Former University of Michigan Wolverines forward Mike Cammalleri bounced around the NHL but had a productive career as a professional hockey player. Soon after he retired, Cammalleri helped found BioSteel Sports, which is now the official beverage supplier of the NHL. Cammalleri spoke with the Detroit News’s Mark Falkner regarding his journey from pro hockey player to sports drink entrepreneur:
It’s been two weeks since former Michigan Wolverines forward Mike Cammalleri was announced as a new business partner with the National Hockey League at the 2022 draft in Montreal.
A co-founder of BioSteel Sports Nutrition in 2009, Cammalleri met the media to discuss the company’s multi-million, multi-year contract to replace Gatorade as the league’s official hydration drink.
Financial details of the deal weren’t disclosed but Cammalleri said BioSteel has “come full circle” from the days when he developed the idea while playing 15 years in the NHL from 2003-2018 and while attending Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1999-2002.
“I was training with some of the world’s foremost experts in strength and nutrition, starting with my days back at the University of Michigan,” Cammalleri said. “One of the topics we discussed was watching what you consumed. We were careful of certain products with harmful sugars, food dyes or food coloring, artificial ingredients and preservatives.
“It got to the point in my pro career where I was ordering so many different things and mixing them together. It wasn’t a viable solution so I approached my childhood best friend (John Celenza, now a co-CEO of BioSteel with Cammalleri) and put five things on the table and said, ‘Why don’t we put this into one bottle?’
“We went through a year of research and development and then I started training with Matt Nichol, who had had similar challenges as the strength coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. We brought him on as a partner and came up with healthier, cleaner hydration for pro athletes and then eventually to the everyday consumer.”
