BUFFALO, NY - APRIL 11: Providence Friars Forward Jack Dugan (12) skates up ice during the NCAA Frozen Four men's hockey game between Providence Friars and Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on April 11, 2019 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY. (Photo by Jerome Davis/Icon Sportswire)
Jack Dugan had just spoken to Chadd Cassidy, his former prep hockey coach at Northwood. The Friars had just split a series with New Hampshire and Dugan snapped a two-game scoreless streak — his longest of the season.
Chats with Cassidy are a common occurrence - Dugan and Cassidy keep in touch regularly.
Cassidy, after all, was the reason Dugan went to Northwood.
So, Cassidy was the reason Dugan ended up at Providence
Because Cassidy was the reason Dugan stayed at Northwood instead of returning home.
“Moving and not knowing anyone, going to a school, you're sleeping in your own room, you don't have anyone making you food or telling you to go to bed or telling you (that) you need to be home at a certain time,” Dugan said. “And you don't drive anywhere, you're there at all times of the day. It’s a different type of lifestyle and it definitely took me a month or two to really get used to it and start enjoying it.
“For the first month I definitely did not enjoy it. I wanted to go back home with all my buddies who were sophomore and juniors in high school and hang out and do whatever.”
Dugan and his teammates at McQuaid Jesuit High had just won the state championship in 2015 (the same year Providence won its first national championship) and Dugan had netted 53 points in 18 games. He opted to leave for prep hockey because he knew it was the only way to further his career.
“It was getting to the point where playing high school hockey was not really challenging enough anymore and neither was travel hockey, so I needed to pick the next level and that's when I ended up choosing Northwood,” Dugan said.
Cassidy had just been hired as head coach the summer before Dugan joined Northwood. Because Cassidy was a late hire and the team was already set, he could only bring in one recruit. He chose Dugan. And he invested in the newcomer, helping Dugan through the difficult first month.
“He looked out for me during my whole two years there. Now we talk every week,” Dugan said.
In his first season with Northwood, Dugan finished with 53 points in 49 games. In his second season, he posted 80 points in 47 games. After his two years at Northwood, Dugan left for Chicago of the USHL. In his one year with the Steel, he scored 66 points in 54 games.
Now, Dugan is leading the country with 42 points at the collegiate level.
“Every year, especially if you stay at the same level that you're at, at least for me, I set personal goals for myself before the year starts and I'm pretty confident in myself and I think that has something to do with it,” Dugan said.
Last year Providence also made the Frozen Four, giving Dugan a boost of playoff experience. Providence head coach Nate Leaman agreed that experience played a part in Dugan’s higher numbers. But he also noted Dugan’s offseason, where he worked on his shot and on getting stronger.
“He's at his best when a line runs through him a little bit,” Leaman said. “Last year he was with two really good players, Josh Wilkins and Kasper Bjorkqvist, and they both signed NHL contracts. Jack has done a really good job this year of leading a line. I don't know if a line runs through him is the right terminology, but he's done a really good job of leading his line this year.”
Dugan has already recorded 14 multi-point games and has scored four points three times, including in the season opener against Maine.
In 2017, prior to arriving at Providence, Dugan was drafted by Las Vegas in the 5th round of the NHL Entry Draft. The next day he flew out to development camp and has been keeping in touch with the Golden Knights since.
“I really don't even remember that much of it,” Dugan said of the draft.
“I talk to them pretty frequently and we have a great relationship. They’ve been nothing but honest with me and I've been nothing but honest with them and we've been able to build up a great relationship.
“I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I'm extremely excited to have been picked by them.”
Appropriately for a player that is extremely well-liked by his teammates, honesty and loyalty are two of his core values. He committed to Providence when he was 15 years old, before he exhibited signs of being a prolific scorer. As Dugan got better, the offers increased. But he never forgot who recognized his potential first.
“I always had some sort of loyalty to that and as the years went on, I just wanted to come here more and more obviously that's what ended up happening,” Dugan said.
When he entered his freshman season, he knew he would have no trouble adapting offensively. It was the defensive game that would be the challenge. But it took him only 10 games to adjust, much faster than he expected.
That season Dugan scored 39 points, second in the league to only Niagara’s Ludwig Stenlund. That performance, in theory, should have been good enough for a Rookie of the Year nomination. But because of how balloting works, the only players nominated nationally for Rookie of the Year are players who won their conference Rookie of the Year awards. Furthermore, each conference end-of-year award is awarded based only on in-conference play, not play overall. And there, Dugan fell just short to current NHLer Joel Farabee.
“[Farabee] was really deserving of rookie of the year in our league so I don't want to diminish that. But Jack wasn't even on the ballot. He should've been on the ballot,” Leaman said. “And if he was, I think a lot more people would've been like, ‘oh he had a great year last year, now he's following up with a great year this year’ and it's, some people think he came out of left field but he really didn’t."
Despite a lack of national attention, Dugan has been progressing well. Like almost all college hockey players, he had to work on his 200-foot game — a must for any player interested in succeeding at the next level.
"The wall play was something that he had to adapt to last year,” Leaman said. “That and he had a lot of success on the power play early last year but when you go through a year, teams take it away. They take away your primary options. So for him, [it was] developing secondary and third options on the power play. That’s something he's done really well this year. He can very much read a power play, and what the opponent's try to take away, and then look for option B, C or D. It shows because all the guys on that power play have been really successful.”
Aside from the improvements, Dugan’s best assets are his vision and his passing.
“He knows a play's there before anybody else on the ice knows a play is there,” Leaman said. “He can wait and wait and wait until a play develops with a puck and create that play. It’s dual talent. Sometimes he'll get it and he'll wait, and he'll wait with the puck but he's just being patient, patient, patient and all of a sudden, he'll just find a guy. Then there's other times where a play happens quickly, and everyone thinks that the normal play is going to occur, and Jack does something completely different.”
While Dugan is now a top scorer in the country — and leads Hockey East with 26 in-league points — his path to Providence was not without its challenges on and off the ice, and academically.
While leaving home early posed difficulties for Dugan off the ice, it also made his academic situation more difficult. He attended three different high schools, so he had to take online classes while playing with Chicago in the USHL to get enough credits to get into Providence. Since attending college, the workload hasn’t decreased. He takes four to five classes a semester, two summer school classes whereas some players take one or two classes over break.
“It's definitely not any different than any other student,” Dugan said. “It’s all the same requirements and we don't really get like a special pass or anything. People may not know that as much, but it's definitely a grind and the weeks are long and basically just look forward to playing the games on the weekend. At least that's what gets me through."
Dugan has come a long way since he was a child, skating on the backyard rink his dad and grandfather would build each season.
“It wasn't always the best every year, but that’s why I remember it,” Dugan said. “Because some years it would work and some years it wouldn't."
Now he just needs to shoot the puck more.
“He's got a very good shot,” Leaman said. “Recently in the past three games he's hit three poles with it. He's starting to shoot more but that was one thing I would like. Because he's got a very good shot. He can score but he likes to be a pass-first guy."