Monday, November 07, 2005



In his early twenties, Dwayne Roloson slipped quietly out of Ontario and onto the campus of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell where he stepped between the pipes for four years of standout action. In his senior year, he was named a league and NCAA All-Star. But the NHL scouts never beat a path to his goal crease. Instead he knocked on doors himself, eventually signing as a free agent with the Calgary Flames in 1994. The Flames sent Roloson to the minors to play for St. John of the AHL for two seasons. In his second campaign, he led the league in wins with 33. From there, he was promoted to share goaltending duties with Trevor Kidd in Calgary. In a Flames' sweater, Roloson finally got a chance to face the vigor's of NHL shooters on a more regular basis. But perhaps that wasn't such a great thing. Through his experiences, it has been observed that his strengths lay in his ability to come off the bench cold and to heat up in seconds. He put in some spectacular performances under such circumstances. After four seasons in the Flames organization, Roloson signed as a free agent in 1998 with the Buffalo Sabres. In Buffalo, Roloson found a perfect fit as a backup to one of the premier netminders in the NHL, Dominik Hasek. Roloson picked up a mitt-full of games over two seasons and appeared to be set for life until the young backstopper Martin Biron fell into the Sabres' plans. As a result, Roloson was left unprotected in the Expansion Draft and was picked up by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2000.



Instead of heading to Ohio, Roloson opted to sign as a free agent with the St. Louis Blues' organization. As such, he spent the season with the Blues' AHL affiliate in Worcester. Then, during the summer of 2001, he signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Wild. After playing in a career high 45 games in 2001-02, Roloson went on to play in 50 games the following year, finishing with a 23-16-8 record and 2.00 GAA, while helping the Wild clinch their first playoff birth in franchise history. Following a strong season in 2002-03, Roloson continued his strong play, yet the Wild would struggle and ended missing the post season. Roloson and his wife, Melissa, have two sons, Brett and Ross...The family makes its off-season home in Simcoe, Ontario...Nickname is "Roli"...Hobbies away from the ice include golf and tennis and names Phil Mickelson as his favorite current-day athlete...Began playing hockey at age four...Recognizes his father as the most influential person in his hockey career... Most memorable NHL moment was reaching the Stanley Cup Finals with the Buffalo Sabres in 1999...Favorite T.V. show is Seinfeld...Rooted for the Toronto Maple Leafs as a kid...Lists Andre Agassi as one person he'd like to meet...Favorite musical band is Genesis...Played soccer and volleyball growing up...Toured Europe with soccer team as child...First job as a kid was a tomato picker on a farm...Names Rob Blake as his best friend in hockey...Favorite vacation spot is Bahamas...Favorite movie is "A Few Good Men".