Toronto, Ontario’s Eddie Choi believes hard work and positivity are key pillars to having success on the ice as a hockey player, but equally as important off the ice in life.
Born in 1970 to parents who immigrated to North America from Korea, Choi began building many relationships in the sport of hockey.
“I grew up in Toronto and all my neighbours growing up were all Italians and Irish, and I was the only Asian kid in my neighbourhood,” said Choi, who credits his neighbours growing up for inspiring his love of hockey.
“When they were playing roller hockey and ball hockey, they said Eddie here’s a hockey stick, and I started playing like all Canadian kids do. And then when they started playing on the ice, my neighbours lent me some equipment and I started playing on the ice at four years old,” he added.
The now 51-year-old Choi has been a hockey coach and power-skating instructor since 1988, and has worked with plenty of young rising prospects from the greater Toronto area.
The likes of Jason Spezza and Michael Cammalleri are just a couple shining examples of players Choi has helped guide along their journey to becoming National Hockey League stars.
But before he dedicated his life to teaching and mentoring, Choi turned many heads as a player in his own right. He captained the Toronto Marlboros to five consecutive MTHL championships from Atom through Midget as a youth player in the GTHL and developed quite the reputation for his speed and offensive creativity.
Choi was also the recipient of the Metro Jr. A Rookie of the year.
Choi was eventually awarded a four-year athletic scholarship from Ohio State University where he earned a B.A. in Economics and played four seasons for the Buckeyes from 1989-1993 under head coach Jerry Welsch.
“I fulfilled my dream by playing in Columbus in the BIG10 is more than anyone can ask for. I lived it. And along the way, never once did I receive any racism or any bias. I just believed that if I worked hard and treated people right, that good things would happen. And they did,” said Choi.
In 140 college games in the CCHA, Choi registered 36 goals and 89 points.
To this day, he continues to hold the Buckeyes record for scoring the quickest hat-trick by a freshman in his first ever NCAA game.
Instead of continuing to pursue professional hockey following his college career, Choi decided to coach and mentor. He also earned a Master’s degree in Education from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.
“He’s just so positive. It’s never anything negative with Eddie,” said Steve Mead, the father of prospect Johnathan Mead who plays for the Toronto Patriots of the OJHL.
“When you’re on the ice every single day at age 11, 12, 13, 14, it can get monotonous and not fun, and Eddie always made it fun for Johnathan. Even to this day they’re like best friends,” he added.
“Whatever you want to work on with Eddie you can work on. I had Johnny working on his skating, his hands, his shooting,” said Mead.
Johnathan Mead has multiple offers from schools in the United States
Choi doesn’t only work with young prospects. He trains regularly with former NHL goaltender Adam Munro who was drafted 29th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks back in 2001.
“That’s the beauty of Eddie Choi right there. Initially, I was like who the heck is this guy, but the positivity just flows through him, and it’s infectious. And his knowledge of the game is astonishing. I’m almost certain of it because I’ve never not seen him in a rink,” said the 38-year old Munro.
“Eddie has that joy of a child in him, that we all have, but he finds it when he’s out on the ice. He looks like he’s smiling on the ice all the time to me. It’s amazing that he’s able to stay so positive on the ice, but I think the contributing factors are that he loves the game and he enjoys it every second he’s out there,” added Munro.
Choi also works with 45-year-old Kevin Porter who is working towards his next professional opportunity.
“Eddie’s a ton of fun to work with! He’s just so full of energy and positivity that you just can’t help but get better. When you create a fun environment that’s no stress, it’s much more enjoyable to get out there,” said Porter, who played for the Port Huron Prowlers of the Federal Prospects Hockey League during the 2019-2020 season.
“Eddie approaches the skill development work that we do like there’s nothing to lose, and we just go out there and have fun.”
“He probably could’ve taken his own playing career further, but he decided to pursue education and coaching instead,” Porter believes.
In a world where negativity is omnipresent, it’s often easy to forget the power of positive thinking, a trait that is embedded deep into Choi’s mental makeup.
Choi coaches for the love of the game, and his philosophy of hard work and positivity continues to produce excellent results. And although he’s currently focused on raising his two children in Toronto, he doesn’t close the door on the potential pursuit of a coaching role in the professional ranks sometime down the road.
For now, Choi is based in Toronto and will continue to work with players from all over Ontario coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Online with David P. Stein 
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