At 27 years of age, Bobby Hughes is no professional hockey spring chicken.

In fact, the Stouffville, Ontario resident acknowledges he’s approaching a crossroads in his on-ice career.

While the fourth round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 has been attempting to draw the attention of a National Hockey League team while playing for the Brampton Beast of the AA ECHL, he’s begun to look at life after the game.

When Hughes isn’t on the ice, he has been taking an online course toward becoming a firefighter.

“It just sort of popped up,” said the former star with Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League. “It sounded good and it interested me over the last couple of years.

“I’ve been thinking about life after hockey. I know that I’m getting older and at my age I know my career will end soon.”

A teammate with the Gwinnett (Georgia) Gladiators of the ECHL, who was taking the course, got him thinking.

That interest was reinforced when Hughes noted his agent, Stouffville resident Russ King, was also a firefighter.

“It’s a good job. The benefits and pay are great,” he said. “But it’s just not the financial reasons why I want to be a firefighter. It can be fun as well. And to be a firefighter is sort of like hockey in that there’s a team mentality involved.”

He’ll tackle the physical training segment of the curriculum this summer.

For the time being though, the six-foot, 185-pound centre remains focused with the task at hand in playing with the Beast after joining them in mid-January through a trade with the Indy Fuel, who in turn had acquired his playing rights from Gwinnett earlier this season.

Amassing six goals and eight assists in 21 games with the Beast, who are occupying the cellar in the Central Division of the Western Conference, Hughes has enjoyed his time with his latest team.

Making it attractive is the club’s close proximity to his Stouffville home.

“For me personally, I’ve enjoyed my time here (in Brampton). It’s been a lot more relaxing for me where I’ve been able to go home after a game and I can kick back and at the same time, have family members come to the games. Its been about 10 years or so since they’ve been able to do that,” he said.

While Hughes hasn’t set an official date as to when he will announce his retirement from the game, he has a good idea which fork in the road to take once he hangs up his blades.

“I’m not on any timetable, but I know the direction that I want to take,” he said.

Editor’s Note – For more information on the firefighting program referenced in the article (Fire and Emergency Services Training Institute), please visit: www.festi.ca.  This program is offered to players through the PHPA Career Enhancement Program.