Grande Prairie Mayor Bill Given welcomes Dallas Stars forward Justin Dowling to the City of Grande Prairie before his Zoom call with Grande Prairie Minor Hockey players. Photo Credit: National Hockey League

By Shane Clausing

NHL Zoom call

Grande Prairie Minor Hockey players participate in Zoom call with NHL player

Sep 18, 2020 | 5:18 PM

On September 9, close to 100 Grande Prairie Minor Hockey players received a special treat, as they were invited to participate in a Zoom call with Dallas Stars forward Justin Dowling. He is currently inside the Edmonton bubble for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Dowling is a native of Cochrane, Alberta, and was introduced on the Zoom call by Grande Prairie Mayor, Bill Given.

Given explained how the call with Dowling and the NHL came to be.

“A member of the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club, their Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Government Relations, Tim Shipton emailed me out of the blue one day and let us know that the NHL and the Oilers were working on trying to include Alberta communities in the bubble. They had this really great idea of connecting NHL players that were in the Edmonton bubble with communities that are sort of in the Edmonton geographic area and they wanted to reach out and connect with Grande Prairie.”

“Their focus was on youth and minor hockey, so I was just really pleased to welcome them to Grande Prairie and to help that player connect with our local kids.”

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The minor hockey players that were chosen to participate were selected by Grande Prairie Minor Hockey.

During the introductions, Mayor Given gave Dowling some facts about Grande Prairie, such as that the city has more children aged 0-5 than they have seniors that are 65 and older.

Given also made sure that since fans from Dallas and the State of Texas would likely watch the call at a later date, he wanted to make sure that people didn’t confuse the city with Grand Prairie, Texas.

Dowling answered questions from minor hockey players for close to 15 minutes.

The questions ranged from various topics such as, “What is it like being a professional hockey player?” and “What other sports he played when growing up?”

Mayor Given was on the call for the duration. He says it was an opportunity for youth in the community to look up to a role model like Dowling.

“From the conversation, it was really interesting how the kids were able to connect. I hope it helped them relate to their own lives and experiences. The thing that really stood out for me was the importance of lasting friendships and that reminder that you don’t have to make it to the NHL to make important friendships through sport.”

During the call, Dowling also mentioned that he knew a decent amount about Grande Prairie. He noted that he had several friends who ended up playing hockey in the city.

The NHL also has done calls with other NHL players from the bubble in Red Deer and Drumheller.

Dallas Stars defenceman Taylor Fedun, and Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Deryk Engelland both participated in calls as well. Both of those players are from Alberta.

So far, Dowling has not played in the playoffs for the Stars, but his team is getting ready for a match up with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup final. It starts on Saturday in Edmonton.

You can watch the complete zoom call with Dowling here.