From the ice rink to the classroom
Hockey. Most people become interested when the Blackhawks are fighting for the Stanley cup. However, its the ones that have skated since the minute they could walk that have had a real passion for it. One of those is French teacher, Andre Carriere.
“Being from Canada, we grew up playing hockey. The minute I could skate, everyday I was outside on the outdoor rinks,” Carriere said.
Andre’s passion for the game lead him to play in college. There’s nothing that he doesn’t love about the sport.
“My ultimate goal was to go to college and come to the U.S and hopefully move on to pro hockey,” Carriere said.
His dream was becoming reality when in his junior year of college, his team won the National Championship, creating his favorite memory of hockey.
“We went in as a second rated team, and we beat a team that was undefeated the whole year and we beat them in the final. This was the most important thing that could happen in my career,” Carriere said.
However, before he was able to reach his goal of becoming a pro hockey player, a back injury got in his way.
“Just from overuse and getting hit in the back meant I was in the training room every other day. By senior year, I could only play half the games,” Carriere said.
But don’t think this stopped him. He is passing his love of hockey down to his son.
“My biggest joy from hockey is watching my son play,” Carriere said.
