Twenty-six-year-old Connor Ingram is among the National Hockey League's leaders in wins and save percentage. But at his core, the Arizona Coyotes goalie is a small-town kid from Imperial, Saskatchewan — a town with a population of 372.
“There were six people in my class. My dad was my homeroom teacher,” Ingram said. “Ultimate small-town things.”
So when Ingram was drafted in the third round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, it was a dream come true.
“People say we live the dream, but we’re human beings at the same time, going through the same things everyone else is,” Ingram told ABC15.
While playing for Nashville in January 2021, Ingram was in a dark place.
"I got to the rink that day and said 'I don’t want to do this anymore.'"
Determined to retire from hockey at 23 years old, his goalie coach encouraged him to enter the NHL's player assistance program instead.
“I walked into his office and tried to retire and to his credit, he saved my career, probably my life. I hadn’t gotten help I don’t know where I’d be today,” Ingram said. “ I took a flight from Dallas to southern California that day and spent 42 days in a mental health trauma facility.”
Ingram thought he may have a substance abuse problem, but a therapist quickly diagnosed him with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
“I don’t wash my hands, my apartment is a disaster like I don’t have OCD,” Ingram remembers protesting. “Once she started going through the list of things that are OCD, I was like I hit a lot of these, actually.”
Ingram slowly got better — learning tools to help manage his disorder. But he told ABC15 he still felt embarrassed.
“Coming from a small town where people may look up to you, I felt like I let them down in the moment and it took me a long time to realize what I did could be a good thing,” Ingram said.
Ingram earned his way back to the NHL and is enjoying success splitting time with Karel Vejmelka in the Coyotes crease. He hopes his story helps others.
“It is hard to talk about,” Ingram said. “And in our business, it’s probably a mark on my resume that I missed six weeks one year. But if I can be open about it and save somebody going through what I did, that’s all that matters.”
Just another save for the small-town kid.
