ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — When his father, Tie, played for the Maple Leafs, Max Domi took to the ice after morning skates and imagined playing a game at Air Canada Centre.
“It’s pretty close to happening,” Domi said Thursday.
Tie Domi spent 10 full seasons and parts of two others with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Gordon Beck/Postmedia News files
Domi and the rest of Canada’s world junior team will face Russia on Friday night in its first exhibition game to prepare for the upcoming championship tournament. It’s a chance for coach Benoit Groulx, his staff and the management team to make some final roster decisions.
For Domi, it’s an opportunity to live out part of a lifelong hockey dream. A prospect with the Arizona Coyotes who’s starring in his fourth season with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, he spent much of his youth in Toronto.
“The whole experience is going to be pretty special, for sure,” Domi said. “It’s something we’re all looking forward to. But we’ve got to take care of business and we’ve got to beat the Russians.”
In downplaying his trip to Toronto, Domi seems to have bought into Groulx’s concern about what the environment could do to the 19-year-old forward.
“I like the way he works, the poise that he has with the puck. He seems to be very confident.” — Team Canada coach Benoit Groulx, on Max Domi
“I think it’s big for Max to go to Toronto and play a game,” Groulx said Wednesday. “I think it’s going to be very important for him to manage his emotion, to stay calm and focus on what he’s got to do, not on being in Toronto where his dad used to be a star.”
Tie Domi spent 10 full seasons and parts of two others with the Leafs. During that time, Max developed a love for one specific part of games at Air Canada Centre: the cookies in the family lounge.
“They’re unbelievable, man,” Domi said. “I don’t know what it is. They have different guys’ names and their numbers. (Mats) Sundin was my guy, so I shoved them all in my pockets and just ran away and they were all gone before I got home.”
Domi is close to his father’s size at five-foot-nine and 194 pounds but brings much sharper offensive skills. In 214 games with London, Domi has 287 points on 111 goals and 176 assists.
Max Domi spent this week of training camp as the first-line left-winger. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
Groulx said Domi had a good summer camp with Canada’s world junior team and hasn’t seen that play drop off. Domi has 58 points in 27 games so far this season.
“I watched him play three times from September to November, and every time I watched him play he was good,” Groulx said. “So I’m not surprised the way he’s performing here so far. We expect him to be a good player for us.”
Domi spent this week of training camp as the first-line left-winger alongside Sam Reinhart and Anthony Duclair. That’s major billing for the 2013 first-round pick, skating with the No. 2 selection in 2014 and a player who has spent the bulk of this NHL season with the New York Rangers.
Over the past year, Domi said he has tried to work on his 200-foot game and become a more complete player. Groulx liked what he saw out of Domi at camp.
“I like the way he works, the poise that he has with the puck,” Groulx said. “He seems to be very confident.”
Some of that confidence comes from Domi’s speed, which teammates know is one of his biggest assets.
“He’s a good guy in the room,” centre Connor McDavid said. “And on the ice he can absolutely fly with the puck and he can make so many special plays. Just an unbelievable player.”
Source:: canada.com
