Athlete of the Week: Alaska Sports Hall of Famer Brandon Dubinsky

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - It was around the rinks of Alaska where Brandon Dubinsky fell in love with the game of hockey.

“Growing up in Alaska, hockey was just my singular focus and I didn’t really know anybody played any other sports,” Dubinsky reflected. ″Being young and having the opportunity to skate outside, skate on the lakes or skate on the outdoor rinks and all those things and that’s kind of like something that’s always a fantasy, but growing up in Alaska, that was a huge part of our childhood and what we were able to do."

He parlayed his passion into becoming one of the state’s best in his sport, skating 13 seasons at the highest level in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Dubinsky’s career came full circle in June as he was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.

“It’s a pretty incredible group to be a part of,” Dubinsky said. “Just incredibly humbled and honored to be a part of that group and be a part of the bigger group and proud to be an Alaskan.”

When analyzing the two hockey players prior to Dubinsky being inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, Scott Gomez excelled on offense, tallying 756 career points, while Matt Carle was known as a defensive force during his 12 seasons in the NHL.

Dubinsky was an all-around player who was a bit of a combination of both.

″Brandon Dubinsky is regarded as the best two-way skaters to come out of Alaska," Harlow Robinson, Alaska Sports Hall of Fame Executive Director said of Dubinsky. “He was a great goal scorer but also someone [who] really held his own on the defensive end.”

His NHL tallies of 153 goals, 285 assists, and 438 points is the second most all-time for an Alaskan behind Gomez, while his 832 career games rank third.

Dubinsky also killed penalties, won face-offs, and took care of his defensive assignments.

“I realized it was going to get me on the ice a lot more if I did those things,” he said. “I wanted to be a winner; I wanted to help the team win in any way shape or form.”

The 6-foot-2 center also wasn’t afraid to drop the gloves with anyone, scrapping one-on-one with the likes of hockey greats Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.

“The gritty and the physical side, it was fun, it was always something that I enjoyed,” Dubinsky said, who logged 905 career penalty minutes and was featured in 43 NHL fights. “That grittiness and the ability to play against the other top lines and take the pride in shutting them down but also being able to score a big goal at a big time and contribute offensively... these were all things that I took a lot of pride in and wanted to make sure were big pieces of my game.”

Whether skating at the Sullivan Arena, as he did with the Alaska Aces during the 2012 NHL lockout, for Team USA at the World Champions, as he did twice, or in the NHL, as he did for 13 years, Dubinsky always carried the 49th state with him.

“Only a few of us have done it coming from Alaska, so we certainly carry a lot of pride with that,” he added. “Making sure that we do our best to represent Alaska and carry that pride and that blue-collar mentality, it’s pretty special.”

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