FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Penticton, BC – August 22, 2024

(The Athletic) – His father, John, was a linebacker at Marshall University. His mom, Kathy, ran track. Two of his aunts played Division I college basketball at Marquette and St. Louis. His uncle played football at Canisius. His brother, John Jr., played center at East Carolina University. His sister Logan danced at Ohio State. Another sister played tennis. A third sister played travel volleyball.

And AJ Spellacy could have played NCAA football himself. A three-star free safety and wide receiver recruit, he once fielded a phone call from Nick Saban. But instead he left five Division I football scholarship offers on the table and the football team at Saint Ignatius High School (where he’d just finished a season as the lone sophomore on the varsity squad) to pursue another sport: hockey.

The sport wasn’t foreign to the Spellacys. John and his three brothers all played hockey for fun growing up and one of AJ’s cousin’s, Aiden, played at St. Cloud State and professionally last year in England. But football is in their blood.

And in Westlake, Ohio, 20 minutes outside of Cleveland (where both of his parents grew up), football, not hockey, is the sport. As a child, John would sit in the recliner and throw AJ a little football, AJ sprinting back and forth in the living room and diving into the couch to catch it.

Last year, AJ says, was his first full year playing hockey full-time. At the end of it, the Chicago Blackhawks drafted him in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft and USA Hockey invited him to the World Junior Summer Showcase to audition for the upcoming world juniors in Ottawa.

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