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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M 29 hard to believe but I always considered myself a passer. In college, I was a disher. And, then, when the Devils switched me to wing, I remember (GM) Lou (Lamoriello) and I remember the assistant coach saying, 'You need to shoot the puck. You gotta shoot the puck.' I started to shoot a little more, and I just kind of fig- ured out that I just wasn't blessed with the shot that's going to beat goalies clean more often than not. So I just found that all my goals came from within five feet of the net, and I was continually getting those types of chances, so you just kind of find ways to get there, assuming the puck's going to get there. And then I worked a lot on deflections and getting rebounds and it just kind of stuck with me. Russo: How much did you teach yourself or learn body position? You're going up against Big Buff and these giant defense- men that you're probably not going to be able to outmuscle, yet we look at you and the way that you can get stick position and body position and things like that is amazing. W here did you learn that and how much work did it ta ke? Parise: Yeah, I've probably been one of the smaller ones all the way up. You kind of learn how to play that style. My dad was always big on telling me that, 'You're not gonna outmuscle these guys, you've got to learn timing, you've got to learn how to get in and out.' And there's a way you can get real- ly close to the defenseman so he's not allowed to extend his arms and push you away. I mean, if you're in so tight he can't really push you if that makes sense. Just trying to get in and out and sometimes it's just getting lost. But I remember my dad always telling me that, just little tricks like that around the net. Russo: Same thing behind the net. It 's unbelievable when you see a loose puck how you're able to stick check a guy, or lift a guy 's stick or use body position to come away with that puck. That also is a learned asset, right? It 's almost defensive hockey in the offensive zone? Parise: Yeah, and I think I picked that up honestly skating a lot of open-ice pickup games down at Shattuck- St. Mary's. We had access to the rink whenever we wanted, so we'd always be playing 3-on-3 games or whatnot. And it was pretty cool how much better guys got at stick work. This is when they allowed hooking and holding. We got so good at learning how to can-open people and strip people of the puck and how to knock pucks out of the air. You couldn't get a saucer pass through anybody. Everybody was that good at knocking it down. I think it was just from us contin- ually playing those small 3-on-3 pickup games. Russo: You have such courage on the ice. If you're an undersized guy, how much guts does it take to play your style and how hard is it to learn to absorb the pain that comes with playing in front of the net? Parise: Yeah, kids should put a couple extra pads on. I did that to try to absorb some of the sticks. It hurts. I mean, there's a lot of times that you get the cross- checks in the arm and the back and the slashes in the back of the leg. But at the same time it's rewarding when you get the chances and you get the goals from around the net. You try and stay away from it at the same time like I said with timing, and a lot of times you just get lost. No one wants to get a stick in the back, so you try and avoid it as much as you can. Russo: You played multiple sports as a Zach Parise honed his stick skills and hockey sense by playing unstructured pickup hockey. 5. Matt Cullen 4. Neal Broten 3. Phil Housley 2. Dave Christian 289 262* 338 350* 1. Zach Parise 340 GOOD COMPANY Minnesota's all-time leading NHL scorers, as of Jan. 1, 2019. (*Active)