As Part 3 of a season-long series celebrating the organization’s 20th anniversary, Griffiti caught up with a hat trick of former Griffins finding success in careers post-Grand Rapids.

Stories by Mark Newman


PATRICK LALIME: FROM BEHIND THE MASK TO BEHIND THE MIC

Goaltender Patrick Lalime won 200 games during his NHL career, which included the best start in league history. But it was a game that he didn’t play in that will likely remain etched in his mind forever.

It occurred at the end of the 2010-11 season, 13 years after his lone season in Grand Rapids. He was playing for the Buffalo Sabres after previous NHL stops with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks.

“When Buffalo signed me for one more year, I knew it was that – ‘one more year,’” said Lalime, who played his final three seasons with the Sabres. “I knew that season was going to be it because they were going to give more playing time to Jhonas Enroth, who is now with the Kings. I kind of knew what I was getting myself into, so it made it a little bit easier at the end.”

Even so, walking away from the game was extremely emotional.

“I still remember my last game, even though I did not dress,” Lalime recalled. “We were in the playoffs and we lost to Philly in six games. I was upstairs and around the 10-minute mark, I think it was 4-1 for Philly, and I just started crying. When I went into the room after, the tears kept coming because I couldn’t hold them back.”

After leaving the din of the dressing room, Lalime was able to enjoy a melancholic moment in the solitude of an empty arena.

“I went and sat on the bench while the guys were getting undressed,” he recalled. “I think I sat there for a half hour, just looking at the rink and thinking about how thankful I was for everything I had had a chance to accomplish, all the people I met and everything I had gone through.”

Lalime was 36 years old at the time, so he knew his days had been numbered. “By the end, I wasn’t playing much, so I got to enjoy my last few moments in the NHL.”

Still, he was not ready to walk away completely.

He flirted with the idea of becoming a goalie coach – “I always enjoyed talking about the mental aspects of the game,” he said – but upon retirement he accepted an offer from the all-sports network RDS to become an analyst on Ottawa Senators television broadcasts. He eventually left RDS for TVA Sports, where he is still employed today.

Lalime is the holder of the best career start by a goaltender in NHL history, going 16 straight games without a loss (14-0-2) for Pittsburgh in 1996-97. Unable to come to contract terms with the Penguins, he found himself a year later in Grand Rapids, where he began working his way back to the NHL.

He played five seasons in Ottawa, his best year coming in 2002-03 when he won a club-record 39 games and helped propel the Senators to the Eastern Conference Finals against the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils.

“My best memories were obviously my start in Pittsburgh and being able to play a lot in Ottawa,” Lalime said. “Then there was losing in Game 7 of the playoffs to Jersey with 2:14 left on a Jeff Friesen goal. That was the best and worst at the same time because we came so close to going to the Finals. At the same time, it was like, ‘It’s all over. What just happened?’”

Lalime has fond memories of his year with the Griffins (1997-98), when he split playing time with Ian Gordon for a team that was led offensively by Michel Picard and Glen Metropolit. “What I really enjoyed about Grand Rapids was the fans and that it was a great place to live,” said Lalime, who went 10-10-9 with a 2.61 goals against average and a 0.918 save percentage that season.

An eventual move to the press box seemed like a logical move for a goaltender who enjoyed picking apart the game when he was still playing, but Lalime admits that he approached the task of being an analyst with a bit of trepidation.

“I’ve always been a guy who analyzes things,” Lalime said. “As a goalie, you tend to watch the game more closely. You look at sticks. You analyze the play on the ice. You look at guys’ tendencies. Maybe too much sometimes. Too much thinking can sometimes hurt you when you’re playing.”

“For me, it’s been a great adjustment, but in the beginning, I wasn’t too sure. I knew I wanted to do something in hockey right away. I had an offer from Buffalo to be a goalie coach in the minors, but coaching takes a lot of time and I wanted to enjoy the family, so when I first got a call from RDS, I jumped at the chance.”

Becoming an analyst was an eye-opening experience. “I’m not a reporter, but I now see the work that is being done,” he said. “When you’re playing, talking to the media is just something you have to do. When you move to the other side, you realize that it’s a job that takes a lot of time.”

“There’s a lot of homework involved. You spend a lot of time reading what’s going on, talking to players, picking up stories. It’s a lot like school. If you do your preparation, you will more than likely succeed at the end of the day.”

