Edmonton Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner, fresh off a trip to the Stanley Cup final, admits he’s a little bit “obsessed” with golf, a favourite off-season pastime.
Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Grant Fuhr, who collected so many championship rings that he needs to spread them between his blocker and glove hands, loved road-trips to Los Angeles during his playing career because he knew of a couple of under-the-lights courses where he would be able to tee off after a practice day. After hanging up his pads and settling in Palm Springs, Fuhr once played 300-plus rounds in a calendar year.
And you may have spotted puck-stopping prospect Dustin Wolf, now poised to claim a full-time job with the Flames, on the links around Calgary this summer.
Goaltenders are, apparently, gaga for golf.
“Neither one you can perfect,” Fuhr said. “That’s the fun of it.”
When you stare down 90-mph slappers for a living, it might seem like nothing can possibly intimidate you.
That theory will be tested Saturday at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club, where five twine-minders headline the roster for the Legends of Hockey showdown at the Rogers Charity Classic. This closest-to-the-pin competition, with eight two-person teams going head-to-head in a match-play bracket, will immediately follow the conclusion of the second round of action at the PGA Tour Champions event.
The cast of crease stalwarts includes Fuhr and fellow alumnus Curtis Joseph, plus a trio of current big-save artists in Skinner, Wolf and Corinne Schroeder of PWHL New York.
Also trading their skates for soft-spikes for Saturday’s fan-friendly fundraiser are NHL snipers Jake DeBrusk, Travis Konecny and Brayden Schenn, PWHL standouts Erin Ambrose, Emily Clark, Sarah Fillier and Laura Stacey and retired stars Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Jayna Hefford, Meaghan Mikkelson and Darcy Tucker.
They’ll each be swinging on behalf of a designated charity, with a quarter-million dollars being doled out in total. The Rogers Legends of Hockey competitors will sign autographs from 1:30-3 p.m. before hitting their first shots at around 5 p.m., taking aim at the 18th green at Canyon Meadows from a platform about 100 yards away.
“I think it’s going to be really fun,” said Wolf, an emerging fan favourite who capped an end-of-season audition with the Flames by winning four straight starts. “I have been trying to play as much golf as I can the last two weeks to try to get my game in a position where I’m confident in my abilities. And it’s for a great cause.”
When the LPGA Tour stopped in Calgary a few weeks ago for the CPKC Women’s Open at Earl Grey, Wolf was among those in the gallery. He’s keen to watch some of the PGA Tour Champions sharpshooters, too.
While the 23-year-old Wolf is accustomed to playing in a jam-packed rink, with the Flames’ faithful howling to show their appreciation after an acrobatic stop, it’ll be a bit of a twist Saturday to know that hundreds of spectators will be analyzing his golf swing.
“The objective is just to not hit anybody, right?” he quipped. “It sounds like they’ve got us pretty closed off, so it would have to be a really, really bad shot to have that happen. As long as we can put a 100-yard shot in there on a good line, I think we’ll be alright. It’s crazy how easy it is for those (tour) players, but obviously that’s what they do for a living. It’s cool to watch them go to work.”
Skinner’s clubs collected dust into late June, his golf season delayed as the Oilers advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup final. As the 25-year-old put it with a wide smile: “I’d take that every year.”
“I get pretty obsessed with the game of golf because it is so unique, just like goaltending,” said Skinner, who was gladly taking tips from David Toms, winner of the 2001 PGA Championship, during Thursday’s pro-am at the Rogers Charity Classic. “You’re kind of alone out there. You have to figure out your own swing, figure everything out on your own. And the mistakes are always on you, right? The only person to blame is yourself. So I think the mental challenge of playing golf, as well as the mental challenge of being a goalie, there’s some similarities there. That’s probably the reason that I enjoy it so much.”
“Goaltending is a sport within hockey itself, I think, and both goaltending and golf are sports that are played between the ears, as they say,” added the 24-year-old Schroeder, who recorded the PWHL’s first-ever shutout and was a finalist for top netminder honours during the inaugural season. “Golf is very mental. You have to stay calm and level-headed, and that goes hand-in-hand with goaltending, for sure. We are the last line of defence, and we have to be very strong mentally to withstand all that pressure.”
Fuhr believes that his passion for chasing birdies and pars was ultimately helpful for his hockey career. And since he was a five-time Stanley Cup champion as the backbone for the Oilers’ dynasty, it’s hard to argue.
“Golf is a lot like playing goal, where you’re on the clock for 30 or 40 seconds and then you have a breather,” explained Fuhr, who spent his final NHL campaign with the Flames and is now a broadcast analyst for the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds. “You have a mad rush in your end, and then the play goes to the other end and you get a little bit of a break.
“So I found it was good for goaltending. One, it’s refreshing. It’s nice to get out and wander around a golf course and get some peace and quiet. At the same time, you’re concentrating, then you’re relaxing, you’re concentrating, you’re relaxing. So in essence, you’re actually training to play goal.
“The only difference,” Fuhr added with a chuckle, “is when you’re playing goal, every mistake you make, there’s a little red light that goes on.