
CSR 376 Sam Goodwin
From Catholic Sports Radio by Bruce Wawrzyniak
April 20, 2026 · 32 min · Episode 376
About this episode
Sam Goodwin shares his journey from junior hockey to being a best-selling author and his experiences traveling to every country in the world.
He played hockey growing up and then went on to not only play junior hockey in Dallas for the Texas Tornado, but from there earned a D1 athletic scholarship to Niagara University. During his freshman year at Niagara, he and two teammates set an NCAA record and made number 2 on SportsCenter's Top 10 when they scored three shorthanded goals on one penalty, in 69 seconds. He still today plays in a weekly men's league hockey game. He is the author of the best-selling memoir, "Saving Sam," about his having been taken hostage and wrongfully imprisoned while in Syria, as part of his travels to every country in the world - all 193 United Nations Sovereign States, having attended Mass in 65 countries and visited Catholic churches in approximately 115. Listen as he mentions having even coached hockey in North Korea!
People in this episode
Host: Bruce Wawrzyniak
Guest: Sam Goodwin
Topics covered
- hockey
- memoir
- Catholicism
- travel
- sports
- personal story
Keywords
- hockey
- NCAA record
- hostage
- Catholic churches
- travel
- memoir
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Texas Tornado, Niagara University
Books & works: Saving Sam
Places: Syria, North Korea
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