Dumba's big week includes school, draft

Matt Dumba is a defenseman for the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League. The 5-foot-11.75, 183-pound defenseman was named WHL Rookie of the Year after scoring 15 goals and adding 11 assists in 62 games. He also had a tournament-high 12 points -- all assists -- to help Canada Pacific win the bronze medal at the 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. This summer, he played for Canada at the 2011 Ivan Hlinka Tournament and also took part in the 2011 NHL Research, Development and Orientation Camp in August. Dumba has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

The time finally has come. It's exciting right now. Just getting packed up and ready to go to Pittsburgh right now. It's pretty crazy.

The last few days I've been just working out, really. I've done a few interviews with radio stations and newspapers. People are getting pretty excited at home here in Calgary, especially friends and family.

I'm actually studying right now. My last day of final exams is Tuesday, and then I fly out to Toronto with the family and then we'll make our way down to Pittsburgh. It's pretty crazy, knowing it's my last day of high school and then the draft. Everything's coming pretty quick now.

I have a pretty nice-size group coming to Pittsburgh -- my mom, my dad, my little brother. I have some aunts and uncles coming, my trainer. And I have some buddies coming, and their mom is coming, too.

My mom is just kind of trying to organize all the family stuff, make sure we're getting in on time. She's working on that stuff. That's the stress she's going through. My dad is just along for the ride. He's kept me pretty calm, kept the whole family relatively balanced.

My stress level is pretty low at this point. I've come to the point where I know really everything is out of my hands. I've done everything I can do. Now it's just time to let the cards fall where they may. I'm just really relaxed and enjoying this time with my friends. They're all excited for me. I'm excited to find out on Friday.

People keep asking me if I have any idea what teams are interested in me, and to tell you the truth, no, not really. As far as that goes, I don't really know at all. All the teams in that area where I'm ranked haven't really said anything. They're keeping their cards held tight. I'm excited to find out on Friday.