Lance Stroll did not look out of place sitting in the Canadiens’ locker room at Brossard’s Bell Sports Complex on Wednesday afternoon. In fact, he looked just like an NHL player, wearing a CH ball cap after taking off his Canadiens jersey and answering questions for about 20 minutes from a large media contingent in front of a locker stall with his name plate on it. It was probably the longest media scrum any Formula One driver will hold leading up to Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Stroll seemed to be loving every minute of it, unable to wipe a big smile off his face while answering a variety of questions. Stroll had spent the previous 20 minutes skating on the practice rink with Canadiens players Victor Mete, Matthew Peca, Xavier Ouellet and goalie Michael McNiven while wearing a No. 18 jersey — the same number on his Racing Point F1 car. Stroll didn’t look like an NHL player on the ice, but the 20-year-old is a decent skater and can pass and shoot the puck well. His face lit up after scoring a breakaway goal on McNiven with a pretty fancy move and the Canadiens players banged their sticks on the ice to celebrate. “I was a bit rusty out there,” Stroll said with a big smile in the locker room. “Definitely be sore in the morning.” When was the last time he played hockey? “I skated (last) Wednesday, actually,” Stroll said. “We have a little beer league here in Montreal and I played with my buddies. That was definitely worth it.” The Montreal native said he played organized hockey as a kid at the novice and peewee level as a goalie. “It definitely brings back some good memories,” he said about being back on the ice. Mete was impressed by Stroll’s hockey skills. “He was surprisingly good,” the defenceman said. “He came in and told us he was a goalie, so I wasn’t expecting much from him. Then to kind of see him being able to actually skate and pull some sick moves was pretty cool.” Mete is spending most of the summer in his hometown of Woodbridge Ont., but is a big F1 fan and is in Montreal this week for the Grand Prix. “I love cars,” he said. “I watch every (F1) race in the summer time. I’ll be there Friday, starting from practices, through Sunday’s race. I come every year.” Asked which one of his teammates would be crazy enough to get behind the wheel of an F1 car, Mete paused for a few seconds before saying: “Maybe Delo.” But at 6-foot-1 and 221 pounds, Nicolas Deslauriers would have a hard time fitting into an F1 cockpit. Stroll attended some Canadiens games as a kid and his favourite players were Saku Koivu and later Carey Price. He remembers wondering what it would be like to actually play for the Canadiens, but then reality would set in. “The thought’s crossed my mind a couple of times at the Bell Centre watching them play, but I was far from becoming pro at the age of 11 when I was playing,” Stroll said. “It’s very special (being in the locker room) just to see all the names … my name up there (in the locker stall). I assume that’s permanent,” he added with another big smile. “It’s really great. The whole thing was awesome and I say a big thank you to the Montreal Canadiens for this.” Stroll will be driving in the Canadian Grand Prix for the third time on Sunday, but his first with the new Racing Point team — formerly Force India — after spending his first two F1 seasons with Williams. Stroll finished ninth on Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in 2017, earning his first two career points in the F1 drivers’ standings, but crashed out on the first lap last year. This season, he ranks 16th in the standings with only four points from the first six races. “It’s been a challenging season, as expected,” he said. “The competition’s been very high this year in the midfield. It’s very tight. The margins are very slim. We managed to score points in two out of the six races. There were some opportunities to score some more points and we just didn’t capitalize. But it’s a long year. Unfortunately, the last couple of races the car hasn’t been where we wanted it to be and the team hasn’t managed to score points in Spain and Monaco. But we’re looking to turn that around this weekend in Montreal.” As for the pressure of driving in front of his hometown fans, Stroll said: “I thrive off of it. With the pressure comes a lot of fun activities like this right here in Montreal. So there’s a lot of press and it depends on your perspective as an athlete on the spotlight and on everything. I think it’s very exciting to come back to Montreal and compete at home. It’s really a
Origin: Who would’ve thought Canadian F1 Driver Lance Stroll was such a decent hockey player?