JoJo is also a hometown goalie, growing up in Warrenville, Illinois. Starting at age 8, he played his youth hockey for a few organizations including the Cyclones, Sabres, and Chargers. As he grew older, he continued to play travel hockey as well as a few years of high school. He then made the decision to go to college and play at Northern Illinois University right after high school.
His freshman year saw him splitting time on the Division 3 team to start the season. But as he became more accustomed to the college pace, he started to become the lone starter for the team. Posting a .891 save percentage for the Division 3 team, he was called up during first semester to travel with the team for a weekend and was given his first start at the Division 2 level. This experience gave him another opportunity to be called up again to the Division 2 team at the start of second semester. He would finish out the year on the Division 2 team as the 3rd goalie. At the end of the year, he was awarded MVP for the Division 3 team. JoJo looks to continue the success in his first college season into his sophomore year.
Current team
Northern Illinois University
How many years you were a student at MGS
11 years
How many years have you been a coach at MGS
2 years
What type of coach are you
I think I am an observant coach because I love studying goaltending and different goaltenders tendencies in certain situations. So when there’s a group of goalies doing the same exact drill, I like to see what each of them does differently and use their style of play as a basis for teaching them how to use it to become a better goaltender.
Favorite goalie growing up
Carey Price
Best game you’ve ever played
My freshman year at NIU we had a game against regionally ranked Loyola University who came to play us. I recently spent time with our Division 2 team and was sent back down to get some game time. Loyola is a very good team and came out ready to show us why they were highly ranked. Now we were unranked but I was determined not to let them get an easy 2 points. I had a very strong game and we ended up taking the game to overtime and winning it a few minutes into the OT period. I ended the game with 51 saves on 55 shots, a season high for me. The game was important not only for the team to face a tough opponent, but it was a statement game for me to show why I was given the opportunity to be called up to our D2 team but be sent back to play in a game situation.
The most important lesson hockey has taught you
Hockey has taught me so many things over the years, but I think a main thing is mental toughness. Hockey is full of politics and there will be times where you get thrown a curveball and have to adjust to it. Whether it’s being cut from a team you should have made, or struggling in a game. We all have faced it, but it takes a lot to look passed it and learn from things like that. So in situations similar later in our careers we know how to handle them and not let them affect us. Staying mentally strong through tough situation isn’t an easy task, but is a very good quality to have for any hockey player at any age.
Why is being a goalie hard
Goaltending obviously has its physical demands but its mental game makes it very unique. It’s always said goalies have to be the best skaters on the team, and that’s true, but we also have to worry about stopping the puck and controlling the game and not letting things we don’t control get to our heads. We must maintain the mental thought of worrying about the next puck that comes our way. Not the last one, not the one a few shots from then, but the very next one. It’s such a hard task but it seems easy once we all hit the “zone” where our mental game and physical game connect and it looks like not a single puck can go passed us.
Favorite school subject
Math
If you couldn’t play hockey, what would you do
This is such a tough question because I can’t see myself doing something not related to hockey. But if I had to choose, I’d say working for a large corporation with the business degree I’m currently working for.
Favorite book
Mind Gym by Gary Mack
Favorite band
Twenty One Pilots
Where you see yourself in 10 years
I see myself still enjoying the game I love. I strive to be playing pro hockey right after college and I hope I will be lucky enough to still be doing that in 10 years.
Favorite Quote
“To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” – Steve Prefontaine
Favorite type of save
My favorite saves are glove saves. It can be a simple tracking the pucks all the way in to your glove or a pure robbery windmill save.