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24-year-old Mike Fisher is a playmaking centre with the hometown Ottawa Senators; he was, if you recall, the guy that scored the goal in double-overtime in Game Six to force a seventh game with the Toronto Maple Leafs in this year's first-round NHL playoffs. Sadly, the Senators were bounced in Game Seven, another loss to the hated Leafs.
"Fish" is a native of Peterborough, Ontario, and played his junior hockey with the Sudbury Wolves in the Ontario Hockey League before jumping to the bigs with Ottawa a few years back; since then he's gained mad popularity as a well-spoken, community-minded kinda guy - a good interview for anyone with a tape recorder.
And he also happens to be an outspoken Christian. So when the chance arose, sweetdisaster tracked him down to put some questions to him regarding faith in his environment, the late Roger Neilson (who was an assistant coach with the Senators until his passing a year ago after a long battle with cancer), how his beliefs influence his hockey career on- and off-ice, and his involvement with Roger's House, being built, probably as you read this, at the Childrens' Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
This piece was conducted a few months ago at Fisher's west-end Ottawa church, where he was tapped to speak to some two hundred and fifty kids, all clamouring for autographed souvenirs. Ah, the life of a star athlete. Voila.
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sd: You mentioned that [Senators defenceman] Bryan Pothier is also a Christian; not to single people out, but is there a strong contingent of believers on the Senators as the team stands now?
Mike: Well, Bryan and myself are the only ones that I'm aware of. We have had a chapel going this year; Antoine Vermette comes out quite regularly and shows some interest.
sd: It's interesting that Pothier and Vermette were both mentioned today involved in trade rumours - I assume you and Bryan are pretty close; what does it do when someone is traded? It's the nature of professional sports, but what does it mean when one of your confidantes, someone who you know you can lean on in terms of your faith, is traded?
Mike: Well, I was thinking about that today...a lot of times trade rumours swirl around, and a lot of the trades you hear about usually wind up not happening -
sd: Peter Bondra to Ottawa?
Mike: And even that, I doubt that that'll happen, if there were talks or whatever [it did, a few days later-ed.], but yeah, that would be disappointing to me to see those two guys [Pothier and Vermette] go. Those are two of my closer friends, even if they're new to the team, and Bryan is a very strong Christian who's been able to encourage me and help me in my walk, where two is definitely stronger than one in a sport where there's not too much faith. I mean, our team is awesome, we have a great group of guys, and I feel fortunate to be a part of Ottawa; the guys are all very respectful, but Bryan has been very helpful to me.
sd: Is it often a topic of conversation in the dressing room, or at team meals or on planes? Or is it mainly kept private?
Mike: I think God gives you opportunities at certain times to speak the truth, and obviously with the chapel that we're having it's being made available to guys and we're getting a few guys out to that. When it does come up we try and do everything we can to try to speak the truth. I think that's important for me, whenever there's an opportunity, to grab it and continue to make ourselves available.
sd: You've been with the Senators four years, and this is your first big speaking engagement; do you get asked to do these things a lot?
Mike: Sometimes, yeah.
sd: Or is it because you go to this church?
Mike: Yeah. I got asked to do this, and I've never been asked to do anything for a youth outreach. To this point, I've done some speaking before through Hockey Ministries International. I believe this is part of my purpose. God gave me the ability to play hockey, and a lot of kids look up to me as a role model, and I believe it's my responsibility to spread the news, the good news that I know through Christ.
sd: I was told that there are a lot more people here tonight than they get for regular church services. This place is packed. When you walk into this place, and you're twenty-three years old and you know that you're "the hook" of this event, do you think, "What am I doing here?" 'Cause that would mess with my head.
Mike: It's humbling. You really gotta give everything to God, because everything I have is really His, and He's given me the opportunity to play at this level, and with that comes a lot of responsibility too. But it's exciting to see all these kids here and give them some stuff that they can take away.
sd: Talk a little bit about Roger Neilson; I know you guys were close.
Mike: *deep breath* Yeah. He was an inspiration for me, just in the way he carried himself; he was always respectful of everyone, all the guys on the team, and he was just a likeable guy. Everyone liked being around him. He was funny, and at the same time he really spoke the truth, and he was very adamant about his faith and what was important to him, and even when he was getting really sick he made sure people around him knew where he was going.
sd: And now you're involved with Roger's House; what is that exactly?
Mike: It's a pediatric palliative care unit that's gonna be going on CHEO property; it's only the second one in Canada - there's one in Vancouver, I believe. It's gonna be basically a very large house that has treatment for kids with cancer, and also some accommodations for their families and stuff. I'm the honourary chair.
sd: You're a little young for a position like that. *laughter*
Mike: Yeah, they have people behind the scenes that do a lot more work than me, but I go to some of the functions and kick them off and stuff like that. I get more credit than I deserve. *laughter*
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Our thanks to Mike for agreeing to give us five minutes when he was clearly besieged by requests to be doing other things - like signing a slew of merchandise. Props.
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