Before there was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, there was Kris Chucko.
Both were highly prized NHL firstround draft picks who had learned their trade at the Burnaby Winter Club. While the former is lighting it up for the Edmonton Oilers as an 18-year-old, the 25-year-old Chucko announced his retirement from hockey on Oct. 20.
Chucko, selected 24th overall by the Calgary Flames in 2004, suffered two concussions in the last two years and never fully recovered. After getting married to his longtime girlfriend, Lauren, this summer back in the Lower Mainland, Chucko thought long and hard about his future and finally decided to go back to school and complete his degree in business marketing at the University of Minnesota.
"The fact that I spent two years in a cave with a headache made this a pretty easy decision to make," said Chucko, whose final NHL stats will show him playing two games with the Flames at the end of the 2008/09 regular season.
"My decision was based on how crappy I felt for the last 11 to 12 months, and the six or seven months (after) the first one (concussion)," Chucko said.
The St. Thomas More graduate was a highly touted winger who played alongside Travis Zajac, currently of the New Jersey Devils, with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the B.C. Hockey League.
Chucko then accepted a scholarship to Minnesota, where he played two seasons before turning pro. He put in time with Calgary's minor league affiliates in Quad Cities, Illinois and Omaha, Nebraska before he made a return to the Lower Mainland in 2009 when the Flames moved their American Hockey League affiliate to Abbotsford.
In parts of two seasons with the Abbotsford Heat, Chucko played only 43 games, but he did have his most memorable moment in the Heat's first home game in October 2009. Chucko scored a hat trick, with his goals coming in three different ways: shorthanded, on the power play and at even strength.
The power play goal was a prototypical man-advantage marker as Chucko corralled the rebound off a Keith Seabrook point shot, pivoted and then wristed it to the top corner of the net.
The even-strength marker showed off Chucko's deft scoring touch as he cruised through the slot and tipped Gord Baldwin's point shot past Al Montoya.
And the shorthanded goal occurred when Chucko beat a former training mate, forward Kyle Turris, who was manning the point on the power play.
In an interview with the Burnaby NOW that night, Chucko admitted that, while fans remember his hat trick, he'll remember being on the ice for both the tying and game-losing goals.
"I'm happy to score the goals, but I know I have to work on my defence, and my skating needs to get a bit stronger. - I have to work on those things if I hope to get called up.
"I must've had to get tickets for 24 or 30 people. - That's why I left my mom in charge of it. It's always good playing back at home in front of all my friends and family, but I hope the next time they see me, it's when I'm in a Calgary uniform."
That never happened, as Chucko would only play 43 games for the Heat before being sidelined for the rest of that season with his first concussion.
When Chucko returned to action in October 2010, he played only two games before he was knocked out with another concussion.
What makes that hit so ironic was teammate Bryan Cameron delivered the blow, having missed his actual target during a road game against the Milwaukee Admirals.
The hit, arguably the hardest the 6-2, 198-pound Chucko sustained in his entire hockey career, aggravated an old neck injury and sidelined the Burnaby native for good.
Chucko said the range of concussion symptoms he endured in the past two years included dizziness, sensitivity to light and sound, nausea and vision impairment.
"There were times where I just wished someone would have told me, 'You should stop, you should retire,'" said Chucko. "In the end, it was my decision."
Chucko said one of the more difficult things he had to endure was having people question why his career had stagnated.
"When you have a concussion like this, unless you've actually gone through it, you don't really understand," he said. "All people saw were the stats, the fact I hadn't played much."
Chucko knows he still has a bright future, even if it doesn't include playing professional hockey.
"I'd miss hockey if I was completely healthy," Chucko said. "I don't miss having headaches every day. I don't miss worrying about my health. The good thing now is I'm back in school, trying to figure out a plan. I always knew I would have a life after hockey. I have a chance now to find a new passion. I'm an open book, and I'm open to anything."
While Chucko is studying in Minnesota - he has three semesters left and hopes to be done his degree by next autumn - wife Lauren, originally from the Minnesota area, is back in the Lower Mainland working.
Does Chucko have any regrets that he didn't get that elusive NHL goal?
"Nope, I had a chance on my first shift," he said. "And I did take a penalty so I got on the scoresheet.
"I'm not complaining about my situation," he said. "I'm not going to be the what-if guy, because I know that I did everything I could to be a professional hockey player. I can walk away knowing I gave everything I had."
