With multiple Quebec natives on the Lloydminster Bobcats’ roster, Fort McMurray Oil Barons forward Justin Dumais was bound to run into at least one familiar face as the AJHL teams met twice on season-opening weekend.
Read more: Bobcats embrace Hub hockey hoopla; AJHL regular season begins Friday
“Yeah, I know Alessio Nardelli,” Dumais said about the second-year Bobcats’ forward. “I know him from mutual friends. We have some of the same friends, so I used to hang out with him and play three-on-three with him over the summers.”
When the Oil Barons and Bobcats split games in Lloydminster’s new Cenovus Energy Hub, the Montreal-area friends kept it professional and didn’t engage in much dialogue, let alone trash talk.
“We don’t talk so much,” said Dumais, a 19-year-old in his second season with Fort Mac. “It’s more so just a mutual thing. We smile at each other and say, ‘What’s up?’ ”
Dumais made the move west during last seasonafter playing in the QMJHL with the Gatineau Olympiques. The Q, of course, is the league where his older brother Jordan starred with the Halifax Mooseheads, including a 140-point season just three years ago.
Jordan, a Columbus Blue Jackets’ prospect now with the NHL team for training camp, played in the AHL last season with the Cleveland Monsters.
“He’s trying to fight for a spot, and he’s trying to have a big year in the AHL,” Justin said about Jordan, who is two years older.
“We keep in touch with him, and we let him do his thing. He’s a pro at the end of the day.”
Justin wears jersey No. 12, rather than go with the No. 11 that big brother Jordan made famous in major junior.
“I do like the number 11, but I tried to stay away from that,” Justin said with a smile. “Don’t want to be copying my brother too much.”
Indeed, the younger Dumais is differentiating himself playing at the junior A level in Western Canada. As he showed Saturday (Sept. 20) while scoring a goal and an assist during Fort Mac’s 4-0 victory, Justin is an integral part of the Oil Barons’ well.
“I think we have a great program here,” he said. “The coaches here have given me a lot of freedom. They’ve put me in positions to succeed. We’ve got a great group in (the dressing room), a great coaching staff, great facilities. I like the town, so it’s all positives.”
Dumais believes one of the greatest positives is his opportunity to blend hockey into a life experience in another part of Canada.
“Yeah, and I enjoy those things,” he said. “I’ve lived away from home since (age) 14. I went to prep school, lived in the States. I was always away from home (for hockey), so coming out west didn’t scare me or anything like that. It’s a cool experience to get to see the nice views around here and different people, so it’s all good experiences.”
In just 38 AJHL games last season, Dumais scored 12 goals and 32 points. He has two years of junior eligibility remaining, so he’s not rushing the next step in his hockey career.
“Yeah, just taking it game by game,” he said. “Can’t control any of that stuff, so I just try and play the best I can. Obviously, NCAA is in my vision. U Sports, also. Anything like that.”
Just after a faceoff in the Lloydminster zone, Dumais went to the net with persistence and scored the goal that put the Oil Barons up 2-0 just 3:18 into Saturday’s game. It set the tone for the night as Fort Mac went on to post its first victory of the young season.
His second-effort goal came against Lloyd rookie goaltender Sam Madgett, a U18 major graduate whom the QMJHL’S Mooseheads drafted in 2023 during Jordan Dumais’ Halifax heyday.
Justin Dumais, a Moncton Wildcats’ selection in the 2022 Q draft, is a smooth fit on an Oil Barons’ team that has an equal mix of new and old faces.
“Yeah, pretty much exactly 50-50,” he said. “We’ve got all our 19, 18 and 17-year-olds back from last year, so we love that presence. We didn’t have any returning players last year, so it’s good to have that now. We’re trying to build a good culture for the rookies coming in.”
Just recently, Fort Mac welcomed another youngster as the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos assigned 18-year-old goalie Berney Weston to the Oil Barons. Weston played U18 AAA the past three years with the Swift Current Legionnaires.
Read more: Bobcats beat MOB 4-2 in Hub home-opener
