TEMPE, Ariz. — Stand outside the visitor’s locker room after an NHL game and you will start to notice something strange.
Amongst a postgame spread that also includes fruit, there will almost without fail be boxes of pizza stacked on the table.
And that greasy, cheesy option does seem to be the most popular.
So, why are some of the world’s most elite athletes filling up on a quick few slices?
“Umm, I don’t know,” Mathew Barzal told The Post following Thursday’s morning skate in Arizona. “It’s quick. I think it’s probably just been a thing for years. There’s pizza everywhere. I don’t really know.”
He turned to Anders Lee and Bo Horvat to ask them: “Do you guys know?”
Horvat gave a nonverbal shrug.
Lee had the answer.
“I mean, I love it,” Lee told The Post. “You don’t really have a full meal since lunch. So you have a snack in the afternoon, you got what you need. But all of a sudden, it’s 10 o’clock and you haven’t had a full meal since noon. So it might be another hour before we get to the plane to have a meal.
“So a couple slices just to get some type of carb in you, so your body can fuel off of [it]. And it tastes good. Most of the time.”
To be clear, this is not just something the Islanders do.
It’s league-wide.
And despite the obvious irony, it seems to work for everyone involved.
Derrek Douglas, the Islanders’ strength and conditioning coach, is in charge of putting the order in for the team, Lee said.
Usually it includes pepperoni and cheese, though it might change based on the city. In certain locales, the menu could shift with the local delicacies as well.
“Buffalo’s great cause we got some wings there,” Lee said. “Philly we used to get a Philly cheesesteak, but not anymore. Towns that have good pizza tend to have good postgame pizza.”
The goal, essentially, is to replace some of the calories lost over a 2 ½-hour game as quickly as possible.
Once the Islanders are on their charter flight, there’s often a full meal.
But in the immediate aftermath of a game, the easiest option is to order something to the arena that can be eaten quickly — before the team catches the bus to the charter.
Which usually means pizza. (For games in New Jersey or Madison Square Garden, it’s more feasible for the Islanders to get a postgame meal at the arena since there are no flights involved).
“It’s been that way forever, since I’ve been in the league,” Kyle Palmieri told The Post. “I’m sure 15, 20 years before that it’s been going on. I think for us, you burn so many calories during the game. It’s really just something you can get in your body and it’s easy and consistent, I guess.”
Early in Palmieri’s career during a team Dads’ trip, his father noticed the pizza boxes after a game.
“He was a little surprised,” Palmieri said. “But you think about how many calories you burn through, it’s one of those things that it doesn’t really matter what you eat. You just gotta get something in your body.”
So, as important as eating right is for every player in the NHL, there are always some exceptions to every rule. And sometimes, any calorie is a good calorie.
“As a kid, you always think these pro athletes and stuff only put good stuff in your body,” Barzal said. “Guys are hammering three slices of pizza after, I don’t really know [why]. I think it’s tradition.”
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