WATCH: Brinson Pasichnuk addresses the importance of mental health for elite athletes

Join Us for a Special Segment of Mental Health Matters!

We are thrilled to have Brinson Pasichnuk with us on Lakeland Connect! 🌟

In this insightful interview, Brinson shares his incredible journey from playing minor hockey to making it to the NHL, and the challenges he’s faced along the way. Brinson opens up about the mental and physical hurdles he’s overcome from his early days with the junior Pontiacs to playing for the Arizona Coyotes and San Jose Sharks.

🎥 Watch as Brinson talks about:

• His passion for hockey from a young age
• The importance of hard work and commitment
• Balancing sports and mental health
• His transition to coaching and giving back to the community

Whether you’re a hockey fan or interested in mental health and sports, this is a must-watch! Don’t miss out on Brinson’s inspiring story. 💬✨

📺 Tune in now on Lakeland Connect!

Mental Health Matters is brought to you by TLC Counselling & Psychological Services and Tellier Guardian Pharmacy.

Read Transcript

Please note this is an autogenerated transcript and there may be spelling and grammatical errors. 

 

Jena Colbourne: Hello and good afternoon. It’s Jena on Lakeline Connect. Joined today by Brinson Pasichnuk for Mental Health Matters. Thanks for joining me today, Brinson.

Brinson Pasichnuk: Thanks for having me.

Jena Colbourne: Well, I have a little cute story to start things off. You were my first live Facebook Live interview.

Brinson Pasichnuk: I remember it actually, it was right outside the Pontiac dressing room, I think, right?

Jena Colbourne: Yes it was. Yeah. Yeah. Seems like forever ago. You were my test subject. Chad actually said to me, ’cause we messed up a live maybe a week before that and I had some struggles with my equipment and he was like, you know, we just don’t do video. Yeah. So look at us now.

Brinson Pasichnuk: Holy, you guys have come a long way. Hey.

Jena Colbourne: Yeah. And so have you Brinson, that was, how old would you have been?

Brinson Pasichnuk: 16 or 17. Yeah, one of the two.

Jena Colbourne: Yeah. You were quite young when you joined the junior, a Pontiac squad.

Brinson Pasichnuk: Yeah. I definitely was, um, definitely a little bit of an adjustment there, being one of the younger guys, but, uh, makes you become a man real quick.

Jena Colbourne: Well, I’ve noticed like this time that tryouts are happening and conditioning skates and ID skates. And you think hockey ends in March?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Yeah. It’s a year-round commitment, but I’m noticing kind of younger and younger. So I wanted to get you in today to talk about your own experiences playing minor hockey and then excelling all the way into the NHL and then coming back home.

Brinson Pasichnuk: Yeah. No, hockey’s, uh, hockey’s a crazy sport nowadays. Everyone’s getting so good and you just look at the speed of the NHL and that just doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years and years of work. And I think that’s what kids nowadays are realizing, that if they really do wanna fulfill their dream, um, it takes work and it takes commitment to doing what you love every day. And you have to love it because it’s that big a commitment where if you don’t love it, you’re not gonna go far.

Jena Colbourne: So did you love it like coming outta the gates, you’re three years old, lacing up your first skates? Or was it something you grew into?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Uh, no, it was my love from the time I can remember. Some of my earliest memories in life, uh, just being on the backyard rink with the family. Um, but yeah, no, it’s been my passion, my love, uh, my distraction, my coping mechanism for most of my life. So, uh, it was a wild journey.

Jena Colbourne: And you stayed with the Bonneville Minor hockey throughout your career until you made the leap into the junior a Pontiacs?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Uh, correct. I went away for two years in midgets, uh, to Lloydminster. But apart from that, I was, uh, in Bonneville or in the surrounding area my whole life until the Pontiacs.

Jena Colbourne: Did you do any other sports or were you just focused in on hockey?

