Green Bay goaltender Leo Henriquez is not only proud to represent the Gamblers on and off the ice, but also to represent two different cultures: Slovakian and Dominican.
Henriquez, whose father hails from the Dominican Republic and whose mother is from Slovakia, said that he can’t wait to showcase the bridge between his two nationalities at Hispanic Heritage Night at the Resch Center this Friday.
“I love my Hispanic heritage,” Henriquez said. “There’s not many of us (in hockey) right now, so it’s pretty fun.”
Henriquez said he enjoys the overlapping of two cultures in his life.
“It’s kind of nice because in the Dominican Republic, they also celebrate Christmas … so I can always have two Christmases,” he said. “I love the Dominican culture. My dad taught me that, so we always had Dominican food at home. When I went over to his place, it was more Dominican based than when I went to my mom’s.”
Henriquez was born in Bratislava, Slovakia, and played youth hockey for HC Slovan Bratislava, a club whose alumni include Hockey Hall of Fame center and six-time NHL all-star Peter Šťastný.
Henriquez said that hockey in Slovakia can be hard core.
“I mean, play wise, the rinks are way bigger, and the sheets are Olympic size,” he said. “The game also feels a little slower compared to here. Everything’s more cramped, so everything looks fast. Also, the fans, they’re called Ultras, (are) chanting the whole game, and that’s something that we don’t really have that over here.”
The 6-foot-1 netminder was first introduced to hockey in his middle school physical education classes, where the kids would get a chance to try out different sports like basketball, football and soccer. Henriquez said he realized he wanted to get into hockey after going ice skating for the first time at school.
“I just went to class and really liked to ice skate,” he said. “There was also a hockey group (at the school), so I said ‘let me try hockey’ … and I kind of just went on from there. I was a position player at first, but I saw the goalie pads and all the stuff from a friend of mine, and I was like, ‘I want to kind of try this,’ so they let me borrow some gear from the squad, and I liked it.”
Henriquez, who has played for the U16, U17 and U18 Slovakia National Team, said that playing in games on the international stage, especially at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, got him noticed as a goalie.
“It has been really nice to play against the Czechs, Swedes, Finnish, Swiss, Germans, Canadians, Americans, all these countries, best on best,” he said. “It definitely brought me a lot of experience and made me better.”
Henriquez caught the eye of the Anchorage Wolverines in the NAHL, a Tier-II junior league, and played 24 games for the squad last season before getting the call that he was moving up to the Gamblers in the USHL.
Henriquez said so far, the USHL has proven to be one of the best junior leagues in the world.
“It’s exciting, he said. “It’s got great hockey and coaches, so it’s definitely been a great experience.”
Henriquez played 19 games for Green Bay last season, stopping 87.7% of the shots he faced to help the Gamblers reach the Clark Cup Playoffs for the third year in a row.
This season, Henriquez said his goal is to win the Clark Cup after the training he did in the offseason.
“I did a lot of strength and speed training, and that’s one of my best attributes, just being fast on the ice,” he said. “Besides wearing pads on the ice, we have goalie sessions, where we work on post transitions and the movement of our eyes and hand-eye coordination.”
Henriquez said he models his game on being fast in the net, taking inspiration from Finnish goalie Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators.
“We have to be very flexible and strong in those extreme positions,” he said. “Saros is a smaller guy and I like the way he moves. I am very fast and compact and very methodical. I like to be flying around.”
Henriquez, who is 4-2-1 through eight games with Green Bay and owns a .918 save percentage, said he loves being around his teammates.
“We hang out all the time,” he said. “There’s not a single guy that’s on the team that’s not awesome. We all love each other and we’re a great team.”
The Gamblers will return to the Resch Center to take on the Waterloo Black Hawks on Friday at 7:05 p.m. for Happy Halloween Night and Hispanic Heritage Night.