TVA Sports is the official French broadcasting network of the NHL, presenting 300 games during the season, including 22 Saturday night games of the Montreal Canadiens. Lalime works in the studio during the weekday games, then joins play-by-play announcer Félix Séguin for the Canadiens games.

“He’s a young guy, but he’s a real student of the game,” Lalime said. “He’s fun to work with and we try to complement each other. He knows all the players and the stats and I try to bring an inside perspective in terms of what it means when things are going bad or going good.”

Lately, things have not been going so great for the Canadiens, who have struggled through a 5-14-1 stretch after starting the season as the hottest team in hockey.

“It’s so easy to throw the players under the bus, but you know what guys are going through,” Lalime said. “You played the game, so you know they want to succeed, but things are just not working right now. I’ve always been the kind of guy who looks at the glass as half full.”

He admits the Canadiens’ recent struggles make his work a little more challenging.

“Of course, it’s harder when the team is not winning,” he said. “When the team is winning, you go into the room and everybody’s happy. Everybody’s all talk and all smiles, but when they lose they don’t really want to see you, and I understand it because I remember how it was when I played.”

Last season, Lalime enjoyed following the success of Senators goalie Andrew Hammond, who went 14-0-1 before suffering his first regulation loss, falling one game short of matching the mark set by Lalime.

“I always love the underdog story and it was great to watch,” Lalime said. “It goes to show you that there are so many great players who are waiting to get a chance to play in the NHL. It’s like Mike Condon with the Canadiens this year. He was in the ECHL two years ago. You’re a long shot and nobody knows about you, then suddenly you get a chance and it’s like you’re on fire.”

Lalime said long winning streaks are difficult to sustain. “When you’re playing, you try not to look at it. It’s the old, boring ‘one game at a time.’ It’s a mental challenge when you’re in a streak like that. You try not to get too high or too low. You want to enjoy it, but at the same time, you don’t want to realize what is really happening.

“Of course, the media is reminding you about it every day and that’s the challenge, to not get caught up in the hype. It was a lot of fun because I was very fortunate to play with some great players like Mario (Lemieux), Ron Francis and (Jaromir) Jagr, who is still dominating (at age 43).”

Speaking of Jagr, Lalime marvels at the season the veteran is enjoying, but is not at all surprised.

“His work ethic is second to none,” Lalime said. “I remember after practice we’d sometimes stay on the ice for a half hour past everyone else. He’d take the puck, come out of the corner and come back in front and shoot. Just little stuff. He was always working on his game, on and off the ice. He spent a lot of time in the gym, too, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s still having success.”

Lalime appreciates that his new broadcasting gig allows him to spend more time at home with his family. He lives in Trois-Rivières, between Montreal and Quebec, with his wife Marie-Helene and daughters Liliana, 13; Rosemary, 12; and Evangeline, 8.

He admits that he misses the camaraderie of the locker room, but he is still part of a team, although being a broadcaster is an entirely different challenge.

“I tell my wife that she should hear what goes on inside my earphones during a game,” Lalime. “It’s all these people talking at the same time, from the play-by-play to people talking about the video replays and what’s available. It’s constant talking – busy, busy, busy. I guess you could say I love being busy.”

To this day, Lalime still gets excited before a game.

“I still get the goosebumps when I go on the air, but it’s a different kind. When I played, the anthem was the defining moment. It was like, ‘Game on, bring it on.’ When I hear the anthem, I still get a little bit of that feeling I had when I played because I enjoy being there. I enjoy being able to talk about the game I love.”

TODD JACKSON: WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN

Todd Jackson has fond memories of his two seasons (2004-06) with the Griffins because they represent the pinnacle of his hockey career.

A late-round pick of the Red Wings in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, Jackson came to Grand Rapids after excelling during four years at the University of Maine, where he was one of the most decorated members of a team that was national champion runner-up twice.

“Looking back on Grand Rapids, the whole experience just seems like a dream,” Jackson said. “I feel super fortunate to have been able to play and if I could go back, I don’t think I would change anything. It was just a wild ride.”

Jackson was one of four highly touted rookies in the fall of 2004. Appearing on the cover of Griffiti together with Jackson were Derek Meech, Eric Himelfarb and Brett Lebda.

