It happens every season. Somebody takes that huge step and goes from question mark to exclamation point.
This year that someone is Nico Daws.
Three months ago there was a debate as to whether would even be a member of the Guelph Storm this season. Heck, there might have even been debate as to whether he would even be in the league.
Guelph had overager Anthony Popovich and had just signed 17 year old Owen Bennett. Perhaps the team would let Popovich nurture the younger Bennett for a season. Perhaps Daws would be the odd man out, and how much demand was there for a goalie with a career 3.62 goals-against average who started 15 games a year ago?
Now, a quarter of the way through the season, Daws has likely been the Storm’s MVP.
He leads the league in both save percentage and shutouts, sitting second in goals-against average to Ottawa’s Cedric Andree.
Only one team, Owen Sound, has allowed fewer goals than the Storm who, thanks largely to Daws, sit four points out of first place in the tightly-contested Western Conference.
A year ago he was making the nightly highlights because he got sucker punched by Ottawa’s Noel Hoefenmayer while backing up in the playoffs. Thursday he was getting the close-ups after stopping all 13 shots the Russians sent his way while playing for Team OHL in Kitchener.
Oh what a difference a year has made for the six-foot-four, 200-pound Burlington native.
Something clicked for Daws in the summer.
A light went on, with him coming to the realization that there was an opportunity, perhaps the final one, to pursue his hockey dreams.
He lost weight. He worked out relentlessly. He focused. He was not going to let this opportunity pass him by.
Having a tryout with the Chicago Blackhawks fall through late in the summer seems only to have added fuel to the fire.
He is playing a composed and confident game, quiet in the net, not getting rattled, using his size and angles, controlling rebounds.
Storm goalie coach Ryan Daniels and former coach Matt Smyth deserve credit. But at the end of the day it takes a commitment and work ethic from the player himself to take that next step.
Work ethic for a goalie is just as important as any other player.
A few years ago there was a Storm coach who had a significant disdain for a former goaltender, not because of his personality or skill, but because he didn’t work hard enough in practice.
“He doesn’t give enough of a shit,” the coach said one day.
That will never be the case with Daws.
An afterthought for two seasons is now one of the hot topics of the OHL. It seems inevitable there will be plenty of interest at the NHL level.
Nico Daws may be a late bloomer, but better to bloom late than not at all.
