Manitoba Moose forward Jozef Balej is spending some time off the ice and busy recovering from knee surgery. He recently sat down to answer your questions in the second Ask-a-Moose interview of 2007-08.
1. Hey Jo! What was the most memorable part of your minor hockey career? Connor – Winnipeg, Manitoba
I think the most memorable one was when we won the championships when I was 12. Actually, it was one of the best feelings I had as a young kid.
2. Hello Jozef. Who would you say is your closest friend on the team? Hope you get better soon! Catherine – Winnipeg, Manitoba
Thanks for the better part! I think the closest friend on the team might be Jimmy Sharrow. We are really good buddies and I hang out with him and we talk about different things. Yah, I think it is him.
3. I am just wondering, who your roommate is when you guys are on the road? Lyndsi – Winnipeg, Manitoba
It is Juraj Simek, he is one of the rookies this year. He is a really good player and he has lots of skills, but as a roommate, I don’t know, he is weird.
Why is he weird?
He stays on his computer all the time. As soon as he walks into the room all he finds in the hotel is the business office and he goes into there and stays in there until he is about to go to bed. So it is unreal.
Who is the cleaner roommate?
Who is cleaner? I am always.
4. Hey Jo. What are your goals for your future with the Moose and Canuck organizations? What part of your game would you consider your strong point and where do you feel you can improve? Richard & Duncan – Winnipeg, Manitoba
To the first question, you should ask the people above, not me. Obviously I would want to play in the NHL that is my goal as soon as I can remember. For the second part, what is my strong point? Well obviously, as a European player it would be the skills and the shot and speed and making tons of plays and making the fans go “woo ah!” Improving, you can always improve in everything you do. That would be a major point in my career. Every time I step on the ice or even into the gym or whatever I do it is always to try and improve everything in my game.
5. How do you stay motivated after enduring a season-ending injury? Rebecca – Vancouver, British Columbia
That is a funny one, because as far as I am concerned it is not ending for me. That is my mindset; that is what I keep thinking about and how I keep getting motivated. Every single day when I wake up I don’t think about “oh this might have happened if I would be playing.” I try to get focused. Right now I am injured and I am trying to get back on the ice as soon as I can.
6. Since you are injured, do you still travel with the team when they go away? If not, where and with whom do you watch/listen to the games Madison – Winnipeg, Manitoba
I don’t really travel because I have to do rehab every morning with Mark. When the guys go on the road I stay with Mark, Mark Grehan here, who is a great guy by the way. I got to give him props. What was the second part again?
Since you don’t travel with them, who do you watch/listen to the games with? Or do you just pay attention to the results at the end.
Well, I kind of pay attention. I check on the website, but I don’t really watch the games or listen to them. For me I love playing, but sometime when it is your team I rather not listen to it because it makes me a little weird feeling inside that I could have been there and could have helped in some moments.
7. Hello! Hope all is well with you. When you are not busy with hockey, what do you do for fun in your spare time? Grant – Brandon, Manitoba
For fun, well a fun thing for me to do is go to the gym. I am a little psycho about it. I have become crazy. What else do I do? I love cooking.
What do you cook?
I cook anything. I am really good. I have become really good. I am a master chef. One of the things I like to do, absolutely. I also love to travel. When I have time off I go see different places in the world.
Where is your favorite place you have ever been?
Favorite place? It would be a bunch actually. I really loved Egypt. I went to Egypt three times. I went to see the pyramids and the Sphinx and it is really interesting. The history and everything about it. The feeling in there is so strong.
8. If you could trade spots with anyone in the world for one day, who would you choose? Paul – Selkirk, Manitoba
That is a really tough one. Not my trainer, he has a hard job. I don’t know. That is a tough one. It would be a few people. One of them, maybe, seeing it from a women’s side. That would be a nice way to see the world because they always seem to talk about how we are rude and do these things. So that would be one of them. Another one would be George Bush maybe. To try and fix the problems that have come in the world and see it from his perspective how it really is. And another one would be Bill Gates.
9. How often do you get to travel back home to Slovakia to visit your friends and family? Colleen – Winnipeg, Manitoba
I try to go every summer after the season. I stay here for a couple of the months and usually go for July and August every summer. Seeing them makes them feel good and I love it at home. Home is always home.