Meech and Himelfarb, now in their 12th professional seasons, are currently playing in Sweden for the Malmo Redhawks (former Griffin Kent McDonell is also a member of the team). Lebda, meanwhile, played 397 NHL games before retiring after the 2012-13 season.

Jackson, who bounced between Grand Rapids and Toledo during his time with the Griffins, admits that he struggled to find his footing after turning pro.

“It was super exciting, but also a very stressful time for me,” he recalled. “I had a two-year contract. It felt like the culmination of my career. I had reached the final stage and I wasn’t completely prepared. I had felt comfortable in college, but I wasn’t quite ready for the transition to playing with the best in the world.

“I remember walking into my first NHL training camp and I saw (Steve) Yzerman’s name, (Robert) Lang and Jackson (above the dressing room stalls). I just shook my head. Like ‘What, this is crazy. Does my name belong next to these world-class players?’”

A four-time Academic All-American at Maine, where he was the 2002-03 Hockey East Defensive Player of the Year, Jackson lost his confidence in the transition from college to the pros. “Mentally, I don’t think I was quite ready for how quickly everything would unfold,” he said.

Jackson ended up playing another season in the ECHL, then spent 2007-08 in England before returning to the ECHL for two seasons in Ontario, Calif., where he would meet his wife. He finished his career by playing a half-season in Italy with one of his former Maine teammates.

By the time he went to Italy, Jackson had already begun to find life after hockey as a professional poker player.

He started playing cards on team bus trips at a time when the World Series of Poker was becoming popular on ESPN. He quickly discovered that he had a knack for the game. He played mostly online and built a bankroll until the government cracked down on offshore gambling in 2011.

Jackson ultimately moved to Las Vegas where he now lives with his wife Danielle, a nursing student. He learned to play live poker in the casinos; Bellagio being his chosen venue as it is one of the few places where he can play limit Texas hold ‘em.

Like with any pursuit, Jackson has improved his play over time, but he figures he still has more to learn. “There’s no point where you can say I’ve got it figured out. I can just print money now,” Jackson said. “It’s a very dynamic game. The good players are always studying and talking about the game. The way you survive is to evolve and adapt.”

Adapting to live poker took some time. “Online you see these cartoon characters at a virtual poker table with little animations of chips flying around when there’s thousands of dollars at stake,” he said. “Fundamentally, it’s the same game, but the style and pace of play is very different, so I had to retrain myself to be calibrated to the pace of live play, which is much slower. Strategically, they’re two different games, too.”

Jackson found that he had to take a methodical approach in order to play the game well. Winning at poker requires a mix of psychology, math and luck. “The typical perception of poker is that it revolves around having a good poker face and bluffing, but those things are not as big a part of the game as people think. It’s more about math and tendencies.”

Although he has played in the main event at the World Series of Poker, Jackson typically plays cash games. “You have to learn to lose,” he said. “You’re only going to win 60-70 percent of your sessions if you’re a great player, so you have to learn to manage your downside. I try to be as business-like and unemotional as possible.”

Not surprisingly, being a professional poker player can be a financial and emotional roller coaster, not to mention stressful. It led Jackson to look into yoga to learn to relax.

“There’s certainly a stressful element to playing poker every day,” he said. “I’m sitting at a table 12 hours, sometimes 15 hours, and I’m not really working through any of that stress. I was looking for some balance, and yoga seemed a good fit with poker.”

After dabbling in yoga for some time, Jackson started taking courses and became a yoga instructor at a local studio this past year. Poker still pays the bills, but he would eventually like to devote himself to yoga full time.

“I’m now wishing I had it when I played hockey,” he said. “A lot of the breathing techniques would have been helpful in my hockey days. Ultimately, I could see yoga as something that I might help incorporate into hockey programs and bring everything full circle.”

In the meantime, Jackson tries to play poker 100 hours a month, keeping graphs to chart his success and progress. Unsure of whether he will keep playing poker indefinitely, Jackson and his wife are contemplating staying in Vegas for good.

“We live 15 minutes from the Strip,” he said. “We initially thought we’d be here only a year or two, but the longer that we’re here, the more that it feels right.”

FRANCIS PARE: HAVE GOOGLE, WILL TRAVEL

Technology can be a wonderful thing. Just ask former Griffins forward Francis Pare.

“My best friend in Russia has been my cell phone,” said Pare, now in his third season in the KHL after leaving North America to continue his hockey career. “Google Translate is the best app ever.”

