The story that many hockey fans remember when they think of Charlie Cerrato implies it, at 4 years old, looking at a naked Alex Ovechkin. Cerrato, a long -standing fan of the capital, does not remember it. But his father, Vinny, a former NFL executive, does it.
It was perhaps the moment when something subconscious in Charlie clicked. His father worked in football, but he was intended to be a hockey player.
It is something of an unusual objective for a child who grows in Maryland. The Cerratos settled in Fallston – Vinny is a host on the 105.7 The Baltimore fan – and Charlie started a long journey that could lead to a new path on Saturday.
Most projections made him go in the middle of the NHL draft (the first round ended on Friday evening; the other six are on Saturday). He would only become the sixth native of Virginia written.
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Cerrato had hoped to hear his name when he was eligible for the first time two years ago. But an unexpected detour led him during an exhilarating race at the top of university hockey and has now ready to realize a dream.
“I have been transmitted twice now,” he said. “In the moment, yes, it’s difficult. As, you want to be written. Many of your friends are written, but use it as motivation, a little adversity and a chip on your shoulder.”
Hunt the game
While the Maryland hockey culture has improved – partly due to the influence of Ovechkin – Cerrato had to leave the state to perfect its game.
He first learned to skate at the age of 3 or 4 in Reston, Virginia. His father – a hockey star at the Lycée in Minnesota who chose to continue a university football career – would start the day at 6 am at the ice in the ice where Charlie is patina with the director of Hockey. A quick stop at McDonald’s for breakfast, then Vinny Cerrato would drop her son to the preschool before going to the NFL team in Washington.
Finally, Charlie needed to find better competition, which meant to lead to 84 miles (in each direction) for practices in Hollydell Ice Arena in Sewell, New Jersey.
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“If I did not have a father who was able to spend so much time in the car, to drive me everywhere, I would not be where I am,” said Charlie Cerrato.
Charlie would end his homework and watch YouTube videos on the car trip, but more than anything, he liked to listen to his father to make phone calls.
In 2021, Charlie joined the prestigious development program of the national hockey team in the United States in Michigan, which produced the best prospects every year.
During the 2023-24 season, he played with the Phantoms of Youngstown in Ohio (he is common for players at the University to delay school and play junior hockey). Initially engaged in Michigan, he chose Penn State after the Wolverines changed the coaches.
It was good news for Vinny, who had struggled to miss his son’s game when he was in the Midwest.
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“He and I traveled three days a week.” Vinny Cerrato said. “And then it was a cold turkey after that because I couldn’t enter training. … It was something that was completely foreign to me because I was in each of these games.”
Charlie Cerrato said that leaving the players of the house forces “grow faster”.
From learning laundry to improve the art of cooking steaks, Cerrato picked up life lessons that would help him while he was traveling through the United States and Canada.
Make the story in Penn State
The year of the first year of Cerrato did not start that he wanted. The Nittany Lions went 0-8 against the opponents of the Big Ten.
It only made the team’s dramatic race to end the year more satisfactory.
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The flight and pass behind the Cerrato back have set up the winning goal in overtime of the regional final, sending Penn State to his first Frozen Four in the history of the school.
Deputy coach Andrew Sturtz rushed to kiss Cerrato after this pass. He was defeated by the pride he felt for a child he said took time and additional efforts for his team.
“There are so many things that he did in the race, and it was really rewarding to see a smile on his face when we won this match and he was able to go to his very first frozen,” said Sturtz. “It’s a moment that I will never forget in my coach career.”
Cerrato does not remember the exact words that “Sturtzy” told him in the moments after the victory.
“Maybe a few words of curse, like” Fuck Yeah “,” he said. “It was great.”
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Cerrato said that the team’s success had led to a change on campus.
“We are starting to win, and we go to the playoffs, and we arrive at the four frosts,” he said. “You see people starting to wear hockey stuff from Penn State, and you see the buzz that it is social media or on campus or at the games. It was really, really something special to watch last year.”
Vinny Cerrato attributes the national program for helping her son to twin his high energy game with a level of professional varnish.
Charlie says that it is partly because he grew up around athletes. He saw what it was to be a professional player, inspired by his father’s work with the commanders of Washington.
Being a child of Vinny had other advantages. The Cerrato family spent time with Tom Cruise and his family in an amusement park, and Cruise nicknamed it “Methball”.
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But above all Charlie learned what it would take to succeed at the highest level. He will bring his family together – including those who hosted him when he lived in Ohio – For a party project while they are waiting for the next stage of his career.
Like any media player, Charlie says he is happy to join any team selects him. He plans to be back in Penn State this fall, but is impatient to start pushing towards his ultimate goal of playing in the NHL.
Although he admits, with a little smile spread over his face, that he could be a particular player with whom he would like to play: Ovechkin.
