In honour of the Milano-Cortina Olympics, Sens360 asked the Ottawa Senators: what sport are you best at, other than hockey or golf?
Artem Zub: Ping-pong, among many others
Before the Senators renovated their weight room last summer, they had ping pong tables set up all the time, a tradition dating back to Daniel Alfredsson’s days as a player. One of the players sad to see that floor space be put to different use was Artem Zub.
“I really love to play table tennis, big tennis as well, but I’m not good at the big one,” laughed Zub. “Also basketball, not [games], but shooting it around. Soccer, when I was a kid, I was playing soccer as well. Actually a fun game is handball, when we were kids in summer camp we played a lot of handball. I love chess. Different kind of sport, but I love chess.”
And how would the Russian defenceman stack up to Alfredsson, whose ping-pong skills are legendary around the City of Ottawa? “Yeah, he’s better than me, for sure,” says Zub.
Kurtis MacDermid: Lacrosse
“I played lacrosse until I was 13, so probably that,” said MacDermid. “I didn’t really play other summer sports.”
MacDermid even briefly played Canada’s national summer sport with Ottawa Black Bears star Rob Hellyer while the two were growing up near Owen Sound. Like MacDermid, a trade sent Hellyer to Ottawa in October.
“His brother and my brother played hockey together, and I played a few games with him lacrosse-wise,” said Hellyer. “I’ve watched him play hockey since I was a kid… it’s been fun to follow his career, our families are pretty close.”
“Skilled, he was always fast, very, very, tough,” said Hellyer about MacDermid’s lacrosse skills. “But you could just tell he was a hockey player. That’s where his head was, that’s where his love was. He always just loved it so much, he just wanted to get better, and he just kept improving and improving. And obviously very tough, he drops the gloves too so that helps, he’s a scary fellow on the ice but he’s a big softie off of it.”
James Reimer: Swimming
“Probably holding the couch down, that’s probably one of my better ones,” joked Reimer. “I enjoy just shooting hoops, playing football.”
“But probably swimming. I swam a bunch as a kid, I do it in the summer just to stay in shape sometimes, on the weekend and stuff. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, I was a lifeguard as a kid and swam competitively a little bit.”
Nick Jensen: Football
“Probably football. Or beer league volleyball. Yeah, probably football,” laughed Jensen, who said he played running back and free safety for his high school team in the fall, before the high school hockey season began in the winter.
Drake Batherson: Pickleball
“Jeez, it’s been a while since I’ve played another one,” said Batherson. “I’ll say pickleball.”
Tyler Kleven: Baseball
“Probably baseball,” said Kleven. “I like playing baseball. One of the bigger kids growing up, so I was pretty good. I threw pretty hard. [Also] played first base.”
How hard?
“103.5 [miles per hour],” joked the Fargo, North Dakota native.
“No, just kidding. I don’t know how hard I threw. Probably mid-70s.”
Shane Pinto: Baseball
“I grew up playing baseball, so I’d probably say baseball,” said Pinto. “I feel like [I played mostly] centre-field, shortstop growing up. A little bit of catcher — it hurt my knees, I didn’t like it. I pitched once in a while if they needed me on my travel team. But most of the time, I was just kind of all over. Leadoff, steal bases and stuff.”
Thomas Chabot: Baseball
“Probably baseball, I’d say,” said Chabot. “Shortstop or pitcher. I stopped playing when I got drafted in junior, so 15 or 16 or whatever it is. I stopped because I had to start working out in the summer for hockey.”
Ridly Greig: Baseball
“Probably baseball,” said Greig, who added he played until he was about 15 years old. “Shortstop, I played every summer.”
Chabot gave a nod of approval for Greig’s baseball skills. “‘Rids’ is pretty good,” said Chabot.
Dylan Cozens: Baseball
Dylan Cozens rounds out a large group of baseball-playing Senators.
“Baseball,” answered Cozens, who added that he also played short stop.
Fabian Zetterlund: Soccer
“Soccer, for sure,” said Zetterlund, who played until he was about 14 years old back in Sweden.
“I was everywhere. All positions.”
Nick Cousins: Soccer
“Soccer, I played midfield,” said Cousins. “I played rep up until I was 12 or 13 maybe, and then my dad told me to pick one [sport] or the other.”
Michael Amadio: Soccer
“I think I’m okay at soccer,” said Amadio. “That was probably the only other real sport I played growing up, other than hockey.”
Amadio said that he played left midfield for his high school team — revealing that he is also left-footed and left-handed, though he uses his right hand for some things like throwing a ball.
