Answers by Mark Dekanich, Professional Hockey Player
What is it like to be a professional hockey player?
It’s a fun job, but it’s still a job. Making a living off of playing a sport I love is a rewarding dream come true, yet also frustrating, exhausting, and demanding at times. Lifestyle truly depends on which professional level you are playing at. Having thousands of people cheer for you is very humbling. The same can be said about thousands booing at you! Road travel can be crazy. After playing four years at Colgate University and being drafted by Nashville in 2006 (after my sophomore year in college) I turned pro. I began my career in Milwaukee, the Preds AHL affiliate. I spent my first three years pro there and before the new CBA, our schedule was insane. Some weeks we would play four games. For example: practice Tuesday at home, bus to Grand Rapids, play there Wednesday night, bus home immediately post-game, play at home Friday night, fly out to San Antonio commercially early Saturday morning and play there that night, then drive to Houston to play in a matinee Sunday afternoon. Simply exhausting — four games in four and a half days! The new CBA eliminated the four games in five days and shortened the American League schedule to seventy six games (down from 80). When I was fortunate enough to be up in the NHL, the travel is a little better — charter flights and back to back games at the most. Now, playing in the KHL, we also charter but have to deal with two to nine hour time changes. I could write about our lifestyle and careers indefinitely, but won’t fill your entire timeline. I’m enjoying my job and will hopefully be able to tell my kids (some day) that their dad was a pro athlete. What a life!
What is the laundry cycle of NHL hockey player uniforms?
Jerseys and socks are washed after each game. When a team is on the road, they will usually use the home team’s facility to wash the uniforms. Depending on the team’s schedule, equipment managers decide whether to wait until the team’s next destination to do the laundry, do it after the game at the current arena (if the team is staying overnight), or wait until they get home to wash the jerseys (if we are on the last game of a roadtrip, we will pack everything after the game and the equipment guys will do the wash when we get back home). Teams go through two to four sets of jerseys per season, excluding special edition uniforms.
Do newly-professional sports players get courage from all the cheering, applause and noises or get distracted by them?
I would say for the most part, neither in the way you describe. Most athletes, before turning professional in their sport, have dealt with decently loud venues on a semi-regular basis. Obviously, this blanket statement varies from sport to sport but by the time we are professionals we have learned to block out noise/cheering/jeering. That is not to say that home fans do not give their team a boost or that constant heckling doesn’t get on players’ nerves!
The first game I was called up to the NHL, we (Nashville Predators) were playing the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center in Chicago. If anyone has been to a game there or has seen it on TV, you may be able to relate. During the national anthem, the eighteen thousand plus fans go berserk — it was the loudest stadium I have ever experienced. To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement! You can imagine how inspiring that would be for the home club. Amazing! So, I guess I should revise my answer. Loud fans cheering during professional sporting events neither provides courage to nor distracts the players; however, I would say preemptive cheering can be inspiring and motivating. Negatively, heckling and jeering, while not necessarily being distracting, can play a factor team morale and confidence. Personally, being the goalie that I am, I take pride in making saves that make people stand up and cheer. It is rewarding to know I am giving people something to make noise about as well as giving them what they paid to see!
