Danbury Hat Tricks Star Opens Up About Why This Year Was So Special
It's really easy to watch someone do their job and draw certain conclusions about that them.
It's even easier to assume a person is a certain way when you see them punching people all the time. I spent a fair amount of time at the Danbury Ice Arena for Hat Tricks hockey games this season and I saw Daniel Amesbury punch a lot of people.
If that was all I bothered to learn about him I'd think the dude is a great hockey player and an even better entertainer. Then, I started hearing more about him from people I know and they were using words like humble, respectful and even soft spoken. The more I heard, the more I wanted to get an opportunity to speak with him on the I-95 Morning Show.
That opportunity came on Tuesday, May 30th, a few weeks after the Danbury Hat Tricks won the FPHL Commissioner's Cup. Of course we asked Daniel about hockey and his style of play but it's what he offered that surprised us.
Dave asked Daniel if he's locked in from a contract standpoint for next season and he gave a great answer. We got a genuine look into the mentality of Danbury's toughest player and learned a lot about why he plays with so much passion.
"No I'm pretty well locked in. I moved my family here from out west from Vancouver so it was a long trip out here. We kind of had plans to stick around, I had a few teams call me this year and try and move me up to the East Coast Hockey League and stuff like that. But I really didn't come here to move up the ladder and get as high as I can, I came here to achieve some of my own personal goals. I wanted to have my kids grow up around the game a little bit, they're young so I'm not really trying to bounce around and Danbury is just such a fun place to play, the energy here is amazing here. I plan on probably trying to finish up my career here."
The day after the Hat Tricks Championship parade we played Daniel's speech to the fans on the I-95 Morning Show. I didn't hear it when I was recording it but when we played it back on the air we detected a bit of emotion from Daniel.
He admitted that was the case when we spoke to him on Tuesday (5/30/23) and told us what was behind that emotion, saying:
"I had a long road coming back into the game, I retired in 2014 so I had a lot of years off from the game of hockey. This is my first year back and like I say it wasn't about me climbing the ladder and getting up as high as I can it was more about personal goals. I heard you guys talking about my speech and how I was choking up at the parade and I was choking up which was true because a lot of people don't know what it means to me to be back, playing the game. I'm kind of conquering my own stuff so it was really hard. I had to borrow one of my teammate's glasses before I got up there to talk because I'm like, I don't even know if I'm going to get through this. Because, what I kind of went through when I retired, my career didn't really end on my terms and it was just a really difficult time, especially not having the game. I knew what I was missing, I knew what it felt like to be away from the game and that was something I shared with these kids, all the younger guys on the team throughout the season. I know what it feels like to not have the game anymore and it sucks and it's lonely and you kind of get lost and I went through all of that stuff. So for me to be here sharing this experience with my teammates and my coaches, the guys, the fans and the city, it really is that much more special for me."
Well hell, if he wasn't your favorite player before he damn sure is now. Big thanks to Daniel for sharing his story with us and our audience. He's already agreed to come back on the show so next season will be something to look forward to on, and off the ice.
You can listen to our entire discussion with Daniel Amesbury below.
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