On solid ground
Canucks centre Bo Horvat and curler Holly Donaldson — athletes who grew up in small towns — share how they keep each other grounded on and off the ice.
There’s no post-game carpool karaoke when Holly Donaldson and Bo Horvat depart for their downtown home following a Vancouver Canucks loss.
No playlists or pop-culture chorus. It’s time for Horvat to vent.
However, the extremely driven and determined Canucks centre quickly gets it out of his system. It’s a sign of growing maturity for a projected future captain — not that any less-than-expected performance is easy to stomach on those rides.
“Things can get heated but Gus is waiting at home,” Donaldson said of the couple’s French bulldog, who demands and gets attention. “He puts a smile on Bo’s face and he forgets everything else. And Bo is usually pretty good. Some days are rougher than others, but we usually keep hockey (at the rink).
“Home is home and sometimes we have to separate that.”
Horvat knows there’s no better sounding board than Donaldson, his soulmate of six years. She’s also an accomplished athlete who excels in curling on a provincial level and on the international Arabian horse-show circuit. She knows the demands the pursuit of sporting excellence places on routine and a relationship.
That’s why she knows what we really don’t know. She knows Bo.
“I can get a little agitated, but she keeps me pretty even-keeled,” Horvat said. “She cares a lot about me and the people around her. She always wants to make me better and wants people to succeed and is very unselfish that way.”
Donaldson curled third on the Lindsay Hudyma foursome at the B.C. Scotties women’s playdowns last January and the rink advanced to the semifinal before being eliminated. This year Donaldson is the skip.
She also competed in the U.S. Arabian horse show nationals last month in Tulsa, Okla., and has a big event in Scottsdale, Ariz., in February.
When you factor in juggling hectic athletic schedules and knowing the heat is on the 22-year-old Horvat to harness his game, it can be quite the ask.
Off it, he’s part of the franchise’s marketing focus and his commitment to the charitable community and minor-hockey initiatives is never a chore.
“I’m very proud because he’s so good with all of this and the kids,” the 24-year-old Donaldson said. “Giving back is a big part of who he is, he constantly wants to give back.”
Couple’s work ethics homegrown
Small-town values have been vital for Donaldson and Horvat in adjusting to what can be a daunting bigcity fishbowl existence.
Donaldson’s mother Paisley is mayor of Gravenhurst, Ont., a small cottage country town of 12,000 located a two-hour drive north of Toronto. She has served on council for 16 years and her daughter naturally gleaned that work ethic.
Horvat’s parents, Tim and Cindy, raised sons Bo and Cal in the tiny dairy and farming community of Rodney, Ont., population of just 1,000, located a 45-minute drive southwest of London.
Cindy is a hairdresser. Tim is an insulation salesman. He played Junior B and 10 games for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. He works long stretches to free up a few short days to travel and see his son play. And he is always on speed-dial to critique and encourage.
Donaldson and Horvat take pride in being hard-working, polite, pragmatic and respectful. It was evident when the centre finally signed a sixyear, US$33-million contract extension on Sept. 8.
Following a respectful yet drawnout process that wavered between long-term commitment from the Canucks and a shorter bridge deal, it didn’t take long for Horvat’s true character to emerge when he could finally exhale. Imagine what he could buy with his new contract. Something big. Something outlandish.
“Maybe a wake boat,” he said with a chuckle. “I told my mom no matter how much I make or whatever happens, I’m still going to be the exact same way.
“I”m not going to want to spend a lot of money on the material things, fancy clothes and cars. All that is great, but I’m from a small town. I don’t like to be a flashy guy, and she kind of laughed.”
Said his mother: “He hasn’t changed a bit. He’s still humble and the same kid he was 10 years ago. I told him I just couldn’t believe how well he’s done and how much money he’s going to be making. He said: ‘Mom, I’ll probably be just as cheap.’”
Frugal might be a better and more flattering description.
“Oh, he’s frugal,” Horvat’s father said. “He’s so grounded that he had a used car that he gave his brother to drive. It’s just the way he is. He’s always been good to us and doesn’t owe us anything. He’s a good-hearted kid and as long as he stays healthy, that’s all we want.”
Relationship eased contract concerns
Not that anybody was making light of the negotiations.