Brinson Pasichnuk: I’m a big believer that if you want to be a really good hockey player, play other sports. Because one, if you’re only doing one sport your whole life, you’re gonna get burnt out of it. And two, play other sports, learn other skills, learn hand-eye coordination, learn how to be faster off the ice. All of these, uh, skills and these sports, they help you to become the best you can possibly be.

Jena Colbourne: Well, I coach a younger level, U11, and at that age I noticed there’s standout players. Would you say you were a standout player at that young of an age? Or did you just like work hard and get there?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Uh, maybe a little bit of both. I mean, I don’t, I definitely wasn’t no McDavid out there, that’s for sure. Um, but I think I had some skills from an early on age. Um, but I think where it separated me was I just worked my tail off and, uh, I wasn’t the most skilled guy in the world or anything, but I had a dream. Uh, I dreamed big and I just went for it. And when you go all in on something, you’ll be amazed at how far you can go.

Jena Colbourne: Were you always focused on the NHL? Like that was always Brinson’s goal.

Brinson Pasichnuk: Yeah, there was nothing else in mind. Even from as early as kindergarten or grade one. I remember telling a teacher, I want to be a professional hockey player one day. And, uh, it seems very farfetched when you’re growing up. We’re all just normal human beings. We’re the best guys in the NHL. They’re just a human being. And they were a kid at one point too, and they had the same dream as you. So, um, yeah, it’s crazy to look back and just see how far you can go.

Jena Colbourne: So you’ve always believed, but when was the point that you noticed the public believed that you could do it?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Oh, that’s a good question because even the night before I played in my first NHL game, there was pub saying that I would never make it. So, um, but for me, I think where the confidence level came in was probably Bantam first year midgets right out after Alberta Cup. I had a coach, uh, Kyle Tap, he’s outta Lloydminster. He took a shot on me. He knew nothing about me, and he let me, uh, come to a tournament with some of the best players in the province. And he just instilled in me that, Hey, you can, uh, you can go where you want, you can get your dreams. Um, it just takes work and you gotta realize that you have potential. And that was the first time I think I got that confidence factor where someone other than my family truly believed in my ability.

Jena Colbourne: Well, let’s talk about your family. ‘Cause you often played with your brother Steen. He was the captain of the junior a Pontiacs during your time with them, then you both went to Arizona together, played for the Sun Devils. What was it like having that time with your brother?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Oh, it was awesome. It made, uh, everything a lot less scary, I think, for both of us. I mean, moving an hour away from your home is, is scary. But moving to another country to attend school where you’re not even that good at school, um, it was a lot and it was a lot of nerves and pressure, but having, you know, your best friend, uh, go with you through all that and be able to live out your dream, uh, it was something special that I could never recreate in my mind.

Jena Colbourne: Were you guys kind of a package deal? I heard a rumor that you might’ve been.

Brinson Pasichnuk: Yeah, well it was weird. So I was originally committed to the University of Vermont for hockey, and then my brother started having a good year, his 20-year-old year, and I realized, well, he’s got potential to play college too. Um, so I reopened my commitment and then we had decided we wanted to go together and that’s when Arizona State came along.

Jena Colbourne: Following college, you know, you got the call up with Arizona Coyotes, um, brother Steen, you know, did not, so did you have a moment where you were like, well, we’ve always done this together. Like now I’m the younger brother. He’s the older brother. Like, did you feel like, you know, mixed feelings about that at all?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Uh, once we got to pro and we both signed with San Jose, we knew it started to be our own journey because professionals just a whole different game. Um, there’s not many, what’s the word, choices you can make once you sign that contract, you’re, you’re their property and you gotta do what they say. Um, so it was hard him being up and down from the East Coast League and the American League and I was up and down from the NHL and the AHL. Uh, but you get used to it and you just have to be happy for each other no matter what happens. And I think that’s what happened with us.

Jena Colbourne: Well, with the San Jose Sharks, you played a couple years and then were a free agent?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Yes.

Jena Colbourne: So you decided, I’m gonna take a step back. How did you make that decision?

Brinson Pasichnuk: Uh, it was one I didn’t wanna make at the start, but my second