While the pressures of backstopping an NHL team provides plenty of nerves, Stalock said there were more than a few snaps on extra points and punts that made him think. I gave him some bad snaps and it made for a circus some nights, but it was fun.' My sophomore year, my buddy's older brother was our punter. 'I was probably 155 pounds soaking wet, long snapping. 'I think we were just screwing around and the coach said, 'Wow, you're pretty decent at it, you can be our long snapper,'' Stalock said. In addition to his time in the secondary, Stalock was also the team's long snapper, a skill he picked up by horsing around with his buddies. 'They were supposed to have a pretty good quarterback that year, but they came into our barn for homecoming and we took it to them pretty good.' During the Packers' homecoming game against Simley in 2003, Stalock returned an interception for a touchdown, a sporting memory that Stalock ranks among his favorites to this day. Paul High School in the early 2000s, being named Honorable Mention All-Conference as a junior. Goaltender Alex Stalock played cornerback at South St. At that point, his dad made him give up the game and focus on hockey. Even coach Bruce Boudreau played halfback until he hurt his knee on a kickoff return. Marcus Foligno was a tight end growing up. they are ones you can't take away.'īut Hendricks is far from the only player in the Wild dressing room with ties to the football field.

'What I loved about playing at Blaine was that I was playing with my best friends that I grew up with,' Hendricks said. In fact, Hendricks was a three-sport athlete to the very end he also was a catcher on the school's baseball team.

Video: Throwback: Hendricks high school football highlights

While playing a position like quarterback might have put his immediate future at risk, Hendricks loved the sport so much - and felt so indebted to his teammates - that the temptation to become a one-sport athlete never got to him. While hockey was the sport Hendricks craved to play at the next level, he not only chose to stay at Blaine he decided to play football all the way through his senior year. I loved practices, but there was nothing better than Friday nights under the lights.' 'I was fortunate to play for a very good school, and we had very good teams, led by a very good coach in Dave Nelson.

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