Getting Off The Ice Helped Lindros Become A Superstar On The Ice

Eric Lindros is remembered as a hockey phenom. He burst in the NHL as a teenager with the Philadelphia Flyers and was immediately dominant.

Along the way, Lindros earned a Memorial Cup title, a World Junior championship, a Canada Cup, and an Olympic gold and silver medals. He played in the Stanley Cup final. In 1995, Lindros was awarded the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player.

It all combined to earn Lindros induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Yet for all his accomplishments inside a hockey rink, Lindros is certain that none of it would have happened if he hadn't taken time away from the rink.

"My primary sport was hockey," Lindros said. "We played that for as long as our team was still in the playoffs. Then in the turnover from spring to summer, baseball and soccer mostly and water sports."

A parent of two young children, Lindros it's vital that kids are provided the opportunity for a young age to experience to multi-sport lifestyle.

"We might perceive that our kid wants to do a certain sport, and had we not tried out another, they might not have been opened up to it," Lindros said. "By doing that, they might be truly turned on to loving baseball, for instance, when we thought they were into hockey. But by closing the doors, we're closing the doors on their opportunities.

"It's good to have an open mind on this."

His own career prematurely curtailed by concussion, since he left hockey Lindros has worked tirelessly to support concussion research, helping to raise millions of dollars.

He's served as an honorary chair of the See The Line Initiative, a partnership between Western University's Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, the faculties of Health Sciences and Engineering, and the Concussion Legacy Foundation of Canada.

For participants in heavy contact sports such as hockey, Lindros is also of the opinion that opting for a multi-sport lifestyle as opposed to playing hockey 12 months a year is vital for providing the brain will the opportunity to recover from the punishment dished out on the ice.

"It's critical that you give your body a chance to rest, especially when you're in something like hockey," Lindros said.