SAN DIEGO — Southern California and ice skates have seldom been synonymous but for Thatcher Demko, growing up in San Diego didn't snuff his dreams of playing in the National Hockey League.
At age eleven or twelve, Demko had already made plans to leave America's Finest City to pursue his dreams of hockey glory. "I love the game so much and obviously there wasn't a ton of it going on in San Diego. I think at the time we only had maybe four sheets of ice."
At age fifteen, Demko left San Diego to join the Omaha Lancers in the USHL. He would eventually find his way to Boston College after a successful youth career. "You know, we did a lot of research about what the path kind of looks like for guys that had made it (to the NHL) not necessarily from San Diego, but just in general.
In 2014 Thatcher was taken 36th overall in the NHL draft by the Vancouver Canucks.
Eight years later he would be named to his first NHL All-Star game, something that came from his endless pursuit to make his hockey hopes and dreams a reality. Demko said, "I dropped out of public school for my freshman year of high school and I did a independent study program where I could take the public bus back and forth from the rink and school during the day to make sure that I was getting extra ice time before my team practices were at night."
Now, at just 26-years-old, the Canucks' netminder is considered one of the best young goalies in the game. He also knows that kids growing up in San Diego can use his story in their pursuit of something that may seem unobtainable, but is without a doubt achievable.
When asked about it, Demko said, "It's one of those things where you know, it's maybe not super common, but that doesn't mean it's impossible."
Thatcher still calls San Diego home. He proposed to his fiancé at The Hotel Del in Coronado. The couple bought their first home together there as well. While he continues to shine between the pipes for the Canucks, he will always remember where he started, "The small hockey community in San Diego has had my back since day one."