“I simply attempt to go on the market and cease as many smallpox as I can.”
That is one thing Dustin Wolf does so much.
About 702 occasions this season, to be precise.
The 21-year-old Calgary Wranglers goalie makes the transition to skilled hockey appear seamless.
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Halfway by his sophomore marketing campaign, Wolf leads the AHL with 20 wins, 4 shutouts and a glowing .934 save proportion by 25 video games.
The California product went eight-and-one in December to earn AHL Goaltender of the Month honors.
Not unhealthy for a man who was picked fourth final within the 2019 NHL draft.
“Simply attempt to push the boundaries and present folks that it would not matter the place you are drafted, that you simply work exhausting and compete and do your job to the perfect of your means, it would not matter and you are going to attain your potential in case you simply do what you do finest and preserve constructing,” Wolf stated.
The knock on Wolf has all the time been his 6’0 body – a lot smaller than the standard trendy NHL goaltender.
For context, Flames starter Jacob Markstrom stands at a staggering 6’6 and the NHL’s present successful goaltender, Boston’s Linus Ullmark, clocks in at 6’5.
However Wranglers developmental goalie coach Mackenzie Skapski stated Wolf’s focus, hockey IQ and work ethic have made the dimensions dialog a non-issue at this level.
“He has plenty of distinctive qualities to his recreation that make him much more mature than he really is and his recreation simply continues to enhance,” Skapski stated. “He is superb at moving into sure conditions and it is easy to get distracted, particularly being on this environment.
“Dimension just isn’t an issue till it turns into an issue. So we actually do not put a lot emphasis on the dimensions. We put emphasis and cease the puck, and I feel he is doing a superb job with that now and that is a part of his course of.”
For Wolf, a giant a part of that course of is sustaining his cool, collected demeanor, each on the ice and in the long term with the NHL dream looming tantalizingly shut.
“I suppose simply attempt to be as affected person as doable,” Wolf added.
“I feel that sort of goes again to, , being what’s thought of a smaller man. You sort of need to take as a lot ice as you’ll be able to. Should you can keep in your toes and be as affected person as doable, you will let shooters decide about the way you play after which you are going to be in a superb place.”
To be clear, this isn’t a sudden outbreak of theft on the ice.
Wolf earned the AHL’s prime goaltender award in his 2021-2022 rookie marketing campaign, and earlier than that, the Western Hockey League’s prime goaltender honors in 2019-2020.
Most of these performances will certainly give the skaters in entrance of him a giant enhance of confidence.
“From the start of final 12 months when he turned professional till now, he is been extraordinarily constant,” Wranglers alternate captain Matthew Phillips stated. “There actually wasn’t an adjustment interval for him. He was simply the identical goalkeeper he had been all his life.
“He provides us greater than sufficient probability to win each recreation. He is all the time proper on the puck and he makes these second and third saves — it is spectacular how persistently he does it.”
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Whereas there may be loads of runway to go, Wolf’s younger profession brings loads of optimism to a place Calgary has traditionally struggled to develop.
The Flames’ greatest success in drafting a goaltender got here in 1981, once they picked up one other small younger man, additionally coincidentally enjoying with the WHL’s Calgary Wranglers.
Sure, issues have turned out fairly effectively for Mike Vernon in his Flames tenure.
His Sport 7 extra time save on Vancouver’s Stan Smyl paved the best way for Calgary’s first, and solely, Stanley Cup in 1989.
1990 eleventh total decide Trevor Kidd left a blended legacy, however his 178 begins nonetheless tied him for fourth all-time in Flames common season begins.
Skapski believes that when the time comes, there shall be huge issues forward for Wolf.
“I feel he could have no downside. He is a sensible child and he is adapting effectively and he is persevering with to adapt. So I feel he’ll have a simple transition when that day comes.”
The Wranglers host the Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday.
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