Injuries. I’ve been dealing with them my whole life. 

In a lot of ways, they’re what has helped me keep a positive outlook on everything that has transpired over the last year.

The one injury that sticks out the most and had a monumental effect on my life was in 2015, shortly after I was drafted in the sixth round of the NHL draft by the Washington Capitals. I cut my right arm, didn’t think it was too serious – maybe just a flesh wound – that turned out needing two surgeries and over 40 staples to repair.

A couple weeks after I cut it, I was still having trouble moving my hand. My doctor in Regina got me to go see a specialist, who said I had nerve damage and needed surgery. To add insult to injury, I then had to call my junior coaches with the Regina Pats, John Paddock and Dave Struch, my agent and Washington to tell them what happened.

It was hell.

I finally got to play again in mid-November for 16 games before my six-month check-up happened with the doctors, who delivered more bad news. I needed another surgery as the first one didn’t work. This one involved taking a sensory nerve out of my leg and putting it in my arm.

It was a recovery process that spanned two years and into my professional career with the AHL’s Hershey Bears where I struggled to lift my wrist and had to play with a cast. 

I probably couldn’t be a pianist these days, but I can play hockey.

Overcoming these types of challenges couldn’t be done without an optimistic mindset. I’ve thought for a while that things will always work themselves out as long as you’re a good person, work hard and have good support systems.

Those values and mindset weren’t learned in school. I owe so much to my mom and dad, Lisa and Marc, for raising me the way they did. Dad got up at 4:30 a.m. from Monday to Friday for over 20 years to work long, hard hours. He did what he had to do and never complained. That taught me discipline. My mom always found the bright spot in everyone and has been supportive of whatever I chose to do. She can shine a bright light on any situation that comes her way, or mine. She’s the one that taught me that things always work out.

In hockey, you can’t control a lot of things and you learn that from a young age, whether it’s a game that’s delayed or you get bumped down to the second line. 

I couldn’t control fracturing a bone in my knee just a few days before I was supposed to go to the U16 Summer Games. Blocking a shot in a game last year and subsequently playing two and a half weeks on a broken foot was also out of my control.

Getting injured any time is never good, but the broken foot with Hershey came at an especially rough time. 

Just a couple months earlier, I had a really good camp with the Capitals and thought I was going to make the team as the sixth or seventh guy. It didn’t pan out and I went down to Hershey to start my fourth professional season. This was an important year as I was to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of it and really wanted to prove myself.

I got back into the lineup in January and after a couple months of playing, COVID hit.

It was a weird situation. We had such a good team in Hershey, and it looked as though we could go for a pretty long run. We all hung around the city for a couple weeks before they sent us home and the season got cancelled. A good playoff run could have gone a long way to helping my contract situation.

It turned out to be a rollercoaster season for me and the whole theory of you don’t know what’s going to happen day-to-day is so true. You get used to it a bit and figure out a way to deal with the bumps in the road. And for a lot of people this year, there’s been plenty of ups and downs.

Having hockey being played this season wasn’t something I even expected to happen, and it made for a pretty crazy off-season. There was a lot of back and forth between my agent about “hey, this team’s interested,” and then it wouldn’t happen. I saw Europe was playing and was tempted to go over there, especially with the NHL and AHL in limbo.

One day I called up Troy Mann, who coached me in Hershey and is now the head coach for the AHL’s Belleville Senators to get a lay of the land on whether this season was actually going to happen. We had a great chat and a couple weeks later, Troy called me again to see if I was interested in joining him in Belleville.

What’s funny is that I didn’t love hockey from the moment I stepped on the ice like a lot of guys.

When I was four years old, I skated for the first time and the coach blew the whistle and yelled for everyone to come in.

I skated right off the ice and told my parents I quit. I was scared of the coach and scared of the whistle.

About 10 months later, I was walking to school with my mom and turned to her to say “hey, you know, I’m pretty excited about hockey this year. When does it start?” She looked back at me with a puzzled stare thinking to herself that hockey tryouts were in a week and she better make sure there was still enough time to sign up!

Growing up in Saskatchewan, football is a huge part of a lot of kids’ childhoods and I was no different. During my midget years, my coach sat me down and said, “you can’t play football.”

