Heslop Makes the Magic Happen

Harrison Stidolph Editor-in-Chief

Photo//Matthew Stephens

“Heslop’s going for a goal!” Shouted a bewildered color commentator Matt Laurinec. 

Announcers belted their cries as they watched Trevor Heslop do what fans almost never see in hockey: he scored a goal – all the way from his own net. 

The junior goalkeeper made history in February as the Wolverines took on Aquinas in the WHAC tournament quarterfinals; a contest where Heslop not only achieved a shutout, but scored an empty-netter from his own goal to close out the score at 4-0.

UM-Dearborn and the opposing Aquinas kept a close game for the first two periods, maintaining scoreless going into the 3rd. Both goalies Heslop and Aquinas’ Randon Striplin held strong during several long momentum swings on offense, the junior recording 23 saves compared to Striplin’s 33. 

The Wolverines’ Junior Forward Ryan Teets was the first to find the back of the net late in the 3rd period, assisted by Sophomore Brenden Paden. Nearing the 17th minute, Senior defenseman Max Hartwell followed, assisted by Sophomore Forwards Carter Allen and Will Barrett.

Aquinas acted quickly by subbing off goalie Striplin, leading shortly to an empty-netter scored by Junior Defenseman David Dell and Assisted by Forwards Bailey Byrd and Caleb Cathcart.

The last minute of the game came down to Heslop. A wrist shot down the middle batted down by Wolverine sophomore Liam Summitt sent the puck back to Heslop, as he launched the biscuit right over center ice.

Photo//Unknown

The puck landed just before the opposing blue line and floated straight forward to the roaring cacophony of crowd members, announcers and teammates. “Heslop makes the magic happen!” shouted announcer Laurinec between cries as the puck slid into the net.

“After I fired the puck, everything slowed down for me as the puck trickled into the net... and then I got mauled by my teammates,” said the junior, who was immediately swarmed by his teammates on the ice. He even participated in a celebratory fly-by past his team’s bench.

“It was one of the best days of my life and it didn't feel real in the moment,” he said. “It was extra special to me because my dad, who used to be a goalie and was my goalie coach growing up, was at the game and witnessed it so that was pretty cool.”

The Men’s Ice Hockey team went on to fall in overtime to eventual champions Indiana Tech in the WHAC semifinals, with a final score of 4-3.

Following the win against Aquinas, videos from crowdgoers and broadcast recordings made their way to social media. @hockeyhousepod, a collegiate hockey page on Instagram, posted the videos which alongside UM-Dearborn Athletics @goumdearborn amassed total views amounting to over 40,000.

Among the online frenzy that followed – including an amassed 20,000+ views on Instagram via UM-Dearborn Athletics and the Hockey House Pod, Interim Chancellor Gabriella Scarlatta chimed in on a LinkedIn post:

“There has been a lot of big hockey news in the last week, but as far as I'm concerned, none bigger than UM-Dearborn's Trevor Heslop scoring a goalie goal in a 4-0 men's hockey shutout against Aquinas in the WHAC Tournament Quarterfinal. Way to go, Trevor!” said Scarlatta, who included a video of the play.

Out of all past UM-Dearborn goalies, Heslop is most likely the first to ever achieve the feat, says Athletic Director Bryan Earl. In fact, there’s a chance he may be the only goalkeeper in University history across all campuses including Ann Arbor and Flint. Research by The Michigan Journal found no modern record of a Michigan goalie scoring a goal before.

But due to decades of lost stats recordings, it leaves the question unanswered whether he’s the only one. Sports Information Director Brendan Nearing said they don’t have all the stats in the program’s roughly 50 years as a program.

“There's no definitive way to say it's a program first. We've had teams dating back to the 80s, and that statistical information isn't available to us,” Nearing said.

The same goes for Flint’s campus, as well as the rest of the ACHA. Stats dating before the 2000s are fully lost due to the ACHA’s stats coverage moving from one company to another, said ACHA Executive Director Craig Barnett.

Heslop said he felt excited to score; but when it came to how he felt possibly being alone in the stat, he already got what he wanted.

“What I do know is that it's very rare for a goalie to score a goal so I wouldn't be surprised if I were the only one,” he said. “It doesn't matter to me either way, I scored a goalie goal and a lifelong dream has been checked off of the list. Now all I need to do is get into a goalie fight and I can retire with no regrets.”