Latest / CBN Sports 1-ON-1 / EP.16 Why Carolina Hurricane's Jaccob Slavin Plays for God’s Glory
Transcript
- Will Dawson: Welcome to CBN Sports One-on-One, where you'll hear exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in sports right here on the CBN Sports Podcast Network. I'm your host, Will Dawson. If you're like most of us and you love sports, but you're tired of the dark side of sports culture, me-focused athletes, or even organizations that bow to an unbiblical belief system, we think you're gonna love this podcast. There's no yelling, no sensationalism. Just great conversations with athletes and coaches who recognize that their purpose is bigger than their sport. Well, 2026 has been a good year for Jacob Slavin. The Carolina Hurricanes defenseman not only won the Stanley Cup, but also was part of that thrilling U.S. gold medal team that defeated Canada. Jacob is known for his elite play, but also for his sportsmanship and his humility. And as you'll hear, he strives to play for God's glory. And use his platform to reflect Christ through the way he competes and leads others to Jesus. Let's jump right in. Jacob, I want to start with 2026 because it was a banner year for you. Not only do you win the Stanley Cup, but you're part of the USA gold medal winning team. How amazing has this year been so far for you? That's been fun. I mean, all of it together is just you can't, I guess you Worldly speaking, you can't have a better year. And so, it I mean it's been it's been a blast being able to have my wife, my kids, my parents there in Italy for the gold medal, and then all of them there for the Stanley Cup as well. I mean, as a kid, you you dream about winning the Stanley Cup. You watch the movie Miracle, you dream about mining winning the gold medal. And so I think after you do both of them, I mean, it's just as for a ha from a hockey perspective, it was I mean such a fun year. from a faith perspective, grateful. Grateful is the best word I I've I've kind of come to terms and like how I describe it is just grateful. Grateful for the opportunity to glorify God on the world stage, on the biggest stage in hockey with the Stanley Cup and I just the the conversations that have been able to come from it. it's just been fun. It's been it's been a lot of fun to use abilities God's given me in the game of hockey to use it to for the kingdom. Did you know how big the response or how great the response would be from the United States and their hockey fandom following your team, following the world US US team during that run. how cool was that? I mean, aside from just the glory of winning the gold medal on the ice, but knowing that everyone was watching and and loving what you guys were doing. Yeah, it was I mean, I think the the hype going into it, well, I think the Four Nations really kind of jump started that. Yeah, they did year before. And so everyone loved watching that. It was some of the best hockey that anyone's ever watched, anyone's ever played. And so to have that the year before is just I feel like that just primed everybody to for for the Olympics and and to get really excited. And so even the all the hype going into the Olympics was awesome. And then yeah, you play it you play it and I mean we we knew going in we had a good chance to win. And so I think there was a lot of there was a l there was a high expectation of it and it hasn't been done in forty six years. And so everyone was excited for it and then yeah, that gold medal game. I know for people here in North Carolina it was eight A.M. For my family back home, it was six AM, but everyone was up watching. Didn't matter. Everyone was up watching. And so it was just the support was awesome and definitely felt. Lord Stanley's Cup is a sacred cup. It's a coveted cup to win for the championship, obviously. But then we've seen it go to many different places. What was the craziest thing you did with it? craziest thing I did with it on my day. I didn't do anything too I I I put some barbecue in it. I put some ice cream in it. Okay. Right. I heard you were a barbecue guy. I am a I am a barbecue guy. Yeah. I what I lo I enjoy eating it and I enjoy trying to cook it too. But I mean I just I had a great day. I had a great day with it. It was a lot of fun with friends and family and just being a part of the Raleigh community. got to take to my neighbor neighborhood and let some of the neighbors come out and see it. So it was just it was a very chill day, but it was it was a perfect day for me and and just celebrating it. I think it's very cool that in your coming up on your twelfth season with the hurricanes, twelfth twelfth year in the NHL, that it took that long to reach the pinnacle, reach the peak. And God was working on you in a lot of ways leading up to that. Let's start with you being raised in a Christian home, which I believe that you were. what did your faith, at least at that point, mean to you? I think growing up it was I think my my faith was real, but it was very surface level. I I say that because went to a Christian school, kindergarten through eighth grade, accepted Jesus when I was five years old in Miss Abbott's class in kindergarten. And so I knew what the gospel was. I knew I needed Jesus, but I I I think it was more of a it was almost more of an identity of just being the good Christian kid in school. 