GTHL Awards season is here. To celebrate, we will be profiling each of the 12 award winners individually leading up to the ceremony on June 16.

With a backyard rink at his disposal since the age of three, it was hard for Nicholas Dietrich not to get hooked on hockey. Dietrich started as a player in the Humber Valley Hockey Association and switched over to goaltender upon making a Select team. He’s been in net ever since.

“My Dad bought me my first pair of goalie pads –  a pair of 1990s vintage Vic goalie pads made of full leather from a garage sale,” explains Dietrich, who says his Father has had the most influence on his hockey career to date. “As my hockey career progressed, my Dad helped get me to higher levels with fatherly advice.”

Dietrich would play at the “A” level until his Bantam season when both “AA” level goaltenders were injured. Being called up is noted as his most memorable GTHL moment to date.

“I jumped on the opportunity and got my first taste of “AA” hockey,” said Dietrich, who would start playing at the “AA” level full-time during his Minor Midget season. “I remember standing in net on the opening face-off with my heart pumping what seemed like 300 beats a minute.”

Dietrich finished off the 2016-17 GTHL season with the Toronto Aeros Midget “AA” squad. He plans to attend McMaster University in the Fall with a concentration in Health Sciences. He will be awarded with the J. Norman Midget “AA” Scholarship Award at the GTHL Awards Ceremony. The Award recognizes a Midget “AA” player who achieves a high standard of excellence academically and in hockey