As a multi-sport athlete growing up, I played everything. Handball, baseball, volleyball, basketball, lacrosse – you name it, I played it. I wasn’t pumped on the notion of only playing hockey. 

I told my midget coach that I’ll play hockey – I was already drafted by the Pats at this point – but only if I can play high school basketball. I eventually got my way.

Even during my time with the Pats, I was still playing spring league football. I can say that now, but it was definitely hush hush at the time. I loved playing whatever I had time for and never had a set plan with hockey. I just kept on going and was doing it for the fun of it. Having all the different coaches really helped me in hockey because I was being coached by so many different minds and played with a lot of different athletes as well. I loved how different each team dynamic was from handball, hockey, to football. I was able to meet so many new people and gain that many more relationships.

After my 17 and 18-year-old seasons with the Pats, I remember sitting down with my mom and saying, “I just don’t think I want to do this. I can’t go back for another year.” My first two seasons in junior didn’t go really well personally and our teams struggled. My mom though, she encouraged me to go to training camp to see how it went. John Paddock had just come on as Regina’s new head coach.

“Maybe the new coach will be better,” she said.

I came back and during the pre-season we had an exhibition game in Prince Albert, and I played pretty well. The next day my number was on the whiteboard in the dressing room and so I had to go see assistant coach Dave Struch in his office. Usually, that’s not a good thing to have your number on the board.

After exchanging some pleasantries, Dave got right into it.

“So, are you just playing hockey, or do you want to be a hockey player?”

“What do you mean?” I said.

“Well, are you just playing hockey because you want to play hockey, or do you want to be a hockey player?”

I sat back and took a moment – I had never really thought about that.

“You know what, I want to be a hockey player.”

Dave paused and looked at me.

“Well, I think you can fucking do it,” he said.

 I paused to take in that moment and before I could respond.

“Now get out of my office.” He stated with a Dave-like grin. 

Our relationship still continues to this day and Dave has been an instrumental part of my hockey career. So has John Paddock, who has the most respect from a coach towards players that I've ever experienced. They elected to keep me captain of my hometown team even though I only played 19 regular season games in my last year. I was really, really fortunate that I was able to stay in my hometown and wasn't traded during my four years playing there.

I’ve never really been the guy focused on drafts or rankings and the 2015 draft was no different. After being passed over in the previous two drafts, it just so happened that I was doing a Spartan race with a buddy Braden Christoffer in Edmonton on the day of the NHL draft. We were going up and down this mountain and the start/finish is in the valley with no service. After finishing the race, I opened my phone – it had been around five hours since last checking it – and I didn’t have a text from anyone. I figured it was a little weird, so I shut my phone off, turned it back on and then … it exploded. Fifteen missed calls from my agent asking me where the hell I am!

It ended up being a great day because I wasn’t stressed about the draft or even watching it. It was such an awesome accomplishment to finish the race because it was so hard and intense and then to top it off with being drafted was pretty amazing. It was a pretty special day.

Dave and I saw each other regularly this past summer at Next Level Hockey Consulting where he coaches the pro players during ice times. It was just about a year ago that I got a text from Tristan Frei asking me if I would come and help out at Next Level in the summer of 2020 after an opening in their staff came up.

Tristan has been a long-time buddy and his dad coached me when I was growing up, so I’ve known their family for a long time and they’re awesome. I didn’t think much of Tristan’s offer at the time although I knew him and his brother Taylor, both credible, intelligent, people and I would love to work with them.

We ran about six to seven camps of all different age groups for male and female players. I didn’t realize how passionate I would be about the hockey scene in Regina. It’s super exciting to see the company take shape and to become a partner of it. In a lot of ways, it was a blessing to get that text from Tristan as it helped keep my mind focused on things other than my own hockey while meeting so many great people and kids along the way.

This year in the AHL, I’m excited by this opportunity with the Senators organization. I get the sense that if I play well, I’ll hopefully get my shot. 

I feel as though the opportunity is there for me this season and having Troy as my coach in Belleville presents a good situation.

And just like I’ve had to do during my injuries, I’m staying optimistic it will all work out.