Liam Hughes heads into Thunderbirds training camp as their number one goalie

KENT — Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Liam Hughes was back on the accesso ShoWare Center ice this week, but he wasn’t stopping any pucks.

Instead, he was surrounded by players half his size as he took part in the team’s youth hockey skills camp. Hughes traded in his goalie paddle for a regular stick and enjoyed teaching the game to some of the area’s kids. With a week to go before training camp, the experience brings him back to when he was growing up in Kelowna.

“It’s fun to come back and spend it with a couple of the guys and teach some kids on how to play hockey,” Hughes said Tuesday morning. “I went to a couple Okanagan Hockey Academy weeks like this. We would just do some skill stuff and have fun. I remember after two weeks wanting to go home, but it was all worth it in the end.”

Things will pick up for Hughes and the Thunderbirds next week when they report for this fall’s training camp.

This year’s camp will be a first for the 19-year-old Hughes.

It will be the first time that he goes into a WHL camp as the number one goalie. Hughes started his career with the Edmonton Oil Kings but an injury limited him to just seven games during his rookie year. Seattle acquired him just before the start of last season and he spent the first half of the campaign alternating starts with Matt Berlin.

He dealt with another injury in November but came back strong and took over the Seattle crease in December. The team liked what they saw and would end up dealing Berlin at the trade deadline. Now Hughes starts camp knowing he’ll pick up where he left off last year – as the top guy.

“It’s reassuring,” he added. “It’s the first season that this has happened to me. It’s exciting and I hope things turn out well for the team and myself.”

Berlin wasn’t the only goalie that Seattle traded away.

Earlier this summer the team moved back up Dorrin Luding to Saskatoon and just over a week ago traded Carl Stankowski to Calgary. Those moves had many reasons for happening but underlying all three is the team’s faith in Hughes.

It’s a notion that wasn’t lost on him.

“It’s very honoring that the team has trust in me to be the number one starter,” Hughes said. “I hope to play a lot of games and win a lot for this team. Hopefully we go on a long run in the playoffs.”

Hughes seems every bit of a number one goalie.

He became the top starter on Dec. 30^th and would get 26 starts in the second half of the season – after just 10 appearances in the first half of the year – and play some of his best hockey. His save-percentage over those 26 second-half games was .913, which would have put him in the top 10 in the league. Overall he ended with a .909 percentage to go with a 3.15 goals-against average.

Knowing he was going to get the bulk of the starts certainly was a boost for him and the Thunderbirds hope that he rides that momentum into this season.

“It helps,” he said of playing every night. “I just took the mindset of going in every night with thinking there’s nothing to lose. Just play your hardest and good things will happen.”

Hughes said that he has spent this summer working on all aspects of his game and is looking forward for the Thunderbirds building off of a successful year last season. He got his first taste of playoff hockey last year and talks a lot about going further this season.

When pushed for personal goals he says he’d like to win 30-plus games this year which would mean that the team is having success overall.

As the kids attending the skills camp Tuesday left the ice, several gave Hughes a ‘thanks coach’ as they passed him. He has a couple more days of being a coach before the grind of training camp begins as a player.

He’ll be ready to go.

“Its super exciting,” Hughes said. “It’s going to be awesome to see the guys again and get in the same routine we were in last year. I think we can do something great.”

Follow @AndyEide