A quick glance at the numbers shows the incredible development of Tulsa Oilers goaltender Roman Durny on the ice.

A conversation with him shows how much he’s developed off of it as well.

One of the breakout stars of the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships – he helped author an incredible 3-2 upset of the host United States team in pool play while between the pipes for his native Slovakia – Durny handled all of his interviews at the time with a translator.

But after that run at the WJC, Durny joined the Des Moines Buccaneers of the junior-level USHL, where he got some help from his billet family at the time, as well as a teammate in being able to better communicate in North America.

“The first year, I had a Czech teammate, so he helped me a lot with everything and he was teaching me a little bit, because I couldn’t speak at all,” Durny told FloHockey in a recent phone interview.

“That helped me a lot, but I was also watching a lot of movies and TV shows. I watched everything. I’d turn on the English subtitles, and I feel like that helped a lot.”

Making the United States his new home was all a bit unexpected for Durny, who put himself on the map with an extraordinary 43-save performance in Buffalo against a stacked USA team that featured current NHL stars like Brady Tkachuk, Clayton Keller, and Quinn Hughes. 

“I think especially that game against the USA helped me a lot,” he said. “Otherwise, I would have probably gone back to Slovakia and not had a chance of being drafted. So, I took a big step at those World Juniors. But the next thing was to play in the USHL, because if I went back to Slovakia, I wouldn’t get drafted and nobody would have cared about me back there.”

Between what he did at the WJC and his performance during the remainder of the 2017-18 season with Des Moines, for whom he posted a .920 save percentage in 25 appearances, Durny was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the fifth round later that year, and signed a two-year, entry-level contract with them prior to the start of the 2019-20 season.

He seemed primed for a quick ascension to the NHL, but struggled through a difficult debut season with the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals, where injuries limited him to just 13 games. Inexperience with the pro game in the smaller rinks of North America compared to those in Europe, plus playing in front of a team that went 14-38-0-8, didn’t help him much either; he had a 4.02 goals-against average and .881 save percentage.

“That was my first-year pro, so I didn’t expect to play 50 games like I did in my last year in the USHL, but I was also hoping for maybe a little bit more games,” Durny said. “I played 13 games, got injured, and it held me back. But last season gave me a lot, especially from the mental side, just seeing all those games from up there and getting the technical side of the game down with practicing a lot. So, I didn’t play a lot and I didn’t have the best year, but I improved what I could last year and I tried to learn as much as possible.”

The difference from last season to this one has been extremely noticeable.

Entering Friday night’s slate of games, in his first eight outings with Tulsa, Durny ranks fourth in the ECHL among qualifying goaltenders with a 2.35 goals-against average, and seventh with a .917 save percentage.

“I think it’s especially that I got a lot more mature with my mental side of my game,” he said. “I’m more calm, and I don’t care about worthless things during the game or before. I can stay sharp and focused during the whole game, even if it’s back-to-back games. Last year, I’d have one good game, and then the next one was pretty bad. And last year’s team wasn’t as good as ours this year, so it’s a lot of things.”

Durny acknowledges there’s another factor in play here as well, of course.

With the ECHL’s delayed start, the Ducks loaned him to Bratislava in his native Slovakia, where he not only got into some games, but got to go home for several months and get reunited with friends and family who hadn’t seen him in a few years. Although they’re able to keep up with him via FloHockey’s exclusive streaming rights to Oilers games, Durny now seems to have gotten his career back on track to where they might be able to watch him on television in the NHL in a few years if he continues his current development path.

“So far, the (ECHL) is the only league playing in the minors, so I’m glad I can be here and get as many games as possible and prove myself that I’m worth it to get a shot in the AHL,” he said. “As soon as I get that shot, I’m going to keep working my way up, step-by-step.”

Mike Ashmore has 17 years of experience covering professional and college sports. You can follow him on all social media channels at @mashmore98.