1-On-1: with Montana Onyebuchi

Roadrunners Defenseman Montana Onyebuchi joined Jonathon Schaffer and Kim Cota-Robles on this week’s Happy Hour Show. For the complete conversation and to hear about how far Montana would make it in the Squid Games, download this past week’s show below.

Listen to “Making Things Happen With Montana” on Spreaker.

How’s your second year in Tucson going? Have you been able to learn anything new? How’s it all been going?

I’ve liked it. It’s been really nice.  I think I’ve developed just my puck touch is what I’ve tried to hammer on. Making those little plays, small area plays and I think coming out of break out and stuff like that has been a lot better, and obviously bringing my physical presence into the lineup and just playing hard. I moved from last. I’m at La Encantada now, so it’s been really. Nice pool there and you can’t beat this weather.

Are you guys scoreboard watching other teams right now?

Yeah, I think all the points are pretty crucial for us right now. We do see the division, but we don’t look too far. I think it’s just one game at a time and I think that’s the best way to do it.

When do players usually learn how to fight?

Yeah, I think it’s as soon as you kind of take the cage off. If you have your cage off, you have to protect yourself. If you’re fighting with a cage on, you don’t really feel anything, and it’s still like you don’t really have to be able to protect yourself, but I think once you have that cage off and the visor on, so I think probably when I was 15-16 in the WHL when I first started, you just learn to protect yourself. Coaches are there for that, to kind of help you out and look out for you.

Do you have an activity to decompress after a hard practice or game? Do you watch film after?

Yeah, for sure, after games your mind is kind of racing and it’s hard to fall asleep because your adrenaline is running after the game, you’re so hyped up. I watch my videos like right after the game too. Then I just play Catan with my girlfriend and stuff.

A few questions from Kyle Peart from Once-Lost Ministries

Are you into hockey at all?

Yeah, you know, so I’m born and raised in Seattle. A lot of the listeners, I saw some people comment on Facebook, one person had asked if I was related to Neil Peart and no, unfortunately I’m not related. Peart, the drummer of Rush. But I have lot of history in Seattle. And so I was born and raised around hockey, I have fallen off the bandwagon just with priorities, and I’ve got 5 beautiful girls and a wonderful wife, so I don’t get to spend a lot of time in sports, but I do love hockey because it really does encourage perseverance, endurance, teamwork. There’s a lot of things that you can tie together with the message of hope and not to be corny or anything, it’s just, there’s a reason why people like sports and it’s to step away from the grind of the daily life, you know, and not everyone gets to be a rock star hockey player, but you want to go there and support your team, so you’re part of a community and that’s exactly what’s knit into our nature. I mean, we as human beings, we want to be associated to a group that we have like mindedness. I love the Roadrunners, and I love the encouragement behind it to bring Tucson together. It really is a divided city, right? And we need to encourage people to come together.

How do you give back to the Tucson community?

I’m very much involved with tons of different. I don’t even know how I have a clock because I feel like I’m missing time, all the all the time. Yeah, I help a lot at our local church. We do a lot of things. I attend the journey church, which is on Swan and river, and I run a podcast there. The things that I do, I mean talking out loud like these are just conversations to get people stimulated but really does hit when rubber meets the road when we get out there and we talk to people. We need to encourage people that there really are image bearers of God. I think a lot of people today live in a society where everything’s subjective and it’s ultimately hurting them. Tucson’s awesome, I want to get past what I was going really quick, Tucson is awesome because it acts like a metropolis, but it is a small town. We think we’re big, but we’re really not. I run into people All the time that I know, and I’m sure you do the same thing. So, we need to get past this idea that we’re just living our daily lives. We are created to commune with other people. We’re not supposed to go live in a bedroom and never talk and be a part of our own lives. Need to be integrated and so that’s why I’m trying to go out on the street and talk to people. Our family personally, we do a lot of humanitarian efforts and stuff we’re connected with Gospel Rescue Mission and stuff like that. That’s the cool thing about Tucson; there’s a lot of different ministries and nonprofits to do things here. I mean, I think Arizona is probably top five, one of the biggest nonprofits in the country. I think I remember looking at. So, we need to connect, and we need to talk and we need to get alongside one another, not just for the purpose of unity, but truly. I’m going to tie my message on Friday, there’s a purpose of hope, and it’s not just to talk about hope. You know, I hope I have pizza for dinner. But I don’t know for sure if I’m going to have pizza, there’s no guarantee in that, but the hope I’m talking about is an assurance. The Bible actually talks about hope as an anchor, something that will secure you and give you comfort amongst turmoil. We’re not promised tomorrow. So, hope has a name and I’m not going to take too much further with that, but I encourage everyone to come. Hope has a name, and I really want you guys to know who that is.