Tim was impressed. He and his wife attended one negotiation meeting in May and his son left it to his representatives to work out a palatable contract. Horvat was on the golf course when word came that a deal was close. It was done the next day and Horvat was on a plane to B.C.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about it (contract) or thinking about it,” Horvat said. “As the summer went on and it was going back and forth between a long-term deal and a bridge, you never knew. To get to the number that was fair for everybody, I was ecstatic.
“Holly was awesome through the whole thing and all my friends and family kept me even-keeled. I don’t take things personally and that was probably the biggest thing about the contract. For her to be with me through the whole thing was helpful.”
Horvat knows it’s tough for his father to know when to say when and allow his son to find his way. That’s tougher when you’ve played the game, have some sage advice, and are tempted to call every day.
“If he sees something that he doesn’t like in my game, he’s obviously going to talk to me about it and see what I think,” Horvat said. “But I always ask him for his advice, but he’s good at respecting that I’m in the NHL and at the highest level.
“But he’s still going to be a hockey dad and tell me how to play the game.”
Tim knows his place. He also sees what Donaldson has done to provide his son with career support and balance away from the rigours of the rink.
‘Good chemistry between them’
“Holly is a great person,” he said. “They’re in sports but it’s two different sports and it’s kind of an out for Bo because he’ll go watch her curl or her horse shows when he can. And she follows his hockey. She’s into fitness and watches what she eats and that’s been good for Bo.
“There’s good chemistry between them. We’re always there for him but sometimes that’s not good enough. He needs another outlet and Holly helps him.”
Added Cindy: “Holly is easy to get along with and I think it’s great that she’s competitive, too, and knows what he’s going through at times.”
The sporting union didn’t happen overnight.
All Donaldson wanted during her first year at Western University in London, Ont., was to concentrate on her nursing degree, find time to curl as a two-time Ontario junior champion and remain a competitive horse-show rider. She didn’t even consider a relationship until she came across the persistent Horvat.
Horvat’s cousin was Donaldson’s roommate so they were going to eventually cross paths. She didn’t know he was a hockey player, let alone a promising prospect with the Knights.
“She brought him over and I was studying and I didn’t want anything to do with it,” Donaldson recalled. “I was like, ‘I have school.’ When he told me he played in the OHL, it was like: ‘What’s the OHL? I have no idea.’
“I went to one of his games and it (relationship) was still ‘nope.’ I then said I would go for one dinner.”
It may have been one of Horvat’s best plays.
He knew what he was looking for in his personal life well before he ever showed up on the NHL draft radar.
It’s easy to succumb to the distractions of the big city, especially in Vancouver where everybody knows your name and your game. There can be a sense of entitlement and invincibility with young players, and a support system is crucial.
Family helps and is always a call away, but Donaldson is there every day.
Drive, ambition big for Bo
“The big thing for us is that we do have those small-town values and we do appreciate the little things in life,” Horvat said. “You come to a big city like this, the first thing you want to do is get back to the country and our families are back there.
“Finding a small-town girl is what I was most attracted to. She was never satisfied. She always had drive and always wants to work and help people. It seems like we’ve barely seen each other from the beginning part.”
They try to make their complicated lives as simple as possible.
Like any home, there are rules. Last one out the door makes the bed. The toilet seat must always be down and if there’s a big curling playdown on television, Donaldson gets the remote.
“I don’t mind,” Horvat said with a laugh. “I can survive four weekends a year.”
That’s because he’s in a good place. Horvat knows kicking back and asking what’s for dinner is a guy thing. Donaldson knows Horvat will often load up on carbohydrates at the rink, but is respectful of a more strict gluten-free diet at home, which isn’t always a guy thing.
And getting off the couch to join Donaldson on long walks through their community? That’s an important relationship thing.
It’s part of transitioning to a metropolis. It’s different here. Locals of any age are career-driven and you’re more likely to bump into someone zoned in on a cellphone conversation — or simply surfing the web — than to strike up a real conversation with a stranger.
“My first year here, I took a year off curling and wasn’t working and was driving myself crazy,” Donaldson said. “The more secure I got, the more I got in the groove and found things to do. This life is not easy, so it’s good to have a balance.”
If the competitive drive continues for the couple, it’s not a stretch to suggest they could represent Canada in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Horvat would be 26 and in his hockey prime and Donaldson would be 28 in a sport where age isn’t as important as ability.
“We talked a couple of years back about how cool it would be if we got to go to the Olympics and be a couple there,” Horvat said. “That would be pretty amazing.”
“For sure,” Donaldson agreed. “That’s always a goal.”