Beyond the Bench: Paul ‘Preach’ Huggins helps players embrace spirituality

You may not know the name, but if you’ve been around TD Place long enough, you’ll recognize the face. 

Paul ‘Preach’ Huggins has been a constant at the arena over the past two decades, wearing his trademark flat cap and high-spirited demeanor, from morning practices to game days, when he sticks around until after the final buzzer.

While he provides morale boosts through his spirited demeanour and great storytelling, Huggins also provides the team with a unique service as the team’s chaplain.

The 67’s are one of a handful of OHL teams to officially provide spiritual guidance, including the Niagara IceDogs, Owen Sound Attack, Oshawa Generals, Peterborough Petes, Sarnia Sting, Sudbury Wolves, and Windsor Spitfires.

As the team’s chaplain, he leads weekly bible study sessions after Thursday practices in the video room.

“We’ll look at a concept, an idea, some aspect that we can have a conversation about and provide a framework, vision and perspective.”

He’ll also meet individually with players for prayer time, connections and situations, or just advice.

While Preach’s faith had always been present in his life, it was with the Carleton Ravens where faith and sport had truly married.

“I was playing football (at Carleton), and that’s where the proverbial penny dropped,” he said. “These two really go hand-in-hand and play well together.”

It was there that he first got involved with Athletes in Action, a non-profit. “They kinda illuminated the faith and sport aspect and combination,” he said.

Huggins joined the organization in the 2005-06 season off a recommendation from Brian Patafie, the team’s equipment manager and head athletic therapist at the time. 

“I met with (Brian Kilrea), had that first meeting with him, and so the rest, as they say, is history,” he said. 

It was that season where Huggins got his infamous nickname ‘Preach’. 

“Patafie came and saw me preach one Sunday, so he started introducing me to different people like ‘Hey, have you met the preacher?’,” he said. “Therefore, the guys just went from Preacher to Preach.”

“There are some players on the team that do not know my real name and just refer to me as Preach,” he laughed.

As a former athlete, Huggins knows the role that superstitions play in athletics, especially as the stakes get higher and players want to control all the controllables.

“I was joking with a few people about this last week, with what clothes they put on in what order,” he said. 

“The reality is that athletes want to feel comfortable,” he said. “Sometimes, there are things they look for to provide comfort that aren’t necessarily meant to provide them comfort.”

“So for us in our chapel times, we try to look at a nebulous idea to a more concrete reality,” he said. “Trying to give them a bit more grounding, not to feed superstitions, but to have them go into every game thinking: “I feel good because of the different things I’ve incorporated into my life.””

With hockey growing past its roots and into newer communities, it’s allowed for players of different backgrounds and faiths to grace the ice from youth hockey and all the way up the ranks to the 67’s. 

While Preach’s backgrounds and teachings stem from his Christian roots, he’s still present to provide that guidance even to players grounded by different faiths or moral backgrounds.

“Faith has many components to it, and manifests itself in many different ways,” he said. “Definitely, I present things from a Christian perspective, but also I absolutely respect anyone who has a different faith or perspective.”

“I firmly believe all truth is God’s truth, whether you recognize it as God as I recognize it as God, or something else, it’s still true,” he said. “In each and every conversation, you find the common ground, and that’s the one reality we can do with more of in our society.”

Alongside the 67’s, Huggins has continued his services with the Ottawa Redblacks since their inaugural season in 2013, where he also hosts weekly bible meetings as well as pre-game chapel and post-game prayer.

Compared to the RedBlacks, where it’s much more serious, dealing with advice on wives and children, he appreciates the levity of working with the young Barber Poles. 

“In all honesty, I laugh a lot more down here,” he joked. “Just because there’s a lot more things to laugh at and with.”

That said, there’s a lot of similarities between dealing with the two groups.

“Athletes are athletes,” he said. “The things that they struggle with, and the situations and realities that they face are very similar and consistent.”

“The thing I take great comfort in is the conversations I have outside of my official times,” he said. “I tell people I live for the lightbulb moments; Someone will stand in the hallway for 20 minutes to a half-hour and all of a sudden some aspect comes up they never would have shared before.”

In the off-season, Huggins tries to keep the connection alive, keeping his line open for players who need help or advice. 

“I think back to the COVID years, we ran a Bible Study throughout the entire off-season on Zoom, because guys wanted to be engaged and stay connected,” he said. “This past off-season I’ve engaged with five or six different players via email and text.”

That willingness to maintain those connections also extends to alumni, with Preach keeping a line throughout the year with former 67’s greats like Logan Couture, Jake Middleton and Petr Mrazek, and has even done players’ weddings.

Going into his 21st season around the team, Huggins is excited to reunite with the players he’s kept in touch with and to pick up where he left off with those he hasn’t seen in a while.

“I walk into every year full of anticipation and expectations but with open hands, because I don’t necessarily know who the players are that are gonna come in, where players are going to be at, or whether they will want to continue to engage,” he said. “I am super blessed by the guys who come and want to look into the Bible and what it says and what it might have for them,” he said. 

“Especially for the 67’s, they are young and are looking for the things and aspects that they’ll utilize to shape, not just their current trajectory, but the one they want to be on for the rest of their lives.”