CATCHING UP WITH THE 'CUDA: ROURKE CHARTIER

Aug 8, 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 Rourke Chartier. 

What are your plans for the summer? Not a whole lot, just been training. We had a long season, so I took a couple of weeks off, but now I’m back in the gym. I’ve also been hanging out with friends and family, just enjoying the offseason for a bit.
 
Where is your summer home? I’m back home at my parents' house in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, here in Canada. It’s not a place people visit very often, but it’s home. So I can’t really complain.
 
Where’s your favorite summer destination? Probably, Emma Lake or Clam Lake. There are a couple lakes up north I go to every summer. I usually head up there with my family and cousins. They've got boats, so we get on the water a lot. One of the lakes has a fishing camp, which is awesome because I’m pretty into fishing. It’s a ton of fun and probably what I look forward to the most in the summer.
 
What’s your favorite summertime activity? I’d say fishing, for sure.
 
Are you a lake, river or ocean type of person? Well, the first time I had ever been to the ocean was in Santa Cruz this year. We’ve got a river in town, which isn’t bad, but I’d have to say the lake is my favorite.

Do you have any plans to meet up with some of your Barracuda teammates this offseason?There’s not anyone really around me, but there is a chance I get out to Kelowna where I played my junior hockey to see my billet family. I may run into a few of them when I’m out there.
 
How are you preparing for next season? I spend five days a week in the gym with a few other pro players who are out here. When I’m not there, I try to stay active and play tennis and squash. I’ve got a pretty active family, so we’re always doing something.
 
What is the biggest part of your game that you want to improve on as you head into your sophomore season? There isn’t one area I want to work on. You’ve got one year to get your feet wet and figure out the league, and now it's just about being more confident. I do want to get healthy after how I ended last season and get into the best shape I can be. A simple answer would be, I just want to build off last year and get better in every area.
 
What was your favorite memory from last year? The 14-game winning streak was pretty awesome, but also, the comebacks we had in Tucson really stick out in my head. We just never felt like we were out of any game.