Stu Cowan: Canadiens extol benefits of playing soccer, other sports

Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki grew up in London, Ont., playing hockey and soccer.

Rob Suzuki coached both of his sons, Nick and Ryan, in soccer and believes it helped them become better hockey players. Nick was drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round (13th overall) of the 2017 NHL draft before being traded to the Canadiens, while Ryan was drafted two years later by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round (28th overall).

Suzuki played soccer until he was about 14, before focusing full-time on hockey.

“Until around 13 or 14, you should play as many sports as you can,” Suzuki said. “Just different experiences. Different people, coaches, teammates. A lot of the culture and things I learned from meeting new people in soccer helped me a lot.”

Suzuki’s father was a good soccer player in his youth and was able to teach his sons the finer points of the “beautiful game.” Suzuki, who was a centre forward in soccer, said he learned the importance of spacing, having support around the ball and trying to play in a three-player triangle system.

“My father was trying to teach us how to play soccer and in Canada a lot of the coaches would just tell you to kick and chase it,” Suzuki said. “But we tried to play a possession-style game.”

Canadian soccer is in the spotlight with the country competing at the World Cup for the first time since 1986. Canada, which lost its first two games, will be looking for its first-ever World Cup victory when it plays its final match Thursday against Morocco (10 a.m., TSN, CTV, RDS) before returning home after failing to make the knockout round.

Team Canada on the world’s largest sporting stage might convince more kids to take up the sport. It might also convince some kids — and their parents — that playing a second sport instead of making hockey a year-round focus is a good thing — and it is.

Canadiens defenceman Jordan Harris played soccer until he was about 13 while growing up in the Boston area.

“I played everything except football,” Harris said. “I think that’s huge for kids to diversify and play different sports. I played lacrosse until college and I also played baseball, basketball, volleyball. Played tennis and golf in the summer.”

As a youngster, Canadiens defenceman Mike Matheson wasn’t allowed to play hockey past May 31 — a rule his father, Rod, insisted on. Matheson played a little soccer when he was growing up on Montreal’s West Island, but preferred football and was named the offensive MVP as a running back with the mosquito Triple-A Lakeshore Cougars in 2005.

“You could always tell when you got to (hockey) camp when you were younger the kids that played all summer might have had a bit of a step early in camp, but there was no excitement,” Matheson said. “It was just another practice and the kids that had taken the whole summer off couldn’t wait to get on the ice, which I think is the point of sports. It should be fun, especially at that age.”

Since the football and hockey schedules would sometimes overlap, Matheson is thankful he had understanding coaches who would let him miss a hockey practice for a football game or vice-versa. He believes playing football made him a better hockey player.

“Definitely for hitting,” he said. “Also just being in a ground sport and running. Hockey and skating are such a specific thing that is so unnatural for your hips and your knees.”

Canadiens goalie Jake Allen believes some of the hip and knee injuries suffered by young players in today’s NHL are the result of playing hockey 12 months a year since a young age. Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle grew up in Edmonton and said hockey became a year-round sport for him when he was about 8. In hindsight, he wishes he had played some other sports.

“You pick up different skills from each sport and I think it would have been good to play maybe not competitive, but play a different sport for a few more years than I did,” he said. “I don’t know if it would have changed how I play hockey, but I think it just would have been good to play a couple of different sports.”

That’s what Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis did while growing up in Laval.

“Especially young, you should touch more than one sport so you become an athlete, not just a one-sport kind of player,” the Hall of Fame hockey player said. “Obviously, as you get older, you’ve got to zero in a little bit. But early on, I was fortunate to have parents that allowed me to touch everything. I played every sport. Not every sport was organized. We played outside a lot, so whether it was football or basketball or soccer or baseball, I loved sports. A big part of me becoming the hockey player I became was because I touched a lot of sports at a young age.”

scowan@postmedia.com

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