By now, most hockey fans probably know that some of their favourite players were incredible lacrosse players before deciding to give the sport up to pursue a career in the NHL.
That being said, it's not often we here of a pro football player with a lacrosse background, but that's exactly the case for one of New England's wideouts.
Chris Hogan, who signed a three-year deal with the Pats in March and caught two touchdown passes in the AFC Championship game, grew up playing both lacrosse and football, and he excelled in both sports.
In 2006, Hogan was an Under Armour High School All American in lacrosse, and when he was a senior, he was first team all-state in football.
Rather than pursuing football, though, Hogan went to Penn State and played for the Nittany Lions lacrosse team for three years.
2009 was Hogan's best season as he led the Lions with 29 goals and 34 points which led to him being a First Team All-ECAC selection. Here are some highlights of Hogan.
Hogan then switched to football at Monmouth, went undrafted, but kept battling to make it on a roster and now he's one of the most important players for the Patriots as they head into the Super Bowl.
It's been an incredible journey for Hogan to say the least, and if you told him back when he was playing lacrosse that he would be catching passes from Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, he'd probably say you were crazy.
That's what's so magical about sports, though, anything can happen, and sometimes it's not about the journey, but rather the destination.
(H/T: Sports Illustrated and Penn State)
