Boumedienne always rises to the occasion

Hockey is me.

Three simple words were all Sascha Boumedienne needed to wrap up a thoughtful answer about how the sport became his passion.

The Winnipeg Jets 2025 first-rounder was holding court after an on-ice session at development camp on Thursday afternoon and it was easy to see the smooth-skating defenceman was in his element.

As someone who has been living a nomadic lifestyle for the better part of his 18 years, Boumedienne has a bubbly and engaging personality — which was evident when he held a Zoom call with reporters last Friday after he was chosen 28th overall by the Jets in the NHL Draft.

With a father, Josef, who played professional hockey for nearly two decades – including 47 games in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals — Boumedienne has embraced the bouncing around and it’s safe to say it hasn’t stunted his development as a top prospect.

“It mostly comes from my dad,” said Boumedienne, who was born in Oulu, Finland, but raised in Stockholm, Sweden. “My dad played professional hockey and I just fell in love with it. I was around it, 24/7. We were with him everywhere he played and I was able to be in the locker rooms, wherever he was. It was just kind of natural. Since I remember, I’ve always been in a hockey locker room and that’s just been second nature.”

That’s when he inserted the exclamation point — hockey is me.

Hockey doesn’t define Boumedienne, who has lived in six countries and speaks two languages (English and Swedish), but you can tell it’s a driving force in his life.

“I moved around to a lot of different places and I’ve had a blast everywhere that I’ve been,” said Boumedienne. “We moved around quite a bit when I was younger, so I was used to it. But yeah, maybe my outgoing personality helps a little bit.”

Boumedienne wasn’t drafted for his personality, though the confidence he exudes — in a positive way — is part of the reason his play stood out over the course of the past year, first at Boston University for a Terriers squad that reached the Frozen Four championship final and then for Sweden at the U18 World Championship in Texas.

Thanks to his elite skating ability, Boumedienne adapted well to the college game and then was named top defenceman at the U18 event when he went back to playing for his peer group and set a tournament record for assists (13) and points (14) by a defenceman.

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff pointed out last week one of the impressive things about Boumedienne was his ability to play his best hockey in the biggest moments.

The stage doesn’t get too big for him, no matter what his birth certificate might say.

Boumedienne got plenty of encouragement from his parents to pursue hockey, but the internal drive is what fuelled his passion.

Rollerblading to the local rink was a common exercise for Boumedienne and his brother.

“Whenever there wasn’t snow outside or ice or whatever on the sidewalks, me and my little brother, we’d get fully dressed and put our helmets and gloves and hold our sticks in our hands,” said Boumedienne. “We’d put our skates in our backpack and put the backpack on. The rollerblade down took 10 or 15 minutes, and then, we’d go on the bench and put our real skates on. So that was a good childhood memory, but yeah, fortunate that I got to live so close to the rink.”

Earlier this week, fellow 2025 Jets’ draft pick Viktor Klingsell mentioned Boumedienne was a skilled centre long before he made the switch to playing defence and his childhood friend corroborated the story.

“I was a centre until I was about 13 or 14 probably,” said Boumedienne. “I liked being up there, but then I tried D once, because I wanted to be like my dad and my dad was a D. I thought it was a blast playing D and setting up plays from the back end and being able to defend.”

When asked who he patterns his game after, Boumedienne mentions a Dallas Stars blue-liner who Jets fans are quite familiar with from his time with the Central Division rival.

“I love to watch Miro Heiskanen,” said Boumedienne. “A guy who skates like the wind. A big, left-shot defenceman. He’s out there against the other teams’ top line and able to shut them down and kind of make it hard on them with his skating all over the ice — and then, he’s obviously really good offensively.

“He’s on his team’s first power play and is really good both ways. Really strong on the puck and really hard to play against. Someone I like to model my game after.”

The aforementioned qualities are what Boumedienne plans to refine during his sophomore season at BU, where he followed a detailed plan to improve in Year 1 with the program.

“We obviously had a lot of talks about me going in a year early and it’s a pretty big decision. We had a lot of phone calls and talks with them and really set up a plan for me to develop in every aspect of the game,” said Boumedienne. “To get bigger and stronger and grow my defensive game — and all areas of the game. We sat down and had a plan for every week. I had a detail for every practice and meaning with every rep. Something to focus on every day to really get better.”

He’d love to get back to the Frozen Four final, while changing the end result.

Boumedienne is also hoping to suit up for his country at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship and it’s possible one of his teammates could be Jets’ 2024 second-rounder Alfons Freij.

“We didn’t even know each other before this,” said Freij. “We’ve become good friends in a short time. He’s a stud.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld