Former Islanders Forward Josh Ho-Sang Has His Swagger Back: 'I Feel Like I Can Do Anything'

Former New York Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang began his next adventure earlier this month.

He released his first album, titled “SAME: and most recently signed with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades to resume his playing career. With the next stage in his career, Ho-Sang further reflected on his career in an interview with the New York Post’s Christian Arnold.

“I’m so incredibly proud of where I’m standing today,” Ho-Sang said to the Post. “Because there were times I didn’t think I would be, and I think that being able to overcome that doubt that I felt in the past gives me so much strength for the future. I feel like I’m in a mental state where I feel like I can do anything.”

Some of the songs on his album were a reflection of the mistakes of his career, which were further explored in Arnold’s piece.

He primarily focuses on the incidents that led to questions about his character, such as the dubious moment at Islanders training camp when he overslept, missed practice, and ran the stairs of Nassau Coliseum before returning to the OHL.

“So imagine that at 19, right?” Ho-Sang told Arnold. “Having those eight hours of just hell. For me, that messed me up a bit. I was fortunate enough to be sent to a great organization in the Niagara IceDogs, and they sort of helped me find some footings, and I was able to have some success from there.”

While he acknowledged the repercussions of the incident, he looked back on the exposure he received from it.

“I think that some things that maybe didn’t come across clearly for people was I was a 19-year-old who had articles in the New York Times and the New York Post and the Toronto Star about how I was late and how I basically made the biggest uh-oh in the last five years of a draft pick,” Ho-Sang said, with Arnold adding he felt “very naked” in the days following.

“And then I also don’t play the most straight-line game, so when your game starts getting questioned, then everything sort of falls into question.”

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Ho-Sang also told the story of what brought him to music.

While his father was a musician, he told The Post that it was suggested by his therapist.

“‘Just write, write songs and if you see anything is coming up repetitively it’s a good sign that this is on your mind and you should address it.’ So I started using music that way. Then just through my battle, I guess from 22 to now, music has saved me in so many regards. There are songs that have literally saved my life.”

Fast-forward to now, and the forward is content with his current position. He joins the Everblades amid their chase for a record-setting, third-straight Kelly Cup championship and responses to his album have been positive. In addition to creating the Pick-Up Pro Sports app, which helps users find pickup sports games and practices, he is grateful for where he is.

“I dropped a rap album people didn’t hate,” Ho-Sang said. “I dropped an app that will empower society in activity and get people going, having fun and for me to be able to offer those gifts to the world. And then to be able to come back and play hockey, which is the gift to myself is like. … Yeah, happiest guy in the world.”

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