by SARAH ROWLAND

Could Randy Thomas be the new Roy Dupuis? He hopes so.

“I’d be very happy to see that come to fruition,” says the up-and-coming bilingual thespian. “He’s an actor who I totally respect and admire. Not only that, but working in both languages is at the top of my list of professional goals.”

Speaking of goals, Thomas seems to have found a niche in behind-the-hockey dramatizations. Last March, he shot Canada Russia 1972, which will air on CBC this spring. He also landed a small but prestigious role on The Rocket as Hector “Toe” Blake, where he was able to realize two dreams: skate alongside bona fide NHL players and work with Dupuis—though Thomas admits his cinematic hero was a bit of a tough nut to crack at first.

“There are some people in this world that are cats and some people that are dogs and I’d say that Roy’s a little more of a cat,” says Thomas. “He keeps to himself until he gets to know you. Me being more of a dog kind of guy, I wasn’t too intimidated to go up and say, ‘Hi. How are you?’ But I also respected his space and when he was ready, he opened up to me. And we ended up having a good time.”

But breaking the ice with Dupuis wasn’t his biggest challenge on the set of The Rocket.

“I had to learn to shoot left and I’m a right-handed shooter,” says Thomas, who pulled his shoulder early on in the shoot. “They wanted to get a double and I said, ‘Listen, if you hire a stunt guy, he’s gonna be bored.’ So they didn’t and I did all my own plays. I guess the lesson there is you can really do a lot more when you put your mind to it.”