Color of Hockey: Seeler gives back by blocking shots for DinoMights

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler, who donates $50 for every shot he blocks this season to the DinoMights, an NHL Hockey Is For Everyone affiliate that serves youth from diverse communities in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Giving hurts so good for Nick Seeler.

That’s because the Philadelphia Flyers defenseman is donating $50 for every shot he blocks this season to the DinoMights, an NHL Hockey Is For Everyone affiliate that serves youth in diverse communities in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

“It’s a big part of my game, I’m a defensive defenseman, right?” Seeler said. “If I can block a shot, I’m not only helping the team, which is which is why I do it in the first place, but also to be able to give back in that way to the DinoMights, it's even better.”

Seeler’s pain is the DinoMight’s gain. The 32-year-old from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, is third on the Flyers with 133 blocks, worth $6,650 for the youth hockey program.

“Nick’s contribution is really supporting whole life youth development,” DinoMights executive director Scott Harman said. “One thing we’re really proud of is our long-term results in high school graduation. Since we began in 1995, we have an 88 percent high school graduation rate that is above the state average of 82 percent … That contribution, Nick blocking shots, helps towards kids graduating from high school, and that is a major impact on a young person’s life.”

Hockey players aren’t strangers to linking their performance to worthy causes.

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, for example, has his “GR8 Chase for Victory Over Cancer” initiative which he launched last season on the way to shattering the NHL record of 894 goals, previously held by Wayne Gretzky. 

In partnership with Hockey Fights Cancer and the V Foundation for Cancer Research, Ovechkin is donating an amount equal to his goal total for every goal he scores during the remainder of his career; he has 928 in the NHL.

Seeler came up with the bucks for blocks concept as part of his role as the first-ever ambassador for the DinoMights, which coincides with the organization’s 30th anniversary season celebration.

“I'm not going to go out there and score 50 goals a year, so I had to figure out something,” said Seeler, who has eight points (two goals, six assists) in 75 games this season and 70 points (13 goals, 57 assists) in 448 NHL games with the Minnesota Wild and Flyers. “A big part of my game is blocking shots. I figured that would be a great way to donate in a kind of fun way. And, yeah, it’s been fun.”

The nonprofit DinoMights was founded by pastor John Foley in 1995 and employs a holistic and spiritual approach to youth development in the Powderhorn, Central and Phillips neighborhoods in South Minneapolis, and West Side St. Paul through the prism of hockey.

The program serves more than 600 boys and girls per year from kindergarten through 12th grade, providing ice time, coaches, equipment and transportation. It also offers academic tutoring, mentoring, internships, camps and community service opportunities.

It also operates the Billy Lindsay DinoMights Ice Rink, an outdoor seasonal facility in Minneapolis. 

“The foundation of our mission is long-term relationships,” Harman said. “How does that spiral out into meaningful community impact? The community we build is really strong. We’re building a network of neighbors that for so many really does end up being for life, whether they stay friends with the kids that they played with or they stay in touch with the mentors they had who were their coaches and tutors.”

The DinoMights is a Seeler family affair; Nick's father, Dan Seeler, who was a goalie with NCAA Division III College of St. Scholastica in Duluth from 1978-82, has been on the DinoMights’ board since 2020. His older sister, Kelly Buchta, a defenseman with the University of Minnesota’s NCAA Division I women’s team from 2008-12, held an equipment drive for the organization in 2008.

“I was drawn to it because of the spiritual part of their program,” Nick Seeler said. “That's a big part of my life, and my family's life is our faith as Christians. And just being able to give back to underserved communities using hockey, which is obviously such a big part of my life, it all just felt right.”

Seeler isn’t the only NHL player with a bond to the DinoMights; Wild forward Bobby Brink and the NHL Players’ Association, through its Goals & Dreams fund, donated 20 complete sets of hockey equipment to the program in January.

“When I spent time volunteering with DinoMights as a teenager, it left a real mark on me,” Brink, a native of Minnetonka, Minnesota, and former teammate of Seeler’s with the Flyers, said in January. “I saw firsthand the impact they had, from helping kids get on the ice, supporting families who needed it, and just creating a place where hockey could be for everyone.”