“The big emphasis for me is just getting stronger... Brossard is the best place to do it under the guidance of the strength and conditioning coaches here.. It's good to hang out with some of the younger guys that I'm teammates with and that I'll be teammates with soon. Back in Toronto, I'm working with Bryan Marshall. He works with the Vancouver Canucks. I'll be there for most of the summer... The first few weeks I was in there, we were pushing pretty hard and pushing a lot of sleds. The facility is just 10 minutes from my house... I'm training with my good buddy, Pat McCarron. He plays for the Florida Everblades (ECHL). I was pretty antsy to start working out right away after the season because it ended a little too early... So getting things going full-swing now is fun... Just getting on the ice in Montreal and being in Montreal, honestly, I'd like to be playing games in a few weeks. I'm going to show what I've at training camp and try to impress... That's the biggest thing... If I don't make the Canadiens, I want to be that next guy to get called up and I want to be one of those guys in Laval that's the go-to guy. If something happens in Montreal and they need a forward, I'd like to be that first guy up. Overall, I want to be trusted more at both ends of the rink... By the end of the year, it started to take form... I started to do a little better defensively and started to get a little more time on the penalty kill... And then faceoffs, too... At Notre Dame, I was more of a guy to take those big draws and I want to be that guy in Laval or Montreal. That's where I've got to take those next few steps... You've to find ways to contribute and being as well-rounded as I can will help me.
“My rookie season in the pros? I've got a lot more patience than I thought I did... I guess I went through similar things with Notre Dame... Where I started barely playing and I was scared I wasn't even going to be playing the next game. Not getting down on myself has been huge for me... My first two games in Laval, I played like 5 minutes each game and then I was honestly thinking that I might get scratched. If I got down on myself, I think I probably would've started getting scratched and things would've started going downhill. But, I stayed positive and then things started going a little better. You just can't be satisfied with what you did. You've to keep pushing and not take anything for granted. You can't go into the next year thinking: Oh, I'll do the same thing, for sure. I also can't put pressure on myself, like I've been saying my whole career now... You've to enjoy it, be driven and keep pushing to reach new levels. I'm definitely happy with my performance, but there are things I've to do to take that next step... You want to be confident, but don't get too high and don't get too low. That's where I'm at....”
“My first F1 experience? It was my first race of any kind... Ryan Poehling and I went together. When we were driving in, we just heard a bunch of loud noises. It's actually pretty scary how fast they're going. I just couldn't believe how fast the cars were... We were right by a turn, too. It was amazing to see how quickly the drivers can brake and then accelerate right back up again. I also didn't realize how big the track was until we got there. You also understand how big F1 is to the city. It's huge... Ryan and I are living together downtown right now. So we were walking around and all the streets were closed off. And there were so many nice cars driving by..”
“Me and Ryan Poehling? We're good friends. We've had a couple of camps together before and we're having a lot of quality time together right now. He's mature beyond his years, I'd say. He's driven to have a good first pro year. I think it's good that we're together. We can compete with each other in the gym and on the ice. Hopefully, we're teammates for a good amount of time. Ryan and I both went to college. So you've many more talking points and similarities in terms of the things we went through. I think that helps our friendship... We're pretty close. We're living right by the Bell Centre. So there's always a lot to do...”