Unfortunately, cell phones are not allowed on the bench. “It’s really hard to communicate with the guys on the bench,” Pare said. “Sometimes the guy next to me will try to tell me something and I’ll say that I have no clue what he’s talking about, so we just laugh and keep going. And then we’ll grab our phones later to figure it out.”

After a couple of years in Russia, Pare finally learned enough of the language that he could ask directions or go into a restaurant and order food off the menu. Then in mid-October, Chelyabinsk Traktor, the team he played for in Russia, traded him to HC Slovan, the KHL team in Bratislava, Slovakia.

“Every day is an adventure,” Pare said. “I wake up and I never know what is going to happen.” He is not complaining. “I wake up every morning with a smile on my face, ready to go to work as a hockey player. I’m living my dream.”

Pare decided to try his luck overseas after the Griffins won the Calder Cup in 2013. Following five years with the Griffins, and realizing that his hopes of getting a chance to play in the NHL were fading, he opted to head to Finland. He played 30 games in Turku before landing an offer to play in Russia and the KHL.

“I felt I was too young to be a veteran in the AHL, but too old to be a prospect,” Pare said, explaining his decision to go overseas. “After winning the Cup, the next challenge was to win it again, but my other passion besides hockey is travel and I want to experience new languages and styles of living.”

Thanks to his early success in Finland, his agent found him a spot with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where a few short months later, he was hoisting the Gagarin Cup as 2014 KHL champions. Behind the bench was Mike Keenan, who had coached the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup 20 years earlier.

Pare signed a two-year contract with Metallurg following the season, but six months later was traded to Chelyabinsk Traktor, where he would play the rest of the 2014-15 season and the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign, until his trade to HC Slovan.

“Here things move very quickly,” Pare said. “If you’re not doing well, they might buy you out and suddenly you’re without a contract. I’ve stayed positive all the time and stayed open to any opportunity.”

It’s been an eye-opening experience for Pare, much like when he first came to Grand Rapids in 2008 as a free agent from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

“When I left Canada to come to the U.S., it was a big change,” Pare said. “Most obviously there was the language. I couldn’t say one word in English, so it was very hard for me. But I will be forever grateful to (former Griffins general manager) Bob McNamara for bringing me to Grand Rapids.”

Now thousands of miles away, Pare still feels a bond to the city. “It’s where I grew up as a player and a person, whether it was visiting hospitals or playing the Sled Wings at Griff’s IceHouse every year. Those things made me realize that everything isn’t about hockey. There are people we need to care about and it was really nice to get involved in the community.”

Pare credits his parents for instilling the right values. “You want to be remembered as a hockey player, but more importantly as a good human being. After staying with the same team for five years, hopefully I did something good. The city will always be in my heart.”

Once in Russia, Pare discovered that it wasn’t the easiest place to live. “When I first landed, I was freaking out,” he said. “Everything is different – the style of living, the food, even driving your car. I could write a book on all the things that surprised me. You don’t have to close your eyes, but sometimes you just have to accept the way things are.

“You have to be open-minded, but it’s not that bad. It’s doable and, to be honest, I’ve really loved the experience.”

Obviously, playing for Slovakia’s entry in the KHL represents a new challenge. “The hockey is very good, way better than people think back in North America,” Pare said. “It’s different hockey with the bigger Olympic rinks – less hitting, more difficult to find scoring chances – and it’s way faster than the AHL. There are a lot of really good players here.”

One of teammates in Bratislava is Marek Tvrdon, who appeared in 51 games with the Griffins last season before the Red Wings gave him his unconditional release in December 2015. Another teammate is Louis Leblanc, a fellow French-Canadian, who played in Hamilton and Montreal. Pare and Leblanc have become fast friends.

Pare is not alone in his travels. He married Daisy McCaughry this past July 11 in Quebec City. Griffins center Louis-Marc Aubry was among several former teammates in attendance.

“I’m trying to enjoy every day here because your career can go by fast,” Pare said. “I’m 28 years old, so I don’t have 20 years ahead of me. Time flies. It seems like yesterday that it was my first year in the AHL and now I’m in my eighth year pro.”

Pare isn’t sure what the future holds. He talks about returning to Finland or maybe Sweden next season. He isn’t ruling out a return to North America at some point, although it is hard to envision playing for another team in the AHL. “Grand Rapids is always going to be my team,” he said.

