last few years and really
loved it.
I think there's a huge benefitin the game, you know,
especially when it comes toreactionary stuff memory, uh,
cognition, and uh, reaction timeuh, divergence, convergence
(19:58):
stuff too, right so, and I thinkit helps the overall game,
right so I've seen improvementin my game using it.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So definitely keeping that in the toolbox for myself,
but recommend using those twotools sensorina, visual edge if
you were a 15 year old goaliecoming back 16 year old goalie
in those same shoes when you'rejust starting back up your, your
hockey career.
What lessons have you learnednow that you would go back and
(20:25):
say, hey, this is something thatI would maybe do differently,
approach differently, whether itcomes to training, nutrition,
sleep.
Again, going back on thateducation piece, I'm like, oh, I
wish I knew how much it wouldhurt me if I didn't sleep or
didn't eat the right things.
What?
Speaker 1 (20:38):
do you?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
suggest.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
To be totally honest with you.
I think I mean everybody'sroutine, especially at that age
most guys who are competitivethey already have the right kind
of routine or habits.
So the biggest kind of piecethat or piece of advice I can
give to my younger, 15-year-oldself was work more on the mental
side of the game, just becauseI think it was a huge benefit
learning to how to control thosenerves, how to build confidence
(21:03):
in yourself, doing thatmovement like Pete talks about.
I think those are huge things.
I'm a huge advocate for that,just because I've seen that
improvement in myself usingthose tools, yeah, and learning
how to bounce back after notcoming up with the save.
You know little.
Things like that as a goaltenderare so more such like, so many
more like beneficial.
I guess you could say, yeahthen, compared to like working
(21:27):
on nutrition.
Obviously those are importanttoo, but at the same time the
mental aspect is so much moreimportant, right?
Yeah, it goes back to thesaying.
I mean probably everybody'sheard about it, right,
goaltending is 90% mental and10% physical, right?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, it's like golf in that sense, exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Yeah, I've actually been talking to Pete because he
just lives up the hill from methat we should go to the golf
course and, you know, work onour swing while we do the
movements and stuff like that?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Absolutely.
We should do a little rainsession and maybe film that too.
I know that's something that Istill have to work on in my game
, and I think again it appliesto everyday life, though, right
For sure.
Think again, it applies toeveryday life, though, right for
sure.
How you handle situations,adversity, when you're young,
you learn how to deal with that.
You're going to be better offdown the road too.
You touched on the mental piece, more specifically, the eyes,
(22:13):
that we don't train them.
I know you looked up to watchguys like luongo and braden
holtby growing up holtbyspecifically with his like water
bottle.
Yeah, water drops.
Yeah, that was some visual workthere.
Was that something you everincorporated, or did you?
Was that what?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, actually the last few years I started to
incorporate that into my game aswell.
Obviously, it's like a resetmechanism, same as whole beat
right throwing the water up andwatching one water droplet come
down Instead of putting myattention on, you know, those
what ifs or that negative sideof my brain when you have doubt
or insecurity or whatever popsup in your head as a reset
(22:48):
mechanism to ground you back inthe present moment.
So a cool little trick that Ilearned from holpy.
A bunch of pro guys use it aswell.
Um, but phenomenal, uh kind oftip for that anyways.
But uh, I mean a lot of othergoaltenders I looked up to were,
you know, in.
Obviously, carry price isprobably a big one for most guys
, right, yeah, and kind of, uh,kind of used kind of his game as
(23:14):
a reference to build off ofwith technique and the technical
side of the game, but kind ofadapting into more versatility,
like vasilevsky or you know thatcompete that raw, just hunger
for the puck, you know, yeah, so, but I mean, I think in a way,
as a goaltender, your best kindof teacher is obviously yourself
.
But on top of that, that extralayer is just watching guys that
(23:35):
you idolize right in the NHL orwhoever that is right in your
career was there ever a momentwhere you looked at the way you
were playing or the way otherswere playing you?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
you're like oh, I can totally do this.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I always look at those pivotal moments.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
For me.
I've now interviewed 250 plusindividuals.
You start to realize, okay,there's some consistent themes
that these high performers havesimilarities that these high
performers have.
Similarities.
And there's also those pivotalmoments where you realize, hey,
I'm a human like this human, I'mcapable of these things as well
, if I set my mind to it, if Iam consistent with my routines,
(24:17):
habits.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I can see the same success.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Obviously there's some genetic components of that,
but for you, was there thatmoment?
