EDMONTON, Alberta – Dominik Shine has quickly made a name for himself as one of the top forwards in the WCHA and as a result of that, he was recently awarded the chance to showcase his skills in front of coaches at the highest level.

Known for his speed, ability to develop plays and just simply finding ways to put the puck in the net, the Northern Michigan University forward got the opportunity to participate in an orientation camp with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers earlier this month.

Shine’s stats have increased each season he has been with the Wildcats as he led Northern with 15 goals last season and was second in points with 30, two behind former linemate Darren Nowick. Shine feels that his increased production helped get him the opportunity to be invited to the camp.

“After the GLI, I talked to a couple of their scouts and they talked about inviting me,” Shine said. “Toward the end of the year, they called and asked if I wanted to come. I went to the Red Wings development camp before my freshman year, so this is the second NHL camp I’ve been to. We’d do video in the morning and then go into conditioning and things like that. Then in the practices we’d do different drills and systems. It was tough, but it was fun too.”

Shine also got to practice with some prime talent on the ice. Oilers first round draft pick Jesse Puljujarvi and second round pick Tyler Benson were there along with free agent signee Drake Caggiula who helped lead North Dakota to a national title back in April.

Michigan Tech defensemen Shane Hanna and Mark Auk were there as well along with winger Jake Lucchini.

The big event of the week was scrimmages for the Billy Moores Cup. The scrimmages were played 5-on-5 for 30 minutes, 4-on-4 for 20 and 3-on-3 for 10. It may sound like it was exhausting, but Shine said it wasn’t and he even picked up an assist during the competition.

“We had a lot of practices during the week that were pretty hard so when we got to the game, everyone kind of had their wind,” he said.

“We had enough guys to have a full lineup, so you were able to get your rest. I had an assist in a game on the first goal. They gave it to another guy, but I made the play. I passed it over to Caggiula and he buried it. So overall, I had a pretty good game.”

Looking back at the 2015-16 season, Shine felt that the start of the year didn’t go very well for him, but as the year went along, he and his linemates, Nowick and Gerard Hanson, started to click.

“Personally, I think I had a good year,” he said.

“I had a rough start because I had an injury at the beginning of the year, so I didn’t get off to the start that I would’ve liked to in the first few games. I think after that though, my linemates and I really picked it up. I’m hoping to do even better than that next year. Getting 40 points is a goal of mine and I’m hoping if I can stay healthy that I can reach that. 20 goals and 20 assists would be nice. That’s a lot easier said than done though.”

When asked what he learned over the course of his week with the Oilers, Shine said that the emphasis of focusing on little details was reiterated to him and that’s what he will bring back to Marquette this fall.

He also said that the final meeting at Oilers camp went well and he says that Edmonton will be keeping an eye on him.

“I learned a lot of small things,” he said. “At the next level, they really focus on systems and on details. (NMU head coach) Walt (Kyle) always preaches that but I think a lot of guys overlook that in our league. That’s what I’ll take back to Northern. To really pay attention to those small details because they can make a difference. They (the Oilers) are looking for me to have a good year and hopefully something good will happen with free agency.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.