By Daniel Rocchi
Ryerson men’s hockey goalie Taylor Dupuis has signed a one-day amateur tryout contract with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.
The deal will allow Dupuis to dress as the backup for the Marlies in their Saturday night game against the Rochester Americans after Garret Sparks was called up by the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Marlies’ NHL affiliate, on Saturday morning.
Rams head coach Johnny Duco said Reid Mitchell, director of hockey and scouting operations for the Maple Leafs, contacted Duco on Friday afternoon looking for goaltending reinforcements and asked specifically for Dupuis’s services.
Dupuis is coming off of back-to-back wins with the Rams. The second-year arts and contemporary studies student made 23 saves in a 6-2 home win against the Brock Badgers for Ryerson’s first victory of 2017 on Thursday before turning aside 20 shots in 7-4 comeback win in London against Western on Friday. He has a 7-2-0 record with a .911 save percentage and a 2.84 goals-against average on the season while sharing the starter’s duties with Charlie Graham. Graham hasn’t played since Dec. 2 due to injury.
Duco said that Ryerson and the Maple Leafs have a long-standing relationship based on former Rams head coach Graham Wise’s personal relationship with Mitchell, and that other Ryerson goalies have practiced and dressed as backups with the Marlies. According to Duco, the Maple Leafs organization may sign a Ryerson goalie to a one-day contract once per year in order to protect players’ Ontario University Athletics (OUA) eligibility.
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