INPERSON
Rising
Star –
On
and Off
the Ice
Pine teen
Nathan
Vislosky
finds success
playing ice
and inline
hockey.
BY JENNIFER BROZAK
Nathan Vislosky
A
n 18-year-old Pine resident has become one of the area’s fastestrising hockey players, both on and off the ice.
This past summer, Nathan Vislosky, a senior at Central
Catholic High School, played in his third consecutive Keystone State
Games for ice hockey in York, Pa. The Keystone State Games, which are
modeled after the Olympics, are the state’s largest annually held multisport competition.
While at the Games, Nathan ranked second in goals for Team West,
competing against high school players from across the state. He was the
youngest player ever to receive a medal in the Games’ collegiate division.
“It was a fantastic experience to have the opportunity to play for the
Keystone Games three times in a row,” says Nathan, who is a three-year
letterman for Central Catholic.
While he has racked up plenty of accolades in ice hockey, he’s also
making a name for himself as an inline hockey player. In June, he
competed as a member of Team USA in the 2016 FIRS Inline Hockey
World Championships in Asiago, Italy, where he led his team in points,
scoring seven goals and three assists. Team USA competed against 30
other countries, finishing in eighth place.
“It was my first time traveling out of the country, and we had the
chance to travel all over Italy and meet amazing people,” Nathan says. “It
was an unforgettable experience.”
He first began playing hockey at age 3, simply because he wanted to
be like his big brother, Andrew, who had started learning to skate. As a
young child, however, Nathan wasn’t “too serious” about the game.
12 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Pine-Richland
“When I first started playing, I would sleep on the bench and mess
around a lot,” he says with a laugh.
He continued to play throughout elementary and middle school, but
was sidelined by stomach issues that kept him in and out of the hospital
for three years.
“For some reason, when I came back to the game after those three
years off, I was performing a lot better,” Nathan explains.
The turning point came during his freshman year of high school,
when he played his first inline hockey game. “I started racking up points
against kids who were three or four years older than me,” he says.
Although he’s played both offensive and defensive positions, Nathan
says he enjoys playing “D” more. “I love being able to sit back and see the
play roll out in front of me,” he says.
At 5’8”, Nathan is shorter than most defensive players but says that
what he lacks in height, he makes up for in speed.
“Speed is the most important thing,” he explains. “If you can skate
well, you can outpace anyone. I might not have the reach or the stride of
other players, but I can move my feet.”
The All-Star player’s hard work has not gone unnoticed; after
he returned from Italy, Pittsburgh City Council issued a formal
proclamation, thanking Nathan for representing the U.S. in competition.
“I was not expecting that at all,” he says. “I was proud to receive that. It
was quite a surprise.”
When he’s not competing, Nathan volunteers for the Mighty Pens
sled hockey team, serves as the regional president of his school’s Future
Business Leaders of America organization and participates in track and
field. After he graduates from high school, he wants to attend Penn State
University to study chemical engineering.
Whether Nathan will continue building upon his burgeoning hockey
career remains to be seen; he’s concerned that pursuing such a tough
major will leave little time for the commitment that ice hockey requires.
Instead, he might focus on playing only inline hockey while in college.
“I’m going to miss my teammates. I’m going to miss the consistency
of being able to see them all the time,” he says. “I love this sport. So, we’ll
see what happens.”. ■