A friend of mine recently visited his son in Moncton and took in a local junior hockey game.

A solid two-way defenceman who wore No. 5 for the Moncton Wildcats caught my friend’s eye. To his surprise, the determined teenager had Kitchener listed as his hometown. My friend asked me how a kid from Kitchener wound up in Moncton?

 

It was a good question. It’s not unprecedented. Kitchener native Mike Hoffman was overlooked in the OHL. But he found an adopted hockey home in the QMJHL.

 

He went to a Memorial Cup with Drummondville and won league MVP honours as an overager with Saint John. The Ottawa Senators drafted Hoffman as a 19-year-old. He won a Calder Cup with the Senators AHL team in Binghamton and went on to score a career-high 36 goals with the Florida Panthers last season.

 

We don’t know what’s in store for the latest Kitchener native who has found a hockey home in the QMJHL, but Tristan De Jong certainly is someone the 519 Online Sports community should be interested in and follow.

 

De Jong is 19, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. He was born in Kitchener, raised in Cambridge and Breslau, but found his hockey chops under Shawn Dietrich’s Waterloo Wolves minor midgets who made back-to-back OHL Cups in 2015 and 2016 with De Jong on the blue line.

 

The Barrie Colts selected him in the 10th round (200th overall) in 2016. But he never stuck with Dale Hawerchuk’s side. Instead, De Jong was sent to the Cambridge WinterHawks after his first training camp and after they folded to the St. Catharines Falcons the following year.

 

“I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to showcase my talent at the major junior level,” he said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to crack the elite roster."

 

“After getting sent back [from the second Colts training camp], I shifted my attention toward a different route. I always had the goal of playing professional hockey and knew that there was more than one way to get to that end goal.”

 

DeJong comes from a unique family. His Dad, Wim, a construction worker, hails from the Netherlands and comes from a long line of successful speed skaters. His mother, Karen, a teacher, is from Newfoundland. She played hockey. So did her brother, and her father played and coached at an elite level.

 

Tristan’s sister, Megan, was a national level figure skater, and now pursues her sporting passion of volleyball at St. David Catholic Secondary in Waterloo.

 

Education always has been relevant to the De Jongs. So after the Colts returned him to Junior B for the second time, the thought of an NCAA scholarship was a path De Jong hoped to pursue.

 

But there was a scout with Moncton who was burning the midnight oil. Ismael Bilodeau liked what he saw in DeJong as he watched the online streaming of St. Catharines games.

 

De Jong was invited to training camp 14 months ago and immediately impressed the Wildcats brass. As his rookie season progressed, so did his minutes. By the time the QMJHL playoffs rolled around last spring, De Jong was relied on heavily as the Wildcats upset against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the first round.

 

“At first, I was hesitant about playing so far from home,” De Jong said. “It was a new opportunity to once again explore playing hockey in the CHL. At that point, I just wanted to prove to myself and to others that I was good enough to play major junior hockey.

 

“Upon arriving in Moncton, I immediately felt welcomed. The staff was very accommodating and made sure I was taken care of. One of the first things I noticed was the community in Moncton. The people are very hospitable, which occurs naturally in the Maritimes. I instantly fit in with the group of players and could see a future in Moncton with the Wildcats organization.” 

 

De Jong raves about the Wildcats organization and his billet family. He’s found his way as Moncton has begun the season with an impressive 12-3-0 record.

 

De Jong is super smart. He’s already chipping away at his Engineering degree, taking economics for engineers as well as integral calculus classes this fall.

 

When he was younger, he did all he could to refine his game. That’s when he met local University of Waterloo psychology professor Richard Ennis, who works with plenty of young hockey, golf and other elite-level athletes in the 519 area.

 

De Jong was kind enough and thoughtful enough to take us inside his mindset.

 

“I was doing all I could to refine my game and establish an identity as a player,” De Jong explained. “I was young and playing in a different league, so sometimes the nerves got the best of me. I would overcomplicate areas of my game and begin to overthink. At times, I lost touch with the reason I was playing: my passion for the game."

 

“This led me to see someone to help further me develop. I see myself as a student of the game and learn from feedback and video of my game. I met with Rich Ennis, and he really helped me to define my strengths and use them as the core of my play."

 

“A player can be good at a lot of things. However, there are always going to be certain things that make them stand out. By focusing on just a few things that define you as a player, it can help to prevent overcomplicating your play. This is what I learned from Rich."

 

“We established three core strengths I could focus on when I prepare for my games. At any point in a game where I feel stressed or defeated, I can reset and focus on these strengths. This has always helped me relax in big games and pressure situations, and I use them to this day."

 

“They consist of a few words which were easy to remember and are specific to my own needs. The three strengths we established together were: 1. Quick and easy (Q&E) 2. Road Block 3. Know to Commit (KTC).

 

“Quick and Easy represents a couple of areas of my games. In the defensive zone, it encompasses the ability to make the quick first pass and not second guess my instinct. In the offensive zone, it is taking the quickest shot to the net and making the best plays, so I don’t get caught on the line.

 

“Road Block involves my ability to close off lanes for opposing players to get to the net. For example, I have to be a roadblock to box out players for my goalie or to get in shooting lanes on the penalty kill.

 

“Know to Commit is my ability to read plays, so I don’t get out of position. On a 1-on-1, I have to know when to commit to a check or to force a pass. In the offence, I have to understand when to join a rush or pinch down the wall. As you can see, these strengths aren’t just three things. They encompass many areas of my game, which make me successful. However, when you bottle them up into three key definitions, it becomes easy to play, as the game should be. You no longer have to overthink and second-guess decisions.

 

“Another thing I do to balance nerves is to visualize before games. It is proven that once you imagine yourself doing something right, your odds of executing increase. I like to take time out of the commotion in the locker room and visualize myself when I’m on the ice. It can be anything from me making the right pass, shooting when I have a lane, or performing a particular play that we practice as a team.

 

“That way, when these situations arise in a game, I feel more confident that I will do the right thing with the puck. I focus on my three keys to success, so they become second nature to me when I practice and play. I have noticed the difference it has made with my success as a player.”

 

With so many possibilities beyond this season, how does De Jong see his future? 

 

“After junior, the main goal is to continue playing hockey for as long as I can,” he said. “I would eventually like to play pro and make a living playing hockey. This may come before or after university, depending on how the next few years pan out.

 

“I would also like to set up a future for myself, as everyone should have a backup plan. I have an interest in pursuing engineering when in school, and civil engineering or architecture are careers I see myself doing in the future. I currently take online courses to lessen my load of first-year courses when I eventually get to university.

 

“I’ve always been intrigued by the physics of things and try to think of new ways to design structures. I am good at math and have the ability to draw what I see, two key attributes of an architect. My dad is a construction worker and always promised that he would build anything I designed. If I could do both, and play hockey alongside a successful career, I would feel fulfilled as a student and a player.”