My influences: Jordan Harris

MONTREAL - Inspiration can come from many places.

For Jordan Harris, some of these sources are his father and brother, Peter and Elijah, while others are skills specialists in Boston, former teammates, and retired baseball legend Derek Jeter. We spoke to the 22-year-old to learn more about those who have had an influence on the rookie defenseman.
Kim Brandvold, John McClean and Tom Ford
I've been working with the same couple of skills guys for probably ten years now: Kim Brandvold, who is an assistant coach at Boston University right now, John McClean, and Tom Ford. They all work together and are part of the same skills group. They're the best; everyone in the area I grew up with skated there. We've had the same group of guys for ten years. It's the best. So, they've been really influential. I still skate with them in the summers. It's awesome.
Elijah Harris
My brother is the hardest worker I've ever met in my life. He's really diligent and cares a lot about people. He's really taught me that whatever I do - it doesn't matter if it's hockey or what not- do it to your fullest and really care about it. Do it to your potential. He's a few years older, so watching how he trained hard, and studied really hard, pushed me to do the same.

Zach Solow
My captain from my junior year at Northeastern University, Zach Solow. He's playing professionally now with Toronto's organization. How much he thought about the game and prepared for it and took into account all the different aspects: nutrition, sleep, on the ice... He really thinks about the game on another level, in a technical way, and he's probably one of the smartest players on the ice that I've played with. I feel like a lot of that has come from his preparation. So, that really made me think about what more I can add to my preparation to make it that much easier.
Peter Harris
My dad, because he coached me and all growing up, and he played hockey himself. He was drafted by the New York Islanders as a goalie. Like my brother, he taught me that whatever I do, just do it to your fullest capability and really care about and have pride in it. My mom and dad always taught me to just stay humble, keep working hard and things will work out. As long as you stay on that path, things usually work out.

Derek Jeter
I read a ton of books. I really like reading stories on how athletes came to be and their upbringing. Derek Jeter's book was really cool. I found a lot of similarities in the way his parents were like, listen, you have talent as a player, and you could be a really good player one day, but stay focused, stay humble, work hard, and the classroom always comes first. That was really similar to my parents' message to me: you might be good at hockey, but so are a lot of other kids out there. There are a lot of kids out there who are working just as hard, if not harder. So, I found a lot of cool similarities in the way his parents raised him.