It’s easy to spot Patrick Maroon on the ice, especially when the Edmonton Oilers power forward parks his sturdy 6-foot-3 frame in front of an opposing crease.
His willingness to go into the dirty areas and use his quick hands to come out with the puck have allowed Maroon to become a mainstay in the NHL.
While it would be easy to just attribute his success to extended experience as an ice hockey player, Maroon credits some of his success to his years of playing inline hockey.
For the St. Louis native and his friends, inline hockey was always the perfect summer getaway. They would play for hours on end nearly every Saturday in the summer. Even today he views inline hockey as a great way to develop his skills.
“All of the players in St. Louis look forward to roller hockey season,” Maroon recalled. “You’re playing with your best friends, and there’s no pressure on you.”
As Maroon moved up the hockey development ladder, he turned his focus to ice hockey. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and began his long journey to the NHL.
Pat Maroon#19 // LEFT WING |
In 2010, Maroon took a brief respite from the ice to return to his inline roots when Dan Brennan, the head coach of the U.S. Inline National Team, approached him about joining his squad at the IIHF World Inline Hockey Championships in Karlstad, Sweden.
At the time Maroon was in the American Hockey League and was struggling to crack an NHL roster. After careful consideration, he decided to temporarily trade in his blades for inline wheels.
Playing on a line with childhood friends from St. Louis, Shawn Gawrys and Kyle Kraemer, the trio took over the tournament to lead the U.S. to a gold medal.
“It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” said Maroon, who finished with seven goals and seven assists. “I met a lot of great people and got to play with the guys who I started playing with in Mite hockey. That experience is very special to me.”
As former inline and ice hockey players, Brennan and Maroon both agree that that the skills used in inline hockey can easily translate to the ice.
“It’s a strong way to cross-train,” Brennan said. “It can really improve your vision, hands and patience.”
Six years after striking inline gold, Maroon became the first player to represent the U.S. in an inline and ice world championship suiting up for the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 2016 IIHF World Championship in Russia. He tallied one goal and two assists as the Americans finished fourth.
Maroon has become a valued contributor in the NHL with Anaheim and now Edmonton, and he still draws on his inline experiences to stay on top of his game.
“I learned to be a leader over there [at the World Championships],” Maroon said. “So far, I’ve been able to transfer what I learned there and bring it back with me to the ice.”