WINNIPEG, CANADA – Plenty of hockey players from Manitoba make their way across the pond to ply their trade in the UK, but it is rare that a Brit makes the move in the opposite direction.
Pro Hockey News speaks to a former Lee Valley Lion who recently swapped East London traffic for a new life in the Canadian city of Winnipeg.
NRG Athletes Inc. facility in North Winnipeg
British hockey fans will get to see Winnipeg natives skate on a number of teams this year with defensemen Jason Gray and Geoff Waugh playing for Dundee Stars and Nottingham Panthers respectively and winger Taylor Dickin icing for Edinburgh Capitals.
In turn, Aylesbury born Joseph Day may not be skating out with the Winnipeg Jets, but he will be helping athletes in the city as a strength coach with NRG Athletes Inc.
The company trains, motivates, prepares, rehabilitates and mentors hockey players amongst other athletes and Day was brought in specifically due to his expertise in strength coaching.
“My job as a strength coach is to primarily improve these guys as hockey players through conditioning plans” explains Day, who iced with Lee Valley Lions in NIHL 2 last season.
“The majority of the players here are aged between 16-21 and play either junior AAA hockey, or are going into WHL/College teams”
Joe working with Jeremy Olinyk in the gym
“A lot of them haven’t been WHL drafted yet so they are available for loans and it’s my job to get them stronger”
“Among the current players here that I will be training include Chris Driedger, who last year made his NHL debut for the Ottawa Senators between the pipes, Hudson Friesen (Uni. Alaska), Cody Glass (Canada U’17s and Portland Winterhawks), Jeremy Olinyk of Adrian College (NCAA div 3),Adam Pleskach (Tulsa Oilers, ECHL) and Brett Davis (Lethbridge Hurricanes) to name a few”
In the surrounds of a $28 million dollar facility that includes a 5,500 sq. feet gym, rehab rooms, synthetic ice shooting cages, physio suites and two NHL sized ice rinks, Day spreads his working time between the gym and the ice.
“A typical day includes me overshadowing the plans and developments on mainly hockey and football (soccer) players” says the 23 year old, who played junior at Oxford and Milton Keynes before making his senior debut with Coventry’s NIHL team..
“We have NHL players in here weekly too which is pretty cool and a couple of times a week I get to jump on the ice and help out with the coaching aspect.”
Upon leaving the University of Coventry, Day set up his own business ‘JDelite Training’ which initially started as a personal training company but quickly became more refined in sports conditioning.
“I was a personal trainer who always wanted to work in sports and the more athlete clients I got, the more I started to specialise and get qualified in that area”
“Strength training in UK hockey is largely non-existent. It’s a shame, that this opportunity I have right now I could only really have within the Elite League, if at all in the UK”
“I was amazed when I first came here that there are kids, 15,16 years old who have been drafted to the WHL and are in the gym 4 days a week, and on the ice 5”
“At 16 years old these kids have spotless powerlifting form, and are better conditioned than I ever expected. I applied for so much work before I left within the English Premier League and even offered to do it for free, but there clearly aren’t many opportunities yet in the British game.”
Last season at Alexandra Palace with Lee Valley Lions
Away from his work, Day has started to settle in a city that got its NHL team back in 2011 and was once referred to as ‘The Gateway to the West’. A vague yet slightly more positive nickname than ‘Winterpeg’ and ‘Negativipeg’ thrown up from a brief Google search.
“I actually really like it” says Day, who had never set foot in the country prior to making the move.
“I came in the summer when the weather is kinder. The people are lovely, passionate for hockey and it’s a good quality of life out here. It kinda has that small city/big town feel to it, everything is close by”
The obvious question to end the interview is whether he will return to England with the faux Canadian accent picked up by almost everyone who spends more than a long weekend in the country and has everybody cringing when they return to a British rink.
“Ha ha… god I hope not” he laughs.
“I’ve even been slightly patriotic since I came out here. Now I’m determined to keep my accent. Occasionally I find myself saying eh? But I’ll do my best not to as I can just see friends at home ripping me for it.”
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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