John MacNeil
Daily Herald
Showing the poise of a captain, Noah Gibson didn’t flinch when he was asked who might best personify an exemplary hockey leader.
“The first one that comes to mind would be Sidney Crosby, for sure,” said Gibson, the new captain of the U18 AAA Prince Albert Mintos.
“I mean, just the guy that he is off the ice and away from the rink, he’s down to earth and a super good guy. He can kind of build his team up, for sure, and then he also says things when things need to be said. I think that’s the guy I would look up to most.”
Gibson, a 17-year-old defenceman from Outlook, was named the Mintos’ captain last week as they opened their Saskatchewan Male AAA Hockey League season.
He believes he has a supportive group of leaders around him in coach Tyson Dallman and the rest of the coaching staff, along with assistant captains Max Cooper, Staiden Parenteau and Cooper Sawatzky.
“I can ask anybody, really, when I need help and figure it out,” he said. “Just asking guys for pointers on how to lead a team like this.”
In reality, Gibson doesn’t expect much difficulty in captaining the Mintos, because it’s a relatively older team made up of veterans and likeminded rookies who share the same goals of winning and progressing in hockey.
“I think this team will be pretty easy to lead,” he said. “We’ve got lots of veteran guys. Everyone is going to be a leader.
“I say something when something needs to be said. I try not to go over the top, because I think lots of guys know what needs to happen.”
Now in his final year of minor hockey, Gibson last served as a captain during his childhood days in Outlook.
“It’s a huge honour, for sure,” he said about wearing the C and earning the trust of the Mintos’ management and players.
Gibson is considered a vocal leader. At the same time, he plans to collaborate with his fellow captains to strike a balance between speaking up and leading by example.
“Everyone has got a different leading style, for sure,” Gibson said. “With the guys that Tyson and our coaching staff picked, you’ve got guys that lead by example and guys that are vocal, and a mix of both.
“We’re going to have a good group of leaders that knows who leads on the ice and who leads off the ice, by example, and then guys that can speak up.
“It’s definitely a variety of when you need to speak and when you need to go out and show guys what we need to do, and just lead by example, and also say what needs to be said in the room.”
Before joining the Mintos last season, the six-foot-one, 175-pound Gibson played two prep years — U17 and U15 — at Prairie Hockey Academy. That life experience helped shape him as a hockey player and as a person.
“For sure, that experience was awesome,” he said about the prep environment. “Just getting to be at the rink every day, and you get super close with your teammates. You’re living with guys in the dorms and working out together, so that was a super big help in my development, and just my development away from the ice, being with the guys so much more than I was used to.
“I’ve just tried to carry that here (with the Mintos). We try to have team hangouts as much as we can, just to build that bond away from the ice and away from the rink.”
After they swept the visiting Notre Dame Hounds in back-to-back games last weekend, the Mintos and their family members gathered together Sunday evening.
“Just a start-of-the-year banquet,” Gibson said. “Families get to know each other. Families get to know other players. Yeah, it brings the whole group closer together.”
All four members of the captaincy group are 17-year-old players in their final season of U18 AAA hockey. Beyond this year, Gibson is shooting for junior A with the SJHL’s Kindersley Klippers, who drafted him in 2025.
“I hope to go there and play out my junior career there. We’ll see what happens after that.”
For now, he’s focused on leading the Mintos, who sport a 2-1 record one week into the season. They opened with a 3-2 home loss to the Battlefords Stars last Wednesday and topped Notre Dame 9-0 on Saturday and 5-3 on Sunday.
“Today, it wasn’t our best game,” Gibson said after Sunday’s contest. “We were pretty sloppy throughout the game and didn’t really get our legs going. But we got away with the win, and four points this weekend, so that’s all you can ask for.”
This week, the Mintos host the Tisdale Trojans on Thursday night at the Art Hauser Centre, before visiting Wilcox for two more games against Notre Dame on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
“They definitely develop throughout the year,” Gibson said about the Hounds, one of multiple teams representing Notre Dame College. “Even last year, we saw it. We went out there early last year and took two from them, and then they came back here and split the weekend. So, they’re going to develop throughout the year, and I think we will just as much or more.”
The freshly minted Mintos’ captain saw his team taking steps, even during the one-sided victory Saturday.
“The first period, we were pretty sloppy and weren’t really ready to start on time,” he said. “After that, we picked it up and played a solid 40 minutes, and it showed on the scoreboard with nine goals. We’re not going to be a fancy team. I think five or six of those goals were garbage goals in front of the net. I think our play style is mostly going to be outworking teams.”
