Keeping it in the family! Brooks Laich revealed he wants his love of hockey to be passed down to the children he has in the future following his May split from wife Julianne Hough.
“I hope someday that I’m pulled back to the game,” Laich, 36, explained on the Sunday, June 14, episode, of his “How Men Think With Brooks Laich and Gavin DeGraw” podcast. “Truthfully there’s still so much I want to give.”
The former hockey star hasn’t taken to the ice since his release from the NHL in 2017, but he hopes when he becomes a father that will change.
“I spent 35 years trying to master excellence in this craft, and I don’t want that to just die with me,” the Canada native said. “I want to be able to pass that on.”
Laich noted that even if he doesn’t become a dad, he hopes to share his knowledge with the next generation in some way down the line.
“Whether I have kids and introduce them to hockey, or just getting involved with some youth programs, I believe for me to be involved with hockey again [it] is gonna be through children,” he added.
Laich has opened up about his journey to fatherhood on multiple occasions, even though he and Hough, 31, didn’t start a family before announcing their breakup last month.
“It’s important to me,” he revealed on the June 7, episode of his podcast. “I hope to be a father one day. I hope to have the world be a better place for them … one day.”
In an October show, the former athlete explained that now that he’s in his 30s becoming a parent seems more doable.
“I didn’t think I could do that in my 20s while I was devoting all this time to hockey, which is what — full transparency — selfishly I fully wanted to do,” he told his listeners. “I needed to do that for myself. So now that I’m 36, I feel I do have the space in my life.”
A few months prior, the former NHL player told Us Weekly exclusively that he and the Dancing With the Stars judge wanted “children in our future” and were going through IVF to “increase” their chances of conceiving.
Hough, however, told Women’s Health in May that the pair “never actually tried to get pregnant,” but she did freeze her eggs in preparation. The same month, the couple announced their split after nearly three years of marriage.
“We have lovingly and carefully taken the time we have needed to arrive at our decision to separate,” they said in a joint statement at the time. “We share an abundance of love and respect for one another and will continue to lead with our hearts from that place.”
Following the duo’s separation news, a source told Us exclusively that their breakup was “a long time coming.”
“They argued a lot and just had different viewpoints on important issues,” the insider explained.
Laich and Hough wed in July 2017 and had many ups and downs throughout their relationship. “There’s still a love there, but not in a romantic sense,” the source added.
