THN Real Housewives of the NHL

TIFFANY PARROS

HALVES SOME PEOPLE STILL THINK OF THEM AS LITTLE MORE THAN TROPHY WIVES. WHAT A DISSERVICE TO WOMEN WHO ARE STRONG AND FACE THEIR SHARE OF TURMOIL

WORDS BY ADAM PROTEAU PHOTOS BY SHELLY CASTELLANO

BRIANNE HUSKINS AMANDA ELLIOTT

T

he stereotypes about hockey wives – you know, the image of a pampered, gorgeous, stay-at-home woman without a care in the world – have been around since the NHL itself, but in the era of the Basketball Wives reality (side)show, it can be easier than ever for the public to conclude spouses of NHL players are living on easy street. The reality, often, is quite different. The modern-day NHL wife is her own person with her own values, talents and choices. She suffers the emotional ups and downs of her husband’s career as much as he does and is there for him when everyone else has gone home.

She is, in her own way, a major contributor to any hockey team.

And she can do it in any number of ways. Here are five stories.

Amanda Elliott never needed her husband, Blues goalie Brian Elliott, to validate her existence. The couple met as classmates at the University of Wisconsin, but even as Brian’s hockey career took off, she had plans for herself – a future that also involved risk and sacrifice. She was already enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps in college and moved on to become an intelligence officer in the Air Force after graduating.

Now 27, Amanda served on non-combat missions, but was stationed in Qatar and Kurdistan for long stretches and briefed air crews before missions and base leadership on force security.

That commitment resulted in her and Brian only seeing each other one week out of every two months when he was still a member of the Ottawa Senators. “It was really hard,” Amanda says. “When he got called up in Ottawa, I was in Qatar. Being so far away was tough and things went bad for him in that first year. You can only comfort so much on the phone. And if I was having a bad day, it was tough to relate that to him. But we did what we could and made the most of the situation.”

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for the better last year. Amanda finished with the Air Force in June 2011, they were married two weeks later and Brian followed that up with an incredible season that included an appearance at the All-Star Game and the modern-day records for goals-against average (1.56) and save percentage (.940). They’re now together with their dog, Tug, but because they know how fickle fate can be for a pro athlete, they try simply to appreciate each moment. “Everything went well, but we’re still cautiously optimistic,” Amanda says. “We try and be level-headed. You hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”

AMANDA ELLIOTT

BRIANNE HUSKINS

Tiffany Parros is like many hockey wives who have to be ready to handle turmoil when their husbands aren’t around.

And that’s exactly what happened to the wife of Florida Panthers right winger George Parros. Pregnant with twins, she had to be hospitalized at 20 weeks and gave birth seven weeks later. But George couldn’t be there for the first 10 days of his newborn babies’ lives as he was playing with the Anaheim Ducks on a road trip in Finland. “You depend on your family to help you through, but not being there when I gave birth was very tough on George,” Tiffany says. “People only see the glamorous side, but people don’t realize how hard these guys work and all the sacrifices they make. That’s the most frustrating part.”

Like Amanda, Tiffany was doing her own thing long before she met her husband. She founded her own online shopping business while in Europe in the late 1990s and has since found success designing a line of clothes under the name LTR Brands that ships to hundreds of stores. (George has his own clothing line called Stache Gear.) Both husband and wife are under no delusions as to their place in the financial food chain. “We always knew we didn’t want to be those people who weren’t prepared for life after hockey,” Tiffany says. “One of the reasons I married George was that every boyfriend I have before was like, ‘You sit back and hang on until I do good’, but George always pushes me to do my own thing.

And I always say I need my own accolades. Some wives stay at home and they love it, but that’s not for me. I love getting up and going to work.”

Kristen Giguere also had a flair for fashion and studied design in California once her husband, veteran goalie and Stanley Cup winner J-S Giguere, solidified his role with the Ducks. But before she could pursue that interest, she became

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pregnant with their first son MaximeOlivier. The little boy has coped with a serious eye disorder from his earliest days, but now is a healthy, happy five-year-old.

And that’s all due to the total family focus Kristen had from the get-go. She has that degree to fall back on, but as the mom to three boys now, she’s more than happy with her decision to be a full-time homemaker. “Especially as first-time parents, you don’t know how strong you are until you have no choice,” she says. “Hopefully our little guy’s challenges made us better parents thereafter. We have nerves of steel now. The little things like skinned knees don’t bother us. But you do all the work, no questions asked, because they’re your kids.”

Marie Beauchemin, wife of Ducks blueliner Francois Beauchemin, has made a similar choice to Kristen Giguere.

The Quebec native is far from friends and family in California, but with three kids (including a six-month-old), she is thankful to have Francois around during this lockout. “For me, it’s all about family,” Marie says. “This year I’ve been lucky to have Francois here and we have a great babysitter who the kids love. But he’s getting bored now, too. You want him to be happy and be back playing, but it’s a nice change to have him here with the kids.”

Brianne Huskins is a relatively new member of the NHL wives community – she’ll celebrate three years of marriage to free agent defenseman and most recently a St. Louis Blue Kent Huskins in July – and is in a different place than the aforementioned four women. Kent missed the majority of last season with an ankle injury and the couple don’t have any children yet, so the future is as unclear for them as it is for anyone. “Sometimes you feel like your life is one big question mark,” Brianne says. “We just appreciate any time we have together because we know things can change really quickly.”

Brianne started an accessory line when she was still in high school and grew the business to 24 stores basically all on her own. She studied fashion in her home state of California before she was engaged and still has a deep interest in interior design she could pursue. But the uncertainty of Kent’s employment has shelved those plans for the short-term.

“I definitely miss having something of my own, but the fact so much is up in the air makes it hard to commit to anything,” she says. “So I like to find work here and there when I can and otherwise just be there to support Kent. That’s what any good partner would do in a situation like this.”

TIFFANY PARROS KRISTEN GIGUERE

MARIE BEAUCHEMIN

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