Falcons Goalie Demitry Gikas Has a Bright Future
By Michael Clarkson
As our students go home for the holidays, many look forward to winning athletic scholarships and careers fashioned in our FEIA gymnasiums and arenas.
Just like Demitry Gikas.
At age 16, Demitry is not quite sure what next season will bring – he just knows that he’s loved and wanted by the FEIA hockey Falcons and many junior teams.
The talented goalie of our Under-18 squad will likely return for another winter with the Falcons, but at least six junior teams have approached him. Little wonder – his record with the Falcons this past season in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League was nine wins, zero losses and two ties with a sparkling 1.64 goals-against average and a .941save percentage.
As the first team CSSHL all-star, he helped FEIA win its last four league games and to be competitive in the playoffs.
“He’s definitely a top junior prospect,” says U-18 head coach Derek Bachynski.
Demitry was born and raised in Mirabel, Quebec and played for its youth team. “I’ve played goalie since I was four years old,” he smiles. “I’ve always wanted to stop a puck. Making big saves gives my team a chance to win.”
He credits his parents, Denis and Karine, with “being supportive and pushing me when I needed it.”
During his first year at FEIA in 2024-25 with the U-17 club, he got the attention of scouts when he stopped 70 shots in a game.
“We have a good program here with good coaches and good teachers,” he said.
The U-18 Falcons, who have sent more than 20 players to junior, university and international teams since 2019, this season had Baron Tanton and Riley Cave play some games for the Niagara Falls Junior A Canucks.
Demitry’s goals next season are to be the best goalie in the league and to help bring the Falcons a championship. As an athletic, aggressive and competitive netminder, his goals seem realistic.
His role model in the NHL is Montreal Canadiens goalkeeper Jacub Dobes. “I like his technique. He’s aggressive and can handle the puck.”
Gikas believes he needs to work on his cardio conditioning. “I gained 30 pounds of muscle and grew to six-feet-one,” he said. “And I need to get better (in hockey) every day.”
Demitry’s dreams are to go on to junior A hockey, to win a scholarship to a NCAA Division I university in the United States and to play in the American Hockey League and then the NHL. Former FEIA Falcon Grant Spada, drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning, played some games this past season with Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.
Few opposing forwards who have been thwarted by Demitry would bet against him reaching those goals.
