Young Thrasher aims to fly high

Ed Salay is a 14-year-old Grade 9 student at Garden City Collegiate, a very hard-working and strong hockey player.

“I have been playing hockey for 10 years. I got into hockey with the school program at Dufferin School. I loved the sport right away,” he said. “My favourite part of hockey is scoring goals. I play right wing. I like to cover for the defenceman when needed and offensively I like being on the wall.”

Ed plays for the U15 Thrashers-White Team.

“We have great coaches,” he said. “Vince Hourie is our head coach. We just lost in the playoffs, but we have a great team. Coach Hourie is good with his systems and he is easy to talk to. We have a very tight team.”

Ed lives in West Kildonan with his mom Mercy.

“My mom means the world to me. She has always been there for me since day 1. She works very hard to give me opportunities. The opportunities I have today is because of how hard she works”

Even with the end of the Thrashers’ season there won’t much rest for Ed.

“I will be doing Junior A camps and spring hockey,” he explained. “I get to rest for a couple of weeks now and then we are right back at it.”

Ed is very determined in his approach to the sport he loves.

“My ultimate goal is to play high-level hockey. AHL, OHL, WHL. I want to play at the highest level that I can and I want to continue to improve as a player.”

Ed get some inspiration from his favourite hockey player.

“Connor McDavid is my favourite player,” he said. “He is truly great. His speed is amazing. That along with his hockey IQ.”

Ed works hard in the classroom and works hard on the ice. He knows in the long term his hard work will pay off.

“School is going good,” he said. ‘My grades are pretty good. My favourite class is math. I like solving problems. I like being in high school now. I like the environment.”

Speaking from his own experience, Ed offers this advice to young athletes: “Keep going. Keep playing hard.”