Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 92

“The ECHL is a very professional
league,” Lazo said. “The majority of the
teams are very well run, and Colorado was
no exception. I have nothing but good
things to say about the club; they treated
us like first class. There is a ton of travel
with a 72-game schedule, so we were
pretty lucky that we flew everywhere we
went, and didn’t have to bus, but boy, it
can be a tough grind.”
Lazo, who had played three seasons
with the Tri-City Americans of the
Western Hockey League, went to school
in Alberta for five years while playing for
their U Sport team, before spending part
of a season playing professional hockey
for Sterzing/Vipiteno in Italy.
He had a big season for Tri-City in
2009-10 when he had 39 goals and 71
points in 72 games and then scored
nine goals and dished out 25 assists in
28 games for the U of A in 2013-14. He
always had elite offensive talent.
“You know Italy was definitely an
interesting experience for me,” Lazo
reflected. “I had my Italian citizenship
and joined Vipiteno in the top league
from northern Italy and hoped to climb
the ranks and make it onto the Italian
National Team. Unfortunately, a few
things came up and it just wasn’t the
greatest fit. My numbers were really
good, the team did quite well, and I was
playing with my lifelong teammate, Adam
Hughesman, but my wife and I ended up
coming home early.”
Once he returned to the mainland, the
seasoned veteran joined the Colorado
Eagles and put up over a point-per-game
in a shortened half-season of work. With
a fresh outlook on life and a built-up
excitement about the 2016-17 campaign,
the season couldn’t come fast enough
for the 5-foot-6, 170-pound winger.
However, Lazo’s eager anticipation came
crashing down to the ground on Monday,
October 17th.
“It was early October, and we were
doing a two-on-two drill in practice, I had
a step on the defenseman,” Lazo recalled.
“So I cut in and I got a little push on the
hips and I just lost my edge and slammed
full speed into the end boards. I broke my
femur and ended up missing 52 games
over nearly four months. It was definitely
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tough sitting there in
Colorado watching the
team play without me.”
Even in Lazo’s
absence, the Eagles
fared quite well,
picking up many
more wins than losses
as he recovered.
Interestingly enough,
around the time
that Lazo was
cleared for contact
and nearing his
return, Colorado
had slowly been
putting together
quite the winning streak –
something that Lazo didn’t
want to mess with.
“When I came back we
were right in the midst of a
17-game win streak,” he said.
“I think I came back right
around game 12 or 13.
I was actually pretty
nervous for the game,
as I didn’t want to be
the hex that ended the
streak, so I was pretty
glad that we strung together a few more
wins once I got back.”
Winning was a common theme in the
second half for the Eagles. In fact, in the
playoffs, Colorado only lost one game in
their first round series with Idaho, two
games in the second round vs. Winnipeg’s
Travis Brown and the Allen Americans,
and one game in the third round against
Toledo, before sweeping Winnipeg’s Kelly
Zajac and the South Carolina Stingrays in
the ECHL finals.
“It’s such a special feeling -
something really hard to put
into words,” Lazo said of winning
the Kelly Cup. “We swept the
finals which is pretty rare to do.
I can’t remember the last time
that happened, – I think they
said 2002 or something – but
it has been quite some time
since a team has swept the
final. It’s unfortunate that we
had to do it on the road, as it
would have been nice to win it in
front of our fans, but we will take
it any way we can get it for sure.”
Following his Kelly Cup winning
season, Lazo returned to Winnipeg
and has been leading high
performance camps all summer
as an on-ice instructor at NRG
Fitness.
“During the evenings we have five
groups including bantam, midget,
junior and WHL players,” Lazo said.
“It’s pretty full, and there are some
pretty good players there. It really is
all you need in one facility. We have
a shooting station, a running track,
stationary bikes, physio and athletic
therapy, all the squat racks and free
weights you could ever need; there is a
ton of stuff. Everything you need is all
under one roof.”
On top of his devotion to his wife and
family, maintaining his house and helping
to raise the kids, Lazo will now finally be
able to focus on the next stage of his life:
a career as a Winnipeg firefighter.
“I’ve decided to retire as a champion
and begin my firefighting training,” Lazo
said. “Nothing is set in stone yet, but
the plan is to do the theory part online,
and once I’ve completed that I’ll go to
Texas for a two-week boot camp for the
hands-on learning aspect. I can do the
theory at my place while still being able
to coach hockey, and I have a full year to
complete it. So if for whatever reason I
want to return and play hockey again,
I can do that and still keep up with my
course work.”
It’s going to take some time for Johnny
Lazo to get hockey out of his blood, but if
this is indeed the end, there is no better
way to say good-bye. ❍