Was it that Delta skate thefirst time for the id camp?
Or what was that moment for youwhen?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
you, yeah, I mean for sure, I gained a ton of
confidence after having thatmoment when I was in the academy
.
I mean, funny story, when I got, I got a call from my mom who,
um, basically she just got offthe phone with a family friend
when I was at Delta and I wasjust after our practices.
Because that's how it works atDelta is you have your morning
(24:50):
practice, then you would driveby bus with the whole team to
the school.
So during that bus ride I got acall from my mom saying you
know, they're having this trialcamp in the afternoon.
So it was one of those thingsthat was out of the blue.
I ended up skipping school thatday to go thing.
Don't advise against doing that.
But um, yeah, I mean the biggestthing.
(25:11):
Obviously that was a big momentfor me, um, having that
experience which I gained a tonof confidence from.
But you know, adding to that, Ithink the biggest thing as well
was just, you know, I always,you know, just love playing
hockey and it's always been apassion of mine, right, I think,
for most guys and, to betotally honest, I had this kind
of, like most guys, this enact,you know, this feeling or gut
(25:33):
feeling that you know you wantto play at the highest level you
can, right, and but it's alsounderstanding that you know
which comes with maturity aswell that you know if you play
hard, you work, you know, putthe hours in, it's inevitable
you're going to get success,right, if you're in the right
position at the right time,because everything's kind of
(25:53):
left up to chance at that point,right.
But it's also understandingthat you know if you put the
hard work in, success issupposed to be inevitable, right
.
But at the same time you know,on top of that, it's you know,
experiencing those little thingswhich kind of helped me gain
more confidence.
And obviously it kind of goesback to, you know, that year
(26:15):
before Delta, you know, comingoff of not playing and wanting
it, getting that passion.
I never really did any of thisfor wanting it, gain that
passion.
It I never really did any ofthis for because I wanted to
play in the nhl or I wanted toearn so much money.
It was more so for just thelove of the game.
Yeah, and going back to that,and I still have that passion I
want obviously most guysincluding yourself, I can
(26:36):
imagine you know you just playbecause you love it, right, you
want to have fun, right yeah, Ialso just get asked by every
team under the sun because I'mthe emergency backup for the
lower mainland and most guyscharge money to play and I'm
like, yeah, it's all good, I'll,I'll, I'll just come play that
way, I don't feel any pressureif I let in a dozen.
Yeah, exactly Right, but itcomes part of it, right?
Obviously there's a huge amountof pressure but it's you know,
(26:59):
learning to develop that sensethat you know you put all this
work in, you're just having funand you're wearing, when you're
in that like hyper focused orlike flow state, everything
you're just, you're like glue,everything just attracts and
sticks to you.
Right?
It is crazy how that works.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yeah, when you stop thinking, almost right yeah, and
you just start living and yourealize that hey, I'm going to
attract the energy that I putout there, for sure, and if
you're able to for lack of abetter term be comfortable who
you are and understand thatyou're not going to be able to
please everyone.
I've had to learn that withthis podcast yeah, I'm like not
(27:39):
everyone loves to talk abouttraining, nutrition.
I get jazzed up about it.
Yeah, I don't mess with seedoils.
A lot of people are all up in atissy about seed oils, like
those are things that I.
I think that these kind ofconversations need to be had
more, because, sure you are.
A prime example of somethingthat I'm trying to hit home with
(28:00):
our listeners is the fact thatpeople should continue to play
sports, be active, move theirbodies after high school, after
their teenage years, because youcan still play professional
sport, you can still pursueamazing athletic feats and you
know you're supposed to livetill 70, 80, 90 now with life
(28:21):
expectancy and if you don sprintat the after the age of 18
you're probably not going to bemoving very well, for sure and
it's a scary sight to see oursociety at the state that it is
and everyone hears this podcastand thinks, oh, athletes, high
performers, whatever.
But it's like everyone's got abody.
Everyone is ultimately anathlete to some degree.
How much they are able toexpress that is another question
(28:44):
for sure, but I'm of theopinion.
That's why I bring people likeyou on, because I think it's
important to share the fact thatyou can quit hockey at the age
of 15.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Come back and play in the olympics yeah, it's I know
it's, it's kind of crazy when Isay it out loud, but those
things really did happen.
