The general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs had season tickets at the 55-yard line in Section C6 of the west stands for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. Prior to the games, the 36-year-old tailgated across Cannon St. E from the stadium's south end zone at Scott Park.
It's no surprise that Dubas, who attended Brock University in nearby St. Catharines, is stoked about seeing the Maple Leafs play the Buffalo Sabres in this venue for the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic on March 13 (4 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS, NHL LIVE).
"I spend a lot of my time here after school living in Hamilton," Dubas said Friday. "My wife (Shannon) is from here. I've spent a lot of time at this stadium and, before [they built this one], Ivor Wynne Stadium. So it's really exciting for me personally."
Dubas hopes the outcome will be different than when the Maple Leafs lost 5-1 to the Sabres at Scotiabank Arena on March 2. Toronto (35-16-4) is third in the Atlantic Division. Buffalo (18-31-8) is sixth following a 3-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.
"The Sabres kicked our butt on Wednesday night, and we had a highly entertaining game with them in Buffalo in November (a 5-4 win Nov. 13)," Dubas said. "No matter where either team is at, I think the games have always been really exciting.
"I think it's great for the city of Hamilton to have the game here. It's a very passionate sports town. I lived it firsthand, and so I'm excited to have it here. It's meaningful for me personally but I think it'll always be a great experience for our team and for both teams to be able to play the game here. So it's something we're really, really looking forward to: the Saturday practice and family skate, and then get rolling here."
For Dubas, playing hockey in the elements has special meaning. While he was addressing the media, Shannon and their son, who is almost four and was wearing a Mitchell Marner jersey, did a quick tour of the stands and checked out the construction of the rink, which started Feb. 28.
"My little guy, he's around here somewhere, there's an outdoor rink right by our house that we spent a lot of time at throughout the winter," said Dubas, a native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. "We had an outdoor rink in our backyard every single winter at my grandparents' house. My grandfather would meticulously sculpt it and roll it and flatten it out and water it. It was about as meticulous a job as you could imagine someone would do on an outdoor rink. We'd be out there playing for hours and hours and hours against others in the community. And in the Soo, there were tons of outdoor rinks.
"This one here is not like a traditional outdoor rink but I think it's really cool for the guys to be back out in the elements and outdoors. We usually do that during the year but it's kind of been lost during the pandemic. We usually do that with an outdoor practice, but it'll be great to get back out here now."
