A former NHL player has become a Florida firefighter two decades after being a first-round draft pick.
Nikita Alekseev was drafted by the Tampa Lightning in 2000 and played in the league for seven years. Now he wants to give back to the city he played in.
“Tampa gave me everything, and I’m giving back to the community,” Alekseev, 38, told WTVT-TV. “I grew up here. They made me a man.”
Alekseev spent two years in EMT and firefighter training, and he graduated this month. He reported Wednesday for his first shift at Tampa Fire Rescue's Station 18.
When he was away from hockey, he missed the camaraderie he had with other players. That's something he's found as a firefighter, and he's been a good fit with the department.
“He just wanted to be a firefighter,” Capt. Dan Quatrino, Alekseev's training officer, told WTVT. "He didn’t want to be known as Nikita Alekseev, the hockey player. He wanted to be a Tampa Fire Rescue firefighter.”
But hockey isn't completely out of Alekseev's blood. He's cheering on the Lightning as the team competes for the Stanley Cup, with Tampa up 3-2 on the Dallas Stars.
“That’s my boys. That’s my family,” Alekseev told WTVT. “Now I have two families.”
