The MH Interview with Claude Giroux

[hf101]

http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/claude-giroux

When former Philadelphia Flyers General Manager Bob Clarke approached the podium in 2006 to draft Claude Giroux with the 22nd overall pick of the NHL draft, the story goes, he experienced a momentary Rick Perry-style freeze-up, fumbling to recall the French-Canadian forward’s name. Five years later, Flyers fans are relieved Clarke eventually came around. Not only is Giroux, 24, vying for his first-ever NHL scoring title despite missing four games with a concussion, but he’s also leading a retooled Flyers roster back into playoff contention. On the eve of his second all-star game appearance, Giroux talked to Men’s Health about his quick recovery, and his recent emergence as the NHL’s brightest young star.

You recently came back from a concussion that made you miss four games. What’d it feel like when you were hit?

Well, I got hit in the back of the head and was kind of confused at first. My vision wasn’t very good. I decided to go off the ice and see what would happen. With a concussion, you just need to get a lot of rest—you can’t really watch TV or even drive. Obviously, you want to go back into the lineup as quickly as possible, but a lot of guys who’d had concussions came up to me and just said to be patient with it.

How often does the issue of concussions come up when you’re talking to other players?

It comes up a lot, especially since Crosby’s been out for such a long time. A lot of people are more worried about it. It can be a dangerous injury, but I think it’s a good thing that we’re being more careful.

It’s obviously a sensitive issue around the league—there’s speculation Crosby might even have to retire.

Yeah, you look at a guy like [Pittsburgh's Sidney] Crosby, and you definitely don’t want to risk it. So I waited, and thankfully I wound up only missing four games. I don’t think you need to put pressure on yourself. That way, you can quickly get back to your routines and the stuff you were doing before.

Tell us a little about those routines. What’s your workout like?

I live in Ottawa during the offseason and I train with a guy named Tony Greco. His workouts use a lot of jumps, and other explosive movements. I like the way he thinks about where the game is going. You need to be faster if you want to be a good player. I’ve been with him six years now and I can feel a difference every time I go to camp.

"I got a crosscheck to the face and lost a bunch of teeth. You battle through it. That’s the way hockey players are made."

What about during the season? How does he change it up?

We don’t use a lot of heavy weights. Most of the time we just do light weight workouts—quick bursts of speed. During the season you just can’t work out as hard because you need your body to recover from the game. Just playing the game keeps you in shape, but you simply want to keep your body and your legs going on your off days.

That can’t be easy after 40 or 50 games of punishment. Have you ever had to play through any really serious injuries?

One time I got a crosscheck to the face and I lost a bunch of teeth. Mostly I’ve been lucky, though. At the end of the day, you know if you play the game you’re going to get hurt eventually—you just have to battle through it. That’s the way hockey players are made.

It takes a special breed to throw your body directly in front of a 102-mph shot.

You always feel it the most the next morning. Your adrenaline’s up during the game. My first concussion was like that. I got hit in the head and thought I was fine and then the next day I couldn’t really do much. It’s not a good feeling. You don’t want to think of it as an injury, though, so you just keep playing as long as you can.

Which makes it all the more remarkable when you see guys like Jaromir Jagr still going strong after 20 years.

I’ve never seen a guy that works as hard as Jagr off the ice, and he always wants to get better. I wasn’t sure what to expect from him when we signed him—he’s been in the league a lot of years. I was a little nervous to meet him, actually. But he’s a great guy. He’s happy to be at the rink, and he loves hockey. It’s great to see.

I heard he recently started calling you ‘Little Mario’.

[Laughs] Yeah. That was a good compliment, obviously, but I don’t really compare myself to Mario [Lemieux] at all. I’ve got a lot of steps to take to even be close to him, but obviously that’s a pretty big compliment coming from Jagr.

What have you learned from playing with him?

He just thinks the game differently. Offensively, it’s kind of weird the way he looks at the game. It’s different, but good. The things he says on the bench, the way he watches the other team play, and the way he adjusts his game. No matter how the other team plays defense, he always finds a hole. It’s pretty amazing to watch. He also works out at night, and sometimes he even works out after practice. He’s always working on his shot and all the little details. He’s one of the last guys off the ice all the time. He’s a great leader out there.

