Catching up with the 'Cuda: John McCarthy

Jul 17, 2017

Once the 2016-17 season concluded, each Barracuda player returned to his hometown or offseason hangout. Moving forward, each week sjbarracuda.com will check in with a different Barracuda player and see what he is up to this summer. This week we catch up with captain John McCarthy.

What have you been up to this summer and do you have any trips planned? I've relaxed a bit and gotten away from hockey for a couple of weeks. I recently started working out again in the gym. No real big trips planned, but we went to Newport, Rhode Island for the 4th of July with a few friends. We’ll take a couple of weekend trips, but no extended vacations. It’s good to get away from the game, and come September, be back and ready to go.
 
Where is your summer home? My parents have a place in Cape Cod, which is only about a half hour drive from where I live in Boston, so we’ll head down that way and go to the beach and just hang out down there, which is always a great time.
 
What’s your favorite summer destination? Cape Cod of course, but a couple of weeks ago we did Nantucket, which is an Island off Cape Cod. It's always a good time.
 
What’s your favorite summer activity? I’d say just playing golf. I try and get on the golf course a few days a week. I enjoy it because it’s a slower pace than hockey and it’s a mental game which keeps you sharp that way, but it’s also relaxing at the same time, and that’s the part I enjoy most about it.
 
If you could choose one, are you a beach, lake, or river type of guy? I’m a Beach guy, 100%. I’ve never really even been to a lake or river. I just go to the ocean.
 
What’s your favorite activity to do at the beach? I like to be active, and it’s hard to just sit there for six or seven hours, so I play games like Polish Horseshoes, Kan jam and now the new one is Spike Ball which I haven’t played a ton of, but it’s pretty fun.
 
Any plans to meet up with your fellow Boston area teammates this offseason? Yeah, Danny O’Regan lives in the Seaport in Boston. I’m in Charleston, so it’s close by. I’m sure we’ll get together with him and his girlfriend at some point. Colin Blackwell is living over by the Common’s so I’ll run into him at some point too, which will be good to catch up with those guys.
 
What does your offseason training regime look like? I started lifting some weights, running and riding the bike a couple of weeks after the season. I’ll get back on the ice and probably start out two times a week and move up to five days a week at the end of the summer. Right now I’m in the gym five days a week, rehabbing nagging injuries, staying in shape, and getting my strength back.
 
At this point of your career, what is the most important thing to work on during the offseason? A lot of the exercises I do are more geared toward injury prevention. Certain things you can do will work small ligaments and muscles that can help you make it through a long season. Also, I think conditioning is huge, you’re not going to be your best if your heart rate is through the roof.
 
The last question, with all the success the team had last year, does it make it even more exciting to return and see how you can build off of it? Yeah, I think so. You can almost feed off the momentum that we built on last year, and I think it’s important that we don’t let ourselves off the hook next season. We’ve proven we can compete with the best and now it’s time to make that next step.