NFL Star JJ Watt Is In Love With Hockey

Longtime NFL star JJ Watt admits that his ultimate sporting passion wasn’t the gridiron, but rather the ice rink. As a youngster who was born in Wisconsin, his love for Canada’s game pulsated through Watt’s veins. 

“I grew up in Wisconsin loving hockey,” Watt told Sport Illustrated’s Peter King. “I mean, I started when I was three years old on skates. I played all over. In Canada all the time, all over the U.S., over in Germany for a 10-day tournament. 

“Hockey, honestly, was my first love. The excitement, the fast pace, the intensity of the game. I still love it to this day."

It wasn’t sport specialization that brought an end to Watt’s youth hockey career at the age of 13. It was economics.

“I had to quit,” he explained. “It was financial. It was extremely expensive. My family is a middle class family. When I grew up and learned how much it actually costs, I could not believe that my parents let us play as long as they did.

“Those were some of the best years of my life.”

Watt Back On The Ice

Now that he’s retired from the NHL, Watt has returned to his first love, playing in a recreational hockey league. He wears the same No. 99 that he donned on the football field in college at Wisconsin and for the Texans in the NFL.

While no one is mistaking him for Wayne Gretzky, over the years Watt has taken to social media to display his hockey skills and it’s evident that the guy has got some game.

Watt even lists Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe, as his all-time favorite athlete.

“Growing up as a hockey player, meeting Gordie Howe was one of the coolest moments of my childhood,” Watt posted on his feed on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

“He is a legend.“

It’s not hard to imagine how legendary the havoc the 6-foot-5, 289-pound Watt could’ve raised between the boards had the NFL star stuck to hockey and wound up playing in the NHL.