MONTREAL – Over three years have passed since the Winnipeg Jets drafted Dominic DiVincentiis at the Bell Centre, the same building that the Jets prospects will take part of the 2025 Prospect Showdown as they face the Canadiens prospects Saturday at 6 pm CT.
After being selected in the seventh round in 2022, DiVincentiis wrapped up his junior hockey career with an impressive 63-18-6 record with North Bay of the Ontario Hockey League over two seasons.
“We had him ranked much higher than the seventh round,” said Drew McIntyre, who is the Jets developmental goaltending coach.
“So, no brainer for us. The kid is internally wired differently. He is fierce competitor, dialed in like tough to be more dialed in. He pushes the boundaries of being at times too dialed in.”
Last year, in his pro hockey debut season, the 21-year-old posted a 28-17-3 record between the AHL (Manitoba) and the ECHL (Norfolk). DiVincentiis started the 2024-25 campaign with the Moose, was sent down to Norfolk, came back to Winnipeg and went back to Norfolk for the ECHL playoffs. As challenging as it must have been for the young goaltender, McIntyre feels it was important for his development.
“Okay, you learn to grind. You learn to not have a goalie coach every day, and you got to figure it out on your own. Sometimes I'm talking to him on Zoom and talking to the assistant coaches and trying to organize stuff, but no, I'm still not there, so they got to figure that out,” said McIntyre.
“But also, just like, the travel (in the ECHL) is just crazy, you do a sleeper bus and then, boom, you've got to find a way. You find a way to just like stop the puck and be ready.”
Considering that DiVincentiis and Thomas Milic are both drafted by the Jets, you would think that they are the front runners to be the goaltenders for the Manitoba Moose this upcoming season. But the Jets have brought in Alex Worthington who played for Edmonton of the WHL last season and Isaac Poulter. Poulter, who is from Winnipeg, has over 100 games of pro hockey experience.
“There's nothing set in stone of who our goalies are, we have prospects tournament, main camp, Moose camp, to figure that that out. But really good options,” said McIntyre.
“Alex is a really exciting project, in my opinion, could be we got for two years. So, he's got a lot, lot, lot of growth needed. But like I said, he's got a lot of skill that we can work with.”
