More FaceTime, fewer naps

How NHL stars such as Panthers goalie Bobrovsky balance hockey and fatherhood

- BRAYDON HOLMYARD

Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky

Sergei Bobrovsky had been trying not to spend so much time at the rink.

The Florida Panthers’ veteran goaltender has always been known as one of the hardest-working players in the NHL. He’s the embodiment of the old hockey cliché: first one on the ice and the last one off.

Bobrovsky’s dedication to his craft hasn’t changed in his 14th season, but the way the 35-year-old views the game has shifted.

“When your daughter is born and you hold that fragile human — very fragile, and it’s not going to survive without you — your priorities change,” Bobrovsky said of twoyear-old daughter Carolina at NHL all-star weekend in February.

“It was a process. Priorities change, but it puts everything in the right perspective. Like sometimes, even with the workaholic reputation, it might hurt. Do you really need to spend the whole day at the practice rink? Do you really need that? That’s a huge change. It helped me to put the things in the right spots, right places.”

All the travel, preparation and pressure to perform that comes with being an NHL player can be taxing — that’s why they get paid the big bucks. Parenting brings its own set of challenges, and every player with kids has their own tricks for trying to remain elite in both aspects of their lives.