The NHL regular season concluded on April 16. The Calgary Flames, with Gilroy native and former Morgan Hill resident Dustin Wolf as their primary goalkeeper, missed the playoffs. However, in the last week of play, Wolf drew enormous acclaim all around the league for his friendly interactions with a local fan.
In the Flames’ April 14 home game against Colorado, during a lengthy television timeout, the cameras located 10-year-old Kade Heisler, who held up a sign saying, “Wolf, you are my idol.”
Although Wolf tries to stay locked into the game throughout and generally avoids looking around the stadium, he learned of the fan and his sign.
Wolf gave him a “thumbs up” and had a team representative deliver one of his goalie sticks to the young boy. The youngster’s joyous reaction, captured on video, drew a big response in the arena and later throughout the hockey world and all over the Internet.
Heisler plays goalie on a youth team in Calgary. As an undersized boy, he had been bullied about his stature and was inspired by Wolf, who has become an NHL star even though smaller than most all NHL goalies.
See video here:
See this report on NBC News:
“He’s my favorite goalie because he continues to prove that size isn’t everything, and he’s been able to dominate at elite levels, which gives me confidence,” Heisler said to media network Sportsnet. “And Wolf doesn’t let his size hold him back. He turns it into motivation. Something I relate to and think when I step on the ice.”
Heisler’s mother said that Wolf’s gesture was incredibly meaningful to them.
“I don’t think there are words to portray what the meaning is, what we feel in our hearts, (and) what this has brought to Kade’s world and ours,” Kimberly Komarniski said. “As a hockey mom, I’m seeing that joy on his face, being acknowledged by his idol and someone that he looks up to.”
There’s more. The Flames organization invited Heisler and his family to the pre-game skate on April 16.
After watching the workout, the youngster was invited into the locker room where he met Wolf (and brought him a birthday balloon for Wolf’s 25th birthday). They exchanged “goalie stories” and took pictures together.
See follow-up story here, courtesy of Sportsnet: tinyurl.com/yfbtbfrh.
Season Totals
Wolf’s record: 23-29-3 with a Save Percentage of .899 and a Goals Against Average of 3.01.
Calgary’s record: 34-39-9, in seventh place in the Pacific Division.
The Wolf Watch is a periodic look-in at the career of Gilroy native and ex-Morgan Hill resident Dustin Wolf, goalie for the NHL’s Calgary Flames.
