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Catching up with Islanders goaltender, Nicolas Ruccia

As the QMJHL holiday break began in the days leading up to Christmas, Charlottetown Islanders goaltender Nicolas Ruccia joined Dean Barnes and the MyHockeyHero podcast (available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music) to discuss his formative years growing up in La Belle Province, the four memorable seasons he enjoyed playing for the Cape Breton Eagles in Nova Scotia, and the time that he’s got to spend in P.E.I. with his new club – the Charlottetown Islanders – during the current 2024-25 campaign.

Having grown up less than an hour away from downtown Montréal, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the 20-year-old of Italian and Grenadian heritage grew up cheering on the local Canadiens. The Habs ultimately inspired Ruccia. They helped create moments that he still vividly remembers from his childhood, which came at a time when he began to chart his path as a goaltender.

“We’d have on the [Montreal] Canadiens games. I’d be waiting there in my net, waiting for my Dad to shoot on me because I wanted to be a goalie,” recounted Ruccia. “There was [Jaroslav] Halak and [Carey] Price at the time. So, I would wait for commercials or intermissions, and my Dad would shoot on me.” 

In addition to feeling inspired by CHL alumni Carey Price (Tri-City Americans / WHL) and Marc-André Fleury (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles / QMJHL), who both enjoyed excellent careers as goalies in the NHL, it was another CHL graduate – defenceman P.K. Subban (Belleville Bulls / OHL) – who arguably left the biggest impression on the young Ruccia.

“P.K. Subban was a huge inspiration to me. I had met him the year he got called up for the Canadiens’ playoff run. He did a meet-and-greet at a hockey equipment store near my place [in Laval], and I went to go meet him,” shared Ruccia, who has posted a 2.99 goals-against average (GAA) and .900 save percentage (SV%) through 26 games this season with the Charlottetown Islanders. “Whenever you see something that you can relate to, that not many other people can relate to, or that you don’t have that feeling often [for], it’s kind of cool. It’s intriguing. I have always had this sort of pride that like ‘P.K. Subban plays for the Canadiens’, especially with P.K. playing for the Canadiens. He has similar heritage.”

Creating those kinds of connections with Islanders and Eagles fans has become something near and dear to Ruccia, especially in a community like Cape Breton where he spent four years growing as both a player and person. In one instance, Ruccia recounted to Barnes an incident that had taken place with a young racialized fan in Cape Breton, where she had a negative experience at an Eagles game. Specifically, some comments were made to her about her race during a match by another fan, which both the club and Ruccia sought to rectify.

“It just so happened that her mom was a friend of our goalie coach [Scott Gouthro],” recalled Ruccia. “So, he got in contact with me, and talked to the team and got her tickets to the next game for her and her family, apparel, and stuff like that. And now, since then, I have made it a point to go see them and I am so close with their family.

“The support around our community, around hockey – times have changed a lot,” stated the Islanders goalie when talking about his upbringing in Laval. “People don’t stand for that stuff anymore.”

There’s no doubt that Cape Breton is a special place for Ruccia. 

In addition to spending four seasons with the Eagles, the 20-year-old put together a career year with the club in 2023-24. Last season, Ruccia finished among the top five goalies in the QMJHL in GAA (2.58), SV% (.910), and shutouts (6). His six shutouts actually matched an Eagles’ single-season franchise record.

Additionally, during Cape Breton’s run to the third round of the playoffs for the first time in 16 years, Ruccia set another Eagles record. This time, he went 167:27 without allowing a goal between the first and second rounds of the 2024 QMJHL Playoffs, marking the longest shutout streak by any Cape Breton goalie in postseason history.

Despite his efforts and that of his teammates, the Eagles ultimately fell to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the QMJHL’s final four. But that experience and the love he continues to feel from those in Cape Breton is something Ruccia is bound to carry with him for the rest of his life.

“It was amazing. The fans in Cape Breton – they were something else,” said Ruccia, who registered a 9-5 record, 2.73 GAA, and a .911 SV% during the 2024 QMJHL Playoffs. “It felt like everybody was behind us and it sounds a little cocky to say but all of us that were on that [Eagles] team, when we walk around, we get recognized everywhere, and that fan base is truly amazing.

“The whole community within itself in Cape Breton is super tight. I’d love to do a program or something one day and be able to give back to the community.”

For now, Ruccia is focused on the task at hand with his new QMJHL club, the Charlottetown Islanders, let alone on his own personal goals. 

Having gone undrafted by NHL clubs, Ruccia is still hoping to sign a pro contract as he closes out his QMJHL career this season. He is also keeping his options open, whether it be considering an NCAA school or staying here in Canada with a U SPORTS program to prolong his development.

Regardless of what he does next, the 20-year-old feels he is in a good place after he was acquired by Charlottetown last June. Given the bigger role allocated to his former teammate Jakub Milota back in Cape Breton to man the Eagles’ crease in 2024-25, Ruccia’s move to the Islanders permitted him to serve as a No. 1 goaltender in the QMJHL for another season.

“I was happy to get traded to an organization like Charlottetown. They have one of the best coaches in the CHL [Jim Hulton],” declared Ruccia. “It’s a good fan base there [in Charlottetown]. I have not been here a ton, but there’s good support. I know they love their own Islanders – like guys that play for the Islanders from [P.E.I.] – those guys get lots of support. It’s really cool to see that and how much pride they have for the island.

“With any person I have met from P.E.I., they have a lot of pride of being from the island and that shows in their support for the team.”

As part of the CHL’s continued efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the sport of hockey, the CHL along with its Member Leagues (Western Hockey League / WHL, Ontario Hockey League / OHL, and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League / QMJHL) are working alongside Dean Barnes and his My Hockey Hero podcast (available on all major podcast directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music) to tell stories of racialized players as a way to help expose more fans to the growing impact that people of colour are having on the game of hockey.

To view clips from various episodes and guests on the My Hockey Hero Podcast, be sure to check out the podcast on Instagram @myhockeyhero_. To see some of the unique hockey cards found in Barnes’ extensive collection, be sure to follow @diversityhockeycards on Instagram. You can also visit MyHockeyHero.com for more about Dean Barnes, the MyHockeyHero podcast, and more.

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