“He left nothing on the ice,” former Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said on the video. Lamoriello drafted Parise 17th overall in 2003. “He competed each and every shift. He’s just a pure winner in everything he does.”
Parise returned home to Minnesota in 2012 in the famous dual signing with Ryan Suter, who played in his 1,000th game last season in a Wild uniform.
Parise grew up playing youth hockey for Bloomington Jefferson and played prep hockey in Faribault, Minnesota, for the standout program at Shattuck-St. Mary’s. After time with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, Parise has represented the U.S. in several events, including twice at the Olympic Winter Games (silver medalist in 2010), three times at the IIHF Men’s World Championship and twice at the IIHF World Junior Championship.
“I always said Zach’s kind of a hockey nerd,” Suter said during the video. “He eats, breathes, sleeps hockey.”
In a video posted on the Wild’s website, Parise was interviewed by Ryan Carter, another Minnesota-born NHL player. Carter played with Parise in New Jersey and Minnesota. Parise told Carter he figures he’s used a minimum of 1,000 sticks in his career and has used about 30 different curves on his sticks.
Chicken and pasta has remained Parise’s pregame staple, he told Carter, and Americanos have helped propel his career.
Part of the result is a Wild-record 67 power-play goals. He has 188 goals and 184 assists in his eight years with Minnesota.
“When I think about him, you could talk about stats and how, I think, he leads all Minnesota-born players in goals, and yada, yada,” Carter said in a video on the Wild’s website. “But really it’s about the intangibles with him; the effort, the tenacity. He truly loves the game and he’s cerebral about it. He goes to those tough areas because he knows he has to go there to be good and doesn’t shy away when maybe he could have. He’s got the excuses with the back and everything, but he shows up, he goes to work. He does his thing and he produces.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
