When forward Chandler Stephenson made the full-time move from junior hockey to the minor leagues this season, rising from the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats to the Washington Capitals’ affiliate in Hershey, he confronted two distinct adversaries: food and boredom. He was on his own in Pennsylvania, rooming with Nathan Walker instead of living with a host family, and this meant making meals himself. It also meant handling the solitude of the unfillable hours, when practice had finished and he needed something to do.
“I’ve been talking to some guys back home who played pro and they got into guitar, taken a few classes online,” he said.