Former Stanley Cup champion Mike Rupp stays on positive path in 2nd career as NHL analyst
Get drafted by an NHL team.
Sustain an NHL career.
Become an NHL champion.
Those were lines Mike Rupp crossed out on his hockey to-do list.
Rupp donned an Erie Otters sweater for 147 Ontario Hockey League games between 1998-2000. The Cleveland native’s skating ability, combined with a 6-foot 5-inch frame, were reasons the New Jersey Devils chose him during the third round of the league’s draft.
Rupp played his way onto the parent club’s roster during the 2002-03 season. The rookie center was limited to five goals and three assists over 26 games, and he added one goal and two assists during four of the Devils' Stanley Cup playoff games.
That lone goal, though, highlighted an all-time performance in franchise lore.
New Jersey blanked the visiting Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 3-0 in the decisive seventh game of that season’s Cup final. Rupp scored the Devils’ initial goal and recorded assists on their next two.
Rupp skated for five other teams over an 11-year NHL career. One perk the 44-year-old Saegertown resident didn’t experience during that span is the level of mental health awareness which athletes are starting to benefit from at all levels.
Earlier this year, the National Hockey League Players Association announced the creation of First Line. The program was designed to help players and their families with issues such as depression, substance abuse and suicidal feelings.
“Mental health (awareness) isn’t new, but in a lot of areas it’s still coming around,” Rupp said. “Honestly, I think COVID-19 had a lot to do with making people realize it was an issue before and it’s an issue now.
“It wasn’t really a thing in the NHL when I was playing. Then again, that was 10 years ago.”
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Tough transitions
Rupp spoke during Mental Health Awareness Day, held May 17 at Union City’s football field. The Union City, Fort LeBoeuf and Corry school districts combined to sponsor events that included tents which provided students and adults with information on ways to nurture their emotional well-being.
Activities were capped by fireworks and a concert by country musician Chris Higbee.
Rupp was a master of ceremonies for most of the day. He attended in support of the Hayden Hitchcock family and a memorial foundation in his name.
Hitchcock, a Cambridge Springs graduate, died Feb. 18, 2023. He was 21.
The mental health support programs publicized that day at Union City would have benefitted some former teammates, according to Rupp. They would have helped with the transition to their post-hockey lives.
Rupp took solace the closure to his hockey life was more definitive than others. Compiling enough persistent injuries to where he could no longer play was, in a strange way, a plus.
“But there was a stretch (after) I was done playing where I felt like I didn’t have focus,” Rupp said. “I retired at 34 and it was like, ‘What do I do with the rest of my life?’”
Finding a second career, one satisfying if not equal to the previous one, was an answer for Rupp. For nearly 10 years, he’s been an NHL Network studio analyst and postgame analyst for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcasts.
Such work helps Rupp maintain a tentpole for better mental health: a positive attitude.
“I’m still involved in hockey,” he said. “That’s always good.”
Contact Mike Copper atmcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Former Erie Otters, NHL forward Mike Rupp enjoys 2nd career as analyst
