EDMONTON- Edmonton Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk spent the day Thursday working with a group of aspiring hockey players in St. Albert.
Dubnyk hit the ice with some young goalies at Oilers Hockey School at Servus Place, spending some time helping them with their skills. He says it’s something he remembers fondly when he was their age.
“I think probably most vividly would be the Okanagan Hockey School in Penticton, Brendan Morrison was there, which is funny because I ended up playing against him,” Dubnyk said with a laugh.
“It doesn’t take much to remember what it was like being that age and having an NHL player come out to the camp was pretty cool. So, it’s fun to be on the other side of that and get to see their faces.”
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The 27-year-old netminder is spending his first summer in Edmonton, and has been training with recently signed back up goalie Jason LaBarbera. Dubnyk says he was really excited when that signing happened.
“I’ve known him for a long time. I’ve trained with him for the last four years, I think,” Dubnyk explained. “He’s just a real quality guy, he’s been around a long time and he works hard. I just think he’s going to be a great guy to have in the room, for the young guys. He’s been through a lot, he’s seen a lot and he’s just a solid presence back there.”
As for some of the other moves the Oilers have made this off-season, Dubnyk says he “definitely thinks there’s some real good signings,” including acquiring defenceman Andrew Ference.
“Ference is just a guy, he’s hard to play against, he’s really going to be an addition for our back end. (He’s) just a solid guy that you can put on the ice every single time there’s an urgent situation or something needs to be shut down,” he said. “He’s gonna teach guys a lot, I think.”
As the Oilers starting goalie, Dubnyk says it would be nice to start 60 plus games this season, and says he’s already getting antsy for that to happen.
“It’s July and I’m itching already.”
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