Fashion Lighting Player Spotlight: Dixon Grimes

“It’s amazing because all of my hard work throughout the years has been worth it”.

 

Born in Strathroy, Ont., but growing up in Belleville, eight-teen-year-old Dixon Grimes was drafted by the Storm in the 10^th round of the 2019 OHL Priority Draft. As of last week, the six-foot-four goaltender signed a Standard Player Agreement with the Storm, solidifying a spot on the team’s 2021-22 roster.

Where it all began

Grimes’s involvement in hockey began at a relatively young age as growing up his dad was the Assistant Coach of the Belleville Bulls. Anytime that his dad had extra ice, Grimes was on skating around with him.

“Being around hockey all the time it was just natural for me to pick it up and start playing,” commented Grimes.

Starting his hockey career at six years old, Dixon played defense at the house league level in Belleville. Grimes recalls his first time in net occurred when it was his turn in his team’s rotation to play goalie.

“Our team didn’t have a goalie, so we just rotated the gear around and when it was my turn to play, I really liked it and it just went on from there,” said Grimes.

Dixon played goalie at the house league level until Minor Atom before transitioning to play AAA. He spent the 2017-18 season playing with the Quinte Red Devils U15 AAA of the Eastern Hockey League and the 2018-19 season with the Guelph Jr. Gryphons U16 AAA of the South-Central Hockey League. Dixon relocated to Guelph because his dad, Jake Grimes, joined the Guelph Storm as the team’s Assistant Coach (where he notably won the OHL Championship in 2018-19). Meanwhile, Dixon held down a 3.22 goals against average record in his 14 games played for the Gryphons.  

Making the jump from triple-A to junior B after a successful season with the Gryphons, Grimes’s joined the Listowel Cyclones of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL). Grimes was awarded the GOJHL’s 2019-20 OHA Top Prospect Award after a 2.11 goals against average and .917 save percentage season. Grimes tied for tenth place among the league’s 20 qualified goaltenders.

“It was an honour,” said Grimes. “Seeing the names of all the players who’ve won the award before and considering all the other prospects in the league as I was playing, it was just amazing.”

2019-20 was a big year for Grimes as he was also selected to the Midwestern Conference All-Rookie Team, chosen to participate in GOJHL Future Stars Game, and elected as the Midwestern Conference Goaltender of the Month for September.

 

Signing with the Storm

The grind to clinch a spot on the Storm’s roster has been a challenging yet rewarding road for Dixon. Between suffering injuries in his minor years to finding his confidence both on and off the ice, Grimes is finally in a position where he feels physically and mentally ready to play at his top performance.

When Grimes initially found out that he’d been drafted by the Storm he was at home watching the OHL Draft with his mom and dad. After one year full of uncertainties, it’s a dream come true for Dixon to have finally signed with the Storm as he describes the experience in two words: amazing and awesome.

“It was so nerve racking that I felt sick to my stomach all day,” said Grimes. “But when I finally saw my name get picked, it was awesome. And then when I signed it was amazing because all of my hard work throughout the years has been worth it.”

 

Off the Ice with Grimes

When he’s not playing or training for hockey, Dixon loves to fish and listen to music. His favourite spot to go fishing is out East in Nova Scotia and his go-to genre of music is rap.

Enrolled in the undecided Bachelor of Arts of program at the University of Guelph for this upcoming September, Dixon’s goal is to figure out what interests him the most before locking into a specific field.

 

Looking Forward

Describing himself as a big, calm, and good positional goalie who reads the game well, Grimes is all about playing a controlled game.

“I’m looking forward to being the guy that can be counted on when called on and being the guy that my teammates can always rely on,” said Grimes. “I’m not the kind of goalie who is super sporadic and all over the place, I like to keep my teammates calm, but I’ll obviously make those crazy saves when I have to.”

 

Words of Advice

If Dixon could give advice to a player pursing an OHL career like himself, he would say:

“I’d say just believe in and be confident in yourself because confidence is a huge part of the game, whether or not people believe it,” said Grimes. “I know it’s pretty tough at times but remember all the hard work and practice you’ve been doing, and just stay positive.”