Canucks’ Practice Goalie Roman Basran ‘Excited’ To Be Working For Hometown Team

Roman Basran sits in the Canucks’ dressing room close to where his favourite player used to sit.

Vancouver’s full-time practice goaltender fell in love with hockey watching Roberto Luongo play.

Driving to the rink for his first practice, the 22-year-old said it was hard to believe he’s now working for his hometown team.

“I am so excited to be working with the organization. Being able to practice in the same arena that you watched your idols play growing up is unbelievable,” Basran said.

He landed the gig when Canucks’ goaltending coach Ian Clark reached out to one of Basran’s goalie coaches Lynden Sammartino. He’s familiar within the organization, having practiced with Abbotsford a few times last season.

The Richmond native leans into his mental toughness and says his mindset between the pipes stays the same with every player he faces.   

“It really doesn’t matter who’s shooting the puck, or what’s going on with whoever’s shooting it, it just matters what the puck is doing. I let the puck control what I do,” he said.

He spent the summer training and skating with some of the best players from the Lower Mainland. Basran feels he’s improved his reverse tracking over the summer and says facing NHL-caliber shots every day helped him get better, preparing him for practices in Vancouver.

“I think transitioning from my summer training - on the ice with [Mathew] Barzal, [Connor] Bedard, [Alex] Kerfoot – it's similar coming into this. Justin Rai from Kaivo hockey ran intense summer skates with half the Abbotsford Canucks participating as well, so it transitioned very smoothly,” he said.

Basran and Casey DeSmith have been getting to know each other at practice when they have a few minutes in between drills. 

“We barely even talk about hockey, we just talk about life, he’s just such a nice guy. We talk a little bit about ourselves, the colourways on the gear and what we’ve got on our masks. I think that’s one of the coolest things about being a goalie is the gear,” Basran laughed.

Basran has the Johnny Canuck logo on the crown of his mask, orcas on the sides, and another Johnny Canuck looking at the Vancouver skyline in the distance. He includes the words “In memory of Asa Johal, Sanjay Johal and Roop Johal” on the back of his mask to commemorate his great-grandfather, uncle and mother.

Basran’s great-grandfather was a pioneer for the South Asian community in British Columbia. Asa Johal came to Canada in 1924 and went on to build the largest independent lumber company in the province, helping many South Asian immigrants along the way.

“We got the easy path,” Basran said, noting that he finds strength in his family’s story and his family was instrumental in his hockey journey. Basran grew up going to Canucks games with his grandfather, who was a season ticketholder, and seeing Luongo’s skills in net and how the crowd reacted to him drew him in.

“Honestly, I think it was the glove save and everybody chanting his name ‘Luuuu’; it was the flash and flare that he had as well. Just something about the position – the pads, the mask – that I just was attracted to and fell in love with goaltending,” he said.

As a child, he started playing hockey as a skater because his parents wouldn’t let him go in net. All Basran wanted to do was block shots, he didn’t care about scoring goals, he just wanted to stop the puck.

Hockey has saved Basran in tough times as well. He lost his mother suddenly in 2018, which he feels accelerated his maturity. He learned how to process and handle tragedy at a young age, channeling it for the greater good.

“Hockey being a distraction from life was the best thing I could have had,” said Basran. “When something so tragic happens, you could go two routes: you could go sideways, or you can use it as motivation. I used it as motivation because all she would ever want for me is to play in the NHL and I knew that. That’s all I did was take that energy, that sadness, whatever I was feeling at the time, and channel that into working out and hockey. I still do that with everything now.”

He knows his mom would be proud of him and he feels the support of the Punjabi community everywhere. He’s paying that support forward by setting a good example for the next generation.

“I still remember that feeling being a kid and looking up to the Giants and Canucks and thinking they were gods. I know kids feel the same obsession about hockey that I did, so if there’s anything that I can do to be positive I take huge pride in that. At the end of the day, it feels like I’m not just doing this for myself, I’m doing this for my whole community,” Basran said.