1-On-1 with Curtis Douglas

Tucson Roadrunners Forward Curtis Douglas joined Adrian Denny and Kim Cota-Robles on this week’s Insider Podcast. For the complete conversation, including the “nerdiest” thing about Curtis, download this week’s podcast below.

Listen to “Doing The Dougie With Curtis” on Spreaker.

What teammates have you bumped into since you’ve been back home in Ontario this offseason?

We had a fun little weekend where we went to a Toronto Blue Jays game and caught up a little bit. Me, Hunter Drew, Dylan Wells and Travis Barron; which was pretty fun. I’ve seen Ryan McGregor, that was fun too. It’s still early, I’ll see some other guys soon.

When you think back on this past season, what do you think of it? What are some of your favorite memories and accomplishments of personal and team successes?

Clinching second place and home ice was really cool, wish the playoffs went a little more our way. Even so, it was really fun, cool and special to play playoffs in front of the Tucson fans, they were awesome. Getting to know more of the fans and I think this year especially, I feel like there was a lot more following this year than the year before and a lot more inclusivity with the fans and seeing everyone around was really cool. Team success and personal success are pretty linked. I think the season went pretty well for us. I started the season a little slow, but I think the last two-thirds of the season went pretty well for me. It was really fun to play with Hunter Drew and Travis Barron, we really came together as a line and as people; I became really close with them. We just had such a good group of guys that every day was really fun and the coaches did a really good job of incorporating the fun with the work. Every day was a privilege and I had a ton of fun every day with all of the guys and the coaching staff.

What does it feel like to be a little bit iconic for hockey in Tucson when you see kids around and after games?

That stuff is incredible; that’s one of the coolest parts of doing what we do. Tucson is such a cool city and it’s pretty easy to recognize who I am, just because I’m a little taller and sometimes I get a lot of people asking questions and when the little kids up come up it’s so cool and I’m so privileged to be able to have some sort platform to talk to those kids; to be apart of their lives for a little second is pretty special. One of my main motivations is I’d like to get as big of a platform as I can to discuss the mental health situations and have some sort of impact in that area. I’m really lucky to be able to kind of do all that stuff just from playing hockey, which is pretty crazy to me, but it’s pretty cool.

How did things go with your Mullet March Fundraiser this year?

It went great. We brought awareness to a lot of people; which was the main goal and every year I get people reaching out and it’s really cool to have those discussions; that’s so special. I think we raised another $1,600; so I think we’ve raised $10,000 for CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) which is pretty special. The end goal is to play in the NHL and I think even doing so expands the platform and I can raise more money and reach out to more people.

How do you mentally and emotionally prepare yourself for what might come up in a game (from a physicality standpoint?)

When I got to pro, I realized that I needed to play tougher, harder and impose my will a little bit more to make more of an impact. This year especially, with the help of the coaches from the start of the year, we realized that the best way for me to make an impact is to play simple, play boring, play hard and physical; and make sure the other team doesn’t want to play against you. Playing hard like that is really hard on the cardio side, so just making sure that my cardio is good and even adding some boxing training; not to put a focal point on the fighting; more so just because when it does happen and it will, I’m ready and know what I’m doing.

You’re 24 now, if you were to go back in time to 2014, what advice would you give yourself?

I think I’d probably just tell myself to focus more on the present and make sure that I know that moments come and go. I have tattoo on my wrist that I really like, it’s an ellipses and the meaning is: your story isn’t done being written and to not put too much pressure on each moment because you still have time to go and time to improve and things that are happening now aren’t going to make or break your life. So if you can just focus on improving every day, that’s the advice that I’ve give myself.

How many pillows do you sleep with at night and how many is too many?

I think more than five is too many. I sleep with four pillows and I stack two and two and I sleep right in the middle.