This article is one of four published in a collaboration between the American Society on Aging’s Generations Now blog and the Department of Journalism in Boston University’s College of Communication. The student journalists are members of Professor Deborah Fountain’s Online Journalism class for graduate students.
Andrew Ference has always gone above and beyond.
As a 20-year-old rookie trying to get his foot in the door in the National Hockey League with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ference underwent hernia surgery.
As a 5-foot-10 defenseman, he had to find ways to stay in shape, or else it would cost him the dream job he had worked for his whole life.
“I could never just do the average,” said Ference, “Or else I would be out of the league.”
Through his research, Ference found many ways to stay healthy. As a result, he was an important member of two Stanley Cup–winning teams during his career.
Ten years ago, Ference played his last NHL game. His goals then were to win hockey games. But looking to his future, he wants to be a “super fit old dude.”
Ference, now 46, has been living on Vancouver Island for the past five years, a 4-hour flight from his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta. His lifestyle, portrayed on social media, includes updates on the plants he grows, his workout routines and even visualizations of pastries he’ll bake.
First, Ference wants to know what he’s putting in his body—he’s been that way since he was a kid.
“My parents both grew up on farms,” said Ference, “we had a big … garden growing up and composted and did all kinds of stuff.”
Despite a hectic schedule in the NHL, Ference says he never forgot to check on the worms in his compost bins and plant sunflowers on the street outside of his Boston apartment.
‘I’m training to live a long life and be able to pick up grandkids and play with them.’
“It’s obviously pretty rewarding [to] grow your own food. I like eating healthy, and I’m not neurotic about it,” said Ference, “the best diet is to try to eliminate as many barcodes as possible.”
He emphasizes his approach in the simplest terms: buy real fruit and vegetables, and spend money wisely.
“I don’t drink, I don’t gamble, there are a lot of people spending money on dumb ****. I spend my money on food and don’t blink,” said Ference, “I’m not buying all the **** that’s like, five times the protein, the stuff you hear on podcasts.”
Even when he was on the road, Ference sought out healthier options to eat. During his professional career in Boston, Ference said his teammates Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara would often join him in his nutritious practices.
Julie Nicoletti, the Team Nutritionist for the Boston Bruins, has worked with athletes in various sports and with adults at all stages of life and says she believes that nutrition is like saving money for retirement.
“You’re never too early, and can never be too late to begin saving,” Nicoletti said.
“If you haven’t started, don’t worry about it. Let’s begin now,” said Nicoletti. “I think that there is a huge impact … what you guys are doing now in your 20s will impact your health in your 40s, 50s, 80s and 90s. So, yeah, the choices that you make now matter.”
You don’t even have to work out excessively. Ference says he doesn’t overtrain but stays active from time to time. He emphasizes that even just moving throughout your day, doing physical tasks like yardwork, is better than pushing yourself in the gym because it can lead to an unhealthy burnout.
“If you hate the gym, join a pickleball league,” said Ference, “Pick something that you actually enjoy, not [something] that’s like a chore.”
Some days, Ference says he’ll just chill out. More is not better; you don’t need to live in the gym. Get in, get out, do what you need to do. At his core, he still knows why he’s doing this.
“I’m training to live a long life and be able to pick up grandkids and play with them.”
Ference has maintained a good relationship with his physical fitness; through his methods, he naturally feels better about himself and his mental health has benefited.
“I do think you’ve got to have a balance,” said Boston Bruins alum Mark Mowers, “when you’re my age, or you’re 60 years old, a little older, you’re gonna be like, ‘What the hell did I do? I didn’t even get to enjoy life.’ ”
For some, that sentiment can be hard to recognize when your career is coming to a close. Mowers, a former NHL forward, knew he wouldn’t be doing this forever.
“I couldn’t perform the way that I used to be able to perform,” said Mowers, “I couldn’t think the game, I couldn’t see things happening as quickly as I used to, and for me, I was frustrated.”
Mowers, 51, spent seven years in the NHL, including one season with the Bruins, before wrapping up his playing career in Switzerland.
“I wasn’t the same player,” said Mowers on hanging up his skates, “I’m not gonna say it was an easy decision, but I just kinda knew.”
Mowers is still in the NHL today as a scout with the Minnesota Wild after stints in Montreal and Buffalo. Mowers says his love for the game remains, and he shows this passion not just as a scout but also by playing for the Boston Bruins Alumni team.
“It’s been great,” said Mowers, “we get to hang out and play games together and raise money for charity.”
Mowers says he often reminisces about the good times with his friends and teammates, having fun, and enjoying everything that comes with the charity games.
Mowers touches on the lesser importance of playing to win in these games, instead focusing on “shooting the **** with the guys,” and playing just to play.
“You always want to win, but that’s not the ultimate thing with these charity games and whatnot,” says Mowers, “If you ask anyone on the alumni team, I would almost guarantee their favorite part is sitting in the locker room and just telling stories and finding out what guys are doing.”
Mowers says that the things you do now will be looked back on as you age. He encourages anyone to try new things and go after what they want. He wishes he could go back and “work on his deficiencies.”
Rather than just accepting that some things can’t be fixed, Mowers says he believes that, if you can, you should improve yourself.
“You gain knowledge by reading or studying or whatever it may be,” said Mowers, “I’m saying this only because I did the exact opposite.”
Marcus Antonelli and Michael Letendre are studying for master’s degrees in Journalism at Boston University’s College of Communication. Antonelli helps the Boston Hockey Blog cover the school’s hockey teams. Outside of BU, he runs a media brand (@Marcussi), producing engaging content focused on the Boston Bruins on a variety of platforms. Letendre is a sports content creator from Worcester, Mass., and works in collegiate athletics as a team photographer and is a tour guide for the Boston Red Sox.
Photo credit: Shutterstock/ Dnipro Assets
