A back injury last year had Garrett Milan questioning his future in professional hockey. Showing up to practice with three herniated discs is no fun, and being in his early 30s Milan knew he was on the back nine of his career anyway.
Offseason back surgery helped, but the Whistlerite still needed to make a choice. That's when an unexpected suitor rang him up: the newly-established Athens Rock Lobsters of the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL).
First of all: "Rock Lobsters" is a truly legendary name on par with gems like the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL), Capital City Go-Go (NBA G League) and Binghamton Rumble Ponies (Minor League Baseball). The team logo pictures a crustacean wearing sunglasses and playing an electric guitar. What's not to like?
The FPHL debuted in 2010 under the name "Federal Hockey League," but adopted its current moniker nine years later. As a single-A minor league, its franchises are located in the Midwestern, Northeastern and Southern United States: including Athens, Ga. This energetic college town lives and breathes University of Georgia (UGA) football, but hockey is beginning to take off as well—and Milan loves it.
"You never fully know how it's going to go as a first-year team in the league, but I think our coach, Steve Martinson, did a really good job recruiting players," he said. "I saw some names who have been playing in a higher league, but decided to come here for various reasons so it's definitely been a good surprise for us. We're getting about 4,500 fans a night, sometimes 5,000, and packing out the brand-new rink [at Akins Ford Arena].
"You're going to community events and people are recognizing you, and a lot of people are wearing Rock Lobsters uniforms and apparel around town. It's definitely gotten pretty huge, to be honest."
Milan is having an impressive statistical campaign: 35 goals and 62 assists for 97 points in just 52 games. At +34, it is his first positive plus-minus outing since 2021-22 when he played for Sweden's Halmstad Hammers, and he's contributed to a roster that leads the Continental division with a 30-8-3-4-7 record to date.
'A breath of fresh air'
It's safe to say Milan relishes playing hockey again.
At 5-7 and 165 pounds, the experienced forward's best tools remain his quickness, soft hands and offensive versatility. He also tries to finish every check and make sound decisions in his own end. Milan even picked up an assistant coach role after a certain hiring failed to materialize.
"There have been a couple guys on the team helping out in somewhat of a coach role, and I think it's been good for me to do some drills in practice, look at some videos and see what the team needs," remarked Milan. "It's a breath of fresh air when your coach likes to communicate and see everyone's different views. Steve was a great hockey player himself, he played [49 NHL games as a winger] so he sees it from a different perspective than most coaches would."
Milan definitely hopes to win an FPHL title, but beyond that he'll listen to his body when contemplating retirement. In any case he wants to spend another summer giving back to Whistler's hockey community: running his own youth programs and/or helping Mike Borelli operate local academy Shift Hockey. Milan credits Borelli for helping to amp up the game's growth in the Sea to Sky.
"Whistler is tremendous for athletes, whether it's skiing, biking or snowboarding," Milan said. "Hockey when I was growing up wasn't the biggest sport in Whistler, but it's obviously transitioning to being a lot better now. Guys like myself, Nolan Welsh and Tyler Welsh have done a good job showing [kids] that … if you are really passionate about this sport and you want to make somewhat of a living at it, you don't have to move to Vancouver or different high markets to get into that kind of hockey."
Check out rocklobstershockey.com/home to follow Milan and the Rock Lobsters on their playoff stretch run.
