Some hockey players are born to be goalies, and William Wishloff might just be one of them.
The son of former Ohio State netminder Pete Wishloff has been introduced to the game by his parents, and Pete and his wife Erin have made sure the youngster has skated out and gotten the full experience on the ice to this point.
But when he’s at home messing around on his own, William seems to gravitate to the position that stops the puck.
“I think in general he admires goalies in the NHL,” Erin said. “He has a strong affiliation with goalies. He likes to pretend he’s Stuart Skinner and all the other goalies in our kitchen.”
That made Saturday a rather enjoyable day for young William, as he was able to put the pads on and go through a 40-minute goalies-only clinic at the OhioHealth Ice Haus. Kids 10 and under were invited to the fun-focused event as part of a big weekend of hockey downtown, as USA Hockey’s Level 5 Coaching Symposium was taking place in Columbus, bringing hundreds of coaches from around the world to the capital city.
In celebration of the big event, the Blue Jackets, USA Hockey and the Blue Jackets Hockey League staged a full day of events introducing kids and adults to the sport. Saturday featured two sessions – one on the Ice Haus ice, another a street hockey clinic on the Nationwide Arena floor – of Get Out And Learn (GOAL) in association with Apex Pros, the Blue Jackets’ free introductory program to get kids ages 5-9 and up to try hockey for the first time.
There were also three separate free sessions at the Ice Haus for those looking to grow their experience in the sport – one for adults trying to break into the game, a filled-to-capacity session for those who want to try refereeing, and the goalies-only clinic – featuring volunteer instructors from USA Hockey’s MidAm district, the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets and more.
“I think it’s just an unbelievable opportunity for a lot of different families and kids and adults to try a great game in different ways,” said Dave Caruso, the Blue Jackets senior director of amateur hockey programming.
“You have a lot of different areas where we’re utilizing people from USA Hockey, of the MidAm District to make an event that brings a lot of action and a lot of fun and hopefully a lot of new players into our sport. You see the smiles on their faces. It’s just a cool sight, and hopefully all of them want to be hockey players when they grow up. That would be really cool.”
The sight of a full sheet of ice of kids like William Wishloff crawling with kids putting on the pads – many for the first time – and trying to stop pucks was great to see for Ryan Dop, the Blue Jackets Hockey League’s goaltending director. Growing up, Dop often played between the pipes simply because there was a need for goalies, and though he said there are more kids stepping up to play the position than ever before, it’s still sometimes tough to find netminders.
After all, it takes a special breed to be the player who wants to be hit by a puck, and there are often barriers like the cost of equipment and skeptical parents that make it tough for kids to commit to the position fulltime. The Blue Jackets Hockey League has done what it can to make it easy for kids to try the position, including the use of quick-change gear sets that go on top of players equipment and allow them to be ready for action in a few short minutes.
Saturday’s clinic featured such instructors as former Ohio AAA Blue Jackets goalies Eric Dop – Ryan's brother – and J.J. Salajko, as well as others from the junior ranks, Blue Jackets Hockey League and USA Hockey. As the young netminders moved from station to station, it was a chance for youngsters to see just how fun it can be to stop a puck, potentially opening the door for future opportunities.
“It was a fun environment, and they’re still learning goaltending skills but having fun doing it,” Dop said. “They weren’t being told what to do. They were learning without knowing that they were learning. That was the really cool part. They’re picking up pucks, they’re playing goalie games, they’re making breakaway saves, and it was awesome.”
For William, the best part of the day was when he was able to score a couple of goals in one of the drills, and he left one step closer to potentially being the next Skinner, Elvis Merzlikins or Jet Greaves.
“I had a lot of fun,” he said.
“He had a blast,” Erin confirmed.
That’s music to Ryan Dop’s ears.
“We’re trying to grow the game, and we’re trying to get more goalies to play and get more lifelong goalies in the game,” he said. “It was a really cool full-circle moment for me because I was once that little kid out there.”