As Part 3 of a season-long series celebrating the organization’s 20th anniversary, Griffiti caught up with a hat trick of former Griffins finding success in careers post-Grand Rapids.

Stories by Mark Newman


PATRICK LALIME: FROM BEHIND THE MASK TO BEHIND THE MIC

Goaltender Patrick Lalime won 200 games during his NHL career, which included the best start in league history. But it was a game that he didn’t play in that will likely remain etched in his mind forever.

It occurred at the end of the 2010-11 season, 13 years after his lone season in Grand Rapids. He was playing for the Buffalo Sabres after previous NHL stops with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks.

“When Buffalo signed me for one more year, I knew it was that – ‘one more year,’” said Lalime, who played his final three seasons with the Sabres. “I knew that season was going to be it because they were going to give more playing time to Jhonas Enroth, who is now with the Kings. I kind of knew what I was getting myself into, so it made it a little bit easier at the end.”

Even so, walking away from the game was extremely emotional.

“I still remember my last game, even though I did not dress,” Lalime recalled. “We were in the playoffs and we lost to Philly in six games. I was upstairs and around the 10-minute mark, I think it was 4-1 for Philly, and I just started crying. When I went into the room after, the tears kept coming because I couldn’t hold them back.”

After leaving the din of the dressing room, Lalime was able to enjoy a melancholic moment in the solitude of an empty arena.

“I went and sat on the bench while the guys were getting undressed,” he recalled. “I think I sat there for a half hour, just looking at the rink and thinking about how thankful I was for everything I had had a chance to accomplish, all the people I met and everything I had gone through.”

Lalime was 36 years old at the time, so he knew his days had been numbered. “By the end, I wasn’t playing much, so I got to enjoy my last few moments in the NHL.”

Still, he was not ready to walk away completely.

He flirted with the idea of becoming a goalie coach – “I always enjoyed talking about the mental aspects of the game,” he said – but upon retirement he accepted an offer from the all-sports network RDS to become an analyst on Ottawa Senators television broadcasts. He eventually left RDS for TVA Sports, where he is still employed today.

Lalime is the holder of the best career start by a goaltender in NHL history, going 16 straight games without a loss (14-0-2) for Pittsburgh in 1996-97. Unable to come to contract terms with the Penguins, he found himself a year later in Grand Rapids, where he began working his way back to the NHL.

He played five seasons in Ottawa, his best year coming in 2002-03 when he won a club-record 39 games and helped propel the Senators to the Eastern Conference Finals against the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils.

“My best memories were obviously my start in Pittsburgh and being able to play a lot in Ottawa,” Lalime said. “Then there was losing in Game 7 of the playoffs to Jersey with 2:14 left on a Jeff Friesen goal. That was the best and worst at the same time because we came so close to going to the Finals. At the same time, it was like, ‘It’s all over. What just happened?’”

Lalime has fond memories of his year with the Griffins (1997-98), when he split playing time with Ian Gordon for a team that was led offensively by Michel Picard and Glen Metropolit. “What I really enjoyed about Grand Rapids was the fans and that it was a great place to live,” said Lalime, who went 10-10-9 with a 2.61 goals against average and a 0.918 save percentage that season.

An eventual move to the press box seemed like a logical move for a goaltender who enjoyed picking apart the game when he was still playing, but Lalime admits that he approached the task of being an analyst with a bit of trepidation.

“I’ve always been a guy who analyzes things,” Lalime said. “As a goalie, you tend to watch the game more closely. You look at sticks. You analyze the play on the ice. You look at guys’ tendencies. Maybe too much sometimes. Too much thinking can sometimes hurt you when you’re playing.”

“For me, it’s been a great adjustment, but in the beginning, I wasn’t too sure. I knew I wanted to do something in hockey right away. I had an offer from Buffalo to be a goalie coach in the minors, but coaching takes a lot of time and I wanted to enjoy the family, so when I first got a call from RDS, I jumped at the chance.”

Becoming an analyst was an eye-opening experience. “I’m not a reporter, but I now see the work that is being done,” he said. “When you’re playing, talking to the media is just something you have to do. When you move to the other side, you realize that it’s a job that takes a lot of time.”

“There’s a lot of homework involved. You spend a lot of time reading what’s going on, talking to players, picking up stories. It’s a lot like school. If you do your preparation, you will more than likely succeed at the end of the day.”