Despite all you’ve learned, are there any rituals or superstitions that you or the team still clings to?

Oh, sure. On game days, I shoot pretty much the same way in warm-ups. And if I have a bad game, I won’t wear the same shirt and tie combination. Sometimes before games I like to listen to a little AC/DC. I actually had a chance to go and see them when I was back home, and they were great. And of course we still play Knock Knock by Mac Miller after every win—we’re sticking to that.

Who are a few other players you’ve modeled your game after?

Doug Gilmore, for sure—he wasn’t a big guy, but he played the game gritty and got involved. Steve Yzerman, too. He was the ultimate leader. The best way you can lead is by example and Yzerman did that.

None of those guys were strangers to the All-Star game, and you’ll be there this weekend. Do you wish anyone in particular was joining you?

Yeah, Scotty Hartnell. He’s worked so hard off the ice. With the way they pick the players, obviously it’s tough. He’s having a career year, though. I think he’s one of the best power forwards in the game, and one of the most underrated players in the league. He’s also one of the best chirpers—he really gets into it with the other guys. It’s hard not to laugh. [ED: Shortly after this interview, the NHL announced that Hartnell would, indeed, join Giroux at the game, replacing Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews.]

Besides Hartnell, who stands out as one of the league’s more underrated players?

Zac Parise jumps out. He’s so hard to play against.

Who’s the hardest to defend?

[Evgeni] Malkin, probably—he’s a big guy, protects the puck well, and plays hard.

Hartnell’s influenced you off the ice, too. You recently joined Twitter.

[laughs] Yeah, Hartnell was on me pretty hard about that, and so was Matt Carle. They’re always Tweeting and it looked fun, but I’m still kind of grinding it out.

C’mon, you’re a celebrity now. That means you can Tweet at other celebrities. It’s time to get an actress to the Wells Fargo Center. Who’d be first on your list?

Man, probably Minka Kelly—is she still with Derek Jeter or what? I’d invite her for sure.

Have you had any memorable encounters with women off the ice?

This one time we were just hanging at a restaurant and this girl came up to me. I’d signed an autograph on her shoulder a few weeks before, and she wanted to show me that she’d gone and gotten it permanently tattooed on her arm.

Damn. I take it you guys won’t be going back there anytime soon. Where in Philly do you like to eat on your days off?

I love Buddakhan. They have so much great stuff. Ever since the HBO documentary aired, though, we go to more low-key places. We’ve got lots of young players, so we’ll still hang out, but nothing too crazy.

So if a 24-year-old hockey player living in Philly isn’t drinking or picking up women on the weekends, what’s he doing?

On my off days, I just like to just relax a lot, play ping pong, stuff like that. In practice and in games you expend so much energy. Recently we’ve been on the road for about 12 days and the schedule’s been brutal, so we don’t get to go out a lot for long stretches. I honestly couldn’t tell you the last movie I saw.

Tell me you’re at least having some fun during your commute. What’re you driving these days?

Right now I’ve got a Porsche Cayenne. I love it, but it’s pretty fast, so I’ve got to be careful out there.

That’s more like it. Does that make you an automatic lock for the carpool?

Oh, I don’t know—there are a lot of sick cars out there in the lot.

In that case, who’s got the least impressive wheels?

[laughs] Sean Couturier is still driving his old Jeep. He’s a rookie, and he doesn’t want to change. He’ll keep that thing going as long as he can.

With all due respect to Couturier, it must be a relief to have your rookie season behind you. Did the veterans last year ever give you any grief?

This one time I got caught pretty good. I was late for practice and somebody put Flexall under my helmet—right across my forehead. My whole head, the front of my face, my eyes, everything was burning. I was dying, and yet because I was a rookie I couldn’t say anything. That was a really painful practice.

[Spinorama]

good read.

thanks for the post

[Poulin20]

I hope he didn't get caught doing something and was blackmailed into giving this interview like Tiger Woods was for MH.

Edited January 28, 2012 by Poulin20