Hasek’s Heroes continues to grow the game of hockey in Buffalo through expanded partnership with Sabres and NHL

Faustin Ushindi was eight years old when he and his family immigrated to Buffalo from Uganda in 2014.

As they focused on adjusting to their new home and lifestyle, it became apparent that Ushindi could use something more while his mom and siblings were away at work.

His mom, Gorettie Mukagasane, decided to sign him up for a summer hockey camp through Hasek’s Heroes, a developmental hockey program for economically disadvantaged youth in Buffalo, founded by Buffalo Sabres Hall-of-Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek in 2001.

Ushindi – then 10 years old – showed up to camp two days late after his family struggled to find the school. He arrived at the hockey rink wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and ended up spraining his ankle on the first day, but that didn’t stop him from falling in love with the sport and seeing his life change forever.

“Every time I step into a rink, it’s just like everything outside the rink just disappears and I’m just there by myself,” Ushindi said. “It’s special.”

Less than a year after learning how to play hockey, the young boy was rewarded by making the cut for the Wheatfield Blades PeeWee Major AA travel team. Today, Ushindi is now a senior in high school and playing varsity hockey for St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in Buffalo and minor hockey for the Buffalo Regals 18U AAA team in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association.

The now 17-year-old credits the Hasek’s Heroes program for giving him the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to play hockey.

“Learning hockey has definitely improved my life in many ways,” Ushindi said. “It’s definitely changed (my life in) a lot of ways and given me a lot more opportunities in life that I could (have) never imagined.”