TVA Sports is the official French broadcasting network of the NHL, presenting 300 games during the season, including 22 Saturday night games of the Montreal Canadiens. Lalime works in the studio during the weekday games, then joins play-by-play announcer Félix Séguin for the Canadiens games.

“He’s a young guy, but he’s a real student of the game,” Lalime said. “He’s fun to work with and we try to complement each other. He knows all the players and the stats and I try to bring an inside perspective in terms of what it means when things are going bad or going good.”

Lately, things have not been going so great for the Canadiens, who have struggled through a 5-14-1 stretch after starting the season as the hottest team in hockey.

“It’s so easy to throw the players under the bus, but you know what guys are going through,” Lalime said. “You played the game, so you know they want to succeed, but things are just not working right now. I’ve always been the kind of guy who looks at the glass as half full.”

He admits the Canadiens’ recent struggles make his work a little more challenging.

“Of course, it’s harder when the team is not winning,” he said. “When the team is winning, you go into the room and everybody’s happy. Everybody’s all talk and all smiles, but when they lose they don’t really want to see you, and I understand it because I remember how it was when I played.”

Last season, Lalime enjoyed following the success of Senators goalie Andrew Hammond, who went 14-0-1 before suffering his first regulation loss, falling one game short of matching the mark set by Lalime.

“I always love the underdog story and it was great to watch,” Lalime said. “It goes to show you that there are so many great players who are waiting to get a chance to play in the NHL. It’s like Mike Condon with the Canadiens this year. He was in the ECHL two years ago. You’re a long shot and nobody knows about you, then suddenly you get a chance and it’s like you’re on fire.”

Lalime said long winning streaks are difficult to sustain. “When you’re playing, you try not to look at it. It’s the old, boring ‘one game at a time.’ It’s a mental challenge when you’re in a streak like that. You try not to get too high or too low. You want to enjoy it, but at the same time, you don’t want to realize what is really happening.

“Of course, the media is reminding you about it every day and that’s the challenge, to not get caught up in the hype. It was a lot of fun because I was very fortunate to play with some great players like Mario (Lemieux), Ron Francis and (Jaromir) Jagr, who is still dominating (at age 43).”

Speaking of Jagr, Lalime marvels at the season the veteran is enjoying, but is not at all surprised.

“His work ethic is second to none,” Lalime said. “I remember after practice we’d sometimes stay on the ice for a half hour past everyone else. He’d take the puck, come out of the corner and come back in front and shoot. Just little stuff. He was always working on his game, on and off the ice. He spent a lot of time in the gym, too, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s still having success.”

Lalime appreciates that his new broadcasting gig allows him to spend more time at home with his family. He lives in Trois-Rivières, between Montreal and Quebec, with his wife Marie-Helene and daughters Liliana, 13; Rosemary, 12; and Evangeline, 8.

He admits that he misses the camaraderie of the locker room, but he is still part of a team, although being a broadcaster is an entirely different challenge.

“I tell my wife that she should hear what goes on inside my earphones during a game,” Lalime. “It’s all these people talking at the same time, from the play-by-play to people talking about the video replays and what’s available. It’s constant talking – busy, busy, busy. I guess you could say I love being busy.”

To this day, Lalime still gets excited before a game.

“I still get the goosebumps when I go on the air, but it’s a different kind. When I played, the anthem was the defining moment. It was like, ‘Game on, bring it on.’ When I hear the anthem, I still get a little bit of that feeling I had when I played because I enjoy being there. I enjoy being able to talk about the game I love.”

TODD JACKSON: WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN

Todd Jackson has fond memories of his two seasons (2004-06) with the Griffins because they represent the pinnacle of his hockey career.

A late-round pick of the Red Wings in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, Jackson came to Grand Rapids after excelling during four years at the University of Maine, where he was one of the most decorated members of a team that was national champion runner-up twice.

“Looking back on Grand Rapids, the whole experience just seems like a dream,” Jackson said. “I feel super fortunate to have been able to play and if I could go back, I don’t think I would change anything. It was just a wild ride.”

Jackson was one of four highly touted rookies in the fall of 2004. Appearing on the cover of Griffiti together with Jackson were Derek Meech, Eric Himelfarb and Brett Lebda.

