Former Viper Goaltender Olthuis Learned Toughness On The Farm:

Former Vernon Vipers goaltender, Jon Olthuis is currently in his first season with the SPHL Augusta RiverHawks. In 15 games with the RiverHawks, Olthuis is 7-7 with a 3.26 GAA. Olthuis played two seasons in Vernon (2004-06) before playing four years at University of Alaska-Anchorage. On March 30th the ECHL Alaska Aces added the former UAA goaltender as a third string emergency backup goaltender for the playoffs, Aces starting goaltender, Scott Reird returned to the lineup after his injury wich ment Olthuis was then released on April 4th. Olthuis signed with the CHL Dayton Gems this past summer but was released on October, 12th prior to the regular season.

I found a good article on Olthuis and his farming days back home. This was in the Augusta Chronicle back on November, 19th

RiverHawks goalie learned toughness on the farm

By Billy Byler

Friday, Nov. 19, 2010

A blanket of snow covered Neerlandia this week as the small town located just north of Edmonton braced for another cold Canadian winter.

Augusta RiverHawks goalie Jon Olthuis knows there's no chance of the snow melting, and he didn't have to consult the weather forecast, which calls for a high of 12 degrees and a low of minus-6 today.

Neerlandia is Olthuis' home, and a farm that raised pigs and grew grain was the setting for his childhood. Days started early during the summer when the sun rose just after 5 a.m. and gave more than 17 hours of sunlight. Dark winters sometimes offered fewer than eight hours of sun, and Olthuis' work in the family business toughened him up.

"I don't know what the reputation is down here, but up there everybody knows farm boys are always a hard-working group," he said. "Weekends and weeknights after school you give your dad help and pitch in on the farm. You just felt like it was your obligation. They didn't really force you. Just daily chores: feeding the pigs, washing rooms, shoveling out grain bins. There were lots of job."

With two other brothers working as well, Olthuis said the family farm thrived until the market fell out of the hog industry. But grain is still profitable, and the work continued.

"We grow wheat, barley and canola. Canola is the big one," he said. "Back home, a lot of guys farm in the summer and fall, and get a job in the winter. My brothers, one drives a log truck in the winter and the other one drives an equipment hauler."

Olthuis' winter job is to stop drives. He is the starting goalie for the RiverHawks and has been in goal for all four of the team's wins. The first-year expansion team will try for win No. 5 tonight when it plays host to the Columbus Cottonmouths at 7:30 p.m. at James Brown Arena.

Through 10 games, Olthuis has made seven starts. Aside from allowing six goals in a loss at Pensacola last weekend, the 25-year-old netminder has proved his worth as a No. 1 goalie.

"For the most part, Jon's played really well," coach Brad Ralph said. "Every league that you're in there's an adjustment period, and I think it took him a couple of weeks to get into it. Other than that, I've been pretty pleased with him."

The University of Anchorage-Alaska product has shown promise in his first year as a professional. He hasn't allowed an overtime goal in two extra periods and made 38 saves in a 5-3 win at Huntsville on Nov. 11.

Olthuis posted a season-high 38 saves in a loss to Knoxville on Oct. 29 for his second loss in three starts, but he followed that up with three consecutive wins.

The rookie has seen more time in goal than all but one other SPHL goalie, and Olthuis has pored over those game tapes to help make the RiverHawks' inaugural season a successful one.

"I would say outside of Florida things have been progressing well," he said.

"The puck does a lot of work in pro hockey, so the biggest adjustment is to read more of what the pucks are going to do than the players. That's probably the biggest challenge for me."

It's a challenge that has been simplified thanks to a childhood of farm work. Stopping pucks isn't an intimidating task compared to stopping pigs.

"They're a stubborn bunch. They're low to the ground and they're solid muscle. You've got to brace yourself or you're going to get knocked out," Olthuis said.

"And that myth about riding pigs, you can't do it. They run immediately."