What did it feel like when PK won the Norris trophy?
I remember that day, that night vividly because a PK, wherever he was at the award show or some type of NHL gathering or show or whatever, and I was driving on the 400 home and he called me, he goes…
Clance, he has this funny laugh and he goes, Guess what.
I go, What? Like, spit it out.
I just won the Norris trophy!
I went fucking bonkers. I was in my trucks screaming and it felt like I was training an Olympic athlete and we just won the bull metal. That’s how it felt and that’s why you see on my Google account I have that trophy and me kissing that trophy.
For me, it was like, cause that kid, man, he worked hard. He worked hard. He was committed. He didn’t want to take any days off like he was kinda annoying to be quite frank about it, to be honest, but that’s what made him so good. That kid worked and that’s what made it so gratifying ’cause watching him work and pound and lift all those weights, do all those sprints, our communications, our arguments because he’s a kid that’s going to push back, which is okay. That just made him better.
If he can understand it and we’re on the same page, he’s good to go. Personally, you know, for me as a coach who have my own adversities and people locking, they shutting you out of that and so on and so forth, but I make no excuses. I just keep working, just keep doing the best job I can do. At the end of the day, my athletes produce and it speaks for itself.
So when he won the Norris trophy, I was no more good to be honest, I was super happy, super stoked. I felt blessed, but I want more, I want medals in the Olympics and I want way more accolades for our athletes and our coaches and our facility and so forth. So that’s the biggest thing. The biggest thing when he won that north trophy was really, it was something else to me.
PK was a type of athlete that back in the day, he would train twice a day and he would train Saturday and have Sundays off, and he’d be calling me on a Sunday, Hey Clance, let’s, let’s go to the gym. I want to train.
I said, No, man, rest.
No, man, I don’t want to rest.
Really have these back and forth arguments and he’d call me on Sunday wanting to train. That just goes to show that the type of person he was in terms of like he always felt there’s he could do more work. He would not let anybody outwork you. Period. It was funny watching him in the gym with the other guys and so on and so forth, and he might not be the most physically gifted guy, but one thing about him is if you challenge him, he’s got this mental toughness about this.
There’s two incidences. I remember we were doing sprints on the field and one of our athletes was beating PK. But PK started to, start chirping, started getting into somebody’s head and whatever. I don’t know exactly what PK said. I just know PK they’re riding then PK be like this other guy and just back and forth. And all of a sudden PK Started to win. I’m like, what the is going on? This guy’s clearly fast and PK wise, PK starting to win.
If he finds a weakness, he’ll lock onto it and get into you. So that’s a quality about PK, it’s pretty interesting to sit back and watch it play out.
Another thing is we do strong men in our training program. That’s a staple in our program for most of our athletes, especially hockey players. I remember one particular summer, PK wasn’t doing any strongman that particular day. So the guys were chirping him or actually that particular season, we just left it out based on time constraints. And that particular time guys were chirping, Man, you can’t do this blah, blah, blah, blah.
He said, Fuck this. He jumped in with the guys with the strongman. In terms of the Farmer’s Walk, Farmer’s Walk were easily 150 pounds per side, so about 300 pounds in total, walking 60 meters. So they’re in back 60 meters. Sleds work load up to about 500 pounds I believe.
PK literally buried those guys that day because the sled didn’t start that at 500 pounds, PK just kept on asking for more weight, asking for more weight, he would do 400 pounds, Give me another 50. Do 500 pounds or 450. Give me another 50. And that day, I did end up watching that show and I didn’t actually want to do it because I didn’t feel he was prepared for it, wasn’t ready for it. I said, I just shook my head and say, Yeah, this kid is on another level. But it also showed me that his base for strongman is tremendous because that’s something he’s been training with me over eight years. That’s something we do every summer and his body just, it just felt like it was another day in the park for him. He just buried those guys.
So for me, that mental strength, that will to not give up that switch was telling for me. Those are some of the specific moments that really stood out to me about PK. So when people want to talk about PK and so on and so forth, dude, when he’s ready to turn on that switch and he’s ready to be number one, or he’s ready to dominate, be aware. Just be aware. No joke.
That’s real, man. But if that kid decides to say fuck you, it’s a wrap. Like I believe he can redefine how the Defenceman position in the NHL show. That’s how much talent he has. It’s not about talent. He’s smart, very cerebral. He knows how to use his body. Kid is crazy.
I remember one of the times he laid out Marshawn. So he laid out Marshawn. Everybody’s looking at Marshawn when Marshawn got laid out, but people don’t see some dudes start to skate towards PK and boom, he put him on the floor, one harm. He just, he just went boom. You do understand he can chin-up 160 pounds to 180 pounds strapped to him on top of his body weight. That’s almost 400 pounds.
His lap strength is something ridiculous. I Remember he has one of the hardest slapshots in the NHL. Right? So don’t tell me. I know. Right? Talk to him. But when he’s ready to just turn that switch and turn on, he has a lot left, believe that.
Okay. That’s a wrap.
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