The life of a professional hockey player can be a gruelling one. The extensive workouts and long road trips are only a precursor to one of the most physically demanding games imaginable. The players who make a career of it work hard day in and day out, all the while knowing that their profession often has a short shelf-life.

Former American Hockey League (AHL) players and PHPA Members James Sixsmith and Marc Hagel have taken the work ethic and energy that they put towards their hockey careers, and have partnered to build a successful day-trading company, Trade Context.

The recently retired Sixsmith has an impressive collegiate hockey resume that preceded a successful career in both North American and European professional hockey. For Sixsmith, it all started in his home state of Virginia.

“When I was growing up, we basically had one good team, the Washington Little Capitals, to compete with teams around North America. In my group, born ’83, ’84, ’85, there were actually a few guys drafted. Our team was good enough to compete.”

As an undersized winger, often written-off because of his height and slight build, Sixsmith relished the opportunity to play against the best young players in America.

“It actually fuelled me to play the best competition, to chase the ‘bigger names’, to prove that I belonged with them. With how our program worked, if you were good you made the team simple as that. By extension we played against some awesome players.”

After leading the 2000-01 U18 Little Caps with 54 points in 23 games, he ended up enrolling with Canterbury Prep where he racked up 27 goals and 64 points in 36 games across two seasons. As his time at Canterbury came to a close, Sixsmith turned his sights toward college.

“I wanted to go to Harvard or Yale. I was looking to go to an Ivy League school. But I was 140 pounds when I came out of high school. Rightfully so, schools were hesitant to give me a scholarship in case my success didn’t translate to the next level. I didn’t get too many bites but Holy Cross welcomed me with open arms. There was an injury early on so I got into game action right away. It was a blessing for me to get an opportunity to play from day one.”

From 2003-07 Sixsmith enjoyed four outstanding seasons with the Holy Cross Crusaders. By the time he had graduated, Sixsmith ranked as the school’s all-time Division I leader in points (152) and assists (104), selected first team All-Atlantic Hockey in his senior season, and was named Most Valuable Player of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament during his junior season. As the program’s leading scorer, he led the Crusaders to two Atlantic Conference Tournament champions and the school’s only two NCAA tournament berths in 2004 and 2006.

“My junior year in college was when we upset Minnesota in the tournament,” Sixsmith remembers fondly. “We played them in the first round and I like to say that we kicked Phil Kessel out of college hockey with that win. That’s a memory that sticks out to me. It was pretty much the epitome of my college hockey career. Holy Cross was James Sixsmith as a program: “too small, not good enough to compete with the bigger team”. But there we were on the big stage.”

James’ business partner Marc Hagel, after five collegiate seasons and six professional seasons in the ECHL, AHL, and Denmark, also retired from professional hockey this summer. Marc’s journey to professional hockey was, as he puts it “probably a little more typical” than James’.

“I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario and everyone played hockey. I played at the AAA level all the way through. The competition was tough; I was usually the fifth or sixth best player on my team any given year. I grew up a bit of a nerd with my parents pushing my education.”

Hagel played junior hockey with the Oakville Blades and the Hamilton Red Wings. His best season came in 2007-08 where he racked up 82 points and 24 goals in 49 games while playing on a line with Spencer Abbott. Hagel was able to parlay that outstanding play right to the NCAA.

“I was able to get a Division I offer to Princeton because of my grades and what I could provide on the ice. My brother, Kyle, paved the way for me and was already at Princeton.”

In four seasons with Princeton, Hagel amassed 34 points in 92 games and was named the team’s captain in his senior season. Marc transferred to the University of Miami Ohio for a fifth NCAA season for his Masters program. Once his college career wrapped up in 2013, Marc’s sights were set on the AHL.

“I was a solid defensive forward—not the scorer that James was,” Marc recalls. “After I wrapped up my college career, I got a tryout with Lake Erie. I was determined to play pro hockey, come hell or high water, and I was able to make it work.”

Marc spent his first full professional season with the AHL’s Iowa Wild. But midway through the season he hit some adversity and was assigned to the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL.

“I remember being sent to the ECHL and being really discouraged. I went into coach Spencer Carbery’s office and let loose. (Carbery) listened, looked at me and said, ‘Prove it.’ He healthy scratched me the first game and I scored the next game after getting back in the lineup. Carbery helped me get out of South Carolina and back into the AHL which was huge.”

