Hockey leads to big goals on and off the ice for WJHA scholarship winner

by Shannon McCarter

After spending a decade as a student-athlete in the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy (WJHA) program, Dominick is among the program’s newest graduates – the class of 2024. He was also selected to receive the Winnipeg Jets Alumni & Friends Scholarship, awarded annually to a WJHA student athlete who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in their school and community, in addition to honing their hockey skills.

As a big hockey fan since a very young age, the WJHA has been an ideal fit for Dominick who could be regularly found practicing his shot in the basement even before joining program.

“Having all that [the WJHA] has provided for me, it’s creating so many memories that will definitely last a lifetime,” he said. “Just the lessons I’ve learned and how much I have grown, not only as a hockey player, but as a person.”

Having experienced significant personal challenges in his young life, the WJHA has offered an outlet in hockey, as well as coaching and mentorship that has helped Dominick to not only persevere, but to triumph through adversity. It’s an opportunity he doesn’t take for granted and which kept him focused on his goals for school, hockey and his future.

“I’m proud of everything the academy has helped me accomplish academically as well as just keeping me busy throughout the years,” he said noting that through the sport and his coaches, he taken on a more positive outlook on and off the ice and models sportsmanship and team play.

Exemplifying this thoughtfulness, Dominick has been in the habit of donating his outgrown equipment so other children could take advantage of it, rather than selling it for personal spending money.

In addition to the scholarship, which Dominick plans to use on an educational path toward law enforcement, he has even more to be excited about beyond high school, having signed with the Kenora Devils Gap Islands Jr. A Hockey Club in Kenora, Ont. for their upcoming season.

“I felt extremely happy and grateful for the opportunity to come my way and continue playing hockey at a high level,” he said. “I’m also just really excited to get going with the team. At the moment, it still feels pretty surreal.”

Moving away from home will certainly be a new experience, but his family, coaches and fellow WJHA teammates will certainly be supporting him from afar. He counts the friendships made through the program as particularly impactful.

These friendships, the experience, his personal growth and all his future opportunities are not things he takes for granted. While he truly enjoyed and appreciated his time in the program, now that it’s over, he feels the past ten years have gone by in a blink. He hopes younger kids coming up through the program will realize the WJHA’s gifts while they are in it and cherish the experience in real time, just as he did.

“I think the most important lesson would be to never take anything for granted and be grateful for the opportunities that you get as well as just always trying to be positive no matter the circumstances.”