A prospect looking up, way up
Five-foot-three American is hoping an NHL club will give him big opportunity
PLYMOUTH, MICH.— Sean Dhooghe was only 13 the first time Don Granato laid eyes on him and knew he was onto something special.
Granato, who at the time led USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, marvelled as Dhooghe — all five-foot-two of him — wove in and out of traffic and kept pace with his counterparts, some of whom had already started their professional careers.
Granato, the former associate head coach at Wisconsin who recently joined the staff of the Chicago Blackhawks, was mesmerized by the way Dhooghe grasped the game and the fearlessness with which he skated, undeterred by the size and skill of those around him.
Before long, the other players in that summer conditioning skate four years ago could not help but take notice, too.
“They were amazed,” Granato recalled in a telephone interview. “I can remember them looking at me, giggling, like, ‘Is this really happening? Is this kid actually keeping up with us?’ ”
Four years later, Dhooghe (pronounced DOO-gie), now 18 and still only five-foot-three has not been knocked off his stride. He capped two years with the development program by helping lead the United States to the gold medal at the world under-18 championship in April, collecting three goals and six assists in seven games.
The performance, which culminat- ed a two-year career in which Dhooghe had18 goals and19 assists in 65 games, may be enough to put him on the radar of NHL executives heading into the draft in Chicago, which begins Friday.
The seven-round draft will be held about 65 kilometres from Dhooghe’s hometown, Aurora, Ill., and has stayed in the back of his mind recently. Whether Dhooghe joins a fraternity of NHL players who stand less than six feet tall and includes stars like the Calgary Flames’ Johnny Gaudreau, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Cam Atkinson and the Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane remains undetermined. But in an era when the NHL has become dominated by speed, precision skating and a player’s ability to read and react and visualize where the puck is headed before it arrives, Dhooghe’s hopes are not unrealistic.
“This is the time and the era for a player like that to be able to make it,” said Darren Pang, a goalie who played 81 career NHL games despite being only five-foot-five.
Pang, who now works as a television analyst, added: “It will take an individual in an organization that goes to bat hard for a player that size. It always has been that way and it will remain that way because I don’t believe it will be a unanimous consensus. Everybody in the organization isn’t going to say, ‘OK, let’s take a chance on a player that small.’ ”
As Dhooghe prepares for his next hockey challenge — playing NCAA Division I hockey at Wisconsin — he has long become accustomed to the scouting reports that precede him.
“The first thing they see is ‘Wow — that kid is really small’ and it’s been the same my whole life,” Dhooghe said. “At squirt, squirt major (age lev- els) — ‘They’re going to start hitting next year. He’ll never be able to handle the hitting.’ I handle the hitting. ‘He’ll never be able to handle when they combine two birth years,’ and I handle it just fine. Junior hockey — ‘he’s not going to play in the USHL and compete.’ It’s going to be the same next year in college — ‘He’s not going to be able to handle it.’ ”
Pang and Granato, whose brother Tony is the head coach at Wisconsin, are convinced that Dhooghe’s performance at the world championship shows that smaller players can come up big in important games.
Dhooghe scored the game-winning goal in the Americans’ semifinal game against Sweden, which set up a victory over Finland in the gold medal game. But the international stage was just the latest triumph for Dhooghe, whose mission to prove his detractors wrong at every turn has fuelled his progression up the ranks.
“It’s what I’ve been used to my whole life is being the smallest person,” he said. “It’s what I’ve grown up with, it’s what I’m used to. I’ll take it as a challenge. I’ll keep going.”
Dhooghe’s older brother, Jason, will join Sean at Wisconsin after playing three seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers of the U.S. Hockey League. At five-foot-six, Jason Dhooghe ranks as the tallest member of the Dhooghe family, along with his father.
Over his brother’s career, Jason has watched as one bigger defenceman after another tried to size Sean up. Each time, Sean either beat his opponent to the punch or relied on his speed to turn the tables on an unsuspecting competitor, walking a fine line between being aggressive and reckless.
“He’s got to make up ground on everybody,” said John Wroblewski, the coach of the national team development program.
“It starts with his work ethic. It starts with how hard he works out in the weight room, the amount of attention he puts into the meetings and in practice. All those things add up for any player. But for him in particular, he has to make up those inches on every player. It takes a special player to do that.”
Dhooghe is the same height as the shortest player in NHL history — goalie Roy Worters, known as Shrimp, who played 12 seasons from 1925 to 1937. But to Granato and others, Dhooghe is worth taking a chance on.
Dhooghe is taking the process in stride, never ruling anything out.
Asked about his draft chances, he said: “I think I should be. But that’s obviously up to NHL teams.”