I think in a sense it's havingthat passion, having that drive
obviously is a big component ofthat, but on top of it it's just
making sure to do other things.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
When I was younger especially.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
I know a lot of friends of mine at that age.
When it came to, I believe,second year bantam, they would
just quit hockey because theydidn't get drafted or things
didn't really necessarily go theway they had planned.
Right?
So, because they lose thatpassion in a sense, right so,
even with the younger goaliesthat you know I'm mentoring on
the side and I'm starting todevelop these last few years
(29:39):
with myself, is that hockeyisn't everything.
And I think, in a sense, whenyou start to play other sports
and put more, you know focus onrecovery and getting away from
the game, you actually give backto yourself, which helps your
game, you know, in turn, rightso I mean it's you need to do
those things, those littlethings, because it's important,
(29:59):
right, especially for yourmental health as well, you know,
not get consumed by it.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, yeah, especially for your mental
health as well, you know, notget consumed by it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, we'rewrapping up here.
We're nearing back to your crib.
We got to ask, though, you're abig gear guy, I am.
Yeah, you're particular aboutsome stuff.
Tell me, what's the setup rightnow.
Who are you using?
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah, um.
Well, this season I went withthe uh.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Bauer shadow setup custom digiprint.
So I kind of went all out.
The team kind of more or lessgave me full reign to whatever I
wanted.
How nice is that?
Super nice.
Every team should do that.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
I know goalies there's only a couple of you
come on.
Yeah, I know, especially asgoalies we all love gear, right.
So having that added like alittle bit of touch was nice,
especially kind of the way thatthey treated me when I, you know
, got there was thatM.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Very professional, bauer.
Sorry, and was that at thehockey shop?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
No, because I was back east right, oh, right,
right so it was the source ofsports out there in Ontario or
in Toronto.
That kind of did my whole gearset up out there.
But super great guys I thinkthey work with I believe it's
Franchise the source of sports,okay, but they work in unison
sometimes with the hockey shophere.
(31:08):
So but I mean hockey shops,obviously goalie utopia right, I
know it's crazy there.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I get lost.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah.
So the setup this seasonobviously cause they gave me
free reign.
I've worked with power for manyyears, basically full cost of
shadow, everything.
And then my girlfriend she'sactually an artist, so I
actually asked her if she coulddo my helmet.
So she did her first goaliehelmet, which is the helmet I'm
currently wearing now, dang sofully custom she sprayed it and
(31:37):
painted it and so made it reallyauthentic, because there's no
goalie helmet that I've seen onthe market like that.
And I've worked with Dave Art.
I know the Fred out there seenon the market like that and I've
worked with, uh, dave art.
I know the was um, uh, fred outthere or on the island trav on
the island yeah yeah, andgetting ideas, you know, having
worked with other you knowgoalie artists, and kind of
telling her what I wanted andshe obviously did a phenomenal
(31:59):
job, so kind of uh, tap hats offto her for that, but uh, that's
so cool to be able to have thatas a part of your playing, like
you've got her with youwherever you go.
Exactly, yeah, having thatlittle bit of signature from her
.
Yeah, support from her as well.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
So yeah and uh.
I like I was in bantam and Isaved up a couple hundred
dollars and I got my helmetspray painted and that was my
most prized possession foreverafterwards and that was just
some random car, auto body guythat's like yeah, I'll paint
some bricks on your helmet foryou.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I know it's, but it's phenomenal.
When you have a goalie helmet,you know, like that you can like
fully customize and the teamgives you full reign so you
don't have to put necessarilythe team logo on it.
You can really express yourselfthrough that art, right so?
But obviously I've beenfortunate enough to work with
dave art because of the olympicsand a guy that you really kind
of idolize having.
Yeah, his experience of workwith you.
(32:50):
Know numerous nhl guys rightyeah, yeah.
so having that in my back pocket, it was kind of a cool
experience having being on thephone with him and explaining,
you know, our thought processand putting it, you know, pen to
paper, right, less right, sookay.
So I'm wearing their shirt.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah, in goal I've got to ask yeah, they've been
around for a decade plus nowthey're, I feel, like the go-to
goalie resource out there theyare.
How have you been consuming?
Do you go through pro reads?
What's your?
Tell me, give me some detailson in goal mag.
