McCollum finds a home in net
Starpoint goalie should be early pick
OTTAWA — Thomas McCollum, like the rest of his 10-year-old teammates, stood there shocked. The time-out was supposed to calm his Wheatfield Blades goaltender. Instead, the kid lost his melon. It was the middle of the game, but he was taking his pads, and he was going home.
At practice a few days later, the coach spread the news. The boy with the goalie equipment wasn’t coming back. So, who wanted the job?
“Everybody kind of turned and looked at me,” McCollum recalled Thursday.
The squirt defenseman from Sanborn had already earned a reputation as a shot-blocking madman, diving headfirst for the puck whenever he could.
“They figured, ‘He’s already crazy enough to do it, might as well let him do it all the time,’ ” McCollum said.
The family bought used pads here, borrowed a chest protector there. The equipment gradually improved, and so did McCollum. NHL Central Scouting ranks the 18-year-old as the No. 1 goalie in North America, and the Guelph Storm star should hear his name tonight during the first round of the NHL draft (7 p. m., Versus).
So, to that kid who quit and forced Wheatfield to try a new goalie, McCollum would like to say thanks. That game in Rochester changed his life.
“It turned out pretty well for me, so I’m not going to complain about it,” McCollum said. “Once I started playing, I really fell in love with the position.”
Somehow, no one really fell in love with him, at least not for a while. The kid who is the best draft-eligible goalie in North America couldn’t even make a Western New York team two years ago.
“I tried out for the Empire State Games the year before I came to Guelph, but I got cut from the team,” he said. “I missed the last tryout because I had to go to Guelph’s rookie camp, and I let them know that ahead of time. I never heard from them again. I just took it as, ‘All right, they don’t want me, that’s their loss.’ Not a whole lot to worry about now.”
McCollum, who played a year at Starpoint High School before joining Wheatfield Junior B, used that Empire snub as motivation. He was a nominee for Ontario Hockey League Goalie of the Year his first season (2006-07), setting a team record with five shutouts while posting a 2.39 goals-against average and .918 save percentage.
“He played very well in that first season, was at the top of all the goalie stats,” said his father, Paul. “You know that he can play at that level. Now comes this season, and you’ve got to do it again. That’s the secret.”
Sure enough, McCollum did it again. He started slow after not making the U. S. world junior team, but he rebounded to post four shutouts, a 2.50 and .914. Oh, and he’s also Guelph’s Academic Player of the Year.
“I’m a mom, so I always thought he was a special kid,” Shelley McCollum said. “But something like this?”
It makes for a great story, and the NHL agrees. The league’s production company has been following the McCollum family since Tuesday, and they’ll film his draft experience through the weekend.
“I don’t really do anything interesting, so I don’t know what you’re going to show,” McCollum said he told the film crew, thereby showing they did, in fact, pick an interesting guy.
McCollum isn’t wishing for any particular team to select him, but he wouldn’t mind the Buffalo Sabres. The McCollums had season tickets in the Aud and the first year in HSBC Arena. They are aware that locals Patrick Kaleta and Tim Kennedy are with the team, which picks 13th and 26th tonight in Scotiabank Place.
“It’d be nice to be another hometown kid,” McCollum said. “Hopefully, they’ll decide they want one at the goalie position.”
And they don’t have to worry. This goalie won’t throw a fit and quit in the middle of a game.
“I’m going to have the opportunity to play the game I love every day,” he said. “You can’t really ask for anything more than that.”
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The trade chatter is heavy this year, and that includes the Sabres.
“Boy, it’s been interesting,” Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier said Thursday night. “There’s been lots of talk. A lot of teams are open to trading, but they’re not locking into anything until they get a sense of who’s going to be available.”
Regier said there were a number of phone calls regarding the Sabres’ first-round selections, and he placed more than he received. He is interested in moving up to make sure the Sabres get one of the three players they are targeting, but he’s not alone.
“There are a lot of teams trying to get into the top 10,” Regier said.
The conversations were expected to continue until well into the night, and they will increase leading up to the draft’s 7 p. m. start.
The Sabres are holding a free draft party from 5-9 p. m. at HSBC Arena, with specials on food, drink and merchandise.
