If any of Steve Lund’s Hallmark holiday films ever call for a visit to an ice-skating rink with his on-screen love interest, he likely has to fake being a bit unsteady on the ice — unless he’s playing a hockey player like his fellow Hallmark stalwart Luke Macfarlane does in “Taking a Shot at Love.”
Lund told the Toronto Guardian that watching Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones is what first sparked his interest in acting at age 3. But a growth spurt temporarily derailed his Hollywood dream. “I grew about two feet overnight and learned how to take a slap shot and my dad was like, ‘You’re going to be a hockey player,'” he said. “Because if the American dream is freedom, the Canadian dream is to have a son in the NHL.”
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From 2004 to 2008, Lund had a fruitful hockey career. During his stint in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the defenseman played for the Prince Edward Island Rocket and the Halifax Mooseheads. His talent on the ice made him a shoo-in for the NHL, but in 2007, he suffered a concussion. He told Saltwire that it took a second concussion and a spine injury to make him finally realize that it might be time to retire. “I was a little embarrassed and it almost felt like I was escaping an abusive relationship,” he said of his decision to leave the brutal sport, which he likened to a religion.
