“So I wanted to be a lawyer first and then a player agent.”Īfter a year attending the U of S, he wasn’t accepted into law school. This is back in the Alan Eagleson days, right? There was a lot of – in my opinion – deals going on behind the curtains that were not in any sense true to the law. “The reasoning for that was that during my playing days I’d been involved with agents who weren’t lawyers and had a couple of negative experiences, in the context of trust and commitment. And found out it just wasn’t of interest to me when I finally sat down across from somebody to discuss financial planning.”įrom there, Carson and the family packed up, pointed north, back to his home province, and he enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, with an eye towards a law degree. It was an opportunity to stay in Philadelphia. “In the quiet times when I was playing, I’d study, remotely. “I originally kicked the tires in the investment business, because I’d studied to be a certified financial planner while I was playing,” he recalls. The path to where Carson finds himself today professionally involved a couple of detours, aligned with a measure of luck. “I’ve been involved in some real cool technologies, from the internet to optical stuff to high-end optical and microwave to now cellular phone stuff.” They have tested optimization equipment which has to do with optimizing cell phone networks. “They do predictions on what are the best locations based on the software. “Infovista has 5G planning software, most of the mobile network operators in Canada use to plan where they put their cell towers and whatnot,” he explains, to the uninitiated. Nearing 60, Carson is established in business as Canadian vice-president of Infovista, a tech company headquartered in Massy, France, a suburb of Paris. Since the mid-90s, he’s made his home here. “I can see it when I get together with the alumni guys in Calgary.”īorn in Oxbow, Sask., (hometown of Theo Fleury) and reared in North Battleford, Carson ended his hockey career in the summer of ’89, after a season in Hartford and one year in the AHL. “So I can imagine how close teams are that actually win the Cup, like the ’89 Flames. “Second place in a Cup final is no fun because nobody remembers you, but we do remember each other. We didn’t have the goal-scoring talent Edmonton did, but we deserved to be in Game 7. “As I said, watching again, I was impressed. “So for me to adapt and take the role I did, with an interesting coach in Mike Keenan, who I played for, for five years, it turned out to be a great life event for me in understanding how to be a great teammate, not only a great sports event. “If you don’t, you’ll have a tough time making the NHL because you gotta keep making yourself better to keep your ego going. We all want to be front and centre in the context of where you fit because we’re all competitive people. “And from the standpoint of growth in accepting a role to a bigger picture, too. “A huge highlight in my hockey career, obviously,” says Carson. The underdog Flyers pushed that series the limit, losing the deciding Game 7 in soul-crushing fashion, 3-1 at Northlands Coliseum against that dynastic Edmonton powerhouse of Gretzky, Kurri, Coffey, Fuhr, Messier, et al. “But I just thought we’d gotten pummelled with shots. Hexy (goaltender Ron Hextall) won the Conn Smythe, of course. We outshot Edmonton in a lot of games! I’d always thought no, no. “And you know what? I was totally impressed with our hockey team. “So I settled in, had the chicken wings going. I’d never really seen the whole thing before. “And they picked up our ’87 Cup final against Edmonton. “They were showing the old games on TV,” the seven-season Philadelphia Flyer is explaining. Who says nostalgia ain’t what it used to be? In the early stages of COVID-19 reaction, as the NHL grappled with a workable format to kick-start a season on hold, Lindsay Carson allowed himself to indulge in a bit of look-back.
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