Photo credit: RocketFAN

By Regan Bartel

Lucas Bloodoff: Living life large

Ex-Kelowna Rockets captain strives for excellence in weight room

Jun 20, 2024 | 9:00 AM

Lucas Bloodoff isn’t your prototypical retired Kelowna Rockets player. 

Physically, his appearance is intimidating to those who don’t know him or build up the courage to speak with him. At 6 foot 2 and weighing in the neighbourhood of 270 pounds, Bloodoff has taken his determination as a player into the weight room (World Health and Fitness), where he pushes his body to be bigger and stronger. 

“They say you can’t be too big when you play, right?” he said with a chuckle. “With the way off-ice training has shifted in the last ten years, I was always into weight training as a player. Maybe too much. I always wanted to be big and strong.” 

Bloodoff played four seasons with the Rockets, captaining the team in the 2009-2010 season, a year after helping the hockey club win a WHL title. 

“Jeff Thorborn was our trainer at the time,” Bloodoff recalled. “He would come into the gym and change up my routine from sheer powerlifting. It is always something I have done. When hockey ended, doing something every single day, whether it be on the ice or just training for that next game or next season is gone, so it is something I got used to and wanted to continue to challenge my body and have goals.” 

GM Bruce Hamilton/AGM Curtis Hamilton

Things that make me go hmm...

Dec 03, 2024

Notes, one quote and anecdotes

Things that make me go hmm...

Oct 08, 2024

Notes, quotes and anecdotes

Things that make me go hmm...

Sep 13, 2024

Watch this video produced by Kelowna-10 on Bloodoff in the gym: https://kelowna10.com/one-rocket-one-minute-what-is-lucas-bloodoff-up-to-these-days

The 35-year-old, who calls Vernon home working for Canadian Benefit Investment Insurance Group (CBIG), dominates in the weight room, bench pressing over 400 pounds with ease. 

“I had to give up the ice obviously when I retired from hockey, but I didn’t want to give up what I did in the gym,” he told RocketFAN.  “It is something I can control. I don’t compete. I don’t have any set goals, outside of challenging myself, and I think I just want to see what I can accomplish and it’s a me versus myself now.” 

With tattoos donning both his muscular right and left arm and another tattoo on his left leg, many gym goers often stop their own workout to watch Bloodoff throw around barbells like sticks. 

“If you stick to something, you see abnormal results,” he said while putting up a personal best 535-pound bench press a few weeks ago. “I would say I work out an abnormal amount. The results are something that I would expect and demand from myself. I have held a high expectation for myself my entire life with training. I tried to win everything that I ever tried to do. I always took pride in training. I am not a high athlete anymore but I certainly still have those habits.” 

Bloodoff’s successes go far beyond the gym. Named the CIS Player of the Year in 2013 while attending St. Mary’s University in Halifax, the well-spoken personality graduated with a degree in business while majoring in finance. 

“My third year was a coming out year where I led the league in scoring in the Atlantic Division,” he added with a certain surprise in his voice even years later after picking up the award. “I was nominated. It was a big honour. Then in my fourth year, I made Team Canada, so we went over to Italy in a world tournament and won a gold, so that was another nice experience.” 

Choosing school over pursuing pro was a hard decision for Bloodoff. While the WHL Education Scholarship was attractive at the time, it wasn’t an option many of his teammates were choosing. 

“It was a difficult time,” he admitted. “You spend your life with one goal of playing at the highest level possible, and playing in the NHL. I think every player when they go to a major junior team, and let’s use the Rockets as an example, you spent four or five years there, naturally your next step mentally is, if it’s not the NHL, it’s certainly the American Hockey League, or the ECHL. For me, if I wasn’t going to fast track to a guaranteed spot in the NHL, it is hard to pass up on a free education. I guess I wanted to play it safe.” 

Looking back at his time in Kelowna, Bloodoff has many terrific memories playing with exceptional players that he now watches on television. 

“Getting to play with Jamie Benn (Dallas Stars Captain) for a couple of years is always something you can look back on,” he said. “Getting to know him a bit inside the locker room, and his personality. He is such a remarkable and special player. Getting to say you played with a guy like that is rare, so it’s nice to look back on for sure.” 

While winning a championship in 2009 with Benn, Tyler Myers (Vancouver Canucks) and Tyson Barrie (Nashville Predators), having a chance to suit up with his younger brother, Evan, was a thrill. 

“We had a competitive edge where we pushed each other. We pushed each other in the gym, at the rink…we competitively swam, so in every area we continued to challenge each other and that helped in our development.”

Lucas and Evan Bloodoff join a long list of brothers to play with each other while suiting up for the Kelowna Rockets. Gavin and Kiel McLeod, Reid and Erik Gardiner, Josh and Jake Morrissey and Joe and Danny Gatenby are just four other examples where siblings where also teammates.   

“We were probably the one brother duo who spent the entire four years together in Kelowna sharing a bedroom at our billets,” he said with a laugh. “We had a couple of beds in our one room, with a nice suite, so our billets [The Jones Family] were arguably the best that ever existed.

“Evan and I were close growing up, so that is the reason I wanted to go to Kelowna,” he added. “I was drafted by Tri-City, while he was selected by the Rockets. He was 100 percent into going to Kelowna.  

“When it was suggested, we play together, that’s when I decided on the WHL and play with a great organization.”