Meech and Himelfarb, now in their 12th professional seasons, are currently playing in Sweden for the Malmo Redhawks (former Griffin Kent McDonell is also a member of the team). Lebda, meanwhile, played 397 NHL games before retiring after the 2012-13 season.

Jackson, who bounced between Grand Rapids and Toledo during his time with the Griffins, admits that he struggled to find his footing after turning pro.

“It was super exciting, but also a very stressful time for me,” he recalled. “I had a two-year contract. It felt like the culmination of my career. I had reached the final stage and I wasn’t completely prepared. I had felt comfortable in college, but I wasn’t quite ready for the transition to playing with the best in the world.

“I remember walking into my first NHL training camp and I saw (Steve) Yzerman’s name, (Robert) Lang and Jackson (above the dressing room stalls). I just shook my head. Like ‘What, this is crazy. Does my name belong next to these world-class players?’”

A four-time Academic All-American at Maine, where he was the 2002-03 Hockey East Defensive Player of the Year, Jackson lost his confidence in the transition from college to the pros. “Mentally, I don’t think I was quite ready for how quickly everything would unfold,” he said.

Jackson ended up playing another season in the ECHL, then spent 2007-08 in England before returning to the ECHL for two seasons in Ontario, Calif., where he would meet his wife. He finished his career by playing a half-season in Italy with one of his former Maine teammates.

By the time he went to Italy, Jackson had already begun to find life after hockey as a professional poker player.

He started playing cards on team bus trips at a time when the World Series of Poker was becoming popular on ESPN. He quickly discovered that he had a knack for the game. He played mostly online and built a bankroll until the government cracked down on offshore gambling in 2011.

Jackson ultimately moved to Las Vegas where he now lives with his wife Danielle, a nursing student. He learned to play live poker in the casinos; Bellagio being his chosen venue as it is one of the few places where he can play limit Texas hold ‘em.

Like with any pursuit, Jackson has improved his play over time, but he figures he still has more to learn. “There’s no point where you can say I’ve got it figured out. I can just print money now,” Jackson said. “It’s a very dynamic game. The good players are always studying and talking about the game. The way you survive is to evolve and adapt.”

Adapting to live poker took some time. “Online you see these cartoon characters at a virtual poker table with little animations of chips flying around when there’s thousands of dollars at stake,” he said. “Fundamentally, it’s the same game, but the style and pace of play is very different, so I had to retrain myself to be calibrated to the pace of live play, which is much slower. Strategically, they’re two different games, too.”

Jackson found that he had to take a methodical approach in order to play the game well. Winning at poker requires a mix of psychology, math and luck. “The typical perception of poker is that it revolves around having a good poker face and bluffing, but those things are not as big a part of the game as people think. It’s more about math and tendencies.”

Although he has played in the main event at the World Series of Poker, Jackson typically plays cash games. “You have to learn to lose,” he said. “You’re only going to win 60-70 percent of your sessions if you’re a great player, so you have to learn to manage your downside. I try to be as business-like and unemotional as possible.”

Not surprisingly, being a professional poker player can be a financial and emotional roller coaster, not to mention stressful. It led Jackson to look into yoga to learn to relax.

“There’s certainly a stressful element to playing poker every day,” he said. “I’m sitting at a table 12 hours, sometimes 15 hours, and I’m not really working through any of that stress. I was looking for some balance, and yoga seemed a good fit with poker.”

After dabbling in yoga for some time, Jackson started taking courses and became a yoga instructor at a local studio this past year. Poker still pays the bills, but he would eventually like to devote himself to yoga full time.

“I’m now wishing I had it when I played hockey,” he said. “A lot of the breathing techniques would have been helpful in my hockey days. Ultimately, I could see yoga as something that I might help incorporate into hockey programs and bring everything full circle.”

In the meantime, Jackson tries to play poker 100 hours a month, keeping graphs to chart his success and progress. Unsure of whether he will keep playing poker indefinitely, Jackson and his wife are contemplating staying in Vegas for good.

“We live 15 minutes from the Strip,” he said. “We initially thought we’d be here only a year or two, but the longer that we’re here, the more that it feels right.”

FRANCIS PARE: HAVE GOOGLE, WILL TRAVEL

Technology can be a wonderful thing. Just ask former Griffins forward Francis Pare.

“My best friend in Russia has been my cell phone,” said Pare, now in his third season in the KHL after leaving North America to continue his hockey career. “Google Translate is the best app ever.”

