Colorado goaltender Jacob Weatherly grabs spotlight with stellar play

If you haven’t heard of the name Jacob Weatherly, you will soon.

As goaltender for the Colorado Rampage -- a team that will only play three games in this year’s Upper Midwest High School Elite League -- Weatherly sure left his mark on the New Hope Ice Arena this past weekend.

Playing roughly 1,000 miles and 15 hours away from home, the 5-foot-10, 180 pound Weatherly was making saves that he simply had no business making.

Routinely robbing some of Minnesota’s best talent, Weatherly led his team to an undefeated Saturday with wins over Team North and Great Plains this past weekend. Although Sunday didn’t go as planned for the Rampage in a lopsided loss to Team Northwest, Weatherly was still able to drop the jaws of spectators and scouts in attendance.

“He definitely is a talented goalie, but his work ethic will be what takes him a long way,” said Jack Suter, a Rampage forward who finished the weekend with a league-best eight points. “He is one of the hardest workers I have ever met, and I think everyone strides to work as hard he does.”

His hard work looks to be paying off, too.

Weatherly started last year with the Rampage elite team, playing a year up in order to better himself and meet personal goals of making it to the next level. This past summer he worked daily to improve.

“I skated whenever I was able to with my coach and went through workouts every single day,” Weatherly said. “I didn’t have very much free time this summer.”

His goal is to move on to the next level, but as a goaltender his size isn’t as attractive as recruits would like. Luckily for Weatherly, he says he's working with a great group of coaches who’ve taught him to play his height to his advantage.

“Working out with our coaches has helped me exponentially,” Weatherly said. “I’m not the biggest guy, so I focus on lateral movements to increase quickness.”

Weatherly, along with plenty of other talented players, was left undrafted in the USHL draft last spring. Although disappointed, he is using the draft snub as a tool for motivation in order to get him to where he wants to go.

“I want to end up in the USHL or BCHL,” Weatherly said.  “After that, my plan is to get a scholarship and play college hockey.”

Both head coach Andrew Sherman and Suter are sure Weatherly will end up as a division one goaltender. The stop between now and then is the question mark.

“He’s for sure going to end up in the USHL,” Suter said. “He could even end up going this year.”

Although Elite League followers won’t be able to see Weatherly stack his pads or fly from one side of the crease to the other again this fall, his name may just come up in the next year or so in higher organizations.

He possess the perfect combination to move forward in his hockey career; hard work and determination should help him accomplish anything he works at, even if difficult obstacles stand in the way.

“Everybody dreams of being the kid who makes it,” Weatherly said.  “I don’t want to be that average 5-10 goalie who didn’t make it; I need to just go out there and work harder than the next kid.”

-- Matt Christians

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