Wally Lose - Biography

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Wally Lose was never going to play hockey until he saw his grandpa play when he was growing up. The first year he started watching was the year that Justin Lose went to the Seattle Bears [Season 81]. From that point on, he was hooked after watching Justin light up the league in scoring. The road to the VHL wasn’t easy.

 

Wally was a quiet and shy kid growing up. He never was interested in sports. He wasn’t excited about anything. School for him was a dreaded task. He never hung out with friends as he wasn’t included. He was a loner. He had a few friends but they would only really talk over text. His worst subject was always public speaking. It was always a daunting task. He didn’t have a favorite class to offset it though. Everything was boring to him. His teachers always saw him as an afterthought as well. Middle of the pack and nothing special.

 

Wally didn’t have any aspirations. His parents were worried about him. They thought he was depressed or something worse. So he was put into therapy. Luckily that was enough for him to open up. He started to be more direct and get involved with things. He started volunteering at the local dog shelter as a dog walker. Luckily, the shelter was close enough to walk to. He would come home from school and go to the shelter to help the dogs and walk them. His parents were excited about this mainly because it was something to occupy him. His home life wasn’t the best and they knew it.

 

His parents didn’t have a lot of money to begin with. Hockey was the last thing on their mind. The therapy sessions for Wally were so expensive as they didn’t have health insurance to cover it. It took 2 jobs for both the mother and father to cover it. When Wally heard that, he was devastated. He stopped going to therapy to help with the cost. He got a job at a retail store to help with bills. Wally wanted to find something to do to escape from the reality that he was in. That’s when he turned on the TV and saw Justin playing in the VHL. It was only one game, but it drew him in, and was hooked. 

 

When Justin heard that Wally was getting interested in hockey, he knew he had to help out in any way he could. He donated some of his old equipment from when he was in the juniors to Wally. Wally had to get some of the equipment adjusted, but it was free and he wasn’t arguing. He started in the juniors in high school. He was only allowed to go to games if he kept his grades up. This motivated him to keep his studies up and do well in school.

 

Commuting to the games took a huge toll on the family, financially and mentally. This caused a great divide in the family. His home life changed, he was a burden on the family. He realized this and was heartbroken. He knew that he had to go to a college away from his family. He couldn’t afford to go to a big-league school, so he went to what was affordable to him.

 

College was a new adventure for Wally. He never lived by himself and he was financially responsible for only himself. This was going to be a big challenge for him. On the ice, he was a different person. He was shining bright on the team. When the team figured out that he had financial issues, they all banded together to get the college to get him a full-ride scholarship. He didn’t know it was the teammates that did that. He thought the admins saw how important he was for the team. He was grateful and treated the team like family.

 

During college, he tried to rekindle the relationship with his parents. Now that they didn’t have to worry about payments or sending money to Wally, they were open to talking again. They were proud of how he was developing. They realized that he wasn’t going to be coming home for a while which hurt them. They understood that his studies were important and that this was the correct thing to do.

 

Wally found his stride in the college hockey program. He was scoring easily against the other colleges. He knew that he needed a bigger challenge. After his junior year of college, he dropped out and declared himself for the VHLM waivers. His teammates felt betrayed but understood. They knew that he wanted a challenge instead of staying in the college program. Justin called him when he heard the news. He talked about how this was a big step and to be ready to be humbled. Things aren’t always greener on the other side. Wally was ready for the next step though.