Chris Pronger
Chris Pronger
Christopher Robert Prongeris a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently under contract with the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. He has not played since November 2011 due to post-concussion syndrome related to three separate hits suffered during his career; he also suffers from vision impairment due to being hit in the eyeby the blade of another player's stick. Though not officially retired, he is not expected to play again. In October 2014, Pronger signed a contract...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth10 October 1974
CityDryden, Canada
We knew exactly what we were coming up against. They may have lost 13 in a row, but they were in every one of those games.
We're professionals and we have to come to work and play the game. They had to sit through the same thing except they had to sit on the bench.
We kind of got thrown under the bus after the first game. But we really stuck together. We saw our team evolve and develop into the team you saw at the end. Everybody was on the same page and playing great.
We'll go in blind and, hopefully, won't show them too much respect.
You can look at a number of things with Al. Obviously the accolades -- the Conn Smythe, the Norris Trophy, the Stanley Cup, renowned as the hardest shot in the league. But the leadership in the room. The way he approached the game. The way he carried himself. That was the biggest thing.
Yeah, it does get old. And I'm sure it gets real old for the goalies. It just creates that much more for them, but that's the nature of the beast. Until you've proven yourself there are going to be those question marks, and hopefully this year is the year that they answer them.
It's not like you can start pounding drinks when you're wheeling your kids all over. They gave me something to shoot for, a goal to get back to.
I was still very invested in the team, very invested in how we were doing. I realized I needed to take a step back and start focusing on myself, my head and my eye, try to get my health back.
I just didn't feel very good. One day I woke up and I was like: "All right. I'm going to start eating right. I'm going to start working out." I figured it might help me feel a little bit better - even if I was still sick, it might help me move forward with my struggles. I just kind of turned a corner.
I was sitting at a friend's place in Michigan on vacation, having a beer on the patio. I was a little hefty. I said to myself: "Okay, I'm going to finish this weekend off strong, then after that I'm going to shut her down. I'm going to start taking better care of myself."
I don't like having noise swirling around me. Loud noises bother me, so I try to stick to the outside of a room.
My doctors say the more I continue to push, the more I can continue to raise that bar, the better I can get.
In the '90s, when I started, it was still a rough-and-tumble, physical league. You take the hook and holding and a little bit of the physicality out of the game, and the speed ratcheted up two-fold. Now you have a split second to make a hit, or decide to pull up. When there's indecision, you're going to make a mistake.
I wanted to stay in the game. I wanted to learn more about the league, what goes on behind the scenes. As a player, you don't really think about that, nor do you really care: you're worried about your job.