‘He showed a lot of faith in me’: Laing praises mentor

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“I always thought I was one bad game away from going back down to the minors. I don’t think I ever felt I was there (the NHL) to stay.  We were pretty good at the time. I felt I had to prove myself every practice, every pre-game skate and every game and if I didn’t, someone back on Hershey was there to take my place.”

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A hard nosed player, who played his role to perfection, Laing sacrificed his body in an effort to win the approval of the coaches and his teammates

“We were playing the Rangers in New York and I broke my jaw. I usually laid down to block shots and the one time I did, I slid a little to far and the d-man fired the puck, it hit my face and broke my jaw in two places.”

Laing played more in the minors than in the NHL. He spent three seasons in Abbotsford in the American Hockey League with the Calgary Flames minor league affiliate in an effort to make it back to the ‘big leagues’. Unfortunately it never happened.

“That third year, they had so many good young guys in Calgary. Once you pass 30, your window gets pretty tiny. Being at a certain age, your chances of getting another shot are very, very slim.”

With no call up in the cards, Laing went to Europe for the life experience of playing overseas, skating in Norway before retiring following the 2013-2014 season.

“I don’t have any regrets. I played one year in Washington and then the next year they told me out of camp that I couldn’t play because they were up to 50 contracts and I was on an AHL deal and they couldn’t bring me up because of waivers. After the trade deadline, they called me up and in Tampa Bay, the very next day, I tear my spleen and I am out two months.”

“You can look at injuries, lockouts, trades and think what if, but everything happened for the reason and you just enjoy the experiences that you got experienced. I played with one of the greatest goal scorers ever in Alex Ovechkin, I only look at the good times.”

Laing, who played four seasons with the Kelowna Rockets (1996-2000), married an Okanagan girl. One of his sons is a member of the Prince George Cougars after, Hunter, was chosen in the second round of the WHL bantam draft in 2021.

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