You Become What You Are Surrounded By, Featuring Macklin Celebrini

What the presumptive first overall draft pick learned from being around his father's work and his Vancouver peers

Jun 23, 2024

Welcome to NHL Draft Week! Today we are digging into presumptive first overall pick Macklin Celebrini and his background.

Rick Celebrini

Macklin’s father Rick was a professional soccer player and since has become a world-renowned performance coach.

In the 2010 Winter Olympics, Rick was the physiotherapist, chief therapist, and medical manager for Team Canada. After that experience, Rick moved to the MLS Vancouver Whitecaps in 2011. By August 2018, he had become the director of sports medicine and performance for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

Celebrini is now a leader in sports medicine, science, and training. His job is to use best practices in prevention, performance, treatment, education, and research.

Not a bad influence to have around every day for an aspiring athlete…

Cohorts - Iron sharpens Iron

While some people can push themselves to become great regardless of their situations, most require a sparing partner or some other inspiration to show them what is possible. A classic hockey example is Markus Naslund and Peter Forsberg, where best friends pushed each other to greatness.

The North Shore Winter Club (Vancouver)

In the late 2010s, you could find multiple top-five NHL draft picks at unstructured open-ice sessions at the North Shore Winter Club. This members-only club was a great petri dish where players would have fun, work on their games, and interact to become world-class ice hockey players.

A few players at those ice sessions:

Connor Bedard
Kent Johnson
Andrew Cristall
Macklin Celebrini

Other players around included Matthew Wood and Zach Benson. Pretty incredible.

Learning From Each Other

While being around each other is great. The real key was the fact that they communicated and taught each other.

“He (Kent Johnson) taught me an easy way to pick the puck up and get into that top corner,” - Cristall

Johnson isn’t just sticking it to one skill.

“Then he (Johnson) works a ton on his one-timer, and he’s taught me a lot about technique and how to use it.” - Andrew Cristall

Finding Inspiration

Macklin Celebrini would look on in awe as Connor Bedard during those open-ice sessions.

“I’d watch him pretty closely and just pick up the little things. We’d be out there on open ice and he’d just score one after the other on a goalie. And the goalie and everyone out there on the ice would just be shaking their heads, ‘How is he doing this?’” - Celebrini

Reflecting on those open-ice sessions, Celebrini acknowledges the importance of witnessing Bedard’s exceptional skills at a young age.

“Looking back, I feel like it was important for me to see that stuff.” - Celebrini

Bedard was an inspiration for many Vancouver area players. There was an awe moment of first seeing Bedard play, followed by the motivation that resulted from trying to keep up.

“Having Connor there, that pushed everyone. You had to try and keep up with him, even if it’s impossible, and it kind of is, it still pushes everyone.” - Matthew Wood
“I shot in the backyard with him all the time and learned a lot about shooting that year,” Wood says. “He’d shoot with targets that the puck could barely fit through. That opened my eyes.”

There is a great benefit to being around great players. Too many players waste their chances by not interacting to learn, teach, and steal from each other.

After all, iron sharpens iron. This summer, work to find your opposite iron and go sharpen each other, whether it be your father, coach, teammates, open ice, etc.

Further Reading