Bruins
“It is positively form of like a superpower to have.”
Andre Gasseau is commonly a one-man wrecking crew out on the frozen sheet.
The 20-year-old ahead already has a pro-ready body at 6-foot-4 and 211 kilos, and makes good use of it when driving into Grade-A ice and wreaking havoc on the forecheck.
However within the ring, Gasseau isn’t any stranger to being pinned, thrown about and outright bested by opponents both nicely beneath his weight class — or far above him in years.
Such a end result isn’t an indictment on Gasseau’s talent after years of coaching in each Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu.
Fairly, it’s a routinely bolstered lesson in psychological fortitude, persistence, and humility that Gasseau believes has helped him turn into one of many Bruins’ most promising prospects.
“The most important half is psychological,” Gasseau mentioned of the advantages of martial arts coaching. “You go in to spar — you’re going in opposition to somebody that’s lots older than you, perhaps lots much less robust. After which they beat you.
“Clearly, you’re gonna be lots stronger than a 50-year-old [fighter].” It’s simply eye-opening.”
The California-born Gasseau first started incorporating each Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu into his coaching routine seven years in the past when his father, James, first signed him up for lessons.
It didn’t go nicely at first, with these exhausting classes doled out by the use of lopsided scores and submissions.
However as Gasseau’s hockey aspirations began to develop, it didn’t take lengthy for the younger ahead to see the correlation (and mutual advantages) between two very completely different fields of exercise.
“At first I didn’t need to do it, however because the periods went on I favored it and it gave me numerous confidence on the ice and off the ice,” Gasseau mentioned. “It’s been actually useful to do it.”
Lately, Gasseau normally trains within the ring 4 occasions per week throughout his normal offseason routine. On some days, he’s in for sparring two occasions a day, incorporating extra on-ice work as he attracts nearer and nearer to coaching camp.
As unorthodox as Gasseau’s assorted offseason program is perhaps, he’s removed from the one Bruin to meld martial arts into his hockey routine.
Jakub Lauko educated within the ring regularly final summer time in his native Czechia, together with two periods per week with Czech fighter Jiri Zak, a former ISKA and WMC champion in kickboxing and Muay Thai.
“Even once I’m sparring with them, combating with them, it’s unbelievable energy, unbelievable conditioning,” Lauko mentioned of his Muay Thai expertise final October. “It’s loopy how exhausting it’s. … Some coaching with them, I used to be sitting within the locker room saying ‘What the hell did I drag myself into?’ I couldn’t even carry my arms or arise. It was exhausting, however I really feel prefer it’s going to repay.”
Buoyed with each confidence and peak conditioning following his offseason exercise adjustment, Lauko landed a spot on the Bruins’ Opening-Evening roster final fall, and ultimately earned himself a brand new two-year cope with Boston on Wednesday.
Gasseau isn’t prepared for the leap to the professionals fairly but. However the present Boston Faculty ahead has elevated his inventory considerably because the Bruins first chosen him within the seventh spherical of the 2021 NHL Draft.
After a stable season with the USHL’s Fargo Power in 2021-22, Gasseau joined a rebuilding Eagles squad final fall. Initially slotted right into a bottom-six position, BC coach Greg Brown ultimately shifted Gasseau onto a prime line subsequent to fellow freshman (and 2022 fifth total choose) Cutter Gauthier.
Gasseau’s measurement and shot gelled instantly with the high-end expertise of Gauthier and fellow linemate Nikita Nesterenko. He completed his freshman marketing campaign with 10 objectives and 29 factors over 36 video games — tied for third on the group in total scoring.
“They have been placing him in these [top-six] minutes, he grabbed it and compelled them to maintain him there. … He’s proven the power to make little performs with top-end gamers and proceed to push that,” Bruins assistant basic supervisor Jamie Langenbrunner mentioned of Gasseau. “The youngsters they acquired coming into BC, they’re going to have numerous high-end guys, if he can complement that together with his talent set, it’s good for us and for him.”
Gasseau might want to proceed to hone his skating potential if he needs to proceed to do harm on the subsequent degree.
However past an encouraging stat line throughout his first go-around at Chestnut Hill, Bruins participant growth and scouting assistant Danielle Marmer believes Gasseau’s inside fortitude has allowed him to separate himself in Boston’s prospect pipeline.
“Normally when it takes guys time [to develop], it’s someplace late within the fall after they begin to determine it out,” Marmer defined. “For him, I need to say it was perhaps even a bit of bit later than that.
“And that’s what really I discover so spectacular — is that he didn’t let that discourage him. That tempo was a lot quicker than he was used to and he discovered a approach to alter to it.”
Gasseau is aware of he nonetheless has a protracted street forward of him — even when it’s a comparatively brief jaunt from Conte Discussion board to TD Backyard.
But when there’s one factor his off-ice coaching has taught him through the years, the journey is simply as necessary as the final word purpose.
“It reminds you to calm your self and simply benefit from the course of and attempt to study from that,” Gasseau mentioned of martial arts coaching. “It’s loopy. I’d advocate it to anyone. It’s positively form of like a superpower to have.”
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