You would think the first thing Michael Cammalleri would want to talk about is hockey, but, to my surprise, it’s surfing. “I’m addicted,” Cammalleri exclaims, “I’m going to go buy a board and wetsuit today…I’ve always said I’m never going to do it, I’m never going to do it, and then we had to with our team yesterday, and I loved it.” I soon realize that surfing actually has a lot to do with hockey, because for Cammalleri, they’re both about having fun and enjoying life. While surfing is a new love, hockey has always been his darling. “I always did hockey. I grew up in Toronto, Canada, which is the mecca of hockey…every kid would play it growing up.” But every kid wasn’t Cammalleri, with a talent that now has him tied for fifth place this NHL season for goals and forwards. “For me, I don’t ever remember not thinking it would be a career. I always dreamed of playing in the NHL, and I always thought in the back of my mind that of course that’s what I was going to do, but realistically, I was probably about 15 or 16, and I was playing junior hockey with guys up to the age of twenty, and I was doing pretty well,” Cammalleri recalls.
 

Cammalleri’s abilities earned him a spot on the University of Michigan hockey team, during which time the team earned two trips to the Frozen Four, and Cammalleri was named CCHA Tournament MVP in 2002. However, with so much success and drive as an NCAA hockey player, one can’t help but wonder if Cammalleri got to have much of a social life in college. “For me, I had a great time. College was the best time of my life. It was paradise. As far as balancing them, I think you find ways to get done what’s important to you. It was important to do well in school, obviously for me.” Now as a professional hockey player, life is a little different, especially the schedule. “In college
we played 40 games a year so we just played Friday and Saturday nights and had all week to practice. Now, we’re pretty hectic; we’re traveling and we’re on long flights; we’re in different time zones — different time changes — we’re playing almost every other night,” says Cammalleri. “It’s pretty tough to pick your energy levels up and your rest becomes just as important as your training.”
 

These types of insights are what give Cammalleri an advantage over other NHL players. He is able to keenly read situations and analyze why certain people succeed and others fail. There is no better example of this than his advice for someone hoping to turn pro.“The biggest thing is to never be content with where you are, I think in anything, you try and improve as much as you can. The best players who get to the NHL are the guys who improve more year to year than everybody else. It doesn’t stop by any means when you get to the NHL. I try and improve as much as
I can every year, every summer, in training, and beyond.”
 

Though it’s hard to imagine Cammalleri doing anything else, if he wasn’t playing hockey he confesses he would indulge his “interests in the business aspects of the world.” He explains, “My father has a construction company so I grew up in a business-minded family where I learned a lot about that — entrepreneurship of some sort, that’s for sure.”

But right now Cammalleri is concerned with his future on the ice and how the Kings will hold up for the remainder of the season. “We’re gonna play in the Stanley Cup playoffs. How’s that?” he says confidently. After having spent some time talking with the mature and astute-minded player, I don’t even question this declarative; instead, I actually start seeing Cammalleri on the ice holding up a big silver trophy.