We got to give them the thrillof the shill here.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yeah, yeah yeah, I mean obviously, woody and hutch
are phenomenal guys great guys.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
My uncle really no way.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
So maddie and I, that's okay, yeah because I knew
you were buddies with maddiebut I didn't know you were that
close.
But I mean, small world right,yeah, that's cool, yeah.
But uh, obviously phenomenalguys right, and you know, after
the olympics they had reachedout to me immediately and kind
of wanted to do an episode withme.
And it was, and I thought I wassuper honored, having grown up
watching them and listening totheir podcasts and stuff and
(33:51):
still do the pro reads.
I think it's a phenomenal toolthat they have that they offer,
you know, gaining experience andknowledge from these NHL guys
and you know, and learning fromthe best right, more or less.
So very cool experience to havehaving done that and had the
opportunity to do that.
But uh, yeah, I think obviously, you know, having your ties
with Hutch um is that kind ofwhy you wanted to create a
(34:14):
podcast.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It's so interesting you bring that up.
Uh, they started in goal radio,yeah, a little bit prior to me
starting a podcast.
Um, I was, yeah, it'sinteresting, I had Hutch podcast
.
Um, I was, yeah, it'sinteresting, I had hutch,
obviously, who'd been doing itfor five, six, seven years
before.
Um, andrew harding is mycousin's husband.
he started knocking point winery, yeah, and so I've had a couple
(34:37):
entrepreneurs around.
My dad was always a serialentrepreneur, so I wanted to man
keep having conversations withpeople.
I was graduating university atBrock, I was in a sport
management program, so I stillhad a sport lens with business,
and well, I can tell you're apeople person.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
That's why I figure you know podcast works perfectly
into it, right?
Speaker 2 (35:01):
yeah, and it keeps you out of trouble.
You know you're just talkingwith people like for me.
After school I now havecontinued to build my network,
chat, learn from people likeyourself.
I get to train with world'sstrongest man.
He's, like you know, benching500 pounds overweight and I'm
trying to spot like stories thatI will take for the rest of my
(35:23):
life we're gonna go step on theice.
We're going to train together.
We're going to go to the drivingrange, like that stuff that you
would never do if you weren'thaving conversations and being a
yes man.
And I've done that, or I'mgoing to try and continue doing
that.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I think, in a way, you know being on this podcast
and I've been on a bunch ofother podcasts and I think, to
be totally honest with you, youjust being in a, you know, in
your car, in your Jeep here, ordoing things like that, it
separates you a hundred percentfrom other podcasters or other
interviews and it leaves thatimpact, you know, especially as
somebody coming on like you know, as an athlete, like I'm going
(35:58):
to remember this.
You know More or less, but Ilove what you're doing with this
.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Thank you.
I appreciate that, I guess foryour way to wrap this episode up
.
We normally ask our biggestpiece of advice for the next
generation of athletes.
You drop some in there.
There's some gold nuggets.
Throughout this 40-minuteconversation You're always
talking also, though, about asan athlete growing up.
Was there anyone that youlooked up to?
Parents, friends obviously yourbrother a couple years older,
(36:24):
anyone that?
You looked up to parents,friends, obviously your brother
a couple years older.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Yeah, were there athletes that you were aspiring
to look, train, approach sport,like I mean obviously, like you
said, I think, growing up as akid and I really idolized my
brother um, obviously he's fouryears older than me, but he was
also a goaltender, right so butuh, in water polo, yeah, so it's
a little bit different fromhockey per se, but obviously I
(36:48):
idolized him growing up becausehe played for Team Canada with
the national team, our nationaldevelopment program, and he
traveled a lot.
I remember telling my parentswhen I was younger that I wish
one day that I'll be able totravel and now, looking back,
I've traveled more than he has.
Yeah, but uh, I mean it's kindof what you wish for I know
(37:09):
exactly ask and you shallreceive, right, yeah, yeah, so
obviously somebody that I lookedup to was him.
Then I got a lot of, I think,my characteristics from both my
parents.
Obviously, you know my dad'ssuper hard working, so I learned
a learned a ton from him andfrom my mom as well, I think
more patience from my mom andwork ethic from my dad.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
So it's a good balance.
Exactly yeah, you need that.
Exactly so.
Who's the better athletebetween you and your brother?
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I have to say I am.
He's a little bit uncoordinated.
He's 6'6".
