Freshly arrived in Laval, goaltender Jakub Dobeš held his first practice with the Rocket on Tuesday morning.
Coming off the ice, he had to take some pictures for promotional material. A characteristic and ominous sound was then heard by the few journalists present: that of skates on concrete. “Damn, I’m on concrete…” Dobeš said at the time, laughing.
Everything is new and learning for the 6’5″ guy. However, this is not the first time that he has been parachuted into a new environment.
The Czech left his family nest at 15 in the hope of one day establishing himself in the professional world. At 16, he went to the United States. Thanks to his mother, an English teacher, the language did not shake him too much. Surprisingly, neither does the charming town of Topeka, Kansas.
Because before playing in the USHL and then in the prestigious Big Ten division of the NCAA, Dobeš played 11 games with the Topeka Pilots in the NAHL, a second division junior championship.
“I liked Topeka,” he said with a smile. I signed with them because I had foreign player status in the USHL and they already had another foreign goaltender in Akira Schmid, who is now with the Devils. I was called back the day he was traded. But I had a lot of fun there. »
The Rocket will therefore be the 21-year-old goaltender’s fifth North American team. The self-described goaltender “who likes to play the puck” and who is “not stressed” really enjoyed his first practice with the Rocket. He has also started to shoot the pipe of his teammates.
“The guys had a few lucky goals, but I’ll fix that,” he said.
“The best long-term decision”
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Jakub Dobeš, a 6’5″ man, left his family nest at 15 in the hope of one day establishing himself in the professional world.
Following the elimination of his club from Ohio State University in qualifying for the Frozen Four tournament, Dobeš began to reflect on his future career.
“We got eliminated on Sunday. On Monday, I was already wondering about my future. I decided on Thursday, then it went quickly. On Thursday evening we signed the contract and on Friday we announced it, ”he said.
After two seasons in the NCAA where he earned a place among the ten “semi-finalists” for the Mike Richter Trophy, which rewards the best goalkeeper in the NCAA, the goalkeeper wanted to face another challenge.
“I had chosen the Big Ten to face better players, he explained. Great challenges make you better. […] By choosing to come here, I will face even better players and that will make me a better goalkeeper. »
Dobeš has a contract in his pocket for the years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 with the Canadian, but for this year with the Rocket exclusively. Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle said if the Montreal club “deems it’s ready, then it’s ready.” So, in this specific case, the question will not be put to Kent Hughes.
If his choice status of 5e tour in 2020 doesn’t intimidate him compared to other teammates selected earlier, Dobeš knows he still has work to do before helping the Habs, or even the Rocket.
“I have to be better technically. Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon will find the slightest opening. So I have to adjust to facing better players. I have to take advantage of my greatness,” he noted.
Houle has not completely ruled out the possibility of seeing Dobeš in front of the Laval club’s goal this season, “because there may be injuries”. But all in all, the newcomer should stay behind by the end of the season.
He will therefore have time to acclimatize to the club, progress, without forgetting the chance to discover every corner of Place Bell.
A guard with the number… 71?
Although a handful of NHL goaltenders wear high numbers – see here Kings Joonas Korpisalo (70) and Lightning Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) – few deviate from the few traditional numbers like 1, 30 and 31 Despite being aware that 71 “is a skater’s number,” Dobeš made a point of explaining why he’s worn it most of his career and now with the Rocket: “When I was little, I played at PlayStation and a player who has the same nickname as me had the number 71 [NDLR : ce joueur était Filip Kuba et le surnom de Dobeš est Kuba]. When I played with it, I thought it was me. The following week, we were choosing our number for the season, so I took it. It’s a unique number and it represents me. »