Denver sophomore forward Jack Doremus is Colorado grown and proud of it.

Time and again during our one-on-one interview he extolled the virtues of growing up in Aspen, later playing AAA hockey for the Colorado Thunderbirds in the Denver area and then returning to the Mile High City after he wrapped up his three-year USHL junior career.

He is one of five Doremus brothers and the second one to play for the Pioneers.

It sounds as if it’s been all roads lead to Denver for you during your hockey career.

I grew up in Aspen, played there through my sophomore year in high school. I played varsity there and Midgets for the Aspen Leafs. When I was a junior I moved down to Denver played for the Thunderbirds’ 16U team, and my senior year I played for the 18U team. I played with my twin brother Willie, who’s now a business major at Boulder. He played one year of juniors and bounced around. He was a good hockey player, a defenseman, so we were able to go against each other.

After that I went to the Chicago Steel and got to play with the team that went to Russia for a World Cup tournament. I was traded to Sioux Falls, then played there nearly two years and got traded to Lincoln for the playoffs my last season of juniors. Here I am back in Denver.

Your older brother Daniel also played at DU, so was this the main place you wanted to go?

When I was playing for the Thunderbirds I was able to come watch a lot of games and I loved everything about it. I wanted to be a part of it. It was a dream I didn’t think would ever really happen, just from where I grew up and the level I played until I went to the Thunderbirds and juniors. Then when Monty gave me the opportunity to come here, I was really happy. My brother was pumped. I was able to commit before juniors and then put my head down to work and come in. My mom and dad are both alums, so we kind have the family tree growing here.

I have four brothers. Tyler played Division III for Skidmore and now he and his wife live in San Francisco. Ryan is the oldest brother and he owns an architecture firm. It was a wild house growing up. There was one year my oldest brother was a senior in high school and Willie and I were in kindergarten, so we were all at home and in school at the same time. It was just wild. My mom said she loved it and she didn’t regret having five boys at all.

Who are your main hockey influences?

My main influence is my older brother Daniel. I’ve looked up to him, and everything he did I wanted to do along with my twin. He set a path for us and we wanted to follow it. He kept having success. Besides that, I had a lot of great mentors, like my coaches in AAA. Angelo (Ricci) is one. He was really hard on me but he taught me a lot about how to be in a high-profile organization. When I got to juniors there were two coaches, Nick Oliver and Scott Owens, who really taught me a lot, too. Oliver was one of Daniel’s really good friends from St. Cloud. And Scotty’s been around hockey a long time and knows how things work. But ultimately if it’s one person it’s got to be my older brother. He’s always been there. He answers a lot of questions that I have.

How often do you and your twin brother talk?

About four times a week. He’s kind of busy, too. We always have fun seeing each other. We have a really good relationship. We’re not always attached but there’s things we need each other for. He comes down a lot to watch games.

Did you have a favorite player or team growing up?

I watched the Avs a lot growing up. They were my favorite team by far. I was able to watch them win the Cup in 2001. They had so many good players. My number growing up was 21. I loved Peter Forsberg. He did the right thing every single game. He was quiet, but he scored a lot of goals. A lot of people liked him. (Joe) Sakic was another of my favorite players.

What is your favorite hockey memory growing up?

The one crazy memory is when I was 13 we played Bantam in the mountains. We only had 10 guys on our team, we went undefeated and I think we averaged 10 goals per game. That was pretty fun. We won the state championship. But the biggest one I have is with the U16 Thunderbirds. I played with so many players who have been so successful. Just the run we had to go to the national championship in 2014. We had to win out at nationals in order to go to the championship game, and we beat the top two teams in the country in order to make the finals against Team Wisconsin. That was probably the best memory. We lost in four overtimes. Troy (Terry) was on that team, Chris Carlson at Anchorage, Keegan Mantaro at Air Force, Cal Foote (a first-round pick of the Tampa Lightning), Brian Hawkinson at Miami. We missed our flight after the game because the game was so long.

Are you particular about any of your gear?

The biggest thing I hate is breaking in new gear. The other thing is my gear has to be dry. I put everything on right side first. It’s something I’ve always done.

Is there a comedian on the team?

There’s a lot of funny guys on the team. I think Oly (Kohen Olischefski) is pretty funny. He has a lot of good one-liners. Fins (Liam Finlay) has always got some good ones. Those two always have something funny to say.

If you could celebrate a goal like NFL players celebrate touchdowns, what would be your ultimate celebration?

I can think of a couple. One would be the Teemu Selanne, where you throw up your glove and shoot the duck. That would be pretty good. Or one my brother always did to me when he scored was put the stick on the ice and pretend it’s a campfire and warm your hands up because it’s so hot. You could have all five guys on the ice gather around it.

That would be pretty funny, but you’d also probably start a line brawl.

Yeah, you might get a penalty.

What is the breakfast of champions?

I think everyone knows my favorite is an egg sandwich. I have this recipe down to a T. Two eggs, two pieces of ham, cheese and bread. I have a whole system. The guys chirp me for putting ranch and Sriracha together, but I eat it pretty much every day. It’s unbelievable.

What are you thankful for?

I’m thankful for my family, first of all. And then the guys on this team. Being around them is unbelievable. It makes it easy to come to the rink every day, especially when you’re not around your family all that often. Being around your family when they come to watch you or if you get to go home for a little bit is unbelievable. Getting to catch up with them is special.

©First Line Editorial 2017-19