Kitchener goalie Eshan Sanjay hooked on hockey

But ice hockey?

“I knew nothing about it,” Eshan’s father said.

Even when Sanjay immigrated to Canada some 20-plus years back, he barely noticed the game.

“Somehow I never got into it at all,” he said.

And it stayed that way, even after settling in Kitchener, marrying wife Rashmi and raising two children — daughter Rhea, 15, and son Eshan, 13.

The couple put their kids in a variety of sports.

Rhea found her stride on the basketball court.

Eshan liked hoops as well, but was searching for more and about four years ago he found it — in between the pipes of a hockey net.

“One day he put grocery boxes on his body and asked me to shoot on him,” his dad said.

So the pair went to the basement of their house and Sanjay took shots, over and over again. Eshan was raw, but there was an undeniable spark.

“He kept asking me to shoot harder,” his dad recalled. “This was the only sport that I have ever seen him so passionate about. I don’t know where he got it from.”

Eshan credits a friend in his class for turning him on to the game.

“He was always a goalie and talked about it, so I just wanted to try being one,” Eshan said. “We didn’t know much at the time. We barely knew what it meant to be a goalie. But I tried it and I just loved it.”

He has been tending net ever since.

It hasn’t been easy.

Starting at 10 years old meant he was well back of his peers.

Heck, he had only been on skates a handful of times when he signed up to play with the Kitchener Minor Hockey Association, which supplied him with goalie equipment early on.

But, in just four years, he has progressed from house league to minor development to Double-A with the Under-14 Kitchener Jr. Rangers.

He also attends TPH (Total Package Hockey) Academy, the hockey school that serves the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers, among others, and is run at the Aud.

“He’s like a sponge with all the information I give him and it’s like he’s always looking for more,” said Jordan DeKort, the goalie coach for TPH Academy and the Kitchener Rangers. “His skill level has been improving tremendously. I think he has a lot of potential.”

Embracing her inner hockey mom

The past four years have been quite a journey for Eshan’s entire family, navigating the ins and outs of hockey on and off the ice.

Rashmi has embraced her inner hockey mom and is up early to drive her son to practices, games and tournaments, while nervously cheering from the stands.

“The whole sport is new to us and we are still learning,” she said. “I still don’t understand half the things that are going on. I say things and Eshan tells me they’re the wrong terms and says I better not say them in public.”

Sanjay takes photos and videos of Eshan’s progress to send to cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents back in Bangalore.

“They are surprised,” said Sanjay, who works for the City of Waterloo as the director for reconciliation, equity, accessibility, diversity and inclusion. “We have to explain a lot to them.”

Eshan loves the speed of the game, facing hard shots and turning pucks aside.

“Being a goalie has taught me a lot about discipline and hard work,” he said. “You have to always be your best. You have stay calm because if you don’t, that’s when you start to play bad.”

And, like most goalies, he’s superstitious.

On game day he has to sit in the front seat of the car on the way to the rink. He always eats a banana before a match.

He also admires former Boston Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask, proudly displays the puck from his first shutout in his bedroom and can’t wait to play in his first international hockey tournament in the Czech Republic in April.

“I never thought I’d ever go to Europe to play hockey,” Eshan said.

It’s inspiring stuff for the entire family. And, honestly, they never saw it coming.

Eshan’s father says it wouldn’t be possible without help from Kitchener minor hockey and great coaches along the way.

But, in the end, it’s Eshan’s drive, determination and passion that has fuelled his dream of playing and excelling at hockey.

“I want to see how talented and good I can be, and how far I can go with it,” he said. “Hockey has been my No. 1 thing. I can’t think of any other sport I’d like to play.”

Eshan has a message for other youngsters that may be late to the game or from families new to the sport.

“I would tell them that if you don’t know much, you can still go and try it out,” he said. “Try your best and have an open mind.”