Canucks’ Roussel studied maple syrup during his recovery from surgery

In case you missed it Tuesday night, Vancouver Canucks forward Antoine Roussel made his 2019-20 season debut after a lengthy recovery from offseason reconstructive knee surgery.

Oh… and he potted a goal on his first shift back. Even better, he pointed to the newly unveiled image of Canucks legend Alex Burrows in the team’s Ring of Honour. All this happened on “Alex Burrows Night” in Vancouver… as it turns out, Burrows is a personal friend of Roussel and has been a source of inspiration throughout the latter’s career. 

Check it out:

I mean… how perfect is that?

After the game Roussel spoke at length about his recovery from surgery and… well you might be surprised at what he did to pass the time. He studied maple syrup. No… seriously. 

Check out these comments from Roussel courtesy of Canucks insider Iain MacIntyre:

To keep his mind from wandering during the final months of his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery, Antoine Roussel took a university course for the first time since he played junior hockey in Chicoutimi.

Roussel’s field of study is a little different.

“Maple syrup,” he said.

We waited for laughter. None came.

“My family has a maple-syrup factory,” he explains. “I just wanted to understand the process. It was like one class. It stops almost today.

“All the machinery and all the process, I knew it. But this went into more detail. It kept me busy. Rather than sitting around (waiting to recover) and twisting the mind, getting pissed off, this kept me busy and it was fun.”

Ask Roussel if he likes pancakes and he starts listing maple-syrup uses like he’s Benjamin Buford Blue – “Bubba” – talking to Forrest Gump about shrimp.

“You can do a lot of stuff,” Roussel said, eyes lighting up. “Pancakes, on yogurt, on strawberries. I even make a drink with it.”

Roussel met his wife, Alexandra, when he was playing junior. Her father bought land that contained 6,000 maple trees. As a summer job, Roussel worked on the farm tapping the trees by hand.

But the business has grown, he says. The farm is now automated, and the family bottles and sells its syrup on site, where there is also a restaurant operating during “sugar time” in spring.

The final online assignments from Laval University for Maple Syrup 101 are due this week, so Roussel is under a lot of pressure.

Hockey and maple syrup. While technically Roussel isn’t a Canadian citizen… we all know what’s in his heart.