Lowry keeping things in perspective during NHL pause

WINNIPEG - Everyone has had to make adjustments as the world deals with COVID-19, but there is one change in routine that Winnipeg Jets forward Adam Lowry is struggling with.

"Just playing in the NHL, we're always around food. Now just because I have to cook a little more at home, I find I get a little 'hangry' in the afternoon," said Lowry. "Honestly it's something I've noticed more now. You don't eat as much at lunch, you don't eat as much at breakfast because you're cooking it for yourself. Now 3 or 4 o'clock hits and I've got the hunger pangs going, I get a little grumpy."

All jokes aside though, Lowry has spent the majority of the NHL season pause in Calgary with his girlfriend and his brother. The 27-year-old forward has some fitness equipment at his place in Calgary, so he's been able to keep his fitness level up as much as possible.

But, as he says, the workouts only take up a few hours of the day.

So in addition to playing online poker, he's watched Tiger King, Brooklyn 99, and Ozark, but he's also found ways to keep his screen time down.

"I read David Goggins' book, Can't Hurt Me, I thought that was pretty good. I find it's interesting about his mental toughness. I re-readThe Obstacle is the Way, that's a Ryan Holiday one. It applies pretty well to the pandemic," said Lowry, who also got into meditation this season, thanks to line mate Andrew Copp.

"I re-read the book he recommended to me. It's called Stress Less, Accomplish More by Emily Fletcher. That's a good one. It helps deal with the uncertainty. It helps re-centre you and gets you focused on things that you can control rather than worrying about things that happened in the past or the uncertainty of the future."

There are a lot of things that Lowry misses now that social distancing has become the norm, even though he knows that's what needs to be done at this time.

Still, things like going to a grocery store, out to dinner, or to a movie are activities he'd give anything to do right now.

"In the grand scheme of things it's made you realize how fortunate you were beforehand, just with all the amazing things we were allowed to do," he said. "I'm looking forward to when these restrictions start to ease up. Hopefully there is a vaccine or something where we can get back to that normal."

But if there is one thing he misses the most, it's his teammates.

"We have such a great group in Winnipeg - staff included - it's so much fun to be at the rink and be around the guys, even joking on the plane and in the hotels, going out of dinners, just interacting with the team," said Lowry. "That's something with all the social distancing and self-isolating, that's something you don't get right now."

Lowry has been separated from his teammates for the majority of 2020. He was injured in Chicago on January 19 and didn't return to the line-up until March 9 - a span of 20 games.

"Being off for seven weeks is never easy. You get to come back, then you play two games," he said. "Personally it's frustrating. I understand there are a lot bigger things at play than me missing hockey and missing time. I totally get what we're doing. Hopefully when we come back, we pick up where we left off."

There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding what the NHL's return would look like. While Lowry doesn't sit on the Return to Play committee, he is Winnipeg's representative for the NHL Players' Association.

"Everyone does such a good job of keeping themselves in such good shape that once you start to get the timing back, and you give the first few days just to get the body used to skating again, I don't think it would take as long as some people think to get back to playing at an elite level again," he said.

"A lot of us, you can rollerblade, but it's not exactly replicating that motion. That's the biggest thing, making sure your hips, groins, and your back, and things like that are feeling good enough that you're not going to injure them by pushing so hard. I don't think it would take more than a couple weeks."

The last time Lowry hit the ice with his team was March 11, when the Jets extended their win streak to four games with a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Now, nearly 50 days later, he's itching to get back on the ice with that group and finish what they started.

"Our team was starting to gel, the new pieces were really starting to contribute, guys were starting to get back and be healthy," Lowry said. "You were really starting to see what our team could do."