Erik Johnson has been a shutdown blue liner for the Colorado Avalanche for the past 8 seasons.
When he’s not honing his on-ice skills, however, Johnson can be found ‘horsing around’ at stables in Del Mar, California.
The former first overall pick of the St. Louis Blues is also an enthusiastic racehorse owner and commercial breeder for ERJ Racing, LLC. While it’s definitely a unique hobby compared to most of his teammates, he’s done a great job using his main sport as an inspiration for his side hustle, and his horses has some unreal names. Some of our favourites include ‘Toothless Wonder’, ‘MacWinnon’, ‘Where’s The D?’, ‘Mr. Game 7’, ‘Crosscheck Carlos’, and ‘Biz Nasty’.
Too good.
The Minnesota native was first introduced to horse racing as a teenager, when a family trip to San Diego lead him to Del Mar, where he attended his first races at the track. He soon became a regular at Canterbury Park, near his hometown of Bloomington, where the horse world enthralled him to the point where he simply had to be involved.
Though his hobby is definitely unique, he has tried to inspire a love for horse racing in his teammates, who he invited out to a racetrack in Florida while the Avs were on the road last season. Johnson is known to gush about his four-legged friends, and to put on live feeds of races in the Colorado dressing room. He’s a hands-on owner, who offers direct insight as to who rides his horses, enjoys spending as much time atthe barn as he can, keeps up-to-date on which of them are injured, and which will be bred for foals the next season.
Johnson obviously has a real love for the sport, telling Sports Illustrated’s Alex Prewitt that “If you’re in it for the right reasons and you’re not heavily invested, it’s like paying dues at a country club. It’s my outlet away from hockey and my passion.”
Aside from the sport, Johnson is also passionate about the animals themselves. When I’m done playing, I’d like to have a farm where I can put all my horses and live up there. I think that’d be sweet.” He also mentioned that he would love to one day bring the Stanley Cup to the barn.
“Oh my gosh, that’d be quite the party,” he says.
With some of the most impressive offensive power in the league, the Avalanche currently sit at second in the central division . We’re not trying to pick favourites, here, but a horse drinking out of Lord Stanley’s Cup would probably be the only thing to top the Summer of Ovi, so we’re definitely here for it.
(H/T Sports Illustrated)
