ABOVE: From left: Jessica Grolla (Blakeley's mom and FYHA President), Emmet Olson, Bennett Draper, Carter Spitzer, Cheston Aust, Blakeley Scholl,  William Egeness, Eli Meixell, Gavin Meyer and Levi Anderson.  Submitted photo.

FAIRMONT – A prankster, goalie, and competitive horseback rider, the seventh-grade goaltender out of Martin County West Junior High, Blakeley Scholl, has just eclipsed the 1,000-career save mark in PeeWee division hockey.

Having three boys all in hockey, Fairmont Youth Hockey Association President Jessica Grolla-Scholl wasn’t exactly thrilled that the last one up became a goaltender but has embraced her son’s love for the position.

“I didn’t really want to have a goalie on my hands,” said Grolla-Scholl. “To be honest, I have three boys in hockey and the last one decided he wanted to be a goalie.”

Scholl’s favorite NHL player is none other than Minnesota Wild netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, a fellow prankster and inspiration to the young goaltender.

“He does pranks just like Flurry,” said Grolla-Scholl. “And he even gets in trouble.”

Outside of emulating his favorite player, Scholl enjoys the challenges that come with getting in the net and the freedom from referee interference.

“I get to hit people and not get penalized for it,” said Scholl. “But you usually get blamed for most of the stuff [goals].”

The superstitions of goalies start young and run deep, and Scholl is no exception, between hitting his posts, stretching only in a specific way and all the way down to pregame music.

“He likes white girl music,” said Grolla-Scholl. “And all the team knows he likes white girl music, so they play it for him, and then he’ll dance and that to get it out of his head.”

The song of choice for the team is Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA.

Scholl plans to see how far his hockey career can go. Despite only being in seventh grade, he has aspirations of at least making it to college with dreams of taking the ice for an NHL team.

“However far I can go,” said Scholl. “So going up into high school and beyond that into college, and then hopefully the pros someday.”

Scholl spends a lot of time at various hockey camps, further sharpening his skill set between the pipes, constantly looking to improve his performance.

Scholl began his hockey career at the young age of 3 years old and continues to branch out into other sports like football, where he plays both running back and linebacker and takes the field as a catcher for his baseball team.

Those interested in watching the future of Fairmont hockey develop with the Fairmont Youth Hockey Association can catch the PeeWee team in Luverne on Feb. 8.