DALLAS, TX - Troy Terry is a rockstar on the ice, but can he bring the heat on the pickleball court, too?

The answer to that question will come on Thursday night during the inaugural "Pickle ‘N Pucks presented by Verizon" Pro-Am at Aspen Meadows Resort in Aspen, CO, which will be featured on ESPN2 at 10 p.m. ET.

The 26-year-old Anaheim Ducks winger is participating in the event alongside former NHLers Kris Draper and Justin Williams, and pickleball’s brightest stars, including Ben Johns, Anna Leigh Waters, Collin Johns, Genie Bouchard, Meghan Dizon, AJ Koller and John Isner.

While Draper and Williams have experience on the 20x44, Terry is still a relative newcomer to America’s fastest-growing sport, so getting some practice reps over the last couple of days has been a priority.

"I’m still getting more into pickleball, especially this summer. I’ve always been a tennis player," said Terry, a Denver native. "There are definitely some transferable things from hockey to pickleball, but just kind of having the touch to dink over the net, just the little intricacies, it’s an acquired skill. The more I play pickleball, the more I appreciate watching the pros."

The University of Denver product is eager to play with the best of the best, of course, and pick up a few tricks of the trade along the way.

It should be a terrific experience for a professional athlete of his calibre.

"With the Olympics going on, I just love watching people who are the best at what they do, and now I’m kind of learning the game more and kind of the little tactics and strategies to it," explained Terry, who represented the United States at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang. "It’s more enjoyable to watch the best players in the world at it and just kind of appreciate all the things that they do that make them so good."

Spoken like someone who understands just how talented and gifted the Johns brothers, Waters and company really are.