When Grayden Graves first started playing hockey, he took so many shots in his driveway that his dad bought him a net to fire into, just to lessen the dents and blows to the family garage door.
But his father’s real worry came when young Grayden first tried the goaltending position and started to become enamored.
“Hockey is an expensive sport, and he’s told me now, he was like, ‘Please do not play goalie,’” Graves says now with a laugh. “I put those pads on and I was like, ‘I don’t know, this kind of suits me,’ and I didn’t look back from there.
“The next season, I split time at goalie, so I would play half the games as a goalie, half as a player. From then on, I’ve played goalie ever since. It spoke to me.”
In the end, it proved to be a good move for Graves. Not only did the Grove City native fall in love with the position, he went on to play for the Columbus Mavericks AA team and be a captain with the Prowlers Hockey OSHL squad. And Graves’ dedication to the game also paid off as he has been chosen as the recipient of this year’s Paul Donskov Legacy Scholarship.
Named for one of the pioneers of hockey in Central Ohio who passed away in 2020, the Donskov Scholarship is a $3,500 grant awarded yearly by the Donskov family in partnership with the Blue Jackets Foundation. This scholarship honors Paul Donskov's legacy, lifetime work and the value he placed on education, as well as his tireless passion to help youth hockey players advance and fulfill their academic and athletic dreams.
While his son Misha has gone on to carve out a prominent role with Hockey Canada and brothers Anthony and Matthew work as development coaches with the Blue Jackets, the Donskov family hasn’t forgotten the grassroots hockey community in Columbus. The family continues to run camps, train aspiring players and make the local hockey community a better place, and Graves said that makes receiving the scholarship extra special.
“It was just the most fun experience I’ve ever had with a scholarship,” Graves said. “I’ve won a few other scholarships and they’ve had events, but this one was top-notch. I spent so much time on this scholarship because I thought I had a higher chance to win it just because there’s less hockey players in Columbus than other sports, but I remember writing about it for two weeks. I would keep revising and revising (the application).
“I wanted it really badly because it was the coolest one, and the family was the coolest family ever.”
The Grove City High School senior has put together a memorable hockey experience, but perhaps one of the biggest lessons he learned came from failure. After playing multiple seasons with the 14U Mavericks squad, he showed up to tryouts for the 16U team and was greeted by a new coach and a bevy of goalies vying for a spot.
As a returning goalie in the program, Graves thought he had an edge on the competition but admits he didn’t bring his best. And when the team roster was announced, he wasn’t on it. His father picked him up from school that day and delivered a message that has stuck with Graves – “Nothing in life is guaranteed.”
Graves decided to pick his head up and stay dedicated to the game, ending up with the Prowlers, who play in the Ohio Scholastic Hockey League of club teams for those high schools in the area that don’t sponsor varsity hockey.
“I had to join this new team and I’m like, ‘I have to meet all these new guys,’ but it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Graves said. “I got to do all the high school hockey things. I got to be a captain, which I don’t know if I could have been a captain on my other team. It made me become a leader. It also made me have to work harder because now I was competing with guys that were two or three years older than me.
“It really pushed me to work harder, and I really feel like it kind of crept into my life in other ways because instead of being comfortable, I had to start working harder. It just went everywhere. I was working harder at school, working harder at work, working harder at hockey, and it really guided me.”
On the ice, Graves took over as the Prowlers’ No. 1 goalie midway through last season and got the call for the majority of games this season, earning OSHL all-star honors. In addition to his hockey exploits, Graves played soccer at Grove City, joined the school’s Key Club, posted a 4.3 GPA, volunteered at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank and coached youth hockey and soccer.
He plans to attend Ohio State, majoring in biology on a pre-med track with the goal of becoming an eye surgeon down the road. While his days of high-level competitive hockey may have come to a close, he hopes to stay in the game by continuing down the coaching path.
“I want to stay connected to the game because it’s done so much for me,” he said.
