‘WHAT HE IS’

At just 19 years of age, the perception can differ depending on who you’re speaking with.

To some, he’s primarily the reigning CHL Goalie of the Year. To others, a World Junior Champion. To many, he’s seen as the future backstop of the Calgary Flames. To Logan and Cameron Speer, he’s ‘Uncle Wolfie.’

With COVID-19 slamming the breaks on the hockey world last spring, Dustin Wolf had to get creative to prevent the pandemic from stopping the considerable wave of momentum he had built for himself. He headed to California’s Bay Area to get some work in, and that’s when he heard from Thomas Speer, Goalie Development Coach for the Flames and their minor league system.

“I was training there for a couple weeks and he sent me a text saying he was running some goalie camps,” explains Wolf on how he ended up crashing at a coach’s house for three months. “It ended up a three-month adventure. Just being around his kids, I don’t have that at home. I’m an only child. It was awesome to hang with him and his kids.”

It wasn’t all fun and games, though. Alarms went off at 4:30 in the morning, bags went into the car and the rubber hit the road as Speer and Wolf scoured Stockton’s surrounding area for ice, getting work in wherever they could.

The on-ice sessions went on, hopping from sheet to sheet for wherever they could get time, with Wolf fine-tuning his already-sharp repertoire. It was there that Speer got to know what drove the success of the young backstop.

“A lot of people say they’re committed,” said Speer. “That kid, if he’s on the ice for two hours, as soon as we get back home he’d want to re-watch the whole skate and see every detail. When you watch him play you can see how technically sound he is because of that. He’s also unique in the sense that he wants 2-on-0s, he wants to make situations impossible so that he can work on them and make them possible. His ceiling is always rising because of that. That’s what makes him really unique.”

The pair also bonded off the ice, with a summer-long series on the basketball court. While the results are seemingly up for dispute – Wolf says the winner depended on the day, Speer laughed at the notion and replied simply ‘fake news’ – the bond formed through competition and development cannot be denied.

“It was a pretty awesome summer,” said Wolf. “I was fortunate for ‘Speersy’ to take me under his wing like that.”

Fast forward to February, after Wolf won gold at World Juniors and the hockey world endured months of uncertainty related to the AHL slate, the WHL’s season and even where the Heat would call home for the campaign, and another curveball was thrown at the 19-year-old.

The week leading up to the puck dropping on the season, Artyom Zagidulin, the presumptive mainstay between the pipes for the Heat this season, was recalled to the Flames. Wolf’s number was called a couple of days before the season. He’d be occupying the blue paint in Stockton’s season opener.

“It was good to get the first one out of the way,” said Wolf. “Even though it didn’t really go the way I would’ve liked it to.”

Wolf makes a habit of understating a lot of aspects of his game, most commonly when asked to respond to praise. This assessment of game one, though, might be up there with any of the downplaying quips.

The backdrop of the opener: Stockton hadn’t played in 348 days. Toronto had four regular season contests under its belt. The result for Wolf: 11 shots faced, five goals against, with numerous coming off some bad bounces and a couple that the California native admits he’d want back. He played just 28 minutes, and the final score read Toronto 7, Stockton 1.

He’s not immune to the expectations that surround him or the hopes that Flames faithful hold for his future. With that in mind, how’d he respond to the turbulent takeoff on his pro tenure?

“Honestly, we laughed about it,” said Speer about his first interaction with Wolf after the final horn sounded on the season opener. “There was no negativity. There was no questioning. We just laughed and said that was absolutely the worst-case scenario, then got away from hockey for a minute, started chatting about basketball.”

It was just the fifth time since his WHL career with Everett started back in 2017-18 that five pucks found the back of his net. Still, bad starts happen and puck luck can’t be avoided. Wolf got a night off in Stockton’s second game, a 5-1 setback, then was tapped to occupy the blue paint in Wednesday’s contest.

Rested and ready, Wolf confidently tended the goal for the home team. Eighty-eight seconds into the contest, a puck bounced off a Stockton skate and ended up in the back of the net. Toronto led 1-0, scoring on its first shot for the second-straight outing started by 32 in red.

“We weren’t far enough removed from those first two games and a lot of bad bounces against us for anyone not to remember that,” said head coach Cail MacLean on how bad bounces had snowballed in the first two outings.

This time, the prospect countered with an outstanding game, stopping 36 of the next 37 shots that came his way, some in highlight-reel fashion, and helped Stockton kill a pair of 5-on-3s in the third period en route to earning first star honors in a 4-2 win.

“The best part about (Wednesday’s) game,” said Speer. “(The way Wolf responded after the first goal) didn’t surprise me at all. He showed the team what he is and who he is.”

Both MacLean and Speer point to the same moment, immediately in the aftermath of Toronto drawing first blood Wednesday, as a defining look into what Wolf brings to a team. Immediately after the score, he looks at defenseman Rob Hamilton, whose skate was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bad luck, worse feeling. The goalie then taps Hamilton on the shin pads and offers encouragement.

“You can control what you can control, and you can’t control everything,” said Wolf. “It was an unfortunate bounce for sure. Probably wasn’t the most ideal way to start a game, but adversity is good to overcome. I just looked at (Hamilton) and said relax, it’s not a big deal, we’ll get back into it. At that point, it was my job to shut them down, and I got a lot of help in front of me. It was fun to get that first one under the belt”

Spearheaded by a breakout performance that night from Wolf, Stockton rode momentum into a dominant win in the series finale, a game in which Wolf stopped 26 of 27 shots faced to bring his running tally to 62 saves in the final 64 pucks that came his way prior to returning to Everett for his final junior campaign.

While he still has goals ahead of him in the short term – helping the Silvertips to a championship, having a solid individual season and though he won’t say it, that WHL career shutout record is surely in sight – his three-game burst in the pro ranks provides something to build on moving forward.

“Coming into it I believed that I could succeed at this level,” said Wolf. “Looking back, a couple bad bounces, a couple things to improve on. That’s hockey for you, though. Going out there, getting some wins, it was a confidence booster for sure.”

“I just wanted to go out there and have some fun, make the most of the opportunity. It was good to get back to playing hockey and get back to doing my thing.”