Morrow: Bringing some serious heat from the back end

MONTREAL - The sheer wickedness of Joe Morrow's slap shot was on full display when he beat Anaheim Ducks goaltender Ryan Miller on a one-timer during the first period of Saturday afternoon's win at the Bell Centre.

In fact, three of Morrow's career-high four goals so far this season have come courtesy of his howitzer, which he honed as a youngster on his family's farm in Sherwood Park, AB with the help of his father Dave, a former defenseman.
"Honestly, it was just practice. My father basically trained me and taught me to put everything you've got into a shot. You don't get many shots in games, so you've got to make every one count," explained Morrow, on the origins of one of his top assets. "He'd get mad at me if I didn't shoot hard enough. He'd say - "Try and break your stick on every shot. Shoot it through the net." That's the mentality I had growing up."

To this day, the 25-year-old rearguard still vividly recalls working on his shot year-round and taking full advantage of the on-site tutoring and mentorship his father provided on a daily basis.
"We had homemade hockey nets in the driveway in the summer. We also had nets when it would freeze out back on the water. There'd be days where if you didn't want to go to school, my dad would say - "Hey, if you don't feel like going, then you're going to have to put some work in somewhere else." He would even stay home from work for a little bit and come skate with me," mentioned Morrow, who boasts a career-high nine points in 30 games so far this season. "We also had a shed out back with a concrete floor that kind of resembled an ice rink. I'd shoot pucks there all the time."

In retrospect, the four-year NHL veteran also believes that his shooting ability really is a by-product of his general environment during his formative years in Alberta.
"On the farm, everything revolved around manual labor. In the country, you just grow up using your body a lot more than you do in the city, I think. You're always working and doing something outside - I always loved quadding and dirt biking, and when you got stuck, you always pulled yourself out - so you've got that old 'farm boy' strength. You may not be the strongest guy in the gym, but you have that kind of stability to you," explained Morrow. "Even playing with guys in junior when I was 15 or 16 years old, just coming into the league, I was just 'Farmer Joe.' I had that grip strength. That's kind of all it took."

No doubt Morrow would relish the opportunity to let his shot go more and more often, especially with the man advantage. With velocity like that, it can prove to be a valuable weapon on the Canadiens' back end.
"There are a lot of good memories when someone would lay you a perfect pass, I would shoot it and before I could even look up at the net, it was in and out," concluded Morrow, who thoroughly enjoys teeing-it-up and trying to chip in offensively. "Slap shots are fun. It was enjoyable to practice and enjoyable to improve on. It was kind of a little claim to fame growing up - 'Oh yeah. He can shoot the puck pretty hard.'"