By now most Americans know Connor Hellebuyck, the Michigan-born hockey goalie who helped carry Team U.S.A. to its gold-medal victory against Canada Sunday. Hellebuyck’s legendary performance included 41 saves, a new Olympic record that cements his place as one of the greatest goalies on ice.
For those who were paying close attention, Hellebuyck’s clutch factor shouldn’t come as a surprise. He is, after all, a fisherman.
The giveaway was right there on the left side of his custom helmet: a big largemouth bass in mid-air with the American flag waving behind it. Plenty of outdoorsfolk recognized it. As did some of the biggest groups in fishing, including the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, who saluted the hockey hero on social media. Bassmaster also pointed out that he’s not the only one in his family with the bass bug. Connor’s older brother, Chris, has fished in more than two dozen tournaments on the B.A.S.S circuit since his college hockey days at Oakland University.
“From home waters of Lake St. Clair to the world stage,” B.A.S.S wrote in a Facebook post, “some brothers are just born to catch em.”
In fact, while Team U.S.A. was busy knocking off Slovakia in the semi-finals on Friday, the elder Hellebuyck was getting it done at the Bassmaster Open on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. On Sunday morning, while the Americans made their historic push for gold in Italy, Chris was working his way up the leaderboard in Texas, where he landed in 23rd place. Not a bad finish — especially considering his performance in 2024, when he placed 2nd in the Open.
Connor Hellebuyck teaches us his top fishing tricks
The two brothers grew up fishing together in Michigan. As Connor Hellebuyck explains in a video for the Winnipeg Jets, where he’s played his whole NHL career, they were introduced to the sport by their grandpa, who’d take them out to soak worms for rock bass and perch.
“So then we started competing against each other, and that’s when it really took off,” Connor says. “We had to do it every weekend … and then we just fell in love with it.”
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Like a lot of Midwestern anglers, the brothers’ evolution took them from weekend worm-dunking to a full-blown obsession for bass fishing. And while Chris continued his own professional pursuit of bucketmouths and bronzebacks, Connor Hellebuyck was ushered into the world of ice-fishing after moving to Winnipeg in 2015. Thanks to some guidance from his teammate, Dustin Byfuglien, Hellebuyck came to appreciate this corner of the North Country — an “outdoorsman’s dream,” as he calls it.
Behind the Mask with Connor Hellebuyck
“He didn’t realize how into fishing I was at the time … and then, finally, I had told him I want to go,” Hellebuyck says. “[Byfuglien] made me wake up really early, took me out to the lake, we had a bunch of his buddies, and we caught big walleye on [Lake Winnipeg]. And from that moment on I was hooked. It was always just so much fun to get out there and get away from the game and relax, and continue doing some fishing.”
Hellebuyck could not immediately be reached for comment for this article, nor did his brother, Chris, immediately respond to a request for comment.
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