Q&A with Jets Goalie Prospect Domenic DiVincentiis

Get to know more about Jets Goalie prospect Domenic DiVincentiis, who sits down for Q&A with the Hockey News

The Jets selected netminder Domenic DiVincentiis with the 207th overall pick of the seventh round during the 2022 NHL Draft. The Bolton, ON. product recently attended Jets Development Camp and is preparing for his first pro hockey season after spending the last three seasons with the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League. 

We sat down with DiVincentiis and asked him a handful of questions so we could get to better know him. 

Jake: How has training been going so far, and have you been doing anything differently going into your first pro season?

Domenic: Yeah, the summer started off getting through an injury, coming after playoffs. I was still recovering from it but I was able to heal back at one hundred percent and was able to get on the ice and start getting in the gym full time, and veering a little bit away from the rehab sort of thing. 

The summers for me are all pretty much the same, just making sure that every day I'm getting better ahead of my first pro season and just do what I've done my whole life to get there. There's a lot more expectations for this season coming, but I'm just playing it more day by day, focusing on the process, and not getting too caught up in the future.

Jake: Besides the training, have you done anything fun in the offseason like trips with the family?

Domenic: We did as a family, go to Florida for a week and stayed in Fort Lauderdale. We actually went deep sea fishing and caught a shark, which was pretty cool experience. Other than that, just grinding away, trying to take as little vacation as I can, because this year is my first year pro so just making sure, like I said, that I'm fully ready for camp come September 10.

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Jake: During development camp, Goalie coach Drew MacIntyre was pushing you pretty hard, and noted that you held up, and you were doing quite well. What aspects of your game did he go through with you during that time and what are you kind of looking to improve this off season?

Domenic: I mean, there's always stuff to improve, I would say. It's just taking it day by day and being ready for whenever my name is called is ultimately the biggest test. Coming into the first year Pro, there's going to be a lot of moving pieces, but for me, my biggest thing is just making sure I'm improving at all aspects of my game. 

Nothing's ever too good. And it's just focusing on the little details in the game that will sharpen up and make sure that that jump from junior to pro, I'm sharper in certain aspects of my game, and making sure I'm ready for a lot faster of a game with a lot quicker guys, lot better skills. That's why getting on the ice with some of these NHL guys is allowing me to see what's kind of going on at the next level.

Jake: Jets fans will be excited to see you make the jump to the next level. For fans who may not be familar with you, how would you describe your style of play?

Domenic: I would say I'm more of a hybrid style goalie. I feel like I'm quick, got great hockey IQ and good puck handling skills. I modelled my game after Carey Price like a lot of young kids and goalies would probably say the same. I find the way he controls the game, his skating and his ability to have second efforts and be athletic, is who I kind of modelled my game after. 

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Jake: You just finished a stellar career with the North Bay Battalion. Now that you're moving to that next level, do you have any personal goals set for yourself next year?

Domenic: Yeah, being in the OHL, there were goals being set. Now it's you're starting your first pro season. You're basically starting at the bottom of the totem pole again. So the goals are the same in that I stick it out in the AHL for the full season. I want my save percentage and goals against average to be near the top in the league as any young netminder would. That's ultimately my goal: to be at the top of the league. 

For me, there's gonna be a lot of things to learn and I think some goals would be, hopefully make the all star game, make it to the playoffs and obviously everybody's end goal is to always win the championship. I would say those were some of my goals that I've set for myself in the future here with the Moose and the Jets.

Jake: Playing in the OHL must have been tough as you are going against some of the best junior players in the world. Was there any particular players that you'd go up against and really blew you away with their talent?

Domenic: It's a fantastic league. Like, I've said even when I got drafted, it's the best Junior league, I would say, in the world, for getting guys from the from Junior to the NHL. So there's tons of phenomenal players, and you've always got to watch out for everybody on that ice when when you're playing.

I would say, my first year playing against Mason McTavish, Arber Xhekaj,  Shane Wright, those types of guys, there were exceptional players. So to be able to play a game with them, and face up against their shots and stuff, and now you see where they are, was pretty cool.

Jake: Where and when did you find your love for hockey and was there a person in your life or a pro player like Carey Price or moment that really made you fall in love with the sport? 

Domenic: I started out as a player, actually, I feel like everybody starts out as a player to learn how to skate, stuff like that. When walking out of the rink when I was a kid, I actually saw a goalie session going on. I asked my dad, what are those? And he told me, those are goalies, and we actually stayed there to watch. And at the time, I lived next door to my grandparents, and I went back home and asked my grandmother if she would get me a set of goalie gear. And she said, 'the only way you know I'm getting goalie gear is if you become a street hockey goalie first.'

Obviously it's a lot cheaper, so I threw those on, and I never took them off. I used to watch games in them and play on the street all the time. And I think that just really led me to ultimately falling in love with the position. Ever since then I've been a goalie and couldn't be happier that my grandparents were able to get me into that.