'Cause once I went to high school, I went to a public high school and it was all about works for me at that point. It was it was Don't do certain things, do certain things, and you're a good Christian. And so that's kind of what I was known as. after my junior year of high school is when I moved away to Chicago to play junior hockey. And that's really where I had to make the decision of if I was going to continue to live in this little like surface level Christianity with relying on my family for my community and and just kind of living in that Christian bubble. Or am I really going to take my faith seriously and have that personal relationship with Jesus that's deep, that's that's truly walking with him. And so When I was seventeen is really when it kind of things flipped for me and and God really revealed what a a real relationship with him looks like. And and so I would say from seventeen till now is when I've just been continuing to be refined and and continuing to be sanctified more and more. When you were seventeen, did you move away from your parents at that point? I did, yeah. I moved I moved to Chicago to play junior hockey. And so that would have been my senior year and one year after my senior year is when I moved to Chicago to play junior hockey. So that's a lot for a young guy who's out. on his own. Most kids don't leave until after then. But to be able to to kind of be thrown into the world, even though you're in your your hockey bubble, you still had to make decisions that you kind of started to realize what what changed for you during that time. I think one of the things well so moving away, I wasn't moving out on my own, thankfully. I moved into a billet family and thankfully the billet family that the team paired me with were was a Christian home. And so my billet parents are great still great friends with them. They were at my cup party and everything and truly family to me now. and so my two years, two and a half years I lived with them was awesome. I think what what changed for me though is I was just sitting in my coach's office. One of my assistant coaches was a Christian at the time and or still is, but he looked at me was like, Jacob, what kind of faith do you have? And I was just like, I'm I'm a Christian. He's like, no, like do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? And so It kind of hit me in that moment of just like having that personal walk. And then we also had a chaplain there my two years in Chicago and he really poured into me during that time. So I wouldn't say it was one specific instance. It was just kind of just seeds being planted and and sown and and God producing fruit in my life, over those two years there. And then obviously from there going into college, really started to understand that hockey wasn't just a sport at that point. Really was understanding that I know hockey's my platform to glorify God, whether it doesn't matter what team I'm on. Or where I'm placed, God has me there for a reason, and that's to be a light and to to be a witness for him. Let's we will definitely talk about being a light and being a witness for him as we as we move forward, but the y hockey had become your identity in a lot of ways because it's it's what you did. I know because you're a defenseman and you you're in constant conflict, I guess, in a lot of ways with with other players. Hockey is such a physical sport. Have you ever found it difficult to live out your walk and d has there ever been a conflict? I guess is what I'm asking is has has there ever been a conflict in you to like, I can't hit this guy so hard because I'm a I'm a Christian? Yeah, I no, I wouldn't say that. I would say thank two things. First, I would say that God has given me a very mild temperament. It is very hard to get me mad. And my wife can attest to that and I think she would wish she wishes that I'd probably be more feisty out on the ice sometimes than she watches me play. and so being out on the ice, I'm still I'm still very calm and I mean I think that's just a a that's a gift from the Lord 'cause the style of play that I play is not big aggressive physical style. I'm not I'm not going out there looking to crush guys. I mean I'll hit every once in a while and I don't think I'm I'm not glorifying God when I hit somebody, but I'm not doing it in a dirty way. Right. You know, and so I wanna go out there and and use all the abilities God's given me. Hockey's a physical sport and so yeah, I I don't think I'm out there being a bad witness if I'm playing a tough game. Yeah. and but I think if I were to go out there and and play in a way that wasn't me, then that would be being disobedient to the gifts God has given me. But I I'm out there just to glorify God. So if I have to hit somebody I will. But I typically don't go out there looking for it. No, I like that. And I think for every athlete who plays any sport, do it all for the glory of God. And and not for man. And when you do that, when you do that within the context of the gifts that he's given you, you're actually bringing glory to him. Yeah. So what I understand you saying is that you throttle people, you just do it with a smile on your face. Right Yeah, I but I even in that I don't I don't throw I wouldn't say I throttle people. So I've had a couple good hits over my career, but they're not like crazy hard. And I mean, if I if I hit if I get forty hits in a season, that's high for me. And that's so that's averaging half a hit a game. And that's high for me. Yeah. Well, it's amazing that you do 'cause you're considered one of the best defenders in in all of hockey. So to be able to do it in in that way is is is pretty special. You've been awarded the Lady Bing trophy two years now, twenty one and twenty four. Is that sounds about right. Something like that. Something like that. what is that and what does it mean to you to receive that award? Yeah, so the Lady Bing is I guess it's given to the player that plays with gentlemanly conduct and a and a very high standard and so that's kind of how they they phrase it. for me, I it's it's an honor to win that award 'cause I think it's a testament to my faith, a testament to who God has made me to be is playing the game with high character, high integrity