
Oliver Wahlstrom knows a thing or two about scoring goals. Ever since he was a youngster, he’s been champing at the bit to shoot as many pucks as possible.
It’s part of the reason he scored 48 goals in his NHL draft year with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.
“It started with my father always making rinks in my backyard when I was little. In the summer he’d always put Plexiglas on the grass and put netting by a couple of trees. I’d just rip pucks into the goal every time I came home from school. The best way to learn is on your own with a bucket of pucks,” Wahlstrom said.
“You’re talking about putting him up there with Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews,” said Seth Appert, his coach with the NTDP U-18 team this past year, when asked to put his gaudy point totals in perspective.