‘Invisible enemy’
COVID-19 will be an unprecedented concern and, in some cases, an on-ice distraction when, and if, NHL players return to action for the playoffs. How they navigate their fears, with so few answers available, will be telling
In a moment of panic, Alexander Mogilny, who hated to fly, sprinted off the Buffalo Sabres airplane years ago and quickly the coach John Muckler turned to Maxie Offenberger and shouted: “Go get him ... and bring him back.”
Offenberger, who has been around the National Hockey League for some 40 years with various teams, was the team psychologist for the Sabres at the time.
“I knew I could go get him,” said Offenberger. “I just didn’t know if I could bring him back.”
Psychologists don’t find definitive answers as much as much as they find solutions. Some things aren’t so definitive. Mogilny went on to play five seasons of his career later with the Vancouver Canucks, with the worst travel schedule in hockey. He never stopped hating flying. With help, he found a way to get through it.
Offenberger, who now works for the Boston Bruins, was relating this story when asked about the upcoming summer returns of both the NHL and the NBA, the year of the playoff season and the great unknowns — and in the words of another hockey lifer, “the year of the sports psychologist.”
“Today’s athletes demand answers and demand certainty, more than ever before,” said Paul Dennis, who spent 20 years in various roles with the Maple Leafs, including team psychologist. “And can any answers be given with certainty (right now)? Fear of the unknown is always the biggest question. And I think, yes, fear of the unknown could be debilitating for some players this summer.
“Normally, we’d talk to athletes who have come forth with their problems. We’d listen to them. We’d advise them. We’d work on advising them to focus on stopping the puck and preparing to be the greatest goalie they can be, for example. But there’s a distraction now that isn’t hockey. It has nothing to do with hockey.
“Now we can’t say ‘don’t worry about it’ because nobody seems to know what the answers are. And some of the answers are contradictory.”
The NHL will split 24 teams in two locations, likely sometime in late July or early August. The NBA may seemingly play all of its games in one location in Orlando.
The players will be asked to perform at playoff level, the highest of their lives, with their lives going on away from them — wives, parents, grandparents, kids, COVID-19. There are many players with psychological needs in professional sports that never come forward. Some are brave and seek help. Some suffer in silence. The rare one goes public. This is still a world of macho and men.
“Most players still don’t have the courage or trust to voice their feelings,” said Offenberger.
“I think this (return) could be difficult on so many levels for different players.
“This will be a tremendous challenge for everybody — coaches, trainers, managers, everyone involved, the entire support staff. And it’s not like you can completely prepare for this. Everybody is going to have to be concerned when players don’t feel good. The question will be in some players’ minds: Am I safe here?”
Playoff hockey, by nature, is all-consuming. It is normally about games and treatments and preparation and travel and more games and more treatments and more preparation. And if you’re successful, more travel. There isn’t time for family or friends or social life or any other kind of life under these circumstances. There is only hockey.
Now there will be hockey, assuming the game returns, and COVID. And testing. And new rules. And safety. And a hotel room that will be home from Day 1 of the post-season until the playoffs end for most teams. Could be a week. Could be a month. Could be two months. This could weigh on people just as staying home right now is weighing on many of us.
“Say you’re on a line, and your two wingers are really good with the situation and doing well, but you’re not,” said Offenberger. “You’re not handling things so well. You’re really bothered. Everybody is different, everybody handles things differently. This could affect your team dramatically.
“These are young people, in many cases, who have had no personal trauma in their lives. They haven’t lost a parent. They haven’t lost a grandparent in many cases. They’ve never had anything negative really happen to them. Now this. And we don’t know how everything will work out, and how everyone will deal it personally.”
As a sports psychologist, Dennis refers to COVID-19 as the “invisible enemy.” And that makes it all the more challenging for professional athletes to work when they can’t possibly understand all there is to understand about the challenge they are facing.
“There is pressure to understand how to handle it and where the athletes are getting their guidance from,” said Dennis. “We rely on the experts and the problem is, the experts seem to change their minds all the time. Coaches aren’t medical doctors or scientists. They can’t pretend to be. Hopefully, they’ll be well-versed on how to provide guidance when needed.”
“Athletes mostly think of themselves as invincible on the outside,” said Offenberger. “That’s part of how they become who they are. But on the inside, they have anxiety, they have depression, family issues, they have OC/D, they have what we all have.
“This isn’t going to be easy for a lot of people.”