Stu Wilson poses in front of Yale championship banners. Photo by Peter Carosa
On Saturday, April 9th, John ‘Stu’ Wilson, a Pittsford native, played his first hockey game in his hometown in over seven years. Over 6,200 fans including Wilson’s family, friends, and neighbors watched as the Rochester Americans lost in overtime to the Lake Erie Monsters at the Blue Cross Arena. Not only had it been seven years since Wilson played in Rochester, but ten years since he last played in the Blue Cross Arena as a freshman in high school. Wilson described the experience to play for his hometown’s hockey team as “a dream; it was crazy.”
Flashback seven years, Stu Wilson was wrapping up his junior year at Pittsford-Sutherland High School. Wilson had just completed two years of playing for the Rochester Alliance hockey team and began to look at other junior hockey leagues. Initially, Wilson planned to spend his senior year playing for a Buffalo team in an A-level Canadian junior hockey league. However, Wayne Wilson, Stu’s father and head coach of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Men’s Ice Hockey team, convinced Stu to try out for a team in the United States Hockey League (USHL), a Tier I American junior hockey league. Wilson took his father’s advice and gave the USHL a shot. He ended up earning a spot on the Cedar Rapids Roughriders of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Wilson explained how he “might have been better off staying in Buffalo…it would have been a smoother transition,” but didn’t know if he stayed in Buffalo if he would be able to achieve his dream of playing NCAA Division I Hockey. For the next three years, Wilson played for the Roughriders and captained the team during his third season in 2010-2011.
While skating for Cedar Rapids, Wilson caught the eye of the coaching staff for Yale University. Keith Allain, head coach of the Yale Bulldogs Men’s Ice Hockey team, said it was his assistant coaches that do most of the recruiting and it was one of his assistants that found Wilson in Iowa.
Wilson Skating at Yale’s Ingalls Rink. Photo courtesy of Yale Athletics
Allain explained “The USHL is a league that we scout very thoroughly and we go right to the training camps where they go, we go to the preseason, we identify guys we like that are good students, and then we follow them.”
Wilson fit that mold, but at the same time he had unique skills and abilities that Allain thought would complement the other players in his program.
Yale University had one of the best teams in the nation when Stu Wilson was recruited. The Yale Bulldogs were the number one overall seed in the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament, but the Bulldogs did not finish the tournament at the top. Two seasons later Wilson joined the team and had a very successful freshman year. Wilson played in every single game that year and led all newcomers with nine goals and 17 points.
Teammate Rob O’Gara, who was drafted by the Boston Bruins in 2011, noticed right way that Wilson was “a very loyal guy, he’s very hard working, and a stereotypically good guy.”
Coach Allain said that he noticed “very early on that Stu showed that sense of commitment, he showed that kind of intelligence about the game, and showed his willingness to be part of the team.”
Freshman year, Wilson also played an important role in Yale’s historic first-ever NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey National Championship. Wilson scored a third period goal against North Dakota in the NCAA West Regional Final to help send the Bulldogs to their first Frozen Four since 1952. Yale made it to the National title game and shut out Quinnipiac 4–0 to win the 2013 Championship. As a sophomore, he was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team and as a senior, he was named to the All-Ivy League First Team.
Coach Allain said that winning another National Championship would be “the ultimate bookend” for Wilson and the other seniors who had won Yale’s first ever as freshmen, but the Bulldogs’ season was cut short this year after being eliminated from the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament in a Regional Semifinal game. Following the tough overtime loss, Wilson was getting a few looks from teams in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), but was holding out for an opportunity to play for an American Hockey League (AHL) team.
About two weeks after the Bulldogs’ season had ended, Stu Wilson got the call he had dreamed about; not only was it from an AHL team, but it was his hometown’s team, the Rochester Americans. The Amerks asked Wilson if he would be able to be in Rochester in less than 24 hours, because they had a spot for him. Wilson borrowed his girlfriend’s car and made the six hour trek from New Haven, CT to Rochester just in time for the Friday morning practice. He didn’t get any ice time during the Friday night game, but on Saturday, Wilson played in his first professional hockey game. Wilson laughed while reminiscing about how both friends and family attended the game with large signs and sat directly across from Rochester’s bench. After the Lake Erie Monsters had defeated the Americans at home on Saturday, Rochester traveled to Cleveland, OH, seeking revenge during the Sunday night game. Wilson was born in Ohio and he would score his first professional goal in that same state. The Rochester Americans blanked the Lake Erie Monsters 2–0.
Stu Wilson had signed an Amateur Try Out (ATO) contract and only skated with Rochester for those three games. Wilson graduated from Yale University on May 23rd, with a major in American Studies. He plans on continuing his hockey career and will possibly play for either an AHL, ECHL, or even perhaps a European team next year. Wilson has also explored off the ice hockey professions with his dream job being a General Manager. He has contacted various NHL organizations and Buffalo Sabres alum, Pat Lafontaine, who is currently the NHL’s Vice President of Development and Community Affairs. Lafontaine took special interest in Wilson’s senior thesis regarding the path of development for North American hockey players.
So it is anyone’s guess as to what will be the next chapter in John ‘Stu’ Wilson’s life.
