He really is terribly heavy going. Like running up hill in roller skates.
I've been watching the growth of Auston Matthews, for instance. If he were playing 20 years ago, we'd be saying he's Mario Lemieux-like. He's 6-foot-5. He skates great. He's got unbelievable hands and a hockey IQ.
Once you turn pro and you're making the big money and kids are buying your sneakers and your skates and your gloves and so on, you are a member of that role model club.
My parents put skates on me at age 2, the way it should be if you're serious, and I've always liked it.
I'm a lot smaller than most guys, so I have to make up with grittiness and show I can work the hardest, show I'm strong on my skates and show I can push some people around.
I'm not really good on skates. But dance shoes I can dance in!
I wish someone had put a golf club in my hands, not skates on my feet. It is a really great game for business. It's a great game for making connections.
Hockey on roller skates is like MMA in a bounce house: the elements are there, but the medium makes the whole thing ridiculous.
I remember my dad took my ice skates. One day I asked my mum: ‘Where are my ice skates?' because I loved to skate in the winter. And she said through tears: ‘Dad is selling them now… we don't have money for this week.'
Luckily, I discovered ice skating when I was eight and a half years old. There were two wonderful ponds within walking distance of my house. After all the physical activity the summer provided, I craved movement in the cold of winter. I had no skates, so Mom stuffed socks into my brother's old ones.
