Nico Armellin – Hockey Training Success
Chapter Overview:
0:00 Intro
0:04 How Nico got started with hockey
0:23 What inspired him to play the sport
0:28 What struggles he managed to overcome
1:42 How did Nico find out about LPS
1:58 What has been his experience at LPS
2:25 How his training result transfers to hockey
3:38 What sacrifices he had to make
4:10 Playing and training with his brother Alex
4:46 What’s his aspirations
5:07 Other passion aside from hockey
5:17 What DOMINATE means for him
5:57 Advise for other athlete
My name is Nico Armlin. I play hockey and I play for the Toronto Junior Canadians.
I’ve been playing hockey for around seven to eight years. I started when I was around five or six.
I started off playing Select with the Vaughan Rangers. After that, I moved on to the Duffield Devils. Played two years for the Duffield Devils.
Then I moved my way to the Marlies. I played one year there. And ever since then I’ve been playing for the Toronto Junior Canadians.
My dad got me into the sport because he used to play when he was little and he had brothers who also played. So he got me into the sport.
Some of the struggles I had to overcome as an athlete were starting off with cost. The sport is very expensive, so in my life I was limited to something just to keep on playing hockey because the costs are very high.
I’m not a very tall guy, so height is another struggle I have to go through. Playing the position I do as Goalie, you gotta be tall, you gotta be big, ’cause then that’s pretty big. You gotta cover the net.
So I’m a small guy, so it’s challenging. I gotta find ways to play big. Some other struggles were like I said before, just working out at home, not having all the equipment.
Well, a lot of other athletes were already ahead of me, training in the gym with full equipment and trainers and people there to help them. Where I started off at home and this is my first experience in an actual gym. So that’s another struggle I had to face.
Some major challenges I had to go through. My sport was definitely just my height. A lot of coaches just see Goalies for being big. They want big goalies.
Coaches don’t really see what small Goalies like us can bring to the table. So a lot through my life I’ve been just looked down on or been passed on because of my height.
So something I’ve really had to, go through is just knowing my height, can’t do anything about it, and just gotta push through that.
I heard about LPS with my Goalie Trainers, Marco and David. They got me into the agency with Harkie Singh, and from there they told me about this great gym LPS and that’s how I found out about it.
The experience here at LPS has been great. Before here, I used to just train in my basement with my mom. Pretty big differences as at home. Less equipment., Workouts were different, less range of motion and it’s really hard to push yourself at home. You gotta no one there to do it, you gotta do yourself.
But here at LPS, the trainers are great, always pushing. The culture here is great. Everyone’s positive. Everyone wants to see you improve and it’s just a huge difference and I can just see it in myself.
The results I’ve seen training at LPS have been huge just from off ice to on ice in net ’cause I play Goalie, just explosiveness to get from one side of the net to the other. Beating passes on my feet, just the strength and power in my legs, it’s just been incredible.
I can see the game way better as I’m getting the pucks quicker and it’s just so much easier to play now.
When I was training before in my basement, it was just me and my brother and my mom. So it was kind of structured, like short range of motion, quick workouts. We didn’t really get to workout our whole body. It was just little muscles and ligaments and stuff like that.
Here it’s full range of motion, so it’s a big difference and it’s just, we had less equipment, so it was harder to find things to do, harder to find ways to work out. So here it’s been a big difference.
I never really wanted to quit, but there’s been moments where I’ve just not wanted to play for a bit or just stop or just have time to myself think about it if I really want to like, pursue the sport.
But I got my trainers here at LPS always keeping me motivated. And I got my parents at home and they always tell me, you know, anything is possible.
Some sacrifices I have to make were just always on the road traveling. So I don’t really get to see my family a lot, which I would like to.
I’m not a big party guy, so I don’t go to a lot of parties. But definitely also like, I like to hang around with friends. I like to always do something. I’m not like very that guy who likes to sit home and do nothing, so I’m always go, go, go.
So like, just not seeing friends and family and just having fun is something you just gotta, you know, sacrifice and just push through that.
Training with my brother has been great. I mean, we’re the, in our league, we’re the only two brothers and it’s weird to see brothers play the same sports and the same position being the same age. So training here is just great.
I mean, I’m always competing with him even though he is bigger than me, stronger than me. I always wanna, you know, reach what he’s done one day, always compete with them, be better than him.
Obviously having him do the same back, it’s just great. We both maximize our potential, but obviously we have our times where we argue or we, we fight and stuff like that. But the end of the day, we just wanna see the best for both of us.
My aspirations and dreams would be just to make the NHL, that would be my number one dream. Ever since I was a kid just watching, I’m a Maple Leaf fan, so just watching the trying Maple Leafs.
My favorite Goalie James Reimer, just watching him play and just experience with all the fans in the atmosphere, playing in the NHL, that’s my number one dream.
My dad’s also a mechanic, so if hockey doesn’t work out, I’m in love with cars. I love watching racing. So my second dream would to become a mechanic and just work on sport cars.
I think the word dominant is just doing more than your opponent and doing more than everyone else. Never taking that time off while your other opponents are now working.
You’re working every time you come up face to face with ’em. They have that fear. They know who you are, they know what you’re about and you’re always just pushing.
The culture in the gym here is incredible. Starting off with the people that work out here. Everyone’s great, everyone’s so positive, always motivating.
And then the trainers are just like, just coming from a home gym, I didn’t know really what to expect. But here at LPS, the trainers are just amazing, they’re always correcting you, making sure that your day is going good. They’re always pushing you, you be your best. They want to see maximize your potential.
Just one advice is like, you’re gonna go through tough times. Everyone goes through them. It’s adversity. You just gotta push through even when you don’t want to do it.
I mean, you can’t just sit there and not sit and say you don’t want to do it because once you’re done, you’re done. You don’t, you only get one chance in life. So you gotta maximize that. And even if it doesn’t work out at the end, at least you can say, I tried and that’s all.
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