When Mathew Barzal and Adam Pelech face off against each other in practice, you could call it a chess match between a dynamic forward and a shutdown defender.
The only problem with that phrasing is that Barzal and Pelech are already having regular chess matches off the ice.
“It’s just kind of became really obsessive for us,” Pelech said.
The classic board game is becoming an off-ice favorite for a handful of Islanders, including Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Hudson Fasching and Casey Cizikas.
“I wouldn’t say it's taken over the room. I'd say there's like four of us who play chess, and everyone else gets annoyed when we talk about it,” Pelech said.
“We have a lot of chess nerds on the team,” Noah Dobson said with a laugh. “I am not one of them. There’s a lot of guys in here you could ask about chess and they’d just love to talk to you about it.”
Barzal told reporters chess was one of his pastimes during his lengthy injury recovery earlier this season, but his love for the game dates back to the 2022 NHL Player Media Tour, when he and Lee had some downtime.
“It's been a full-blown addiction for the last year-and-a-half to two years,” Barzal said.