Name:

Edward Villanueva Jr

Homebase:

De Leon Inline Rink

Age: 

29

How did you get into hockey?

The mighty ducks sparked my interest in hockey when I was a young kid. I first started playing hockey in Abilene Tx but was always a fan of the sport. The very first practice our coach asked if anyone wanted to try playing net since their goalie had moved away recently. I volunteered and have never looked back. I just had so much more fun playing net so I wanted to stay in that position. The pressure of being a goaltender is unlike any other feeling to me and the rush I get when making a game defying save is something I live for.

Gear talk:

Which pair of skates are you rockin’ and rollin’ at the moment? What pads do you wear?

Currently rocking the Bauer supreme one100 leg pads with vaughn velocity v6 gloves and mission axion G7 skates. Always been a big fan of vaughn so whenever I need to upgrade some gear it is usually the brand I seek out.

What is so special about skating to you?

The might ducks made skating special to me. As a kid I watched the movies so many times and I wanted to learn to skate and I asked my parents for some skates. Learned at the age of 4 all by myself since my parents did not know how to skate.

Skating community Q’s:

What would you add to the hockey/skating community if you had the power?

Really excited for the future of the community here. We have the player base and I can’t wait until we have the luxury to organize a league. The competition part of the sport is something that keeps me excited to play. Once something like that is put together I feel more and more people would like to join our hockey community down here.

How would you like our organization to support the scene in this area?

A great way I feel we can support the scene in this area is to get a little more exposure. It was hard enough when we had both the ice rink and the inline rink. People didn’t know the rinks or a hockey community down here even existed. Anything we can do to expose this community to the valley the better. Once covid is over and we are able to get kids out there i’d love to be able to help them learn the sport and train them. Having the kids hockey organized would help get the word out there more for our sport down here.

Any advice to new hockey players getting wheels for the first time or maybe coming back to the sport?

Practice, Practice and more practice. Does not matter if you start playing this sport as a toddler or as a senior. Practice at any age or competitive level is important to succeed in this sport. The transition from ice to inline and vise versa can be tough for most and the more you practice the easier it gets.

Anything else you want to share please do!

A few teams I have played for include:

1. Tamaulipas (inline)
2. Jr killer bees( ice home league and travel team styhl)
3. Pan Am hockey team
4. Team Mexico (Jr olympics)