“I’m just glad I’m alive”

Now Marco Rossi got rid of heart problems

For nearly three years, Marco Rossi feared for his life and did not dare to sleep alone.

Now, after the Austrian has completely recovered from serious heart problems, he has made his breakthrough in the Minnesota Wild and will play NHL hockey in the Globe.

“I’ve been able to put that behind me and I feel 100 percent,” Rossi says.

Marco Rossi was selected ninth overall in the 2020 draft — just behind Lucas Raymond and Alexander Holtz — and the Minnesota Wild saw him as their big future prospect.

But shortly thereafter, the talent contracted the Corona virus, and the effects of the infection turned out to be long-lasting.

And the most dangerous.

At the Wild’s preseason camp in the winter of 2021 — the NHL season only began in January due to the coronavirus pandemic — it was discovered that Rossi had suffered severe heart problems as a result of COVID-19.

I felt helpless

A few weeks ago, the Austrian played for JVM, but he did not feel good during the tournament, felt weak and asked to abandon training. At the time, he didn’t think much of it (maybe it was jet lag, Dad thought) but the weak form persisted and so he had an explanation.

– The doctors told me that if I had played another match during the JVM tournament, it could have ended completely differently. I’m happy to be alive, Rossi said in a high-profile interview with The Athletic.

Al-Shihab was returned to safety in Austria, but even at home with his parents he was constantly worried about his health. Fearing that his heart would stop, he never wanted to be left alone – not even at night.

-I was so afraid that I would never wake up again. Every night when it was time to go to bed, I would feel sad and cry out of sheer terror. So I said to my parents: Can you stay here next to me until I sleep? And every time I wake up in the morning, I feel relaxed and happy, he says in an interview with The Athletic.

Plays in the first series

Rossi missed the entirety of the following season, before being able to return to hockey until the fall of 2021. The long absence meant his development curve didn’t quite point upward.

But now, after two years in the AHL, the center has joined the Minnesota Wild and had eight points in 15 games during their season opener.

In practice in Stockholm before Minnesota’s games at Avicii Arena — against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday — he was paired with established stars Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello on the first string.

Heart problems are a thing of the past.

– Yes, I’ve been able to put that behind me now. Everything looks good today, I’m 100 percent, Rossi told Sportbladet.

I gained seven kilograms this summer

During the summer, he never returned home to Austria, but stayed in Minnesota and trained hard in the gym and on the ice with the club’s physical and “skills” coach. All to increase his chances of breaking into the NHL.

– I gained seven kilograms. I tried to get stronger and faster, and I feel like it has paid off. In addition, your self-confidence is better now, and then you dare to do more things on the ice. “It feels great out there,” Rossi says.

Close friend Jesper Wallstedt – a Swedish goalkeeper talent in Minnesota, who has so far played only in the Agricultural League after moving from Luleå – had to accompany him across the Atlantic as the third goalkeeper. Rossi and Wohlstedt got to know each other on the AHL team Iowa Wild during last year’s offseason.

-I hang out with Jesper a lot now that we’re here. We’ve become good friends, so it’s great that he’s coming here too, says the Austrian.

-We have some plans in the team outside of hockey during the Stockholm days. For me being Austrian, it feels like home compared to the USA. We are in Europe after all! So I really enjoy it. The only thing missing is the sun.

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