Bublé also has a strong passion for ice hockey and wanted to become a professional hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks growing up, but believed he was not good enough. "I wanted so bad to be a hockey player... If I was any good at hockey, I probably wouldn't be singing right now." He often played hockey in his youth, watched Vancouver Canucks games with his father, and said that he "went to every single home game as a kid... I remember I wanted to be Gary Lupul, I wanted to be Patrik Sundstrom and Ivan Hlinka. I used to think that being named Michael Bublé was pretty cool because I was close to being called Jiri Bubla." Bublé shared his hockey interest with his grandfather.