Former NHL Goalie Corey Hirsch Embarks On ‘The Save Of His Life’ With New Book

If you look at a synopsis of Corey Hirsch’s career on the hockey stats site Elite Prospects, the first thing that jumps out is his long list of accomplishments.

Olympic silver medalist. CHL goalie of the year. Memorial Cup champion. Western Hockey League champion. Part of the 1994 New York Rangers organization — a young ‘Black Ace’ when the Blueshirts won their only Stanley Cup in the last 82 years.

But if you read Corey Hirsch’s groundbreaking essay called ‘Dark, Dark, Dark, Dark, Dark’ in The Players’ Tribune in February of 2017, you know that appearances can be deceiving.

Rather than being able to embrace the achievement of his lifelong dream of becoming a professional hockey player, Hirsch got lost in a fog of incomprehensible mental challenges which led him to try to take his own life. Eventually, after a long battle of shame and confusion, he sought out the help which now has him on a path where his main mission in life is to help erase the stigma around mental illness.

“When you’re an athlete, it’s all about you,” Hirsch said recently during a meetup in his current hometown of Vancouver, where he played goal for 101 of his 108 NHL games with the Canucks in the late 90s. “It’s all about my game, my pregame, my this, my that. Me, me, me. Who’s writing about me in the paper? What did they say?

“And then you get out of the game, and this is where guys get lost. Nobody’s looking for you anymore, and until that Players’ Tribune article came out, I didn’t get it. I didn’t get that it’s about helping other people. And if you can do that, I get it back tenfold.”

Last fall, five years after The Players’ Tribune essay, Hirsch released his memoir with HarperCollins. ‘The Save Of My Life: My Journey Out Of The Dark’ outlines his background and hockey development, the onset of the demons that would eventually be diagnosed as a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the courage it took to seek out help in the stoic world of professional sports and how, eventually, his willingness to share his story has led him down a new life path.

All told, Hirsch’s pro hockey career spanned 15 seasons, finishing up in Sweden in 2006. After that, he spent a number of years as a goaltending coach before transitioning into broadcasting, and served as the Canucks’ radio analyst from 2017 to 2022.

Hirsch was living in Arizona when he put his professional reputation on the line, baring his soul in The Players’ Tribune piece. The radio offer in Vancouver came not long after.

“I was terrified when that article came out,” he said. “Like, ‘What am I going to be doing the rest of my life now? Am I going to be shunned?’ But it had, like, two million hits in under two hours.

“It went viral — it was nuts. And it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It led me on to a new path and a new career. And that led me to come back to Vancouver where, let’s be honest, if I was in Arizona, nobody would know who I am. I’m probably not speaking. But I get a job in Vancouver, where everybody knows me. And I can do this and I can share my message.”

Like many people, Hirsch’s regular routine was turned upside down during the pandemic. NHL games were put on pause and even when they resumed, remote broadcasts became the norm.

During his downtime, he began pursuing more avenues to share his story — and found that people were eager to listen.

“I think for all of us, COVID made us look in the mirror because we had nothing else to distract us,” Hirsch said. “It seemed to hit right at the right time where people felt, ‘You know what? We all we all have issues. We all have anxiety and depression, and we’re all tired of having to hide it.’”

That led to the book deal, and to a podcast. ‘Blindsided’ is aplatform for professional athletes to open up about mental health, co-hosted by Hirsch and psychiatrist Dr. Diane McIntosh.

Being a published author has also opened doors on the speaking circuit. Hirsch has worked closely with the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, a health and wellness benefits company that serves the construction industry in B.C., and has travelled all across the province to speaking to blue-collar workers who might be inclined to keep their emotions and their mental challenges to themselves.

Hirsch also continues to advocate for better support for athletes, both during their careers and after their playing days are over. And he wants to see mental health issues brought further into the light across society.

“I still have a chip on my shoulder as to why we don’t teach this stuff in schools,” he said. “If I’d been taught this stuff in high school, I’d have never ended up in my car, almost killing myself. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what was happening. I thought I was crazy — there’s no way out.

“Why are we not teaching this stuff to our kids? Why are we still not getting them the information on obsessive-compulsive disorder and all this stuff?

“Part of the reason I do this is because I didn’t have to end up in that situation, and I did. We’re better. But we still have a long way to go.”