For over ten years, Carrie Underwood has had her husband, Mike Fisher, by her side.
The country music star has been happily married to the former hockey player, and their love has been showcased on red carpets, country festivals, and even through throwback photos on Instagram. For those who aren’t familiar with the man who’s captured the heart of the “Good Girl” singer, here’s everything you need to know about Carrie’s husband.
Carrie’s husband, Mike Fisher, was born Michael Andrew Fisher on June 5, 1980, in Ontario, Canada.
Mike is a former professional hockey player. Like many kids growing up in Canada, he developed a love for hockey at a young age. In 1998, the Ottawa Senators selected him in the second round of the NHL Draft as the 44th overall pick. He made his professional debut with the Senators on October 2, 1999, against the Philadelphia Flyers. A few weeks later, he earned his first NHL points with a pair of assists in a game against the Colorado Avalanche on October 21. On Halloween 1999, Mike scored his first NHL goal, putting the puck past Damian Rhodes of the then-Atlanta Thrashers.
Mike played in the NHL until the end of the 2018 season, with the exception of the 2004-05 lockout season, during which he played for EV Zug in the Swiss hockey league. In February 2011, the Senators traded Mike to the Nashville Predators. In August 2017, Mike announced his retirement from the league, but returned in January 2018 in hopes of helping the team win the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, the team was eliminated by the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets (formerly the Atlanta Thrashers) in the 2018 playoffs. Mike officially announced his retirement shortly after, ending his twenty-year professional career with 278 goals and 311 assists, according to the NHL website.
Carrie and Mike first met in 2008. Her bassist, Mark Childers, wanted to set her up on a blind date. At the time, Carrie wasn’t into the idea. “I mean, can I make dating more difficult? Let’s get a hockey guy who lives in another country. Awesome,” Carrie said during a 2012 episode of VH1’s Behind the Music (h/t Good Housekeeping.) Instead of a blind date, she suggested meeting Mike at a backstage meet-and-greet event after one of her concerts.
Her first impression? “Hot, hot, hot,” she recalled. However, at the time, Mike was based out of Ottawa, so, he and Carrie couldn’t really see each other. “We talked on the phone for almost three months before we actually got together. That was good for us,” she said in 2012, per Taste of Country. “Then our first real date was on New Year’s Eve, and our first kiss was when the ball dropped. We were in front of people, and he’s not a big PDA guy. I figured I’ll go in for it because he can’t leave me hanging, right? So I made him kiss me in public.”
