MONTREAL -- He may be known as a longtime NHL veteran with a penchant for winning draws and some key offensive contributions, but what you may not have known is that forward Sean Monahan is not a one-trick pony.
The 29-year-old grew up in Brampton playing both of Canada’s national sports – hockey and lacrosse – and though he made a career of the former, it turns out he’s quite a talented player in the latter, too.
With the National Lacrosse League set to play a regular season game at Place Bell on February 16 as part of its new UnBOXed™ Series, we caught up with Monahan to find out more about his love for his “other” sport.
Why lacrosse? What got you into the sport?
Sean Monahan: My whole family played, so I kind of grew up with it. I actually started lacrosse before hockey, so that was my first love of a sport.
It’s pretty common for hockey players to play lacrosse. John Tavares mentioned the skills he learned from lacrosse transferred over to hockey. Would you say it was the same for you?
SM: Yeah, I would. It’s a lot of timing, hand-eye coordination, rolling off checks and obviously there’s a lot of pick and rolls in lacrosse, so I think being able to find the open seams in hockey, it was definitely beneficial.
The NLL is coming here in February. How would you sell a live lacrosse game to someone who knows nothing about the sport?
SM: When you first go, it’s really hard to follow. The ball moves fast, there’s offense, there’s defense, the music’s playing; it’s an exciting atmosphere. They’re really fun to be at.
Do you think you’ve still got game?
SM: I think so, yeah. I mean, I still throw the ball around basically all summer and I’ve got a lot of friends who play in the National Lacrosse League (NLL), so they’re close to me and I think I can keep up.
How good were you? Did you have to make a decision at one point to either pursue hockey or lacrosse?
SM: Yeah, I did. Honestly, I thought I could play both my whole life, I don’t know why. I thought I was going to be a lacrosse player and a hockey player. Once I had to give up lacrosse, that was really tough on me.
The NLL’s Toronto Rock and New York Riptide will play each other at Place Bell in Laval on Feb. 16 at 7:00 p.m. ET. For tickets to the game, click here.
