Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.sportsnet.ca
CALGARY — Two sleeps after going viral with his post-game theory on the merits of shutting off his brain, Devin Cooley has had to shut off his phone as well.
The Flames netminder said the response to his wildly entertaining verbal dissertation on his ‘conscious and unconscious brain’ has been more overwhelming than an Avalanche power play, prompting him to shield himself from the predictable response.
“I’ve said a lot of stupid things, but I think that’s the one that has blown up the most,” laughed the gregarious goaltender, whose serendipitous soliloquies have included everything from practising math for fun to his pet rabbit, Tito.
“It’s pretty crazy, actually. If I’m being honest, I shut my phone off yesterday, and I’m gonna leave it off for the next two days because there’s too many notifications. I’m spending too much time on social media, and I feel drained mentally. It’s not good for your nervous system. So I’m like, ‘Okay, I need to chill out.’”
You know, switch over to the unconscious brain, as it were.
“It’s also funny that I called it my unconscious brain,” chuckled Cooley, jacked up following a 34-save win over the defending champs.
“I’m watching it back, and I’m like, ‘No, dude, it’s your subconscious brain.’ Unconscious, I’d be passed out on the ice.”
We’ve written here plenty about the colourful Californian, but perhaps at this juncture it’s just easier to let The Most Interesting Man in Hockey finish the rest of this column via a one-on-one Q&A:
Sportsnet: You’ve said before that because of the post-game adrenaline and endorphins, you often don’t know what you’ve said until you read it the next day. What is your reaction when you see what you said?
Devin Cooley: Sometimes I laugh, and sometimes I’m like, “Oh man, that is really cringy.” But then I see a lot of people’s reactions to it, and most of the time it’s really positive. So I’m like, “Okay, I’m glad that people like me for me a little bit,” and they’re not just like, “God, this guy is so annoying,” which I’m sure a lot of people think too. That’s kind of what you get when you put yourself out there a little bit. But the reactions have been mostly positive, so that makes you feel better.
SN: In no way does this encourage you to be a little more muted or more tempered with your comments?
DC: No, I don’t think it’ll ever change, because when I’m interviewed, I’m always 10 out of 10 adrenaline, 10 out of 10 energy. If you were to interview me in the morning before practice, I’d be like the most chill, reserved guy. But it’s when you interview me that it’s probably all just gonna come out. It’s kind of fun because most of the time during the day I’m just having these conversations in my own head by myself, thinking about random things, and then those things pop out later in interviews.
SN: Are you one of those people who thinks hockey players should be a little more animated, or athletes in general? Are they too guarded?
DC: I understand why people are not more animated because of what we just talked about: It is a lot, and you really put yourself out there. And if you put yourself out there, you’re gonna have a lot of unwanted and negative attention. You don’t know how the team is gonna take it, how management, how everybody might take it. They might take it the wrong way. It’s always hard to say, but I think it’s great because it helps grow the game. If you help grow the game, then everyone gets paid more, and then people like hockey more. So I think it’s a really good thing. But I completely understand why people would not want to do it, and I’m kind of dealing with that right now a little bit.
SN: So the phone goes away?
DC: I actually bought this thing called The Brick, or whatever. It’s a physical device and you scan it to your phone, and it blocks all your social media apps, all your messaging apps, whatever you want it to block. You can’t unlock it again until you scan it with that physical device. So I’ll do that, and then I’ll leave it in a room I’m not going to be in. So that way, even if I want to look, I’m not able to, and that helps a ton. So I’m basically going to leave my phone on lock for the next couple days, and just let everything settle, and then reset the nervous system. So that way, I’m ready to go whenever I play again.”
SN: What are you hearing from management or the PR staff? Do they want you to tone it down?
DC: No, it has actually all been super positive. I think the biggest thing is as long as you stay aggressively positive, you can kind of say whatever. I am in a position where I really enjoy that side of things, and I really enjoy sharing my thought process and positivity and stuff. And I think it helps grow the game, helps my brand, and it’s a lot of fun too. I think as long as I stay really positive, everyone is happy to let me just ramble.
SN: Zayne Parekh said with a smile that he raced to see your post-game interview. How are your teammates reacting?
DC: They joke with me all the time. It’s pretty funny. I’m sure it brings them some entertainment too. It’s all been positive. Even when I played for San Jose, it was like that immediately. I think I went viral after, like, my third game for saying, “Nothing matters, we’re all gonna die.” That kind of thing. It’s just because that’s who I am. I’m just glad people like it. It’s great because I’m probably not going to change.
