WILLIAM ROUSSEAU: FROM THE CREASE TO THE COCKPIT
Jul 22, 2026William Rousseau plays one of the loneliest positions in sports. As a goaltender, he isn’t entirely alone in preventing the other team from scoring but still spends much of each game alone.
“You can definitely be isolated from the team,” said Rousseau. “If you give up a bad goal, it’s easy to take the blame. That can be really hard mentally, but you have to remember it’s a team sport. When forwards make errors, the defensemen are there, and when defensemen make errors, the goalie is supposed to stop the puck.”
Rousseau’s mental approach has been heavily influenced by work with Alain Vigneault, a Canadian sports psychologist. Over the course of several seasons, Vigneault has taught Rousseau to reset after allowing goals and in other challenging moments.
“There’s no time for that in a game,” said Rousseau. “You have to put yourself in the present and not think about the past.”
Rousseau considers himself privileged to not only have access to a sports psychologist but to have also been coached by Patrick Roy, one of hockey’s all-time greatest goaltenders, during his first three QMJHL seasons with the Québec Remparts (2020-23). Roy, who served as the team’s head coach, allowed Rousseau’s goaltending coach the freedom to work but would occasionally provide the young netminder with valuable insight from a storied NHL career.
“If I had a bad game or a bad stretch, he would get me in his office for a little video session,” said Rousseau. “He talked about his past experiences with Colorado and goalie to goalie stuff. He’d talk about the mental side of the game, how to approach a game, and how to get a bit more of that thicker skin as a goalie.”
“He helped me with owning the crease, which I struggled with a lot. I was a bit too friendly and he taught me more about how to manage games.”
Roy’s tutelage paid off during the 2022-23 season, when Québec lifted trophies as QMJHL and CHL Memorial Cup champions. Rousseau led the QMJHL in goals-against average in both 2022-23 and 2023-24 and was recognized with the Patrick Roy Trophy as the QMJHL’s Goaltender of the Year and the CHL’s Goaltender of the Year following his 2023-24 season with Rouyn-Noranda.
Rousseau, who went undrafted but attended development camps in Ottawa, Boston, and Minnesota, signed an ECHL contract with the Iowa Heartlanders prior to the 2024-25 season. After a few months of prolific performances, the Iowa Wild signed Rousseau to an AHL contract through the 2025-26 season, bringing him one step closer to his dream of playing in the NHL.
“That was always my goal, to compete in the NHL,” said Rousseau. “As a goalie, it’s harder. There are only two spots on every team, and the difference comes down to mental toughness.”
Rousseau has spent a significant amount of time before and during his hockey career pursuing a different goal. Since he was young, Rousseau has dreamed of becoming an airline pilot, a goal he intends to achieve after his professional hockey career.
“Growing up, I watched YouTube videos about aviation and visited airports,” said Rousseau. “Even just the weather outside and learning how clouds are formed was something I was passionate about.”
Rousseau began attending a pilot training program at 17 at Québec International Airport and earned a private license with 45 hours of flight time at 18. A Canadian commercial pilot’s license requires 200 hours of flight, and Rousseau has just a few more to go prior to certification.
“It’s a long way to go to become a full-time pilot,” said Rousseau. “You start out with more regional flights, up north in Canada in smaller airplanes like the Dash 8-400. You build up your hours till you get to 1,500 and get your airline license.”
Once Rousseau acquires his airline license, he hopes to eventually work for Air Canada and possibly even pilot a Boeing 777 on trans-Atlantic flights. While ensuring the safe passage of hundreds of travelers is a huge responsibility, Rousseau believes years of mental preparation from goaltending will help him in the skies.
“When you’re in net, you’re kind of alone out there and controlling what you can control,” said Rousseau. You can't control how the players are playing in front of you, but you can make a big save and help the team at some point.”
“It's the same thing with aviation. Once you're up there, you're alone in your little machine and you're just flying around. If something goes bad or something, you’ve got lives of people that you’ve got to save. It’s not the same thing, because the danger is a bit higher for aviation, but I really thing flying planes helps me a lot with goaltending and then goaltending helps me a lot with flying planes.”