Back when covid started and we were rushed out of Europe, it made me take some time to evaluate how things might pan out for the rest of my hockey career. It was the end of my 9th professional season over in Europe, with a contract to go into year 10... whenever that would begin.
Fast forward to the end of July, Toronto in a modified lockdown and I get a phone call from my team. They wanted me back within 2 weeks. Luckily I had started skating and the workouts didn't skip a beat, so my body was ready to go.
The new real estate program through Humber College was now available fully online, exams and everything because of covid. Getting my real estate license was something I've always wanted to do. I'm passionate about it, own multiple properties and have been involved in it for as long as I can remember. My parents were flipping houses long before it was popular on HGTV and I would always go with them to help out whenever I was home in
the off-season. I signed up for the program and dove in.
In the season we have a lot of down time. A typical practice day consists of a warm up, workout, skate and cool down. If I pushed it, I would be home latest around 1pm. Plenty of time to chip away at the program during our 7 week training camp with no games, which is what I was able to do.
As season went along, it was a bumpy one to say the least. First the covid wave struck our entire team, then I was injured at the end of October. After rushing back, I was injured in my first game back at the end of November. The doctors told me I needed minimum 6 weeks to recover, the writing was on the wall for my season. Teams don't wait for their goalies to get healthy from a long term injury (I don't blame them, it's part of the business).
I just kept working on the program and getting the exams done while over there. Finally, after some turmoil with the club, we settled on a buy out option so I could come home to Toronto at the start of January.
Since then, I have now finished my real estate license courses with Humber college, connected and jumped in with an amazing brokerage Royal Lepage Signature downtown. I'm ready for the next step in my life and a new career. It's been a fun journey to date and I'm so excited to see how it plays out. I look forward to learning and growing as an agent while helping others achieve their real estate goals.
This blog will serve as a place to post all things real estate. I'll be posting market updates, blog posts with tips and tricks I've learned in my experiences so far and in the future. If you have anything you'd like me to write about, feel free to contact me or leave a comment on this post.
Michael Ouzas
