A clever, puck-moving defenseman.
Most fans didn’t know what Cam Dineen would bring when he arrived on the scene in September. The Battalion brain trust knew what they had. And when the Toms River, New Jersey native decided to forego an NCAA hockey career at Yale University, the future suddenly looked very bright for the Battalion blueline.
For the just-turned 18-year old Dineen, venturing north to Canada might appear to observers as having taken the road less traveled. So what propelled the young prospect to follow his north star? Most likely a deep-seated belief in his own abilities, his own toolbox, and his own destiny to make it to the NHL.
Prior to the draft, there was much speculation about where Dineen might be taken. After all, he had finished second in OHL scoring in his rookie season, amassing a gob smacking 59 points in 68 games, second only to the veteran Rasmus Andersson of the Barrie Colts. Andersson, an offensively minded, three-zone presence on the blue line, was drafted the year before, in the 2nd round, 53rd overall, by the Calgary Flames in 2015. But Andersson casts a bigger shadow than Dineen, which might have given NHL general managers reason for pause. Working in Dineen’s favour, however, the NHL’s growing appetite for high-scoring OHL defensemen, and nabbing them early in the draft, a precedent established with the likes of former Kitchener Ranger Ryan Murphy and former Windsor Spitfire Ryan Ellis, both high-scoring defensemen of modest carriage, and both taken in the first round.
Cam was seated between his parents Melissa and Kevin. Dressed impeccably, if not conservatively, in a blue suit, blue shirt and striped tie, Cam looked the part, one of hundreds of hopefuls who surrounded the lower bowl of the First Niagara Center, brimming with anxious energy as if wanting a game to start. But on this morning there was no game, no way to banish butterflies, no pre-game warm up to quiet the nerves. Just watching, and waiting…and more waiting.
Cam took frequent sips from his water bottle, his knee bouncing, unconsciously, with the pent-up energy that we’d so often seen during national anthems at Memorial Gardens. Suddenly the first pick is announced. He swallows hard as the Toronto Maple Leafs introduce the first selection of the second round. But it’s a Russian. Yegor Korshikov. Breathe, Cam, breathe, I thought to myself.
“It's definitely nerve-wracking,” said Dineen. “You come into it not really knowing what to expect. You see all the rankings out there but nothing really means much. You just come in and you have to take it all in and really enjoy everything.”
But the whistle-stop pace of the second day of the Draft leaves little time for contemplation. Buffalo enacts a trade and then Columbus is up. There is nothing to do but wait.
Until the third round, that is.
With 68th overall pick, the Arizona Coyotes ended the suspense.
“The Arizona Coyotes select,” came the announcement, “from the North Bay Battalion…”
As if exploding into an offensive rush, Cam jumped up from his seat before the announcement was finished. As the words ‘Cam Dineen’ reverberated through the jammed arena, his parents and brother Ryan had joined him in celebration.
“It's a pretty crazy feeling,” he recalled. “I don't even know how to describe it. I'm really excited and you just got to take in the whole experience.”
As Cam was ushered to the Coyotes’ table to don his first professional jersey, his parents’ faces betrayed both relief and pride. In the interview room shortly thereafter, Cam tried to summarize how wonderful the whirlwind weekend had been.
“I've spent it with my family, we're here for a couple of days. Just walking around, being in the hotel with them and going out to eat is really special,” he said.
“Just to be able sit there with them, and hear my name called, and have them be really excited with me, is definitely a special feeling and probably the best moment in my life so far.”