and in a gentlemanly way, treating everybody with respect but still playing the game at a high standard. And so I I I like that award because again, I think it just shows that God is God's the one playing through me out there and just being a light. on the ice, whether it's treating the rest well, not tripping, I don't know. It's just all all of it combined, I think it just shows a testament to God's faithfulness in my life. Yeah. The Bible is full of adoption imagery. Your first child, your daughter, you adopted when she was just an infant. Yep. Yeah. What went into that decision for both you and your wife and how has that adoption changed you and even made you see How God views you. Yeah, I think what went into it was my wife always wanted to adopt. She wanted to adopt from the time she was probably ten years old. She always, I think, planned to adopt. For myself, I wasn't against it, but when she had told me that when we were dating, I was like, Yeah, I don't know if I'll wanna adopt and she's like, well then that's a deal breaker for me. I was like, Okay, fine, we can adopt. And kind of just saying whatever I had to at the time to keep the girl, and then as we got married and started go thinking about kids. We had gone to a fundraiser one night and there was a story about a six year old adopted boy. And on the way home she was like, Hey, I wanna let's let's adopt a six year old boy. I like, Pump the brakes, hold on. I thought we were having biological first. I'm okay with adoption, but and so for the next year probably there was a lot of prayer and God had to work on my heart a lot just to get to the point to just say yes and trust him with whatever that meant. And so if I've God finally got me to that point of opening my heart, softening my heart towards him and getting me to the point of just saying yes. And I think my wife had us signed up for an adoption class the next day. And then about a year from that adoption class is when Emerson is born and welcomed into our family. And so I a l what went into it was just God's God's timing and and stretching of my heart. My wife's heart was always there. And so I I'm thankful for that though because there's been other things in my life that have happened since that. I'm like, All right, God, if I trusted you here, I can trust you here as well. And so it got me to the point of just saying yes and having my hands open in my life to be like, all God, if this is what you have for us, if this is what you want, we're in. How has it changed us? I I I mean, I think the biggest thing is I mean, it changed us because we became parents, which was amazing. and so I think that's that's one of the biggest things is just becoming a parent. It changes you for for the better. It makes you under s it makes you see your your selfishness. And I think one of the things that Kylie and I I appreciate most about it is is just the the love that it takes to welcome a child into your home and it it really opens your eyes to God's love for us. And like you said, adoptions all throughout the Bible and understanding like we had nothing to offer God and yet He chose us. And so we were we didn't go into it thinking, man, this is the only way we can start a family. We went into it of all right, we want to give a child a loving home. And God blessed us with an amazing little girl. And so it's been such a fun journey through these first seven years of her life. I also love that the way the scripture describes adoption is that we weren't his, now we're his. And it's not only like, we'll add you to the family. No, you're as much part of the family as Jesus is part of God's family. Yeah. So we're we're part of him. And I know that as an adopted parent, you don't even Like when somebody asks you, Do you have how many kids do you have? You don't say, Well, I have one that I adopted and and another one that we have. No, you they're both you equally your your child and you see them that way. Yeah, a hundred percent. Both equally ours and yeah, there's no there's no question about it. Yeah. You talked about being a witness for your teammates, for whoever else, fans, whomever else, who watches you play. one, what do you hope that people see in you as you're playing, both teammates and fans. Yeah, I think the the only thing that comes to mind is I hope they see Jesus through me. I think as a as a Christian in you in any job, in any aspect of life, I think that's what we're supposed to be is just glory, glory reflectors, right? Ref reflecting the glory of Jesus in our lives and glory, I guess, deflectors as well, because we just want to deflect everything not towards us but back towards Christ. and so I just want I want people to see Jesus through me and and how I play the game and how I love my wife and how I love my kids and how I interact with fans, whatever it is. I want them to see Jesus living through me. And so that's treating them with kindness and and truly trying to live out the fruits of the Spirit and hoping that they see see that in all aspects. I know that there are some athletes, we've we've talked to a lot of athletes who make it their mission to go and try to convert people, although that isn't, you know, that isn't necessarily the common way to go about it. A lot of times people also see the way that you just described, the way that you live your life, and then will ask, you know, what what is different about you? You have a kind of a cool story and how that happened to you recently. Yeah, I I do. I do. I mean, there's been a lot of amazing conversations I've had over over my career. And I think for the first probably first seven years of my career, I kind of lived in that way of just like, all right, I want I want people to see Jesus living through me. And if conversations happened in great. And