SEATTLE — Seattle is home for the Kraken’s Philipp Grubauer, and behind the scenes, he’s passionate about giving back to his community.
The goalie is the Salvation Army Northwest youth ambassador. Through the program he makes sure kids are set up for success.
"Trying to get kids to teach a little bit about hockey and leadership and about how to be a good teammate," Grubauer said.
Another group Grubi gives lot of love to is horses. It's a known fact among fans that Grubauer loves horses.
He was surrounded by the sport of dressage growing up in Germany, but he really got to know the animals when he was playing hockey in Colorado. One of his buddies wanted to buy a ranch that came with over 100 horses, and that's when Grubi knew he had his work cut out for him.
"Being on that ranch, we kind of both said, oh, we gotta know what we have to do,” Grubauer said. “So, started riding a little bit, started learning."
When he moved to Seattle, Grubauer started volunteering with Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE).
SAFE is a nonprofit organization that rescues, rehabs and retrains horses, often taking in horses that have been seized by animal control and come to the rescue in pretty bad condition.
"I found a passion and a love for it and it's been amazing,” Grubauer said. “Just to see the transition from when they first come to when they get adopted and all the happy faces."
The horses go through a program where they start to trust humans again, and Grubauer said the trust is mutual. He's learned a lot from the horses.
"They pick up on your energy,” he said. “They pick up on how you feel, like if you're nervous, they're nervous too. You gotta always bring down your emotions and your excitement to a certain level.”
And Grubauer said that skill translates to the hockey rink too.
"During a game you always gotta be even-keeled,” Grubauer said. “And I think that's a big life lesson they taught me."