By Andrew Papadopoulos

Windsor Lancer women's hockey player Devynn Dion is having no ordinary off-season and has made the most of her time during the current OUA/U SPORTS hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 
 
The first year player from Surrey, B.C. has embarked on a new endeavour to fill the void left by not getting to fully experience her first season of university hockey.  Dion is starring as an 'acting double' for the lead actress portraying the character, Maya, in the new Disney+ series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers which premiered in March.
 
 
The rookie defenseman, who is currently back home, has had no shortage of ice time or down time for that matter between her commitments to school, hockey, and acting. However, this was not the first time the Lancer hockey player has been in the acting spotlight. 
 
"I have been acting since I was about 4 and normally, I would have gone through an agent for a role like this," Dion explained.  "I used to do a lot of commercials growing up like Barbie, Fisher-Price, and other projects for hand modelling.  My older brother, Dryden, who is three years older than me had booked a few gigs growing up so I, as his younger sister with our mom or dad, would sometimes be brought along and that actually led to me eventually becoming involved with acting at a young age too."
 
"Aside from kid commercials, I did 'Momentum' which was a short Canadian film around the time of 2010 Vancouver Olympics which focused on the age progression of a young girl doing a sport. But this time for 'Mighty Ducks' one of my hockey friends texted me and said something along the lines of 'Hey they are looking for background extras for the new Mighty Ducks relaunch for two days and they are shooting nearby in Vancouver so you should see if you can find a way to get on the show', and the rest as they say is history."
 
Dion's initial interest to be a background extra instantly developed into an even greater opportunity. She was overjoyed to receive a role promotion instead of taking on a minor complimentary role like originally thought. 
 
"I really enjoyed being on set and wanted to do it again, so I followed up with the show executives for an audition by sending in a picture of myself, along with my acting resume, and told them how long I had been playing hockey for to see if they had vacant role for me to play in the show," Dion recalled. "I received a text back from the show's hockey coordinator who believed I was 'spitting image' of one of the characters casted and  I was offered to be a double for the actress playing the part over the course of a longer period.  At the time I thought to myself, 'Wow, going from working two days to now a three or four-month long commitment, five 5 days a week is pretty cool!' It was really from that point on that I knew it would be too good of an opportunity not to pursue." 
 
Though she was short for personal free time between shooting the show, her Lancer hockey commitments and her studies, the kinesiology major embraced the opportunity head on believing this experience would not only offer potential benefits now but also help her craft and improve her time management skills to apply down the road. "At first I felt quite a lot of stress to be honest," Dion admitted. "When I was on set, I would be doing homework in between takes and still squeezing in my Lancer team workouts and meetings over Zoom. But after a while I got used to it and I realized that I did have enough time to do it all. The experience helped me develop my multitasking abilities that I can transfer to all aspects of my life."
 
"Coach Iwanicka was really understanding throughout this process which I really appreciated. She was very supportive of me pursuing this opportunity which was a great feeling to have knowing your coach supports what you are doing especially as a first-year player on the team." 
 
Obviously in Dion's corner as well every step of the way has been her family including her parents, Trevor and Debbie, who she emphatically describes as the two biggest supporters and motivators in her life unconditionally. 
 
"My parents have been my biggest supporters since day one," Dion elucidated.  "Pretty much anything I have ever decided to do even if it is not their decision, they have always wholeheartedly supported me."
 
Having that strong support system in place from Dion's Lancer family and her own family allowed her to meet and work with some pretty big names known around Hollywood, while also getting a chance to work with young up and coming actors who will star in the new Disney+ series which Dion believes will be well received. 
 
"I got to meet some of the main members of the cast that are well known not only from the original Mighty Ducks franchise like Emilio Estevez, who of course plays Coach Gordon Bombay, but also Lauren Graham who starred in Gilmore Girls which was really cool," Dion said.
 
 
"The new cast was also really great to work with and fun to meet. Some parts from the original Mighty Ducks film series are integrated into the new Disney+ series but it has a new modern spin on it now. They have added more female cast members and there is more equal representation of both male and female athletes on the team which is pretty cool to see. It's definitely a more modern spinoff that writes a new chapter in the classic franchise's respective storyline."   
 
When asked to talk about her character's personality…"My character is Maya, the girly girl of the team. She started off as a figure skater who eventually transitioned into a hockey player. I had to learn how to skate on figure skates, which was something I had never done before…an interesting challenge at first, but I enjoyed it all throughout." 
 
You can catch "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers" series on Disney+ by signing up and subscribing to the new streaming service and Lancer fans are highly encouraged to check out the show and support one of our own if you are looking for a new streaming series to binge during the absence of OUA/U SPORTS action.  
 
As for Devynn Dion, the hockey player, you can hopefully catch her suiting up soon for the blue and gold for years to come at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex along with the rest of her Windsor Lancer women's hockey teammates when it is safe for the puck to drop again hopefully next season. 

Stay tuned to goLancers.ca for more information on the 2021-22 season as it becomes available.