![On Thin Ice](https://cdn.magzter.com/1631185742/1718865170/articles/GoTbR0zSR1720604330807/ON-THIN-ICE.jpg)
I GREW UP in a hockey family. Every winter, my dad made a rink in our backyard in Forest, Ontario. At age three, I joined a Timbits team and fell in love with the game. I'd come home from school and spend every evening on the rink. Then I'd go inside and watch hockey on TV. I looked up to players like Doug Gilmour and Sidney Crosby, and I dreamed of playing in the NHL or for Team Canada. Maybe I was naïve, but I believed I had the work ethic, discipline and hunger to make it.
By the time I was 11 or 12, I was playing well, and people began to notice. I dominated minor hockey and knew I had a strong chance of making the OHL. At 15, I joined the Huron Perth Lakers AAA team, where I met some of my best friends. I didn't know it yet, but their support would help me get through the lowest period of my life.
Leading up to our first game, I had some pain in my lower legs, which I assumed was shin splints. That didn't stop me from giving my all. In the second period, there was a play in front of the net. A defenceman took a sudden turn, and we collided. Pain shot through my left leg. I tried crawling to the bench, but my leg had given out completely. In agony, I was rushed to the hospital.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2024 من Toronto Life.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2024 من Toronto Life.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
![Booksmart](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1800436/_189GwQsW1724845411576/BOOKSMART.jpg)
Booksmart
I dropped out of high school because of a learning disability and depression. Public libraries saved my life
![Top Shelf](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1800436/hcWHoKg921724844819471/TOP-SHELF.jpg)
Top Shelf
Four drool-worthy home libraries
![The Giver](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1800436/wblEGN4hy1724844604490/THE-GIVER.jpg)
The Giver
Media mogul Gary Slaight donates a lot of money$15 million to this, $30 million to that-and he's not above shaming his wealthy friends into doing the same
![TRAIN WRECK](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1800436/I6gPviZ7s1724843989025/TRAIN-WRECK.jpg)
TRAIN WRECK
Toronto residents in the path of Ontario Line construction are living in a bone-rattling, foundation-cracking, rat-infested hellscape. True tales from the epicentre
![TURF WAR](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1800436/B8wuYLUZu1724843353745/TURF-WAR.jpg)
TURF WAR
For 148 years, the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club was an ivy-covered bastion of civility with a roster of like-minded, blue-blooded members. Then an old-money-versus-new-money clash erupted
![The Cult of Wellness](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1800436/fXj6fm-yy1724841412520/THE-CULT-OF-WELLNESS.jpg)
The Cult of Wellness
A growing cohort of Torontonians are swapping the coke-fuelled, booze-soaked club scene for cold plunges, sobriety and superfood smoothies
![CLOSE TO HOME](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1800436/zxJFzop2k1724841268385/CLOSE-TO-HOME.jpg)
CLOSE TO HOME
A new inpatient mental health unit for children and youth will provide community-level support at Oak Valley Health's Markham Stouffville Hospital.
![Scatter Brain - Maybe it sounds glib to suggest that a complex neurodevelopmental disorder is having a moment, but if you haven't noticed that ADHD is everywhere these days, you haven't been, well, paying attention](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1739330/f0QDhrrQW1720599534093/crp_ADHD-mental-health-mental-care-ADHD-diagnosis-health-medicine-Neuroscientists-Canada-human-body-science-brain-neurotypical-neurodivergent-dopamine.jpg)
Scatter Brain - Maybe it sounds glib to suggest that a complex neurodevelopmental disorder is having a moment, but if you haven't noticed that ADHD is everywhere these days, you haven't been, well, paying attention
Five years ago, hardly anyone was talking about adult ADHD. Now it's all over social media, and self-diagnosis is rampant. How a complex neurological condition became the new superpower
![Marital Arts](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1739330/45MG25Dnh1720604935976/MARITAL-ARTS.jpg)
Marital Arts
Three Toronto couples who celebrated their nuptials in spectacular fashion
![Strings Attached](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/25655/1739330/ucAKtvKrI1720604566980/STRINGS-ATTACHED.jpg)
Strings Attached
Country music's barrier-busting cowboy Orville Peck is tearing through 2024 with a new album, new collabs and a new outlook on life