there was one summer God of put on my heart to I needed to be more bold and actually sharing the gospel with teammates and not just letting them come to me 'cause as much as I'm not I I I don't stand in the Bible or in the in the room on on a chair just preaching the Bible every day, but I I wanna live out the gospel as well. but part of that is doing it in word indeed. And so I wanna be be doing it in word. And so God really just brought me to a spot where I wanted to share more that year. And then he He just brought Jalen right into the life in my life that year and Jalen came to He's Hey man, I heard you go to church. Can I come with you? And so he he came to me first and then from there it was just conversation after conversation. And he got he didn't play on our team that year. He's sent down, he got caught up a little bit and then then it was the next year that he full he made the team fully and we just picked right off, picked up right where we left off and through plain conversations, dinner conversations, everything. Our our team chaplain ended up leading him to Christ after a chapel one day. And so that it was just super cool to see God's faithfulness through obedience, I guess, of just like being more bold that year to share. God put someone in my life to share with. and so I mean, it goes back to we I I didn't change Chatty's heart. Our chaplain didn't change his heart. God was the one that did it, but he just used us as a as a tool. So it was really special. That's very cool. i this this business and it is it is a business, although it's something that you do, relationships come and go. H how difficult has that been, kind of seeing guys come and go, guys that you've had relationships with that are maybe now no longer on the team? It's hard 'cause you you get some really good friends over the years. there was a guy who we started our rookie year together. We played nine seasons together and then Yeah, he left in free agency and it's just like, man, that was a really good friend. but I think the the cool part about it is as well that is you got a lot of guys that come to you and you got a lot of new guys that come in. And I've met one of my best friends to this game of hockey, probably the most solid Christian I had met playing in the game of hockey. And he was here for a couple of years and then he he went away and we're we're still really good friends and talk all the time. And so it also is cool in the sense that you get a lot of opportunity to meet a lot of Great guys and from different backgrounds, but also who love Jesus as well sometimes. And that was just those are just little blessings that God gives you throughout your career. What do you hope that people say about you when when it's all said and done? That's a good question. I I I mean, I think consistency is is one of the things that I I strive for the most in my game is just to be a consistent player. and so wanting people to see the consistent see in my game, but the consistency of effort, the consistency of joy, and regardless of circumstance. And so if people are saying about me, that's a guy who who loved the game but loved Jesus more and and used the game of hockey as as a platform, I think that'd be a pretty cool, cool thing, people to say. There's such a drive to win the Stanley Cup. it's you it was your dream as a as a kid to win it. Now that you've done it, Where you know, what's left? What how does how do you keep that motivation to come back another season and do it again? Yeah, I think as a Christian, I think it's easy. As a Christian, I think it's easy because yes, it's amazing to win it. Absolutely. And I think as a Christian you can actually have more more joy in celebrating the win because you know it's not eternal and you can have the right perspective about it. And so I think it's easy to go back this season with the expectation of, hey, I wanna go out there again and do everything that I can to glorify God. If that means victory at the end, praise God. If that means we don't make the playoffs, praise God. But I'm gonna go out and do everything that I can and be obedient and stewarding the talents he's given me and steward them well. And again, go out there and try as hard as I can each and every game, each and every shift, because I'm not doing it for anything other than glorifying God. Who is Jesus and what has he done specifically for Jacob Slavin? Jesus is my savior. Jesus is the one who gives me joy, who gives me hope, who gives me peace. And what has he done for me? Is he I mean he's saved me, he's given me a new life, he's given me eternal life, and and that allows me to go through this life with this perspective of my this this isn't my home. And so being able to live in that frees me up, gives me more confidence. whether that's hockey, whether that's family, whatever it is, it gives me a a deeper purpose in everything that I do. Yeah, Jacob's a great guy, and the NHL season is back, and the hurricanes hope to repeat as champions. That's not unprecedented, but also not an easy task either. Jacob's so grounded in his faith, he wasn't expecting a Stanley Cup or a gold medal. That was just a gift God allowed him to receive. And what's most important about Jacob's life? Is not the wins or the big contract, but his family and his desire to lead others to the saving knowledge of Jesus. Well, if you enjoyed this podcast, please follow us. And check out our weekly sports show with guests Fuel the Fire with Will Dawson. You can watch this podcast or that one on YouTube. And we have feature stories with the athletes as well as video shorts that we think you're going to enjoy. And we're on social media. On Instagram, we're at CBN Sports underscore. Just search for us on Facebook, X, and TikTok. And until next week, we'll see you then.