Wisconsin goalie stops pucks with two prosthetic legs

NOW: Wisconsin goalie stops pucks with two prosthetic legs
NEXT:

HARTLAND, Wis. (CBS 58) -- As far as her coaches knew, Lily Rosenthal was just another goalie at former olympian Jinelle Siergiej's Crazy 8 Hockey Camp in Hartland.

When Lily's parents signed her up, they didn't mention she had two prosthetic legs.

"She asked me not to." said Lily's mom, Laura.

"I just wanted to surprise them." Lily told CBS 58 before practice at the Mullett Ice Center at Arrowhead Union High School.

In her goalie pads, on the ice, you'd have no idea the Sun Prairie 12-year old is any different than the rest of the skaters on the ice.

"That's a thing about hockey I kind of like," said Laura. "I want people to see her as a player and not as a player with prosthetic legs."

Lily's parents adopted her from Northwest China when she was two and a half years old. She was born with fibular hemimelia. She had no fibula in either leg causing club feet and missing toes. Her parents made the tough decision to amputate when she was three and a half.

"Once the cast was off and she was fitted for prosthetics, she was off and running." Laura said. "If she wanted to try something, we didn't stop her. I don't think we could."

What she wanted was to be a goalie, like her sister.

Lily stops pucks like every other goalie, with whatever she's got to throw in the way. Her glove, her blocker, and her legs too.

"If you think of them, you'll just get scored on. You just have to be in the game." said Lily.

"I'm just very inspired by her." said Siergiej, a 2010 silver medalist and former national champion Badger hockey player. "I have a camp of 88 girls here. They all noticed Lily. I think it would be hard for them not to be inspired by her. She works hard and she's not letting it limit what she wants to do."

Share this article:
Sign up for the Sports Newsletter