Men's Health (Jan/Feb 2018)

SPORTS SCENE

A HOCKEY DYNASTY BUILT ON FAITH

THE STAAL BROTHERS STORY

BY CARTER BROOKS

F

or professional hockey playing brothers Eric and Jordan Staal, their faith runs much deeper than Sunday morning church services back in their hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario. To these high-performance athletes, Christian faith is a way of maintaining and living out their “better halves”.

“Playing hockey and remaining strong in your faith can be difficult at times,” said Jordan Staal,—centerman for the Carolina Hurricanes. “With the job we have, it’s obviously a pretty demanding schedule, and there definitely isn’t a ‘Sunday morning church service’ every week for me.

However, I always try to make the most of the opportunities I get here in Raleigh.”

For the younger of the Staal siblings, participating in team chapels is one of the ways that Jordan is able to maintain his mental and spiritual health.

“If routine is important to your health, then routinely reading the Bible

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and attending chapels is extremely important to your health,” Jordan said.

“We have a chaplain here in Raleigh and we get together a fair amount.

Obviously whenever we do get the time off on Sundays we will get a chance to go out to church. But it’s a lot more on yourself to get out to these kinds of things throughout the season.”

Eric (33) and Jordan (29) grew up in Thunder Bay under the watchful eye of parents Henry and Linda. Alongside the two former Stanley Cup champions are brothers, Marc (31, New York Rangers) and Jared (27, Edinburgh Capitals).

Raising four hockey-playing boys may not have been the easiest of situations for Henry and Linda, but undoubtedly a memorable experience nonetheless.

Teenage lifestyles consisting of hockey, church and education provided countless opportunities for the brothers to develop their physical, spiritual and mental health. It’s safe to say that the four young men are more than grateful for that upbringing.

“To this day I still don’t know how my parents did it,” Jordan said.

“Fortunately we had a lot of help from friends, and a lot of people helped us out shuttling kids to and from practice. My parents obviously did an unbelievable job of giving us the opportunity to play all the hockey we could. As I grew up I knew it wasn’t all just hockey though; I knew that we had to make time for God and our relationship with him. My parents did a great job of instilling that in us and letting us know that whether it’s hockey or in anything else in life, it’s easy to say that you’re busy, but it’s very important to make time for God.” For older brother Eric, finding time for God was much easier as he was blessed to have a chaplain on his junior hockey team in Peterborough.

That chaplain introduced Eric and the rest of his teammates to Hockey Ministries International, and helped set the wheels in motion for regular prayer time with teammates.