DeBrusk faces his favourite team from childhood
Father of Bruins’ rookie suited up with Oilers in ’90s
Jake DeBrusk was an B O ST O N Edmonton Oilers fan almost out of the delivery room.
“I was at my first game at Rexall Place when I was two days old,” said the Boston Bruins rookie winger, the son of Louie DeBrusk, the former Oilers tough guy who played 228 games for Edmonton.
So yes, playing against the Oilers Sunday was a pinch-me moment for Jake, who went into the game with 12 points (five goals) in 20 games, six in his last five after sitting out one against the Leafs.
“How many Oilers games would I have been to growing up? Too many to count to be honest. My dad was playing then but I was too young to remember him as an Oiler,” said DeBrusk, the Bruins firstround pick (14th overall) in 2015 who was born in October 1996, the year before his pop left the Oilers for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I have some pictures of family skates at Rexall. I was out there with my friends for skates, too. It was a pretty cool moment, even playing junior with Swift Current and going into Rexall to play Oil Kings. I had goosebumps playing my first game there,” said Jake, who found his way to games as an Oiler fan in the 2006 Oilers playoff run, too. “Lots of memories.”
How does a guy Jake’s age back then (11) afford Oilers playoff ticket?
“I had a pretty good hookup, it was pretty easy to get a ticket, pretty thankful,” chuckled DeBrusk, who has been playing left wing with David Krjeci on the Bruins second line.
So the game against the Oilers has more meaning than others in his rookie year?
“For sure. I’ve got all my friends back home watching on TV,” he said.
This is a season of firsts for DeBrusk, though.
“We played against Sidney Crosby last game, and (Connor) McDavid (Sunday),” said Jake, who got a wakeup call when he was a healthy scratch against the Maple Leafs in Boston Nov. 11, and has rebounded smartly. “I learned a lot about myself and my game, how I would respond and conduct myself.”
Jake has better mitts around the net than Louie, who scored 24 career goals, 19 as an Oilers winger who had 797 PIMs in his five Edmonton seasons.
Louie knows his boy won’t take long to beat his goal totals.
“I’ll joke with him after I beat him but not before,” Jake said. “I’m still finding my way. We’re two different players.”
Did his dad teach him out to fight? “He never wanted me to fight but he taught me how to defend myself,” he said.
FRENCH CONNECTION
When asked who Connor McDavid reminded him of in terms of speed and raw skill, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t hesitate.
“Gilbert Perreault, if I can go back in time. The way he flew through the neutral zone. Connor has a lot of the same flare, the way he winds it up,” said Cassidy.
BACKES RECOVERING
Bruins forward David Backes is ahead of schedule after a piece of his colon was removed in surgery three weeks because of ongoing diverticulitis hit him in training camp. He’s already skating and taking contact, and might return in a couple of weeks but he’s only played five games this season.
“Being in surgery, you have to make sure tissues are all healed so you’re not busting wide-open again,” said Backes. This ’n’ that: Oilers D-man Andrej Sekera is taking part in drills, getting hit along the boards, but it’s the spinning and going back and forth on his knee that is the concern. He’s maybe two weeks away.