Pizza after the game - Locker Room Story
Andy Hüppi is the masseur for Canada's national hockey team and tells us about his impressions and experiences with the best hockey players in the world.
I have been the official masseur for Canada's national hockey team since 2002 and have travelled around the world with the team. In the staff team, we help each other wherever help is needed. We are also responsible for organising the equipment and keeping the dressing room tidy. We transport the goods from tournament to tournament. Each tournament quickly adds up to more than 15 pallets, which we send around the world - from the sewing machine, blender and coffee machine, to the ultrasound machine and medication, through to the grinding machine and glove dryer. All the equipment for the Olympics is ordered several months in advance for all possible players based on the player data. Around 300 ice hockey sticks per team go to the Olympics - one goalie alone needs three catching gloves and three blockers.
In the dressing room, I mentor players like Matt Duchende, John Tavares and hockey god Sidney Crosby. I think I'm lucky to be on the Team Canada staff. I find all Canadians to be very down-to-earth, familiar and warm players who show everyone on the team the respect they deserve. That's why there are no airs and graces or special support for a superstar. However, every athlete has their own rituals or quirks: If Crosby gives me his stick after the first game, I also have to accept it after every other game in the tournament.
Compared to footballers, hockey players are much more simple-minded and certainly not focussed on their appearance. It is therefore normal for a hockey player to turn up to morning training straight out of bed and unshowered. In many cases, the dressing room also serves as a home, where the boys sit together, have a coffee or watch TV on the sofa. It is important to note that the large carpet in the centre of the room, with the maple leaf, must not be walked on with skates or shoes.
When new players are in the squad, I check with the team counsellors whether the player needs special products and drinks or has any allergies. The players should be able to enjoy their usual environment.
Every player in the national team squad has great experience and discipline. I don't have to tell any player how they should move before a game and which exercises are good or bad for them. Everyone has their own individual preparation for a game, be it on the home trainer in the dressing room, a relaxed game of football in the stadium corridor or the right strength or stretching exercises. The same also applies to running out after the game.
As the players use up a lot of energy at every match, it is ideal to eat something straight after the game. As we sometimes have longer bus journeys to the hotel, I always order around 16 pizzas, which are delivered to the dressing room after the game. I think at the Olympics in South Korea it will be more likely to be sushi or pasta. The important thing is that the players have something to eat to re-energise themselves. There are also players who mix sea salt into their drinks. As they sweat a lot during a game, they balance out the salt content in their bodies. Everyone has their own way - the important thing is that the players drink a lot.
If we don't have a game the following day, we can have a beer after the game. If we win the tournament, there will be as much beer as there is after the game.
With this in mind: "HOPP SCHWIIZ and GO CANADA"!
I am a sports masseur with many years of experience in professional sports. During my engagements with Team Canada, they call me "the man with the golden hands." Which is a reference to my successful stints as a masseur in international sports.
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