Grant Fuhr, who knows plenty about hockey and golf, has a quick answer for why so many hockey players are also good golfers.
“We get summers off,” said Fuhr, a five-time Stanley Cup-winning goalie with the Edmonton Oilers and a Hockey Hall of Famer. “So you get a chance to play golf.”
That may be true in areas like Canada and the Midwest and Northeast of the United States, where winter is a time to focus on hockey with golf courses under a few feet of snow. But for the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the desert’s newest professional team, the hockey season is also prime golf season. So it’s natural that the Firebirds and the golf world would cross paths.
One such crossing came Wednesday when front office members of the Firebirds appeared at Marrakesh Country Club in Palm Desert, where the men’s club was holding its first tournament of the new season. It’s the kind of community outreach, especially in a golf community full of snowbirds from Canada and the Pacific Northwest, that the Firebirds crave.
“It’s crucial. I think you take for granted sometimes that you come in and you think everybody knows,” said Troy Bodie, director of hockey operations for the Firebirds after finishing his round Wednesday. “But especially in this community where everything is seasonal, it’s tough to get that word out sometimes and get people on your mailing list. So just getting out in the community that you are around and you are ready to go.”
Bodie and Fuhr, who will do some television and radio work for the Firebirds this year and who dabbled in professional golf after his playing days, were met with a receptive crowd at Marrakesh.
The Firebirds made a pitch for season tickets, half-season tickets and group sales, though some members at the club have already bought season tickets for the Firebirds. Others seemed not to know what the Firebirds even were, but were willing to learn. One or two members of the club said they had no interest in hockey, but that might change with a hometown team to root for.
As for that seemingly easy transition for athletes from the ice to the golf course, Fuhr said there are some natural carryovers from one sport to the other.
“If you look at the way a guy shoots a puck, and the way the golf swing is at the bottom, they are pretty similar,” said Fuhr, a long-time desert resident.
New season, old friends
As much as it was a chance for the Firebirds to make their introductions, the day also was about kicking off a new season for Marrakesh, which opened from overseeding less than a week before the event. It was a chance for golfers who had just returned to the desert to renew acquaintances over a round and a lunch as well as learn about how the desert is changing with the Firebirds coming to town for their home opener Dec. 18.
It was not unheard of on the day for a foursome to have one player in his 60s, another in his 70s, another in his 80s and still another in his 90s. It was a scene that is being repeated throughout the desert in November as courses reopen from overseeding and snowbirds return to the desert for a few weeks before the holidays.
As for the influence of golf on the Firebirds, Bodie laughingly said the team will take care of that.
“I’m a big believer in letting people do whatever they do away from the rink and enjoy themselves,” Bodie said with a smile. “But we certainly judge them for what they do in the rink and on the ice if something else is distracting you, we deal with that.”
Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_bohannan. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.
