During his playing career with the Washington Capitals, Brooks Laich proved that he couldn’t be tempted by even the finest of Canadian delicacies: poutine.
Laich, a self-described health nut, was part of a young Capitals team in the late 2000s and early 2010s that didn’t all exactly ascribe to the same diligent routine as their principled teammate. He recently told a story on the Empty Netters podcast about how a group of Caps teammates, including Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green, once offered him $6,000 if he would just stray from his diet for one night and wolf down some French fries, cheese curds, and gravy.
“I remember there was one time it was Ovi, it was Nicke, it was Greener, trying to think who else was there,” Laich said. “We were in Montreal, and they had a poutine sitting on the table. We’re out at some bar, they had a poutine sitting on the table, and the pot was up to six thousand dollars for me to eat this poutine. I’m like, I’m not eating it, I’m not eating it, because I was like an obsessive health nut.
“They had it up to over six thousand dollars to eat this poutine. I’m like ‘No, what is wrong with you guys?’ I never did it. I never even had a bite of it.”
While Laich provided most of the story’s details accurately, he was slightly corrected in the comments on the Empty Netters Instagram post by a fellow former Cap, defenseman Karl Alzner.
“It was Winnipeg!” Alzner wrote. “Shark Club, remember it like it was yesterday, as I was just finishing my poutine…”
While the ins and outs of Ovechkin’s legendary diet have been explored for several years now, Laich also revealed that another member of the “Young Guns” had a similar routine in his younger years.
“Mike Green would score two goals and go get two Five Guys hamburgers on the way home and just pound them,” Laich said. “I’m like, ‘Mike, you can’t do that.’ And he’s like, ‘It’s working for me,’ it’s where he scored 31 the one year. I’m like, ‘It’s not because of the hamburgers,’ but for him it was.”
Green, apparently fueled by those burgers, scored 31 goals and recorded 73 points in 68 games for the Capitals during the 2008-09 campaign. He finished second in Norris Trophy voting for the NHL’s top defenseman, behind just Zdeno Chara.
While Laich may have faced some light teasing for his strict regimen, he finished the stories about his former pals with only good things to say about them. “I like when I get to talk about them again because they’re just great human beings, great people, and such a joy in my life,” he said.
Laich has continued to stay in great shape post-playing career and will be getting married to CrossFit Games champion Katrín Davíðsdóttir later this summer. Safe to say there probably won’t be poutine at the reception.
