Some of you might remember just a few months ago, I sat down and chatted with current Blues captain, David Backes, about his work with stray dogs and cats in the St. Louis area. Well it turns out that former Blues defensemen, Tyson Strachan, learned a few things from Backes while playing in St. Louis.
Strachan, 29, played a total of 67 games with the St. Louis Blues between 2008 and 2011. He also played in 141 games with the Blues AHL affiliate at that time, the Peoria Rivermen. He's since gone on to play with the Florida Panthers, the Washington Captials, and this summer, signed with the Buffalo Sabres.
Strachan, like Backes, loves to help stray animals, and yesterday, he sat down with us to talk about it. Enjoy.
Randall Ritchey : Was it Backes that got you into helping rescue strays?
Tyson Strachan : Yeah, it was David and Kelly (Backes) both who have been really instrumental in getting us to open our eyes about stray pets. My girlfriend Kate has always been a passionate dog lover and I was as well. She adopted a dog while in college and when we moved to St. Louis, we met David and Kelly. They took us into a lot of shelters and Kelly took Kate along to a lot of the puppy mills in the area when a lot of them were closing and trying to save as many dogs as possible. We started going on rescue missions and it really opened our eyes to the amount of stray dogs there really were and how big of an epidemic it really is. So those two were really a great influence on us and really helped open our eyes to the issue.
RR : You've been a mover in your NHL career, playing in St. Louis, Florida, Washington, and this upcoming season with Buffalo. How has the constant move affected your ability to help strays?
TS : David and Kelly have really done a lot of work in the St. Louis area and that's going to come with the amount of time they've been able to be there, and they've become a pillar in that community. But I believe in some ways, it's an advantage moving around, because we've been able to stretch our cause to a lot of different areas around the country. I've always been amazed that everywhere we move there is always a huge stray dog problem that people just don't realize. But we've been able to reach out with different fan bases and get people involved in different communities. Plus we feel that when we do leave, there are people on the team and in the community with the knowledge to carry on and help fight against the cause.
RR : Jumping back to hockey now, you played in St. Louis and Peoria for a couple of years. What was your favorite moment as a St. Louis Blue?
TS : There are a lot, but it's easy to look back and think about my first NHL game. Getting the call and getting in there. I played my first game in Washington and I remember after that game was over just sitting in the locker room. I told myself, 'after all the years of hard work, you made it and no one can take that away from me'. We hold St. Louis close to our heart, I was in the organization for four and a half years and we made a lot of great friends and it was easily one of our favorite, if not our favorite city to live in. The fans were always passionate and it's just a great community.
RR : Talking about all your hard work, everyone knows your more of a defensive defensemen, so what was it like scoring your first NHL goal with Florida?
RR : You signed in Buffalo this off-season after leaving Washington. I'm curious, what made you want to sign with Buffalo?
TS : I think it's an organization that's obviously been at the bottom of the league, but I think with their new ownership and the new coaching staff, they are doing a good job at changing the culture there. I think their on the up swing and I think there are opportunities for me to be in there and at this point in my career, that's important to me. It's exciting to be going into an organization that's moving in the right direction. I think I can be apart of something in that rebuilding phase. I'm excited to jump in and help out in anyway I can.
RR : Last question, if you had to pick your favorite moment in your career, what would it be?
TS : It's such a hard question. I get asked that a lot and it's one of those hard ones to answer. A lot of times I think on a larger scale and I don't think of a specific moment. I just think how fortunate how I am, and all these other guys are that we get to be hockey players and we're able to do it as a job. This is something that we love to do and being from a small town in Saskatchewan, I look back at all the places I've traveled to and all the places I've lived. I look at all the people I've been able to meet and I believe we're all fortunate to be able to play this sport. I know it's not one particular moment, but when I think back, I believe that's the best thing I've gotten out of hockey.
First let's thank Tyson for sitting down and taking the time to share with us today. We've gotten a little closer look at who he is and a little more about what kind of person that he is.
If you want to follow along, you can follow Tyson on twitter @TStracks. You can also follow his page @StrachanStrays. To follow with how Backes' strays are doing and how you can help, follow @DBackes42 Be sure to follow me on twitter as well @Blues_Buzz.