In his five AHL seasons, Hagel points to the Iowa Wild as the team that he most identifies with. As he puts it, “My hockey home was definitely Iowa. I spent the most time there and I loved it. Fans loved me and I was very close with the staff. The management was top notch and treated me well. In my second year I was just on an AHL deal, yet I looked up and they had my picture on the side of a building. It was surreal. Don’t sleep on Des Moines, it’s a great city.”

While Marc spent the majority of his time with the Iowa Wild, James ended up bouncing around a bit more. From 2007 to 2010 he played 87 AHL games and 94 ECHL games with time split between four different teams.

One of Sixsmith’s personal highlights came in his first career AHL game with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. As James recalls, “I remember my first game of pro hockey we were playing Hershey. Bruce Boudreau was the coach. I scored two goals in that game and I remember after the game Boudreau saying, ‘I don’t know who the hell that was.’ That’s something that stuck to me. I remember the comments people made along the way and it got me to where I am as a hockey player and business person.”

In 2010 Sixsmith made the decision to go overseas to play in Germany after a season that saw him split 41 games in the ECHL with the Utah Grizzlies and 25 games in the AHL with Bridgeport and the Milwaukee Admirals.

“I was up and down between the AHL and the ECHL. I decided to go to Europe to play in Germany and I never came back. I bounced around until I got to Norway where I started to have kids. Everybody in the world can tell you a sob story about their hockey career, and I think that it’s bogus. If you’re good enough to make it, you’ll make it. I wasn’t good enough. I ended up in Europe and I don’t regret it. It was a great experience and without it I never would have met Marc or started this business.”

It was the 2017-18 season with Lørenskog in Norway where Hagel and Sixsmith met. While James was a seven year veteran playing in Europe, it was Marc’s first experience overseas. He and James became fast friends.

“Honestly time just ran out for me. I was 28 and I missed my window to make the NHL. Instead of going to the ECHL I decided to try playing overseas. The team had eight imports and that’s who you gravitate towards by proximity. You hang out off ice, you drink beers together, dissect the game together. I rode to the rink with James every day and we became very close.”

It was in the close confines of their car rides where Sixmith and Hagel planted the seeds for Trade Context. As Marc recalls, “James can talk to anybody about trading. I knew nothing about trading before I met him and I was just a sponge and absorbed as much information as I could. I liked the idea of trading because of the freedom and independence it gave you to live to your means.”

At Holy Cross, James majored in economics and always had interest in the stock market. Trading was something he studied throughout his hockey career. When he got to Europe James started to treat stock trading as more than just a hobby.

“I met a few people who mentored me which gave me a base knowledge and strategies for how to effectively trade. From there I picked up a few other techniques and added my own ‘secret sauce’.  I realized that I was good at it so from there I went off on my own and helped other people get into trading.”

In 2012, James started his own trading company, Trade Context. Through his website he mentors new traders and provides resources and tools to enter markets. What sets Trade Context apart from its competitors is that they provide help with the biggest barrier to entry in trading: money to trade with. As James explains it, “By alleviating the initial capital burden and supplying the accounts, we essentially are saying: if you learn how to trade effectively, money is the last thing you’ll need to worry about. Through our investors and sister company we have the ability to remove the barrier to entry. The biggest problem is a lot of people starting out don’t have the money to trade correctly. They try and trade with small accounts and it handcuffs you to trade in a way that’s too difficult to be successful.”

The company began to gain steam. But with an increase of clients and activity, James needed help to not just survive, but thrive. That’s where Marc came in.

“I needed a lot of help,” James admits. “The business was growing fast. I needed Marc because we think different. I’m a visionary that can sometimes get carried away. Marc is somebody who helps to put systems in place in order to carry out the vision. We make a pretty good team. It was obvious from day one that Marc and I had similar values and saw the world the same way. We had the same drive to play hockey, same belief systems and work ethic. The friendship started right away and everything else built from there.”

James also brought in friend and former NHL / AHL player, Jason Krog, into the fold. Together Sixmith and Hagel have built a business that they are proud of. At the end of the day, their partnership works because of their relentlessness and shared drive. As James puts it, “Marc and I get along so well because we think alike. The goal was always to make the NHL. I ultimately fell short of the NHL but I gave it everything I could. Marc and I bring that same mindset to our business. We were always going to figure out a way to make it work.”