Before last month, Lee Chin's experience on the ice was no more extensive than the average 10-year-old. He'd spent some time skating at the Winterland festival in Wexford around Christmas. There had been 'a lesson or two' but the level of difficulty didn't go beyond moving in straight lines followed by a big loop. He likens his early skating style to approaching a roundabout and going around it.
It was not ideal preparation for what was to come - a week with NHL team, Vancouver Canucks.
The Wexford hurler travelled to Canada as part of the AIB-backed 'The Toughest Trade'. Former NHL goaltender Alex Auld also joined up with Chin's club Faythe Harriers as part of the documentary.
It was an experience far harder than Chin had expected. On the surface, there are similarities between hurling and ice hockey. Both sports involve the use of sticks and the wearing of helmets. Both are very physical. The 24-year-old thought he might have the odd transferable skill - that was not the case.
There was no similarities at all, absolutely none.
And that was another thing that scared me because I thought, when I got there, I might have one or two things I might be able to show them but then I got there and I was like, 'No, I've got nothing, absolutely nothing, so I'll just have to get these boys to show me what to do.'
The stick is so different, the length of it, the grip, everything is so different and I just felt no similarity at all.
His first day with the franchise left him low on confidence. That was mainly down to being a novice skater - something the Canucks coaches had not expected. During one of his early sessions, Chin was given a task which he was bemused to learn was a role on the ice - simply standing in front of the goaltender blocking his view.
Even putting on the considerable padding - sometimes it took 15 to 20 minutes - was an ordeal in itself. Chin actually believes he got slower over the course of the week.
This year marks the third season of 'The Toughest Trade'. Chin appreciates that the hurlers who have undertaken the challenge previously - Jackie Tyrell played baseball with the Miami Marlins and Brendan Maher went Down Under to play cricket with the Adelaide Strikers - had difficult tasks.
However, he has no doubt that his challenge was the toughest of all. That doesn't even include having to negotiate with Davy Fitzgerald.
Brendan Maher and Jackie Tyrell would be well used to planting their feet and swinging a stick. They played in very technical sports. You saw how hard and fast they threw balls at Jackie, at the same with Brendan in the cricket.
I had to move my feet a lot in a different way. I had a longer stick and was in pads. I was on ice. It was the most difficult of the lot of them.
Over the course of the week, Chin certainly feels that he improved. In the end, he even found skating enjoyable and therapeutic.
I felt I improved massively. The one-on-one sessions I did were really beneficial. The lads doing them with me were so patient.
I don’t think they fully understood that I’d no ice-skating experience at all. I think they thought, 'This lad will have a bit of a base. We'll go in there and do x,y,z and be touching up on it.' They didn’t realise I’d nothing but I think it was fun for them too!
It got so enjoyable towards the end of the week. I just couldn't wait to put on the skates. The start of the week was more of an effort. I was thinking, 'I can't do this.' Then you got the sessions in and you started to be able to control yourself more on the ice.
It was really theraputic to go down the ice because there was less of a thought process.
One aspect of ice hockey which fascinated the Wexford man heading into the week was the on-ice pugilism. How it was allowed was something which Chin struggled to understand. One of Vancouver's star players, Erik Gudbranson - who Chin bonded with well throughout the week - gave him a schooling.
When I was over there I had a massive interest in it and asking lads about it. Erik Gudbranson told me about it. He’s a massive fan of it because he loves fighting himself. He expressed to me on more than one occasion that he loves fighting. He wasn’t shy about telling me that he was good at it too.
I couldn’t understand why there wasn’t a rule to avoid it. He was telling me that the players police the rule. It’s in the players’ control. If one player is being dirty on the ice to another, he has to pay for his actions. That’s where the fighting comes in. They won’t get rid of the rule, because if they do, the game will get filthier. Weaker guys who just want to skate, may get bullied on the ice. Lads don’t want to be too sneaky, otherwise they will get a puck in the mouth for themselves.
Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
AIB is delighted to announce that the next episode of its documentary series The Toughest Trade will air this Friday 10 March on RTÉ2 at 10:35pm. Next to experience the trade this year will be Wexford hurler Lee Chin and retire Canadian ice hockey pro Alex Auld.
