Like father, like son? Moosehead learns from dad's tough path to NHL
CBC
Halifax Mooseheads forward Alec Nasreddine learned from a young age that a career in professional hockey isn't as glamourous as people might think.
"It's a grind," said the 18-year-old forward. "You're away from home a lot. It's your dream job, but at the same time, it takes a lot of sacrifice."
Nasreddine learned this from his father, Alain Nasreddine, who carved out a 15-season pro career. He played in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins, and also made stops in the IHL, AHL and Germany.
When Alec Nasreddine was born in 2007 in Pittsburgh, his father was nearing the end of his playing days. Alain Nasreddine then moved into coaching, which meant that Alec has also lived in places such as New Jersey and Texas.
Today, the elder Nasreddine is an assistant coach with the NHL's Dallas Stars.
Alec Nasreddine grew up surrounded by professional hockey players. He saw how dedicated they had to be to succeed, both in terms of how they trained and ate.
While his goal is to play in the NHL, his path there won't be like that of his father, who literally had to scrap to make it.
Alain Nasreddine played four seasons in the QMJHL in the early 1990s. He remembers a blowout game in his rookie year with the Drummondville Voltigeurs where fights were rampant.
In those days, players often took their helmets off before fighting. Nasreddine, then 16, still remembers the beard on his 20-year-old opponent, recognizing just how much older the other player was.
"I'm like, 'Oh, my! What did I just do?" said Nasreddine.
The fight went well for the rookie. Soon, he was fighting more often and it became part of his game.
"Back then, you just did everything you needed to do to stay in the lineup, to stay in the league and earn and get more ice time … it seems like that’s how things worked back then if you weren't scoring 50 goals and racking up 150 points," said Nasreddine.
Harsher penalties have drastically cut the amount of fighting in today's QMJHL, so Alec Nasreddine won't have to use his fists to chase his hockey dream, although he does say he loves watching videos of his dad's hockey fights on YouTube.
Looking back, Alain Nasreddine, a defenceman who scored 90 points over four seasons in the QMJHL, said it would have been nice to show off his hockey talents more.
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