Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 7, 1994 TAG: 9403080014
SECTION: NEWSFUN PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In the small town in Quebec, Canada, where he lived until he was 14, Morissette played hockey almost year-round, because winters there are long and cold. Hockey was what all the kids did every day after school.
(Quebec is a French-speaking area of Canada and Morissette learned to speak English only three years ago. He still has an accent. )
As a child, his days were filled with going to school and playing hockey. In the summer, he played some baseball, though the season was very short, but still played hockey - roller hockey.
Morissette left home when he was 14 to join a regional hockey team and train for his dream, which was to play in the National Hockey League. When he was 19, one of Morissette's opponents gave him the nickname, ``Moose,'' though Morissette is not sure why. The name stuck with him.
At first, Morissette wasn't very eager to join the Roanoke Express because he was afraid a new team wouldn't have a winning record. ``I hate to lose,'' he said.
Now, Morissette says he's glad to be in Roanoke and thinks the Roanoke Civic Center is a great place to play hockey. ``The fans are great, and they really give the team a lot of support,'' he said.
Morissette said Roanoke is a very friendly and safe place to live. It's also not too far from big cities like Washington, D.C. ``Where I grew up, the nearest city was six hours away,'' he said.
When he's not practicing for two hours a day or playing, the Express' captain is usually at the gym. Training for hockey includes lifting weights, bicycling hard for short periods of time and running. It's easy to get out of shape in the summer off-season, so players have to continue to work out and practice their skating and hockey skills.
A very calm, friendly person off the ice, Morissette is known as a fighter during games. He's spent more time in the penalty box than most players in the league. ``When I'm on the ice, I have a job to do; but off the ice, I'm a really nice guy,'' he said.
Hockey players wear lots of padding, but even a guy as tough as Morissette admitted that ``it still hurts sometimes when you fall.'' Morissette has broken his hand twice, but said his knee injury this year was his worst. He still has some pain when he's playing, but said, ``I don't think about that when I'm on the ice. I just think about the game.''
Even though he says he's not superstitious and doesn't carry anything special to bring him luck, Morissette makes sure he is always the last one on the ice and last one off.
He arrives 21/2 hours before a game and doesn't think about anything but hockey until a while the game is over. ``You have to keep your mind centered on the game and always be ready for what might happen," he said. Sometimes he watches TV to relax after playing.
His favorite shows are "Married With Children" and "90210" and he likes MTV ``a lot.'' He also likes to listen to Guns 'N' Roses, Nirvana and Garth Brooks. "Country music is more popular here than in Quebec," he said. Steven Segal movies are his favorite.
Mike Tyson was one of his favorite sports stars, ``because of his determination to achieve his goal.'' Of course, he also has hockey favorites such as Mario Lemieux.
Morissette likes working with kids - ``they're so honest'' - and doesn't feel he deserves all the admiration he gets. Wherever he goes now, people recognize him. ``I'm really flattered,'' he said, ``and I try to be a good example.
``Whenever I talk to kids, I tell them positive things,'' he said. ``I tell them it's important to do what you like, whether it's playing hockey, basketball or something else. If you're ready to make a sacrifice, follow your dream."
Tony Szabo and Morissette share the same dream, and they are alike in other ways, too.
Szabo grew up in Flint, on the upper peninsula of Michigan. Winters there are long and cold and hockey was a daily after-school activity.
From the age of 5, he, too, knew that hockey was what he wanted to do. His father, who still plays, was a big influence and taught him a lot.
``My father can still outskate me on the straightaway,'' Szabo said.
When he was a kid, he would try to turn the street in front of his house into a hockey rink by spraying water on it with a hose. It was great to skate on, but cars would often spin out. ``My dad would take the hose away from me,`` Szabo said.
In the summer, Szabo and his friends played roller hockey, because he would ``get the itch'' for hockey during the warm weather.
Now, during the summer, Szabo works and continues to train, trying to ``get some ice'' during August.
He also claims not to be superstitious, but he always puts on his left skate first, then his right. He doesn't do that with shoes. He also rubs his son's tummy for good luck to help score goals. Fifteen-month-old Tyler already skates and, with his aluminum stick, ``has a great slap shot.''
Szabo, too, likes being in Roanoke. He likes the friendly people, the mountains, and the fact that it's not as expensive to live here as other places.
Szabo has a nickname, too, though it's not well known. ``They call me 'The Hummingbird,''' he said, because he eats a lot and can't gain weight, especially during the hockey season. Because his heart beats so quickly and his body nevers slows down very much, he burns calories while he sleeps and can lose weight overnight.
(A hummingbird feeds five to eight times an hour and eats half its weight in sugar each day. If a man's inner body worked as fast as a hummingbird's, he would have to eat 285 pounds of hamburger every day to keep up his weight.)
Before each game, Szabo tries to get mentally ready and play the game in his mind. ``They say hockey is 80 percent mind, 20 percent body,'' he said. After a game, especially if he hasn`t played well, he goes over the game in his mind, trying to learn how he could have done better.
To become a complete player, Szabo said, takes skating skill, stick handling and perception of the game. Perception, he said, is understanding the rules and applying them to the game.
When Szabo isn't training, practicing or playing in a game, he loves to stay home with his family. His favorite TV show is "The Price Is Right," which he watches with Tyler. He likes it because Tyler claps when the audience does. He's seen "Winnie the Pooh" probably ``500 times,'' because it's Tyler`s favorite.
Szabo's favorite foods are tacos and his grandmother's Hungarian stuffed cabbage. He doesn't get the cabbage very often, though, only when his mother brings it when she visits. His wife can't make it because it's his grandma's secret recipe and she won't give it out.
Szabo says he feels good that kids admire him. He visits classrooms, answers fan mail and has signed autographs at local skating rinks. This summer, he and Morissette will be teaching at a one-week hockey school at the civic center.
Two of the most important bits of advice Szabo tells kids is, ``Stay positive and it's OK to fall. Every hockey player has fallen and you have to get back up and try again.'' He admits that he has fallen many times, and still does, but he always gets back up and gets back into the game he loves.
by CNB