John Farinacci knew about the fitness tests that he was going to take at the 2019 National Hockey League Scouting Combine. He had a general idea of the questions that he was going to be asked during the interview stage of the event.
What the center from Chatham, N.J., didn’t realize was that he was going to have to channel his inner comedian at one point.
“One team told me to tell them a joke,” revealed Farinacci, who recorded 33 points (12-21-33) in 16 games at Dexter School this past season, his second at the school and first as captain.
What was the joke?
“It’s definitely pretty corny, if you want me to tell it.”
We do, John.
“How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?”
Pause.
“Ten tickles.”
Pause.
“They said that was one of the corniest jokes they heard,” Farinacci chuckled. “It must’ve been pretty good.”
Whether the NHL team was amused or not, the moment added to what was a memorable experience for Farinacci at the combine, which took place at KeyBank Center and HarborCenter in Buffalo from Monday, May 27, through Saturday, June 1.
In terms of preparation, the 5-foot-11, 185-pounder, who’s ranked 35th among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings for the 2019 NHL draft, didn’t specifically train for the fitness tests. Instead, he stuck with his usual regimen under the guidance of trainer Shane Relihan at Boch Ice Center in Dedham, Mass.
As for the interviews, Farinacci spoke with his camp beforehand about the process. This wasn’t a major deal, either.
“They know I’m a well-spoken kid, so they didn’t have any issues,” he said.
Farinacci arrived in Buffalo the day before the combine commenced and braced himself for what was going to be a long week with a lot of activity and also plenty of down time. In fact, there was more of the latter on day one.
“I had a light Monday compared to a lot of kids,” he said. “I had two interviews all day, so I didn’t have much going on.”
Although Farinacci knew what to expect during the interviews, which took place in KeyBank Center’s suites, he was still nervous when he entered his first one.
“It’s something you’re not used to doing, and I was a little uncomfortable,” he admitted. “But I don’t have too much of an issue with that stuff and I got used to it right away.”
Farinacci was interviewed by 20 teams.
Some of the tougher questions revolved around his right knee injury this past season and the fact he has bounced around quite a bit in his budding career, spending time playing prep school hockey at Delbarton in New Jersey and Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota before skating for Dexter.
He also was asked hypothetical questions, none weirder than the one about a snake.
Said Farinacci: “There are five guys in a room, and there’s a 50/50 chance there’s a 20-foot python that hasn’t eaten in five months in the hallway. Which one of us is going out there to check?”
Farinacci is the one who met the challenge.
“You have to eat the bullet on that one and say that you are going to go out there and sacrifice yourself,” he said. “I’m sure that’s how they want to relate the question to hockey, sacrificing yourself for the team.”
Overall, Farinacci feels he performed well in his interviews.
“Sometimes you may get stuck at first, but then you work your way around it,” he explained. “I think I projected myself and who I am as a person and a player well, and that’s all I wanted to do going into that.”
The interviews, in addition to giving NHL organizations an opportunity to learn about the prospects, also afford players a chance to learn about the league. What Farinacci realized was how much of a “business” the sport is at the NHL level, even though he already had a firm grasp of this before the combine.
“When you’re growing up in youth hockey, it’s not too much of a business,” he stated. “It’s more about developing and having fun. When you go to these events, you realize that it’s serious and it’s all business. It’s hockey and you love it and you’re going to have fun either way, but it’s more of a business when you get to that level.”
Business or not, Farinacci still had several “Wow!” moments upon meeting the NHL personnel.
“The first time I experienced one was the second day when I walked into one of my interviews and saw (Los Angeles Kings president and alternate governor) Luc Robitaille and (Kings vice president and general manager) Rob Blake,” he said. “Those guys are a little bit before my time, but you hear so much about them, see highlights of them and see their faces all over the place. That was cool. And then seeing (Detroit Red Wings executive vice president and general manager) Steve Yzerman and (Red Wings assistant to the general manager) Kris Draper; those guys are heavyweights in hockey. Moments like those definitely pop out at you. Growing up, you play the NHL video games with those teams and those players, and you watch them. It was surreal to walk into those rooms as an 18-year-old and meet those teams and see those guys who are unbelievable names in hockey.”
The fun continued when it was time for the fitness tests. That’s right, fun.
“The bench press was a test that I almost did kind of enjoy,” Farinacci chuckled. “It was half our body weight, so I was pushing 90 to 95 pounds, pressing up as hard as I can. It wasn’t too strenuous. That was a fun one.”
The toughest test for the prospects is usually the aerobic fitness VO2max or the Wingate cycle ergometer test.
During the VO2max, which measures a player’s endurance and stamina, the athlete gives maximum effort on a stationary bike for as long as physically possible with limited recovery time.
The Wingate measures the explosiveness of a skater, and for this test the athlete sits on a stationary bike and pedals with maximum effort for 30 seconds.
Farinacci said the toughest one for him was the VO2max. His grand finale, however, was the Wingate.
“After I did the Wingate, I laid down and tried not to puke,” he remembered. “That was my initial reaction.”
Once Farinacci settled down, he had media work to do. When that was finished, it was time to go home.
“Being there for that long and doing that much strenuous activity, not only physically but also mentally, takes a lot out of you,” he said. “It was a relief to be done with it. But you don’t want to rush out of there because it’s an unbelievable experience and you don’t want to take any of it for granted.”
Next up for Farinacci on his hockey docket is the NHL draft, which takes place June 21-22 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. He has been and will be very busy leading up to it, though.
In the days following the combine, Farinacci took a brief respite from working out to attend his Dexter graduation and pack for his move into a new apartment.
But on June 5, he was back in the gym and on the ice.
“I took the three days after the combine off to give myself a little bit of a break off the bat,” Farinacci said. “The two weeks after that are going to be the same as they were before the combine, just training in the gym and on the ice and trying to improve, because right after the draft or a week after the draft teams have their development camps.”
His last task is to savor the remaining days before the big show.
“As you get closer, you get a little bit anxious,” Farinacci said. “But you have to enjoy these two weeks and the draft.”
And if the nerves become too much to handle, all the Harvard commit has to do is stand in front of a mirror and ask himself one question.
“How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh?”
