VOORHEES, N.J. -- Flyers director of player development Ian Laperriere remembers what it was like to live on his own as a young hockey player with little life experience.
Among a whole host of challenges associated with living independently for the first time was one very simple issue: getting food on the dinner table.
“I didn’t know -- I still don’t know -- how to cook anything,” Laperriere said. “But I didn’t know how to cook anything at that age. ... I didn’t know at 17, 18. Now I know by experience. Sometimes it’s an easy choice to make for them that will make a big difference at the end of the day. Like we tell those guys, everybody’s good, but that little difference -- nutrition, training -- is going to make you be in the NHL instead of the guy next to you.”
And so at this week’s Flyers development camp, which wrapped up Thursday evening, Laperriere added a different kind of off-ice training to the schedule. Split into two groups, the campers first toured the ACME Market down the street from Skate Zone with team dietician Amy Kaminski.
“We took them through the grocery store to show them how to shop the perimeter of the store and make better options with their food choices,” Kaminski said. “So if they were going to choose yogurt for example, that they had a low-fat yogurt versus a higher-fat yogurt.”
Kaminski spent about 45 minutes educating the prospects and answering questions like whether almond milk is better than cow’s milk, or if whole eggs are preferable to egg whites, despite the cholesterol.
“They like milk, and yogurt’s good,” said Sam Morin, the Flyers’ 2013 first-round pick, when asked what he took away from the experience. “Meat, protein -- we need protein. We need fat sometimes, too. Not a lot, just a little bit. And a lot of vegetables.”
The culinary education didn’t end there. Later, the Flyers’ prospects took a cooking class at a caterer nearby the Wells Fargo Center. That experience was received very well, Laperriere said.
“They told them how they prepared [the meal] -- grilling instead of using oil, smart little tips,” Laperriere said. “... I don’t want those kids to cook a seven-course meal, just common sense. Because a lot of those guys are going to be on their own next year. They went from mommy and daddy to billet family and now it’s just you.
“If you play in the minors, you can’t eat at the restaurant every day. And that’s probably the worst place you want to eat, with all the salt and all in it. You want those kids to be able to cook for themselves.”
This year’s camp was the third Laperriere has spearheaded, and was focused on the idea of its participants learning what it takes to “be a pro.” That explains the on-ice sessions, as well as the nutrition classes and a sort-of sex education session the entire group sat through.
The latter two were both firsts for the camp this year.
“Being a pro, you’re on your own,” he said. “Some of those kids might play when they’re 21 or 22. No girlfriend, their own apartment. It’s a big change. And I’ve been through it. I was lucky enough I had two older guys living with me. But those kids might be alone or living with other guys that don’t know how to cook or don’t know what to do as a pro.
“I think we covered, not everything, obviously, but we covered a lot and every year I try to bring something different and [trainer] Jimmy McCrossin tries to bring something different. We’re all in it together.”