Sports stats

OHL Kingston Frontenacs

How Growing up on a Farm Led Nick Wong to the OHL

December 11, 2020 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Kingston Frontenacs News Release


For 17 years, small NHL cups have collected dust in Nick Wong's drawer, but those cups are far from meaningless; they are tokens from his introduction to hockey.

When he was learning how to skate, the Kingston Frontenacs forward was terrified of the Zamboni.

"The moment he saw it [the Zamboni] coming out, he was the first one to get off the ice; he would start crying," said his mother, Daniela Stoianov. "I was scared of it; I thought it would eat me," Wong recalled. To get through his skating lessons, Stoianov bribed her three-year-old with a dollar to use on the arena's toy machines; he ended up with countless small cups, the same ones sitting in the drawer today.

All it took was a taste of hockey at a family skate for a young Wong to get over that fear. Once he had a stick in his hands, there was no going back.

After conquering his Zamboni fear, there was no more scurrying off the ice, and he stopped getting little cups as rewards. At that point, hockey became the reward, as he keenly began his career and life with a lot of time on the road. While he was not a hard-hitting forward as a young kid, he worked harder than most, much like he does today.

Wong is entering his fourth year in the Ontario Hockey League and third with the Kingston Frontenacs after starting his OHL career with the Oshawa Generals. Once terrified of the Zamboni, he has now scored 83 goals in the league and represented Canada at the World U17 Hockey Championships.

He grew up in Erin, Ontario, a town of roughly 11'000, as the youngest of four. The family was over 60 kilometres away from Toronto's big city lights, even though that is where his parents worked and where he played hockey. There was not much to do in Erin, so he spent a lot of time with his older brothers, who, in their unfurnished basement, became his first hockey challenge.

"We were always hard on him, even when we were playing mini-sticks in the basement," said Jordan, his older brother, "He's got some slick hands; I think we toughened him up a bit though; he was always competing with us older guys."

While mini-sticks gave Wong his first opponent, as he grew up, he got shooting pads and real pucks and began destroying the basement; his mother was not too pleased with that.

Wong never played minor hockey close to home; it was always trips to rinks in Mississauga, Guelph and sometimes further. Often, he spent more time driving than at the arena. Hockey always required a long car ride, but it never deterred him or his parents.

Although Wong would arrive at arenas after a long drive, his minor hockey coach, Mark Filippone, remembers him as one of the nicest guys in the locker room. "He was great to everyone, he worked hard, he was a great teammate and very coachable," Filippone said, recalling a younger Wong. "People say they want to be a hockey player, it's easy to say that, but Nick knows what it takes to be a hockey player; he loves it."

On the Mississauga Senators, where he played under Filippone, Wong did not know it, but he was alongside future Frontenacs teammates Jordan Frasca and Dustin Hutton.

While Filippone remembers a great teammate, Wong was always a little different than the rest. After practices and games, his friends got to hang out and play ball hockey on their paved roads, whereas he went back to the country.

In Erin, horses waltzed across their property, their eggs came from the chicken coop, and in the winter, he moved his basement hockey onto the frozen pond, something his teammates could only imagine.

"I was never too into the horses; cleaning up after them is not too fun," said Wong. "I cleaned the chicken coops this summer; I don't think someone cleaned them for years." While the animals were not up Wong's alley, he still loves the place.

After years of destroying the basement and skating across the pond, Wong caught the eye of OHL teams, something that never really crossed his mind until playing under Filippone in his last years of minor hockey.

Wong had little hesitation moving away at 16 for the OHL; still, Stoianov was worried, seeing her youngest leave home. "I remember my first night away, I was playing volleyball with a bunch of the guys, and my mom kept calling me to come home," said Wong.

Fortunately for Stoianov, her son's billet family welcomed him in like their own, and Wong found himself in a different position than any he had seen in the past. "My billets had younger kids and me being the youngest in my family, it was cool to be the older brother in that situation."

Now 19, Wong is an older player on the Frontenacs and is in a similar position to when he entered his billet's house for the first time. "It's been a quick four years," he said, but he knows with his experience, he can help his younger teammates to become the best people they can.

Wong has learned a lot since moving out at 16, but his experiences came at the cost of time at home. However, when the 2019-20 season abruptly ended in March due to COVID-19, he found himself back on the farm, back in his childhood room, back in the basement and back with a drawer full of dusty little hockey cups.

Check out the Kingston Frontenacs Statistics



Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 11, 2020


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Kingston Frontenacs Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central