Country Strong: The Biography of Rhett Stoffiday [1/2]

[Stoffiday 127]

 

 

Humble Beginnings:

 

Rhett Levi Stoffiday was born on December 7th, 1993 in Nashville, Tennessee on his grandparents’ farm. His mother left his life early on, and his father worked in the United States Navy.

 

Due to this, Rhett lived with his grandparents for the better part of the year, splitting his time between both his mother’s parents, and his father’s parents. His father’s parents lived in Tom’s River, New Jersey, where his father had played Goalie in High School and College. Rhett would spend the majority of his time in New Jersey with his father’s parents taking up hockey just as his father had done, then spend his summers back in his hometown of Nashville working on his maternal grandparents’ farm, moving horses and cattle around and gaining his strength..

 

Once his father retired from the Navy in 1999, Rhett moved with him, and his paternal grandparents to a new home in Las Vegas, Nevada. The desert was new to Rhett, who would still visit his grandparents each summer in Tennessee, but was now finding himself far away from the ice rinks where he would practice. It seemed like hockey was over for Rhett, as he turned his attention to football, and academics.

 

Knowing that his son had potential, Rhett’s father, Link, would take him to Sante Fe Station Ice Arena in Las Vegas to practice, and eventually enroll him in a Peewee Team. His father would even get back out on the ice, trying out and being signed to the Las Vegas Wranglers from 2000-2004.

 

Big Country:

 

To honor a commitment to his maternal grandparents, each summer, Rhett would travel back to Tennessee to see them and work on the farm. Realizing what Rhett was doing, his grandfather had a summer rink, complete with artificial ice, created on the large property they owned. Rhett would practice his aiming by hitting various targets his grandfather would set up, everything from cups, to pots, to bales of hay; anything that could be aimed at and hit, was! During this time, however, Rhett would continue to work on the farm, building up his core strength and making sure that his grades were top-notch. To practice his speed and stick-handling, his grandfather would throw cow pies at him. Eventually, after being pelted enough times with these, He became fast enough to where his grandfather, in 2004, would take him to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for a skills competition with other young players his age. Rhett was at this time 11 years old, and 5’5” tall, but weighed about 170 pounds.

 

Rhett was teased by other boys for his size, which made him confide in his grandfather that he wanted to go home and forget about Hockey, and that he’d never be as good as his father. His grandfather quickly took him aside and told  him, “You’re going to let these city slickers tell you how to stop a puck?! You’re my grandson, and your Daddy’s son! You show them what Big Country can do!” With that, Rhett went between the pipes. Completely unexpectedly, out the corner of his eye, he saw his father, Link, sitting in the stands. He looked at his father, who smiled and fist pumped to him. In the next moment, a puck flew at Rhett’s face.

 

It was in that moment, that every bit of training Rhett had ever had came to light, and on that day...Rhett would earn the nickname, BIG COUNTRY. Rhett stopped every single puck that came at him that day, and even some that didn’t! He was photographed, and given his trophy. In a show of great sportsmanship, he reached out his glove to his opponents, and made forever friends with each of them.

 

Back to Vegas:

 

His PeeWee team had caught on to the fact that Rhett was making waves back east, and Rhett was moved up to a junior team. This team was known as the Green Valley Giants. The Giants would go on to win their division each year he played, but would never get past the second round of the playoffs. During this time, Rhett was active in football as well, playing Center for his Middle school. Throughout high school, Rhett would play with a travel hockey team known as the Henderson Outlaws. The Outlaws would finally bring a coveted title in the 2005-2006 season. He would stay with the Outlaws as starting goalie until he graduated, 15th of his class, from Paseo Rivera High School in 2011. It was at this point, he had to decide where to go to college.

 

The Commodore:

 

Knowing that there was a distinct possibility that he would be able to continue playing hockey into the future, he consulted with his father and grandparents as to where to go. The easy answer would be going to UNLV, which had a wonderful hockey program, and was far cheaper. It seemed that this would be the best way to go until a phone call from an unexpected old friend came across the line. During the call, Rhett was offered a full-ride scholarship to come home, to Nashville, and attend Vanderbilt University. He would be their backup goalie, as their current goalie was out with an injury, but was expected to be back soon.

 

The 2012-2013 season came around, and Vanderbilt’s starting goalie, Denton Tolleson, seemed like he wasn’t getting any better. He had sustained a concussion that took him out of action for far longer than he had planned. During a practice with the team, Coach David Manning came over to Rhett and asked if he would be ready to start for the first game of the season. Ecstatic, Rhett readied himself for play. On October 4th, 2012, Rhett put on his Vandy sweater, and went between the pipes.

 

The South Wall:

It was a disaster. Rhett would let seven pucks through that evening, losing to the University of Tennessee Knoxville, 7-2. The embarrassment made him question his abilities again, even going so far as to refuse to walk to the locker room until every other player had left the ice.

Coach Manning benched Rhett just as soon as he had a chance, putting in Conrad Sawyer, the third string goalie. Conrad would be the Goalie for three games, before taking a groin injury, which put him out for the season.

 

With nowhere to turn, and with the entire team at his back, Coach Manning put Rhett back in on November 7th, 2012. The air was different this night, and Rhett’s father was in attendance. It would be that night, that they would face UNLV. Many of Rhett’s former teammates were on that UNLV squad, and went out to wish Rhett luck. It was expected that this would be a lost game.

 

During the first period, Vandy did very little to help Rhett to stave off pucks, and by 5 minutes in, UNLV was up by 3. Then it began. Realizing his team needed to believe, he looked to his father, who he could see on the sidelines. His father looked worried, but pulled out a large sign that read, “Trust in Big Country!” It was in that moment, the loud boos began to fade. His gaze fell to the forward, his former teammate Brock Fenton, who came barreling down the way. He readied himself, and in one fell swoop, caught the puck as it roared towards him.

 

There was an eerie calm that came over the arena...and then...Cheers.

 

Rhett would never leave the net again for as long as he was at Vanderbilt. He would graduate cum laude with a degree in Business and a minor in American History in 2016.

 

The VHLM:

 

After college, Rhett attempted to finally branch out and see what would happen if he entered the draft. After a long evening, Rhett was drafted by the Yukon Rush in Round 10, Pick 59. He was unheralded, and for good reason. Stoffiday was welcomed to the Rush with open arms, to be the backup to their goalie, Victor. After three games, and in a move that Stoffiday credits with kick starting his career, Yukon has decided to make HIM the starting goalie. His greatest triumph came against the Ottawa Lynx, where he played “out of his skin,” winning a hard fought victory again former teammates Sidney Crosby and Ryan Kastelic. Stoffiday would remain the starting goalie for the Rush for the rest of the season.

 

Edited September 20, 2018 by Pierogi Tuxedo

[JG10 28]

1402 words. Good article. I'd try to avoid using align center though. And maybe make the subtitles a bit bigger so they stick out

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Instead of the whole thing being bold, it'd look a lot better if only the headings before each section were.