NHL goalies on how they wound up between the pipes

Connor Hellebuyck had plenty of welts and bruises.

The future two-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s top goaltender was a kid playing roller hockey — yet to graduate to the ice — taking shot after shot from his older sibling.

Any discomfort was worth it.

“I was wearing a player chest pad,” said the Winnipeg Jets puck-stopper. “Every time my brother shot, I got hit in the arm, and it would destroy me. But I just found a love for it, and then I had a knack for it, and I was decent at it.

“All I wanted to do was get in the net, get in the net, get in the net.”

Hockey has, at least historically, emphasized falling in line. Goaltenders would be the obvious outlier. The position is unlike any other, from the equipment, mindset and focus required to the pressure and solitude felt in the crease.

So what makes a youngster fall in love with the sport — and then want to be a goalie?

“I was always a little bit drawn to the position,” Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll said. “I’d always want to sub in because when I was younger, they wouldn’t have a set goalie.”

The swag was another draw.

“Loved to put the pads on,” Woll said. “Something unique.”

Nashville Predators netminder Juuse Saros said being in the spotlight gave the position importance at a young age.

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“Playing a big role, make the difference,” he said. “I played other sports growing up, but never as a goalie. Hockey was different.”

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Sam Montembeault of the Montreal Canadiens was the only member of his family able to skate. Dad played baseball, but put his son in hockey with the rest of the neighbourhood kids.

“We played games, just half ice,” Montembeault recalled. “And everybody on the team had to go play goalie one time … every time somebody didn’t wanna go, I was raising my hand.”

Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf, meanwhile, wanted to get in the way of pucks right away.

“I was just kind of standing in the net,” he recalled. “Apparently, I’m the kid who had a screw loose. I’m grateful that, for some reason, I was drawn to it. It’s been an incredible journey.”

Wolf grew up in California and loved watching Evgeni Nabokov do his thing with the San Jose Sharks.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen anything like this before,’” he said. “You have all the gear, all the masks you paint, and as time goes on, it’s cool to see all the different things that come because of being a goaltender. It’s the best position in the world.”

Elvis Merzlikins of the Columbus Blue Jackets started out as a defenceman, but was mesmerized after seeing fellow Latvian goaltender Arturs Irbe and his massive pillow-like white pads.

“I really didn’t understand my role,” Merzlikins said of his stint as a blueliner. “Shots were coming, and I was catching them. The coach came to my mom and goes, ‘I want him as a goalie.’ Next practice, we tried.”

Dallas Stars netminder Jake Oettinger was also a defenceman and only offered his chance in the crease when the goaltender on his minor-hockey team got called up.

“They were like, ‘Hey, you’re always, like, diving in front of the net,’” Oettinger said. “I was just better at goalie and just was like, ‘Ya, I’ll probably stick with this.’”

Lukas Dostal of the Anaheim Ducks, regardless of the sport, always found himself worrying about defence — even before he became a net protector.

“I knew that someone needs to stay back,” he said. “That’s how it went.”

Hellebuyck, meanwhile, still had the itch to go forward.

“I would play goalie for the main season, and then the spring season, I let the backup goalie go in,” he said of his minor-hockey days. “I would skate out, centre or wing. I didn’t want defence. I played enough defence.

“I wanted to go the other way.”

ATLANTIC SURGE

Heading into Wednesday night’s action, the teams with the five best records in the NHL since Dec. 23 — in terms of both points and point percentage — resided in the Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay (11-0-1) led the pack, followed by Toronto (9-2-3), Buffalo (10-3-1), Montreal (9-3-2) and Detroit (9-3-1).

LIVING THE DREAM

Minnesota Wild defenceman Quinn Hughes played at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto — the city where he lived with his parents and brothers when his dad worked for the Maple Leafs — on Monday. The former Vancouver Canucks captain was asked what it’s like to come back to a place where he used to watch games on the other side of the glass.

“We’ve been in this life,” Hughes said of being a professional athlete. “But if you take it back to when you were a kid here, the appreciation you would have for being in the situation you’re at now, it’s special.”

-With files from Daniel Rainbird in Montreal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2026.

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