Q&A With Zach Sanford As Hits 500 Professional Games

Zach Sanford prepares to skate in his 500th professional game tonight against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Sanford’s career has taken him across North America and he reached the top of the hockey world when he won the Stanley Cup in 2019.

Sanford has skated in 334 NHL games between the Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators Arizona Coyotes, and Chicago Blackhawks. The Salem, MA native is in the middle of his second season with Rockford.

On getting started in hockey:
"I started playing cause my dad played when he was a kid and a lot of my friends were playing, you grow a love of the game really quick. I think I was like four or five when I started... we had a good crew of friends and all of our parents were friends so it was kind of a no brainer"

Best piece of advice you received:
"My dad coached a lot when I was a kid and even other coaches growing up the last thing they would say before practice or a game is kind of cliché but make sure you have fun. Not a lot of people get to have jobs and careers and lives like this. You just have to enjoy everyday of it and take it all in."

When did you start to believe you would make it to the NHL:
"There is a funny story about my junior coach that year. I was having a tough game and he was kind of giving it to me on the bench and screamed at me and said 'you just dropped two rounds in the draft' and that's when I realized I had a chance to get drafted and go forward with this thing."

On playing at Boston College:
"It was awesome, I think those were two of the biggest years of my hockey life hockey-wise and off the ice. Everyone there from the staff to the coaches to the players, everyone was great to me and helped me grow a lot."

On his NHL debut:
"I was with the [Washington] Capitals, we went into Pittsburgh and they raised the banner for the Cup the year before. It was kind of one of those games where you blackout because it's so exciting and there is so much emotion and so much going on. Looking back it was pretty cool to be a part of something like that."

On playing in Chicago and Rockford:
"You always love to watch those teams, the original six teams that were stacked and running the show. It was cool to play there for a little bit and now here in Rockford has been pretty cool to see what a real original six organization is like."

Key to staying at the top level:
"For me just sticking to the same routine is the stuff off the ice the right way, the right way in practice the right stuff for games. If I can stick to that and wake up everyday and know what I'm doing everyday, it makes it a bit easier."

You can see more of the interview with Zach Sanford below: