Former NHL tough guy wants to unleash the fighter in all of us

He was a fighter on the ice, but his biggest battles were fought away from the rink.  Now, former pro-hockey player Aaron Volpatti is sharing his remarkable story in his new memoir, Fighter:  Defying the NHL Odds.

And when he talks about defying the odds, he’s not kidding.

Volpatti was the smallest kid in his hometown of Revelstoke, BC who barely made into the minor hockey with the Vernon Vipers.

“I was an above average hockey player in Revelstoke,” he recalls.  “I really wasn’t that good.  I played House hockey at 14 years old, got cut from lots of select teams.  You know, the game was a little bit different 20-plus years ago.  I really made it into Junior A as a fighter and as a grinder.  I scored one goal my first year with the Vernon Vipers.  I was just trying to sneak into college from there and then this burn injury happened.  So yeah, the odds were definitely stacked against me is putting it [mildly], I would say.”

A bonfire accident in the off-season left him with burns to 35 per cent to his body.  Volpatti was setting off beer bombs when the flames got out of control.  The incident is recounted in the book in harrowing detail.

“I don’t necessarily have regret,” he admits.  “It could have been a lot worse, for sure.  With all that said, I don’t get to the NHL without that.”

“Every piece of success or greatness I’ve achieved, it’s always been preceded by some form of extreme adversity, and this was my [first] real taste of adversity in my life.”

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A bed in the Vancouver General Hospital Burn Unit is where the real fight began.

“The only thing I could do was think,” he says.  “That’s when I opened up this world of visualization.  I just started thinking about where I wanted to go, and I essentially lived in this other reality.  That really is what got me out of the hospital and onto the ice that fall. I mean, I shouldn’t have been playing [so soon] but I did.”

“I created this movie in my head, and I just lived it every day.”

Volpatti would continue to defy the odds, securing a scholarship to play college hockey in the US, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology from Brown University, and signing with his favourite team growing up, the Vancouver Canucks.

“The big message in the book is, if I can make the NHL, trust me, you can do anything you want,” he says.

His visualization technique got him through his bonfire accident and other setbacks life would throw his way.  Now, in retirement, Volpatti works as a cognitive performance coach and motivational speaker to unlock that same potential within others.

“There’s a whole story of life after hockey for me.  This practice has gotten me to the NHL.  It’s also saved my life after pro hockey.”

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The back end of the book is the same 12-week course he uses with his clients.

“I mean, I owe my life to it.  That’s why I’m so passionate about teaching it and sharing it.”

 Fighter:  Defying the NHL Odds is available through Defiant Publishing House.  For the first 54 days of publication, 40 per cent of profits from Fighter will be donated to the British Columbia Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund.