RATZLAFF SHOOTING HIS SHOT TO MAKE THE AMERKS
Rookie goaltender turning pro after five seasons in WHL
Jul 1, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
Five goaltenders have skated into the creases at LECOM Harborcenter over the first couple of days at Sabres Development Camp. Among them is 20-year-old Scott Ratzlaff, who is here for a third straight July.
“They’re huge,” said Ratzlaff when talking about the importance of Development Camp. “Getting to know the other prospects is cool. I remember when I got drafted and coming here wanting to see the locker room and wanting to see the gym. You get a look at what could be your future. Now seeing those guys experience those same feelings is pretty neat. Having been at a couple of these camps now, you know what you’re getting into. It’s a grind. We were 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday doing fitness tests and doing skates and off-ice workouts. It’s good to kind of see this is the amount of effort it takes to be here.”
Ratzlaff is from the small village of Irma, Alberta. Despite a population of less than 500 residents, the NHL radar has flown above this point on a map twice prior. Gord Mark was the first, being drafted by the New Jersey Devils in 1983. Fast forward 30 years later, Carson Soucy was plucked by Minnesota in the 2013 Draft and has gone on to skate in over 300 NHL games to date, most recently trading his home in the village for an apartment off Broadway as a member of the New York Rangers.
Ten years, it was Ratzlaff’s turn. The goaltender became the third draftee from Irma when the Buffalo Sabres selected him in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Draft. He had been coming off his second full season with the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Hockey League and played two additional years after that. Ratzlaff’s junior career ended at 20, but started as a 15-year-old in the state of Washington.
“My goalie coach in Seattle described me as a gunslinger when I first got there,” said Ratzlaff. “I would use my glove and my hands and tried to just catch everything. I was a bad catcher. Now it’s using more of my body. I’m not the biggest goalie and I’m sure if you saw some of my early highlights from when I was 15 or 16, I was all over the map. I think staying within the crease was a big adjustment that helped my development.”
Gunslinger is a descriptor Ratzlaff took in stride. He’s since adjusted the name ever so slightly.
“I’d say I’m a tamed gunslinger now. I got one in the chamber at all times, so I just need to know when to use it.”
Over parts of five seasons, Ratzlaff appeared in 160 regular season games for Seattle, amassing an 87-55-6 record with eight shutouts. His final season saw the prospect wear a letter, being named an assist captain for the Thunderbirds in 2024-25.
The two seasons that led up to his draft class saw Ratzlaff lose just 10 times in regulation over two years, boasting a 43-10-1 mark from 2021-23. He had won a WHL Championship with Seattle and advanced to the finals of the Memorial Cup Tournament before bowing out to Quebec.
“I think I saw every piece that I could in junior hockey. I was a part of a winning team and going to the Memorial Cup with Thomas Milic (Winnipeg Jets prospect) and seeing him play the way he did taught me what it took to thrive in junior hockey. Once he aged out the following year, it was my turn to take hold of the reins.”
As Milic left, so, too, did a large part of the older core of players. Ratzlaff was part of a much younger group in Seattle his following two years.
“We were a young team, but being able to lead those guys and know that we may not have been the greatest team on paper, but we could be the hardest working team out there was a rewarding experience.”
Ratzlaff would go on to receive All-Star honors in each of the following two seasons and brought Seattle back to the playoffs this past year.
Ratzlaff’s time as a Thunderbird has come to an end. Now, he wants to wear the red, white, and blue. The young goaltender made it clear in Monday’s press conference after day one of development camp and doubled down on it a day later: his goal is to make the Rochester Americans out of training camp.
“I’ve been able to hang out with the pros and be around the rink with them at the end of the last two years. You learn a lot about what you can and can’t do. You learn a lot about the position. If you’re too deep in your crease at that level, the shooters know to snipe. If you’re too far out, they know to pass. You learn so much quicker because they keep you honest with everything. Having those two years of getting to see what the lifestyle is like is such a cool experience.”
In many ways, this year’s Development Camp marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new in Ratzlaff’s hockey story. What once was a wide-eyed teenager is now a focused, grounded goaltender.
“The mindset is urgent. As soon as you get drafted it feels like the clock starts and it’s ticking down. This is the time.”
The goal is Rochester. Ratzlaff knows the organization has a crowded pipeline in goal. Talent is by the bundles in net, but hey, sometimes you’ve got to shoot your shot. We will see what the tamed gunslinger can do.
“You’ve got to have big goals.”
