Halifax Atlantics D Moose Baker is a hockey lifer. The 35-year-old blueliner has been part of the SHL since its inception. He’s best known for his rugged, physical play; he’s not afraid to drop the gloves or check you hard into the end boards. But when he’s not at the rink, Baker has adopted a surprising hobby: he performs bonsai, the delicate Japanese art of growing and cultivating miniature trees.
“When I heard about Moose doing bonsai, I thought it was a joke,” said teammate Teddy Morrison. “It’s like hearing about a rhinoceros that also does ballet. When I think about a big guy like him and those tiny little trees, it’s hilarious. But he really enjoys it.”
Baker became interested in bonsai about five years ago, when he visited an arboretum on a road trip and saw a collection of the trees. “I thought they were weird but beautiful,” the defenseman explained. “I’d never seen anything like them before.”
Baker began engaging in the hobby by purchasing a pre-made bonsai tree. “And that was cool and got me started,” he said. “But then I found out you could actually grow your own, and I really wanted to try that.”
During the offseason, Baker took classes to learn how to grow and style his own bonsai tree. It was a struggle at first – “I went overboard with pruning and killed off a couple of them” – but eventually he got the hang of it. He now has a couple dozen bonsai trees in a greenhouse attached to his home.
Morrison has seen Baker’s collection, and he came away impressed. “It’s intricate and very pretty,” Morrison said. “They really are little works of art. And I’m like, ‘Wait, the same guy I see throwing himself in front of shots and railing dudes against the glass does all this?’”
What’s the appeal of the slow and often frustrating art for Baker? He likes it because it’s such a change of pace from his day job. “Hockey is fast and violent and all about adrenalin,” the defenseman said. “I love it, but it’s not healthy to live like that all the time. Bonsai is slow, peaceful, and requires a lot of patience and craftsmanship. It makes my life more balanced.”
Baker also enjoys the process of shaping the trees through pruning, wiring, and clamps. This is often a frustrating task for newcomers to the art, but the defenseman finds it exciting. “Realizing the way you can shape and channel the growth of a tree, that’s cool,” Baker noted. “But you have to be patient and do it right. Move the wiring around too much or prune it too often and you can kill it. It’s kind of like a dance between you and the tree, and you have to be in sync.”
Baker said that taking up bonsai had even adjusted his approach to hockey. “I used to get really up when we won and really down when we lost,” he noted. “But now I’m able to think more about the long term and not overreact to what happens on a night-to-night basis.”
He also said that his hobby makes him think twice before starting a fight. “I mean, if I hit a guy and break my hand, how am I going to prune my trees with a broken hand? I still get in fights, of course, but maybe I’m not as reckless about it as I used to be.”
Baker is nearing the end of the road as a player; he acknowledges that this may be his last season. But as he contemplates a possible future in coaching, he believes that his will help him there as well. “Helping young players develop is kind of like bonsai,” he said. “It takes time and patience, and you’ve got to help shape them while giving them enough space to grow. I think this will make me a better coach, yeah.”
SHL Hockey 