L/A Nordiques’ Kyle Secor moves the puck down the ice as Cape Cod’s Cody Lappas stays close behind last season at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Sun Journal file photo)
AUBURN — The 20-year-old season is key in the career of a junior hockey player. When he is playing his overage in junior hockey, it usually means his future maybe in doubt at the next level.
While major junior players are hoping they can be a diamond in the rough for NHL and other professional teams, it’s the last chance for 20-year-old players to woo college coaches.
L/A Nordiques forward Kyle Secor, who’s in his third year with the organization, isn’t too worried about securing a college hockey commitment for next year. His future is set, though not on the ice or in the classroom.
He’s going into the business world. Scratch that, he’s already in the business world. The 20-year-old already owns a business, All Seasons Landscaping and Plowing.
So why continue to play hockey, knowing his future is elsewhere? Because the passion is still there.
“I love the game. I figure it’s one more year to play the game I love,” Secor said. “After this, I will go on with my future and keep working hard.”
So far, Secor making his final junior hockey season a good one. He already has three goals and two assists in the Nordiques (5-0) five games this season, which ties him for ninth on the team in scoring.
GETTING THE BUSINESS
Like every junior hockey player who is living away from home — he is from Columbus, Ohio — Secor lives with a billet family. When he first arrived in Lewiston, he was placed with Steven and Rachel Palian, who were the owners of All Seasons Landscaping and Plowing. He worked for the Palians his first few years in Lewiston, when he wasn’t at practice or had a game.
When Rachel became sick, the Palians decided they needed to sell the business.
Secor, who had worked in landscaping business and other manual labor jobs while playing with the Daytona Racers in Daytona, Florida, decided to help his billet family ease its financial burden by purchasing the business.
“They were in a bad spot, and they asked me if I wanted to take care of it,” Secor said. “I ran it for a whole year for them, and after that, they offered me to buy it because I helped them out.”
Secor built the trust with the family early on by going on jobs with Steven. It didn’t take long for Steven Palian to realize that Secor not only works hard on the ice, but off the ice as well. He quickly learned how to use the different equipment, such as a zero-degree turning mower and other heavy machinery.
“He learns quick, he works hard, he’s a go-getter and he’s very energetic,” Steven Palian said. “My wife and I decided to sell him the business because of his work ethic and because of his attitude. It seems like it has worked out pretty well for him. He’s got a lot more business than Rachel and I had. He’s got a lot more customers and he’s making a lot more money in the way of business because he’s putting himself out there.”
One of his clients is his coach Cam Robichaud.
“He actually mows properties, and I hold him accountable off the ice to make sure the lawn is looking good,” Robichaud said with a chuckle. “So he has to deal with me on and off the ice.”
Secor and the Palians decided the best move was probably for Secor to buy the business now rather than go to school to get his degree, rack up debt and fight with other graduates for jobs. By purchasing the business, he’s guaranteed a job as long as he wants it, and he can grow the business as big as he wants.
Secor hasn’t hasn’t completely ruled out going to school in the future.
“I might possibly go to community college and get my business degree, eventually,” Secor said. “If not, maybe go to the fire academy.”
MANAGING TIME AND OTHER PEOPLE
Owning a business comes with responsibilities from all sides. Secor said he has done well so far managing his time between the business and the Nordiques.
“I’ve been very busy,” Secor said. “I have gained 25 clients since I have taken the business over. Winter is going to be the rough part, trying to get winter (duties) done and play hockey at the same time. I will manage.”
He won’t get much of a break on his days off.
“My off-days, I will take care of the plowing and everything,” Secor said. “If I am away, I have two employees that will take care of my clients. If not, I will do as much as I can to help them out and help my clients out.”
One of Secor’s two employees is his longtime friend and Nordiques defenseman Donovan Tehan.
Robichaud said he’s not only coaching players to be the best hockey players they can be and trying to help them move to higher levels of hockey. He’s also wants to help mold them into productive members of society once their hockey playing days are over. So, he understands why Secor may not make every practice or game-day morning skate.
And he’s fine with it, because he knows that when Secor is working he isn’t merely sitting in an office for eight hours.
“Once in a while, we will have conflicts in the morning with (our) workouts and he might have to do a job,” Robichaud said. “He always asks if it’s OK if he’s missing a workout to do work. I usually say yes, because I have done physical labor myself and I know he’s getting a workout. He’s not just at home and playing video games or something. He has to keep his business going, and he wants to keep doing it after his final season here.”
Robichaud knows what it’s like to be the face of a business at a young age. The 29-year-old Auburn native took over as general manager and coach of the Nordiques prior to the start of last season. He’s also the owner of PucDevelopment Hockey Training Facility in Lewiston.
Robichaud never really spoke to Secor about his own personal situation when he was starting his coaching career with the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, but he knows what Secor is going through being a young person in a position that young people don’t usually hold.
Robichaud, who graduated from Southern New Hampshire University in 2011, began coaching the Monarchs as the head coach of the U18 split-season midget team during the 2011-12 season. During that time, he also coached at Bishop Brady High School in Manchester, New Hampshire, during the high school season.
After one season with Bishop Brady, Robichaud turned his focus solely to the Monarchs, and he was named an assistant coach for their Junior B team for the 2012-13 season. He was then promoted to head coach of the Junior B team, and held that position for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
He joined Rod Simmons staff as an assistant coach on the Fighting Spirit staff for the 2015-16 season.
“In general, in front of the team, we’ve had conversations of being a young person and being in the world with older people and how to conduct yourself,” Robichaud said. “You know, having good first impressions, holding yourself accountable, living up to your name and do what you say you are going to do. We talk a lot about that on the ice and how it translates into the real world. They know I started coaching young — when I first started coaching the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, I was still in college.
“I wasn’t that much older than my own players, having to balance college and living away from home, recruiting, traveling and writing papers. They know that I kind of have been through it as a young guy, balancing a lot. I’ve been there, done that, so I expect them to kind of do that. That’s why I want them working or in school on top of playing hockey.”
nfournier@sunjournal.com
L/A’s Kyle Secor, right, and Maine’s Riley Lavoie watch the puck roll out of reach last season at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Sun Journal file photo)
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