My Unconventional Path to Goaltending

My dad immigrated to Canada as a young man and was always quite proud of being allowed in. He did his best to fit in, learn English and be a good citizen. He worked hard, met my Mom, built a home for his family and eventually brought his parents over to Canada as well.

Hockey was always a part of his life in Canada. Though he didn't know how to skate or play, he knew that he could fit in and get to know others by knowing something about the game. When I was growing up, hockey was always on TV in our house. 

I was always a very small kid and while I enjoyed playing with my friends in the streets, playing organized sport was never really considered. I don't think my parents would have known where to start and they were probably concerned that I may get hurt. I didn't really know any friends that played either and so I never pushed my parents to sign me up. I pushed my parents for a computer as other friends got them, but sport was never something I pursued and so it never happened.

By the time I got to University, I thought it was too late to learn, but with the monotony of studying, I eventually needed an outlet. With the little money that I was making, I made a big splurge and bought equipment, having never played ice hockey in my life. I found a pickup game for beginners online and played my first game in 2006 at the age of 23. I was hooked. One of the first groups of guys that invited me to regularly play with, many of whom I still play with 14 years later, used to play pickup at 1130pm on Sunday nights. One late night in December of that year, my dad actually came out to watch me play - he was literally the only other person in the building besides the players and rink manager.

Over the next couple of years, I found games to play in and spent all of my free time reading on bulletin boards and forums on how to improve my technique. I learned how to play mostly through study and a lot of painful trial and error. I became more adept and stronger and eventually became a skilled goaltender.

Now it's my turn to start the cycle over again and help grow new goaltenders from all walks of life.