GMHS Lasso Online News Story

Life of a Northern Virginia Hockey Nut
By Stephen Finley (April 21, 2006)

Senior Daniel Watkins, who some students just recognize as the “that big red headed guy” or else as the obsessive hockey fanatic who knows close to every stat ever recorded for the Washington Capitals, was seven when he saw his first hockey game featuring the Caps against the New York Islanders at USA Arena.

“From the instant I got there, I was mesmerized by the goalie,” said Watkins as he described his first hockey experience. At the time, Jim Carey, number 30, was the starting goalie for the Capitals and quickly became the idol for the young Watkins. Throughout Daniel’s career as obsessive hockey fan, he has tried to remember all of the numbers of the starting Washington Caps’ goalies, starting at Carey’s 30 and continuing to number 37 for Olaf Kolzig, the current starting goalie.

Daniel’s obsession with hockey soon extended well beyond being an avid fan to becoming a hockey player himself, not an easy thing to do in Northern Virginia where ice hockey teams are scarce and ice rinks even scarcer. And, of course, Daniel became a goalie.

Now the starting goalie for an east coast “traveling team,” senior Daniel Watkins prepares to deflect an opponent’s shot on goal. (Photo by Diane Watkins)

Now 18 years old, Daniel has played for 11 years, having competed in close to 1,000 games, and he’s almost always the starting goalie for his team. From playing in the house league until his younger teenage years, Daniel now plays in a travel league, where he goes up and down the east coast, from New York to Richmond. The Capital Beltway Hockey League, CBHL, is an AA league where the 17 through 19 year olds play in a very competitive atmosphere and have several rivalries. There is a scarcity of youth hockey in Northern Virginia so Daniel has to travel 40 miles, twice a week, just to practice in Howard County, Virginia.

He has two to four games every weekend. Unfortunately for Daniel there are very few choices that can make his life easier as the other hockey teams that Daniel is eligible for are in Montgomery, Rockville, Baltimore, Laurel, and Richmond; none of which are very good. Daniel has to travel close to 250 miles per week just for hockey, and those are on weeks he doesn’t play in tournaments when he needs to travel to New York or Richmond.

To make such a demanding schedule work, Daniel has to have the support of his family, especially his mother. When asked about his mother’s involvement, he stated, “She has been to every game I’ve had since I was seven.” This means that along with Daniel, his parents have had to make many sacrifices. They travel just as much as he does, and they don’t even play. In one year Daniel’s parents have to dedicate around 200 hours just for his hockey. Surely many parents don’t have to make these types of sacrifices to watch their child play a youth sport for a year; Daniel’s parents have been doing it for 11.

Playing for the Howard Huskies, the second best team in his league, Daniel has a .92 save percentage. Wearing 35 pounds of equipment, Daniel makes it look easy as he slides in front of his goal protecting the net. Admittedly, he reveals that his most noticeable weakness is his high glove side. “Being a goalie is hard,” he exclaimed when he was asked if he ever got scared, “if I deem a shot is over 85 miles per hour, I flinch, but that doesn’t reflect my reactions.”

Hockey is Daniel Watkins’s life; he often gets little sleep because if he’s not playing or practicing, he stays up until the early morning hours, sometimes even to three a.m. watching games. He daydreams regularly about hockey and is even tempted to skip school at times, though of course Daniel wouldn’t do that. Well, not usually, anyway. Daniel sums up his feelings by saying, “Hockey is a blast and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”