Jared McCann, like so many NHL players, has been lifting free weights to try to stay in shape while the league is shut down.
The list of guys who have augmented their workouts by hoisting livestock occasionally is a lot shorter.
McCann is on that one, too, though. Turns out he's made a few, well, cattle calls in recent weeks at the Ontario dairy farm owned by his girlfriend's family:
Legen-dairy ? pic.twitter.com/P7yrWdjZff
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 3, 2020
"The baby calves and stuff like that are heavy when you pick them up and move them," he said.
Deadlifting baby bovines isn't really part of McCann's formal training regimen of late, but it probably could be, because workouts aren't very structured these days.
With the 2019-20 season on hold since March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic, players have scattered across North America and Europe, and while most teams seem to have put together training programs for their personnel, what players can do is determined largely by the equipment they have on hand.
After all, it's not only team facilities that are off-limits these days. Public gyms almost everywhere are closed, and many players probably would be reluctant to go to one even if it were open because of fears about contracting the disease.
That means, as Justin Schultz noted, that most guys are relying on "pretty simple stuff" to train until they get clearance to resume team activities.
"Obviously, there's a difference between what you have at home and what you have access to (at an NHL facility)," he said.
Schultz, who has returned to his hometown of Kelowna, British Columbia, said he has been lifting weights and riding a stationary bike for "usually an hour, hour and a half every day," and plans to expand his workout repertoire when the weather in the Okanagan Valley improves a bit.
"I'm going to try to get my road bike out here pretty soon and go for some bike rides when it warms up a bit," he said. "Right now, I'm just basically at home, trying to do the best I can."
John Marino is spending time with a relative in Hilton Head, S.C., so he doesn't have to worry much about chilly weather, and can mix in things like a game of tennis or a run on the beach into his conditioning plans.
Beyond that, though, his program sounds a lot like that of most other guys.
"I have a bike in the basement and a little weight setup," he said. "I'm trying to get outside as much as possible, just going for a bike ride or a run, to get a little fresh air and mix it up a little bit."
Although skating is hockey's most fundamental skill, it's been weeks since most players have been on the ice, and it might be many more weeks -- if not months -- before they're able to skate again because rinks around the world have been shuttered.
The impact of that cannot be overstated.
"Even when you miss two days of skating during the regular season, you feel a little off when you hop back on the ice," Marino said. "Most people are able to work from home. We're not able to skate, which is half the battle."
It's no surprise, then, that McCann mentioned that an NHL player had tried, unsuccessfully, to bribe rink employees to use the ice there.
McCann doesn't have access to ice, but does have a pair of roller blades and what he described as "a nice driveway, a freshly paved driveway" at the home he built in Stratford, Ontario. There's a pond on his property, too, but McCann was fishing there while being interviewed a few days ago, so conditions probably aren't conducive to skating.
While he obviously hopes that hockey will return before the pond freezes over again, at this point, no one can say with certainty when the NHL will be back in session. That only adds to the anxiety some players are feeling.
"Not knowing what's going to happen and what's going on has been a tough part," Schultz said. "This wait-and-see makes it tough on you."
It's enough to make some guys have a cow. Or, at least, to lift one.
