Nowadays, Tate Singleton can be seen scoring goals as a forward with the Central Illinois Flying Aces.
But long before the 20-year-old started denting the scoresheet in the United States Hockey League, where, as of Feb. 20, he was third on the Flying Aces in scoring with 30 points (18-12-30) in 42 games this season, he was a kid tending net on his family’s backyard rink in West Lebanon, N.H.
“My dad was a goalie growing up,” Singleton said of his father, Jonathan, who played for Hanover High School in New Hampshire. “He wanted to have a hockey player and I wanted to be a goalie, so when I was a kid he told me to suit up in the backyard, where he ripped pucks at me.
”The bad news is Tate didn’t enjoy facing shots. The good news is he still loved the game, and he played it — as a player taking the shots — in the street and on the rink behind their house with their neighbors.
