Relationship status: In Love with my Career

Tuesday, October 13 2015 is a day I will never forget. That first shift, stepping on the ice in LA for my first NHL, was surreal. Some of the guys wanted me to go out with them after the game to celebrate, and even teased me about perhaps running into a particular actress who might be in LA, but I declined saying I had to spend time with my parents since they’d flown all the way there to see me.

“Sorry Bo, the fam is being lame,” I shrugged, and he teased me some more, but let it slide. Honestly I didn’t really want to spend a special night like that with some girl I’d never met, or would never see again. It sounds sappy, but I was perfectly happy getting dinner after the game with my parents and my brother- the people who had helped me get that far in my career. It was actually a really nice evening and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Okay, enough of that. Sounding too emotional. The reality set in a few days later on my first home game with the Canucks as an NHLer. That was when I realized that the dozens of girls waiting for autographs (or anything else) outside the arena would actually be waiting….for me? Sure there had never been a shortage of puck bunnies in Calgary when I was with the Hitmen, but they weren’t looking for a NHL hockey player. It’s like I’ve moved up to the ‘major league’ of puck sluts now that I’m in the NHL.

The next week and a half we had home games, which meant I had a week and a half to try out Vancouver’s upper level puck bunnies (although I don’t think bunny is the right word. They’re fierce and skilled, more like a tiger?) This time I did not turn down the guys when they wanted to go out after a game. Sometimes I even went by myself, although it’s a little hard being the new guy- if you have to explain to a girl who you are, she probably doesn’t care that you’re a NHL hockey player.

That week and a half was very eye opening, and reminded me again why I don’t have a girlfriend. I didn’t have to call anyone back- even if I wanted to I didn’t have their numbers. No explanations were needed when I left the next morning, or sometimes that night. No excuses needed to go out with the guys, nobody to explain who that girl that wanted a selfie with me was, and nobody to complain when my room was a mess (although I usually keep it clean because you never know when you might have company ;).

However, all of these advantages also highlight the downsides of not having a girlfriend. No one to cheer you up after a loss, no one to get breakfast with on the way to practice, no one to send you a goodnight text before she goes to bed. No one to celebrate that first game with, or the first goal. A few weeks later on Nov. 2 I finally got my first NHL goal. It was a home game, we beat the Flyers 4-1, and I was named first star of the game- it really couldn’t have gone much better! I was thinking about practically anything but a girlfriend that night as a pair of brunettes argued over which one was going to blow me first in the (surprisingly clean) bathroom of a club, or the next morning when I woke up next to a completely different brunette.

I’m 19 years old, I’m living my dream as a professional hockey player- the single life is definitely for me. There will be plenty of time later for goodnight texts and whatever. So what a few girls think I’m an asshole? Maybe I am.

Notes

PS. I don't actually think he's an asshole