Central Ohio youngster is already making waves in the hockey world

Sidney Crosby's dryer has become the stuff of legend, as the puck-marked basement appliance that the NHL legend used as a shooting target during his childhood now can be found in the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. 

The next big thing when it comes to origin stories can be found in the outskirts of Vancouver, as No. 1 overall draft pick Connor Bedard became one of the top offensive prospects in the sport's history thanks in part to the shooting pad his family built outside its Western Canada home. 

Will the sport court found in Cooper Hackett's backyard in suburban Columbus be the next famous breeding ground for an NHL star? 

He may be only 10 years old and just started fifth grade, but Hackett is already showing signs he has a bright future in hockey, including a standout performance at this year's edition of the famed Brick Invitational Tournament that has served as a launching pad for the NHL's most talented young stars.

The sky could be the limit for Hackett, and it has all started with the hours upon hours he's spent skating, stickhandling and shooting in his backyard.

"It's almost like a running joke with all of our friends," his father, Jason, said. "There's so much travel in hockey, so we'll go to Detroit for a weekend, we'll come back from a tournament, and we'll pull into the garage at 2:30. Then he'll be out there at 3 o'clock after four days of a tournament. It's like, 'Dude, go take a shower and relax.'

"It's cool to see that drive."

Cooper said there's nowhere he'd rather be than in his backyard with a stick in his hand, and each time his parents call him in to go to bed, he asks if he can just spend a couple more minutes outside. He spends upwards of three hours each day messing around on the court trying to perfect his craft, and he can already perform a variety of eye-catching moves including the lacrosse-style Michigan goal.

His love of the game started naturally, the same way most kids get into the sport.

"My and my dad would turn the Jackets on TV and I would just watch it with him," Cooper said. "In the winter, we had a small ice rink that we would put in the backyard, and I would just skate."

Simply, it just grew from there. Cooper also plays baseball and football, but nothing has quite captured his imagination like hockey. With his long hair, love for the game and slick offensive moves, he might remind some of Kent Johnson, which is no accident. Johnson is Hackett's favorite player, and their games already bear more than a passing resemblance.

One day, perhaps, Hackett will be able to follow in the footsteps of his favorite player and make it to the highest level.

"He's good, and I hope I can be like him," Hackett said. "I want to play in the NHL."

He started on the ice with Learn To Play classes through the Blue Jackets, then continued honing his craft at The Battery Hockey Academy, the training center co-owned by former CBJ player Cam Atkinson, and has progressed to playing in the AAA Blue Jackets program.

All the time and dedication has paid off, as Hackett has played in the Brick Invitational each of the past two summers. The event each year held in Edmonton has been a breeding ground for future NHL stars since its inception, and alums include current Blue Jackets standouts Zach Werenski and Johnny Gaudreau as well as such notables as Bedard, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Jack Hughes, Brady Tkachuk and Trevor Zegras.

Hackett is the first Central Ohio native to play in the tournament twice, and he and teammate Liam Sinha joined future NHLers Jack Roslovic and Kole Sherwood as well as Easton Reichardt (2021) as the only Columbus-area natives to skate at the event.

Not only did Hackett play, he dominated this July while playing for a squad of standouts based out of Pennsylvania. Hackett scored 10 goals in six games, posting a hat trick in one contest and an overtime winner in another. The goal total tied for third at this year's event, and he is also tied for third all-time in career goals in Brick history. In addition, he passed L.J. Mooney, a rising star who is now with the U.S. National Team Development U-17 program, for the Team Pennsylvania career scoring record.

"There's a bunch of good players, and it feels good to play against good talent," he said of the Brick. "It's crazy during games. It's cool."

A native of Hilliard, Jason played football, baseball and basketball growing up but never hockey. Like many in Central Ohio, he started going to games in the early years of the Blue Jackets franchise and caught the hockey bug.

Still, he never expected to have a son garnering such interest in the hockey world at such a young age.

"We have videos of him in a diaper running around our kitchen swinging a hockey stick and smacking a ball and stuff," Jason said. "It was a blast. We always used to joke around about it. The love of the game started early.

"We knew when he was young that he was talented but didn't know to what extent. Coming from Columbus, you just don't know. Now getting out there and playing with people from all over the country and Canada and seeing him excel at that level, it's been wild."

Ohio AAA Blue Jackets executive vice president Nick Petraglia, a former college hockey player at Miami University, is one of those who has helped the Hackett family navigate the hockey world. Now three years into his tenure with the AAA team, Petraglia has been impressed with how the Columbus community has the resources and the values to help young players along, and it helps that the Hacketts have the right perspective on Cooper's development.

"They're wonderful people, and the way they've handled everything is to be admired," Petraglia said. "It's the way it should be, and that honestly is what's going to set him up to continue to be successful. He obviously has the ability, but he has character, he has humility, and he has this passion and love for the game. Every time he steps on the ice, you know it's what he loves to do."

The Hacketts didn't install that backyard sport court, which features basketball hoops at each end plus a hockey goal set up on the south side, but inherited it when they bought the house. It's been fortuitous, though, that Cooper has taken to it so well, even if the family's neighbors just past that hockey net might not be the most excited at times.

"He's sent a couple of pucks into that pool over there," Jason said. "But it is what it is."