DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth senior captain Dominic James had only been to the state of Minnesota once in his entire life growing up, coming to the Twin Cities when he was around 12 years old for a youth hockey tournament.
“I didn’t even know it was ‘The Cities’ at that point,” said James, who grew up in between Detroit and Ann Arbor in Plymouth, Michigan. “I had no idea what anything was. I knew they played high school hockey (in Minnesota).”
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James — who also vaguely remembers going to the Mall of America on that trip 10 years ago — is this week’s guest on the News Tribune’s Bulldog Insider Podcast, where he shared his journey from the Mitten State to UMD and the State of Hockey. His commitment to the Bulldogs was one of a few left turns he’s experienced that have changed the course of his young life so far.
Two years ago he was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the sixth round after going undrafted in his first two seasons of NHL Draft eligibility. Last October, James suffered a shoulder injury two games into the 2023-24 season that required season-ending surgery.
James talks with News Tribune Bulldogs beat reporter Matt Wellens and Zach Schneider of My 9 Sports about those experiences, and we get to know his roommates back here in Duluth and on the road, like this week when the Bulldogs travel to UMass-Lowell for a nonconference series.
Below is an edited excerpt from this week’s episode.
Bulldog Insider: It's almost exactly a year since you had that season-ending shoulder injury. How much has that injury changed the course of your hockey career?
Dominic James: It completely changed it. I was ready to have a great season, my junior year, and then you look ahead and see what the options are for that next year. Then it all gets taken from you that second game in. That's the only thing you're worrying about after that. It's not the future. It's just working on that shoulder and making sure you can get back to where you were.
BI: You’re only one official game into it, but does it make this senior season a little bit easier than what last year would have been? If you don't get hurt last year and you have a good year, then from the midway point on, all the questions start to be asked.
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We all assume you're going to be leaving after this year. Does that make it easier to just be here and try to have a great year and accomplish everything you're trying to do?
James: Yeah, a hundred percent. Having to deal with that decision last year and not even playing, then making the decision to come back definitely takes a lot of weight off my shoulders where I can just come back and just play, just be in college for one more year, just be with my buddies, be at Amsoil, be in Duluth. It takes a lot of pressure off for sure.
BI: How did you end up a Bulldog here in Minnesota?
James: For me, it kind of all just blew up one week. I was having a good 15U season.
I got hurt that year, so I was kind of off the map. Then North Dakota was one of the first teams that came and watched me as a school. Then a lot of the NCHC teams started calling. Then, obviously, the Michigan teams were completely involved.
For me, Hertz — Jason Herter — came to Michigan for the state tournament just out of nowhere. He actually played with my coach at Notre Dame Hounds (in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League). So he was there, talked to my dad a bit. I was like, ‘All right, I don't even know what UMD is at that point.’ Then they win back-to back national championships and I think I committed the next day after that without even visiting or anything like that.
My conversations with (Adam Krause), he made me so comfortable and that's what you want. Then you hear all the great things about (Scott Sandelin) through my agent. He's been been around a long time, both of them. That's kind of what it was — feeling comfortable and feeling like I could get to the next step because my own goal is going to the NHL and I have no plan B.
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Check out the full episode for more from Dominic James. You can find the Bulldog Insider Podcast at DuluthNewsTribune.com/BulldogInsider , and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop almost every Thursday throughout the UMD men's and women's hockey seasons.
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