Father and Son; Music and Hockey: A Bond Like No Other

Dylan Wells didn’t come from a traditional hockey family or pick up the game while he was in diapers like many of his current peers in the AHL. Before his love of hockey, there was his love of music that stemmed from his father Rob.

“I come from more of a musical family,” laughed Dylan.

Rob Wells is and has been the lead drummer for Tim Hicks, a Canadian country band that has 18 top 10 hits on the Canada Country chart. Rob has also helped Hicks and the band earn two platinum singles, seven gold singles, a gold album, and a CCMA award. You don’t have to look far to see where Dylan picked up his love of music at a young age.

“I hear the story time and time again where, I forget what children’s show I was watching, but I was watching it on repeat,” recalled Dylan. “My dad was kind of getting sick of watching the same thing, so he put on a Peter Gabriel live show…from there I started playing along with that live concert on my drum set in front of the TV.

“I think when I was six or seven years old, I dressed up as the drummer for Halloween, and everybody looked at me, saying ‘Who are you?’ and I said, ‘I’m the drummer from Peter Gabriel!’”

Many of Dylan’s current teammates and opponents in the AHL were lacing up their hockey skates and learning how to tape their sticks as soon as they could walk. That wasn’t the case with the netminder. Dylan received a drum kit for his first birthday but didn’t start playing hockey until third grade.

“Growing up, playing the drums, that was my sole focus,” he said. “My dad was playing the drums my whole life. That’s how I grew up, playing the drums because of him.”

Eventually, hockey began to take hold. “Being in Canada, hockey is always on the TV so that’s kind of what caught my eye. I watched Martin Brodeur play for the Canadian Olympic Team, I think it was in 2002, I would’ve been 4 years old…I would go in front of the TV and act out saves and pretend I was the goalie. That’s kind of what sparked my interest in hockey, and then obviously it turned into a passion.”

A passion indeed. Dylan is now in his fourth professional season after the Edmonton Oilers drafted him in the fifth round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. With the IceHogs, the 6-foot-3 backstop has taken another step forward in his professional development and has already set AHL career highs in games played and wins this season. Wells’ journey has even brought him to the National Hockey League recently when he appeared in a game for the Chicago Blackhawks against the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 5 and stopped 12 of 13 shots. Although he’s no longer playing along to Peter Gabriel videos, he still links goaltending to drumming and to his father.

“Being a drummer and being a goalie, there’s the similarity in that if you make a mistake, everybody notices. It’s obviously magnified if my dad screws up in a concert or a live show; I think everybody’s going to realize if the drummer makes a mistake. On the ice, if the goalie messes up and you let in a goal, it’s noticeable. Being a drummer and being a goalie, you’re kind of the backbone of the team.”

It’s not just the stage-presence similarities that Dylan sees between himself and his father. “My dad’s passion definitely sparked something in me to put that daily work in to get better and always try to be my best to get to the highest level I can,” said Wells.

Dylan made sure to mention the support of his father Rob and his mother Barb as he jumped into a world of early morning ice times, weekend tournaments, and daily rides to practice. All of this going on while Rob played in shows from coast to coast. “He [Rob] had to work to get to where he was,” pointed out Dylan. “And they had full support of me. From day one that I told them I wanted to be a hockey player, they never doubted it, and they did everything they could to help me get to where I am now.”

“When I was younger, he had a bunch of stuff that he was doing. He was doing different projects, playing with different bands, and doing some producing and drum teaching on the side.

“In the summer, usually every weekend my dad was somewhere travelling with the band.”

After a few years away from the kick pedal, Dylan has started to pick music back up again. “My last few years of minor hockey, playing the drums kind of became an escape a little bit. The past few years I’ve kind of gotten a little more into it.

“I started playing the guitar less than a year ago,” he added. “Any off days, any time off, I’m always playing, always trying to learn new songs. It’s a challenge too, so it’s something else to get your mind off the game.”

Occasionally, Dylan will pluck a few chords with the team’s massage therapist Harrison Myatt in the locker room. “A few guys here play, Harry included. So, I’ll go in there before practice and whatnot or after practice and just jam for a little bit.”

For Dylan, his hockey career and musical inspiration follow different but connected paths. While his father Rob plays in country music concerts across North America and beyond, Dylan continues to make strides as a professional goaltender. One holding drumsticks, one holding a goalie stick, both at the back of the stage as the backbone of their team.