What makes Timmins\u2019 story compelling is not simply that a Canadian hockey player fell in love abroad. Hockey has produced countless versions of that story over the years.<\/p>\n
The more interesting part is Australia arrived at the exact moment Timmins had started emotionally detaching from the sport itself.<\/p>\n
Professional hockey had become a hard business.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou kind of feel like a piece of meat,\u201d Timmins said of life in pro hockey. \u201cYou can be replaced at any second.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NHL dream had been real. Timmins played 24 games with the Florida Panthers between 2011 and 2013, scoring one goal. For a young player from Ontario, it felt surreal.<\/p>\n
But NHL jobs disappear quickly. The years afterward became a familiar cycle for many players living outside the spotlight. Contracts. Pressure. Uncertainty. Constant evaluation. In the AHL, teammates often compete against one another for the same opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was in Florida, I would say that was peak happiness, just being a wide-eyed rookie, five-star hotels, chartered flights. It was beyond my wildest dreams,\u201d Timmins said. \u201cBut it was only 24 games. And it went by in the blink of an eye. But I was like, ‘This is the best.’ Even while I was making the League minimum, I was like, ‘This is amazing. This is the dream and you’re in the middle of it.’ It didn’t last long.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust that stress, ‘Am I going to get called up (from the AHL)?’ If somebody else got called up, you’re not angry or bitter, but you’re just like, ‘Damn, I wish that was me.’ You’re teammates, but you are kind of competing against each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time he took the ice for his second German season in 2021-22, Timmins had made peace with the idea that hockey was ending.<\/p>\n
Then Australia changed his relationship with the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m actually so happy that I played another five seasons,\u201d he said. \u201cNow that I\u2019m kind of at the tail end, I realize how precious it is to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pressure disappeared. Hockey became enjoyable again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not like back home where it\u2019s cutthroat,\u201d he said. \u201cYou find that enjoyment and that love for the sport again.\u201d<\/p>\n
At one point in the conversation, Timmins paused and reconsidered his answer.<\/p>\n
Peak happiness in hockey, he said, probably came at age 14 or 15.<\/p>\n
AAA tournaments. Hotel trips with parents. Mini sticks in the hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not playing for money,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re just playing for happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What makes Timmins\u2019 story compelling is not simply that a Canadian hockey player fell in love abroad. Hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-654079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}