Check Out This 12-Year-Old Hoss

You have to be a pretty special hockey player to make headlines as a 12-year-old, and Ethan Lavallee didn't disappoint in the Toronto Star. While Wayne Gretzky was making headlines for scoring hundreds of goals as a 10-year-old, Ethan Lavallee is making headlines because he is 6'5½" and 192 lbs at age 12. Big kids always get noticed, but Lavallee also comes with some skill and is lighting up his AAA league in Northern Ontario for the Nickel City Sons.

In 8 games, Lavallee has 11 goals and 3 assists, good enough for 1st in league goal scoring and 4th overall in points. Not too shabby for a giant on ice. 

He is over a foot taller than the other kids in the league and carries more weight than them, which can have its disadvantages. He might not be the fastest or most fluid skater out there because of his size, but he knows how to find the net and use his skillset to help his team hold down first place in their league. Perhaps the biggest disadvantage for Lavallee is that he is being exposed to asshole adults who taunts and heckle the boy at every game because of his size. From what we've read, the kid doesn't do anything to deserve the abuse from opposing fans and coaches and is a clean hitter who watches out for the safety of opposing players when he could steamroll them at will. 

Based on his size, he would be among the tallest players in the NHL right now and pretty much has the same height/weight as Winnipeg Jets forward, Blake Wheeler who is 6'5" and 205lbs. Just to put his size in perspective, Lavallee would be the tallest or tied tallest on 17 NHL teams, and would be the outright tallest on 5 of those teams. For a 12-year-old who probably has some more growing to do, that's pretty insane. We hope to hear more from this kid in the future and hope he learns to ignore the jealous assholes in the stands and opposing bench.