Unfortunately, cell phones are not allowed on the bench. “It’s really hard to communicate with the guys on the bench,” Pare said. “Sometimes the guy next to me will try to tell me something and I’ll say that I have no clue what he’s talking about, so we just laugh and keep going. And then we’ll grab our phones later to figure it out.”

After a couple of years in Russia, Pare finally learned enough of the language that he could ask directions or go into a restaurant and order food off the menu. Then in mid-October, Chelyabinsk Traktor, the team he played for in Russia, traded him to HC Slovan, the KHL team in Bratislava, Slovakia.

“Every day is an adventure,” Pare said. “I wake up and I never know what is going to happen.” He is not complaining. “I wake up every morning with a smile on my face, ready to go to work as a hockey player. I’m living my dream.”

Pare decided to try his luck overseas after the Griffins won the Calder Cup in 2013. Following five years with the Griffins, and realizing that his hopes of getting a chance to play in the NHL were fading, he opted to head to Finland. He played 30 games in Turku before landing an offer to play in Russia and the KHL.

“I felt I was too young to be a veteran in the AHL, but too old to be a prospect,” Pare said, explaining his decision to go overseas. “After winning the Cup, the next challenge was to win it again, but my other passion besides hockey is travel and I want to experience new languages and styles of living.”

Thanks to his early success in Finland, his agent found him a spot with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where a few short months later, he was hoisting the Gagarin Cup as 2014 KHL champions. Behind the bench was Mike Keenan, who had coached the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup 20 years earlier.

Pare signed a two-year contract with Metallurg following the season, but six months later was traded to Chelyabinsk Traktor, where he would play the rest of the 2014-15 season and the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign, until his trade to HC Slovan.

“Here things move very quickly,” Pare said. “If you’re not doing well, they might buy you out and suddenly you’re without a contract. I’ve stayed positive all the time and stayed open to any opportunity.”

It’s been an eye-opening experience for Pare, much like when he first came to Grand Rapids in 2008 as a free agent from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

“When I left Canada to come to the U.S., it was a big change,” Pare said. “Most obviously there was the language. I couldn’t say one word in English, so it was very hard for me. But I will be forever grateful to (former Griffins general manager) Bob McNamara for bringing me to Grand Rapids.”

Now thousands of miles away, Pare still feels a bond to the city. “It’s where I grew up as a player and a person, whether it was visiting hospitals or playing the Sled Wings at Griff’s IceHouse every year. Those things made me realize that everything isn’t about hockey. There are people we need to care about and it was really nice to get involved in the community.”

Pare credits his parents for instilling the right values. “You want to be remembered as a hockey player, but more importantly as a good human being. After staying with the same team for five years, hopefully I did something good. The city will always be in my heart.”

Once in Russia, Pare discovered that it wasn’t the easiest place to live. “When I first landed, I was freaking out,” he said. “Everything is different – the style of living, the food, even driving your car. I could write a book on all the things that surprised me. You don’t have to close your eyes, but sometimes you just have to accept the way things are.

“You have to be open-minded, but it’s not that bad. It’s doable and, to be honest, I’ve really loved the experience.”

Obviously, playing for Slovakia’s entry in the KHL represents a new challenge. “The hockey is very good, way better than people think back in North America,” Pare said. “It’s different hockey with the bigger Olympic rinks – less hitting, more difficult to find scoring chances – and it’s way faster than the AHL. There are a lot of really good players here.”

One of teammates in Bratislava is Marek Tvrdon, who appeared in 51 games with the Griffins last season before the Red Wings gave him his unconditional release in December 2015. Another teammate is Louis Leblanc, a fellow French-Canadian, who played in Hamilton and Montreal. Pare and Leblanc have become fast friends.

Pare is not alone in his travels. He married Daisy McCaughry this past July 11 in Quebec City. Griffins center Louis-Marc Aubry was among several former teammates in attendance.

“I’m trying to enjoy every day here because your career can go by fast,” Pare said. “I’m 28 years old, so I don’t have 20 years ahead of me. Time flies. It seems like yesterday that it was my first year in the AHL and now I’m in my eighth year pro.”

Pare isn’t sure what the future holds. He talks about returning to Finland or maybe Sweden next season. He isn’t ruling out a return to North America at some point, although it is hard to envision playing for another team in the AHL. “Grand Rapids is always going to be my team,” he said.