Wellman moves from California to NHL
1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - So how does a kid from northern California go about becoming a professional hockey player?
"Persistence," said Jodi Wellman, the recently retired mother of the Wild's newest player, Casey Wellman.
She's not even talking about her son's persistence in lacing up the skates every day and working relentlessly on his craft.
She's talking about her son "being very, very persistent" as a teenager in convincing Mom and Dad to let him, a product of the San Jose Jr. Sharks program, leave home as a 14-year-old and move 2,400 miles away to a boarding school in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., so he could play high school hockey.
"He did not want to stay," said Brad Wellman, Casey's dad. "He was passionate about hockey, and he didn't think he'd have a chance to make it if he stayed in Northern California."
The Wellmans are from Brentwood, Calif., ("not the O.J. Brentwood," joked Jodi, but the one in Contra Costa County). Yet they never rolled their eyes at their son's long-shot dream to 1) play the alien sport of hockey, and 2) try to become a pro athlete.
"I think there's something to be said for chasing your dreams. I was allowed to chase mine," said Brad Wellman, a former infielder who played eight seasons for the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City Royals. "As much as it hurt - it was not easy for me to see him leave - I knew that's what he wanted."
After high school, Casey Wellman played two years for Cedar Rapids in the USHL and two years at the University of Massachusetts before signing last week with the Wild.
Wellman maked his NHL debut Friday, picking up an assist in a loss to Columbus and became the 24th California-born player to skate in an NHL game and only the second active (Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik is from San Francisco).
After his college career ended Saturday, Wellman was engulfed by interested NHL teams. He had 36 hours to make a decision, so he called Chris Chelios, the 48-year-old future Hall of Famer still playing for the Atlanta Thrashers, for advice.
Friends and former teammates with Chelios' son Dean, Wellman grew up hanging out at Chelios' home and "he's taken care of me for a while. He told me Mr. Fletcher (Wild GM Chuck Fletcher) is a real honest guy, and that meant a lot."
"Casey's such a good kid, a character, and not being drafted was a big advantage for Casey," Chelios said. "He was sitting in a pretty good position with so many teams wanting him. I know (Fletcher's father) Cliff real well and everything you hear about Chuck, he's a very honest person and has done great work every place he's been. The fact that Minnesota was really interested and it's such a great hockey market, it just seemed Minnesota was a very good fit."
Casey's introduction to the sport was likely unique.
In 1988, the Royals were in Boston to play the Red Sox when the Bruins were hosting the New Jersey Devils in the Prince of Wales conference finals. The Devils trainer was buddies with the Royals trainer and invited Brad Wellman and Royals teammate Kevin Seitzer to Boston Garden for a morning skate.
In the locker room, Wellman was invited onto the ice. "But I didn't know how to skate," Brad Wellman said. "That bothered me, so when I got back home after the year, I learned how to skate and then (Casey and brother Logan) came and they were pretty good."
Plus, Brad's brother-in-law - Casey's uncle - Sam Martinovich played for the Fresno Falcons of the West Coast Hockey League and introduced the Wellman brothers to the finer aspects of hockey. "I knew right away it's what I wanted to do," said Casey.
Wellman was a late developer, but his skating and shot were always there. Chicago Blackhawks, Versus and NBC analyst Ed Olczyk, a former 300-goal scorer, has watched Wellman play for years because his son, Eddie, was teammates with Wellman at UMass and played against him in the USHL.
"He's got an unbelievable release of his shot and there are very few players that are faster with the puck than they are without it, and he's one of those guys," Olczyk said.
Chelios, who calls Wellman "a real gifted athlete that's good at everything," and Olczyk say they think the Wild's landed a diamond in the rough.
"There's no doubt in my mind that within a period of time, he's going to be a guy that the Wild count on to be a point generator," Olczyk said. "Now, is that a year from now? Two? It depends how long it takes him to adapt to the pro game because you're going from college to the best league in the world."
