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Nick Pastujov Finds a Hockey Home in Michigan

By Becky Olsen, 06/16/15, 10:00AM EDT

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Pastujov Moved to Michigan from Florida in Eighth Grade


Photo by Tom Sorensen.

When Nick Pastujov was growing up in Bradenton, Florida, kids had no shortage of warm-weather activities to try out.

Yet it was a simple “learn to skate” lesson that introduced Pastujov to the cold-weather sport that he would eventually lead him to USA Hockey's National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Pastujov attended the skating lesson when he was 4 and, although he didn’t initially like playing hockey, he stuck with it.

“My mom and dad would tell me that I was always screaming and crying on the ice at first,” said Pastujov, who just wrapped up his Under-17 season at the NTDP. “My dad would make me stay on and teach me how to skate. I have no idea, but at some point I really started to enjoy it. I just had a knack for it, and I haven’t looked back.”

As he climbed the ranks in hockey, Pastujov left the sunny skies of Florida before his eighth-grade year and moved to Michigan to continue his journey.

“I started playing AAA when I was in third grade,” he said. “At that point, there was just one AAA team in the entire state of Florida.”

After Pastujov spent two years in Michigan by himself, his mother Janis and his two little brothers moved there as well (their dad George stays in Florida to work). Brothers Michael and Sasha played last year in Michigan youth associations, and Michael Pastujov will join Nick as a member of the NTDP next season.

“I’m really, really proud of him,” Nick Pastujov said. “He works really hard. It’s going to be a special year next year. It will be the first time in a few years that my mom will live with all three of her kids in the same house. It will be nice for her, since this is the last time I will live with her before I go to college. Then I will probably never live with her again. It will be cool to have one year with my mom and my brothers.”

The elder Pastujov will be able to offer plenty of advice as his younger brother adjusts to the NTDP. Like many new players, Nick, a 6-foot tall, 195-pound forward, needed some time to adjust during his first season in Ann Arbor.

“The toughest part was that I had shoulder surgery right at the end of my midget year, so I pretty much didn’t have a summer,” he said. “I did a lot of bike classes, but I really didn’t get to work out.

“It was a huge transition — the players were a lot faster and a lot stronger. That was really tough. I think by the end of the year I got used to it. I’m really excited for next year.”

There was one game that was the turning point of the season for Pastujov.

“My biggest game of the year came at the Four Nations in December,” he said. “The first game again Russia [a 2-0 loss], I played really poorly. We played Switzerland the next day. I ended up getting four goals that game because the coaches completed ripped me before that game. They picked me apart in front of the whole team. That finally got me going and lit a fire under me. That really motivated me and showed me what I can do when I’m playing at my best.”

It should be no surprise that Pastujov is using that lesson as his motivating factor this summer.

“Over the summer, there are going to be no days off,” he said. “I need to go twice a day hard, at least six days a week, as I try to recover from missing last summer. I want to do everything I can to get faster, stronger and a lot smarter to play in the USHL, against college teams and internationally next year.”

Plus, he has a little extra motivation after watching this year’s U18 squad return home as world champions in April.

“Seeing the U18s coming back this year with a gold medal around their necks is something I look forward to trying to do too,” he said. “It’s pretty much the same feeling all the way around — they told us it was a surreal feeling. We want to push ourselves so we can have that same feeling.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

Past Features

Under-17 Team News


#36 Nick Pastujov (Photo by Dave Reginek)

Nick's Favorites

Favorite NHL Team
Tampa Bay Lightning

Favorite U.S. Player
Patrick Kane

Favorite Movie
This is the End

Favorite TV Show
Breaking Bad

Favorite Actor
Channing Tatum

Favorite Actress
Selena Gomez

Favorite Home-Cooked Meal
Chicken Parmesan

Favorite Activity Away from Rink
Hanging with Friends & Family