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Oh, you're a little lanky, eh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
But he's filling out now.
But he's just, you know,especially when he's filling out
now.
But uh, he's just, you know,especially when he's younger, is
a little bit more uncoordinatedthan I was, but I have to say
that I'm the better athlete, I'mthe olympian in the family.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
There you go.
He pulls that card.
Pull that card out.
I love it.
You got the tattoo yet, or what?
Speaker 1 (37:56):
yeah, I've got it on the inside of my arm.
That's like the first thingwhen I go back home.
Yeah, I reached out to a bunchof tattoo artists and, uh, I got
that inked on my, on my bodyhere.
So I got that and through mysleeve here.
Um, like a dragon, I gotta pullit out here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but uhcareful.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
This is the.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
This is the r-rated portion of the podcast.
Yeah, but I've got this dragonhere all the way down and then
I've got the uh, this word meanslike home in chinese okay, so
it's really important to me.
And then obviously the rings onthe inside here with Beijing.
Yeah, on the inside there.
But yeah, kind of cool Workingdown the arm here, hopefully now
Heck yeah.
But we'll see how things panout in the future.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
Last question the VancouverCanucks and the Montreal
Canadiens both offer you acontract.
You're making carry price cash10 mil per year.
You had to decide betweenMontreal and Vancouver.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Putting me on the spot.
I know these are your hometownversus your raised family ties.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Obviously, you play in any team that offers you a
contract in the NHL.
But you choose between thosetwo.
You go on East Coast or WestCoast.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
I mean, obviously it's a tough choice between the
two but I've got to give it tothe Canadians.
I mean with you know theheritage that they have, you
know, especially growing up, mydad's from Quebec, you know
watching their games when I wasyounger, montreal kind of holds
a place in my heart.
I've never actually been to thebell center but uh, I mean I've
seen games and stuff like thatwith the crowd and the
(39:25):
atmosphere there.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah, so much more electric yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
So definitely, if I got the option between the two,
I have to give it to Montrealand you bring up the bell center
story.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Now it's bringing up like where has?
It been your favorite place toplay.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Um, I think like overall.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean obviously the Olympicswas a big thing for me, right
Center stage, yeah, center stageAgainst Canada I know, against
Canada, and I mean funny storywith that.
Actually I, a month before theOlympics, I got invited to join
the national team with Canadafor the channel one cup.
(40:01):
No way, yeah, so they need anextra goalie.
So I stayed with them for a fewdays for training camp and
stuff and yeah, butunfortunately, because of IHF
ruling, I couldn't play anygames with them, I could only
practice.
So but they obviously allowedme, the Chinese Federation
allowed me to go there, practice, gain some experience from them
, and it was kind of coolbecause obviously went through
(40:23):
that experience with Team canadaand then later going to the
olympics and playing againstcanada, which was essentially
the same players more or less,that I practiced with before,
right, so yeah, so it's kind ofcool with that.
Olympics was a big moment, thatcenter stage with that.
Um, I think other big rinksthat I've been to obviously ska
in st petersburg's got a massivefacility.
(40:45):
I believe it's like 15 or 18, Imean correct me if I'm wrong,
but it's massive.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
Someone in the comments will.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, 15 or 18,000 people, that kind of the seating
capacity there.
So electric in that building.
I mean a bunch of the NHL orKHL rinks I can imagine are very
similar to NHL size withcapacity, so it's just
absolutely electric.
But for sure, the Olympicsprobably is the biggest moment
in my mind that comes, you know,front stage for me.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Yeah, tough to beat.
Hey, this has been fun dude.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
I appreciate it tremendously.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
I'm excited to get some cold therapy in.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, we should Get some training on the range.
With Pete We'll work on themental game.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Pete was one of our first 100 guests.
Now we're getting Paris onPretty soon, over the next 5, 10
years we're going to befeaturing your athletes that
you've been working with who areon the next stage.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
That's the goal After my career doing something like
that, Right.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
That's what the Athletes Podcast is all about.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Paris O'Brien for coming on.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Thank you, folks for tuning in.
This is the 256th episode ofthe show and you folks are
hopefully learning being alittle bit more educated and
inspired from every singleperson we have on.
And if you're not enjoying theepisodes and who we're having on
, let me know who we shouldbring on down below in the
YouTube comments.
I'll reply to every single one.
If you let me know, we'll.
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