John MacNeil
Daily Herald
Will Shaw’s future in Prince Albert is already etched in colourful artwork.
The incoming goaltender with the U18 AAA Mintos has customized his mask to reflect personal, team and city characteristics.
“I’ve been working on it for probably the whole summer,” Shaw, 15, said Saturday after his first scrimmage at the Mintos’ fall training camp. “Definitely a lot of details, for sure.
“Mintos logo, secondary logos on the side, 29 — my number — on the chin. I have a licence plate with my nickname on the back plate — Shawcy. Bricks on the chin, forests for the P.A. area. That’s about it.”
Shaw signed with the Mintos in the spring, along with three of his teammates from the U18 AA Saskatoon Riverkings — defenceman Owen Kahl and forwards Liam Harris and Axton Snow-Hayes.
Shaw is slated to partner with Cohen Kuntz as Prince Albert’s goaltending tandem. The Humboldt-groomed Kuntz, 16, affiliated with the Mintos last year and joined them for parts of the season.
“I do (know him) a little bit,” Shaw said about Kuntz. “We’ve crossed paths a couple of times, camps and spring hockey. Great guy.”
Kuntz is a bigger goalie, while Shaw measures in at five-foot-11 and 140 pounds.
“I’ve always been a smaller goalie, so more athletic, more agile,” Shaw said. “I like to be out of my net and aggressive a lot.
“Marc-Andre Fleury is my big guy I like to model my game after, for sure.”
Seemingly no player had as much fun as Fleury during his decorated NHL career. Shaw pays tribute to his idol, wearing Fleury’s No. 29.
Along with his hockey training this summer, Shaw played high-level baseball with the Saskatoon Diamondbacks. His 18U AAA team won the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League championship and participated in nationals at Fort McMurray, Alta., just the weekend before the Mintos’ training camp at the Art Hauser Centre.
“Nationals was great,” said Shaw, who manned second base with the Diamondbacks. “Our team did not bad. It was a good experience.”
For his standout efforts at bat, Shaw was selected as Saskatoon’s player of the game in its opening match at nationals.
He considers baseball an ideal complementary sport to hockey.
“It’s great, just that break from the mental grind of playing hockey to a fun summer sport in baseball, it’s huge,” said Shaw, who turns 16 in October.
On the ice, he’s been a goaltender for half of his life.
“My spring team, when I was about seven or eight, needed a goalie, so I tried it out and loved it, and never turned back,” he said.
“I think (playing net is) just a different mindset, compared to everyone else. You’re the last guy on the team to save the play. Having that mental toughness sets you apart from everyone else.”
Shaw posted a 10-3-1 record last winter while registering a 2.45 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage with the Riverkings, who sported a 24-4-1 regular-season record and went on to win the Saskatchewan U18 AA championship.
“It was a huge development year,” Shaw said. “Just the team — the group of guys that we had, really — pushed each other to make each other better.”
The Riverkings’ top scorer was Snow-Hayes, now Shaw’s billet-mate in Prince Albert as Mintos’ rookies.
The two of them, along with Harris, gathered at centre ice after their post-game handshake in Saturday’s Green-versus-Black scrimmage. Snow-Hayes scored against his buddy Shaw in the third period of that intrasquad game.
“There were little chirps, for sure,” Shaw said with a smile.
He added that the four carryover teammates are happy to have each other’s support as they transition to Prince Albert from Saskatoon.
“It helps a lot. Knowing guys, knowing faces, it’ll be good, definitely.”
Just like his contemporaries, Shaw is going into Grade 11 at Carlton Comprehensive High School. A tour of the high school was part of Saturday’s schedule during the three-day camp.
Shaw plans to move his belongings to Prince Albert this weekend, before he departs for the Flin Flon Bombers’ training camp in early September. This past spring, the Bombers selected Shaw in the third round (36th overall) of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s U16 draft.
He believes his initial camp with the reigning SJHL champion Bombers can set him up well for his maiden U18 AAA season with the Mintos.
“Just learning how they play up there,” Shaw said. “Everyone says it’s a very good program. Hoping that I can see some development from there.”
In similar fashion, the Mintos are counting on this being a year of maturation, education and production for both of their goalies, Shaw and Kuntz.
“Both guys looked awesome this weekend,” GM Chris Bourdon said in a post-camp interview. “They both played well.
“We’re intending on playing the best guy, if he’s playing well. And that’s just the way it is. In this league, it’s about winning hockey games. We’re very confident that both of them can do that.”
Bourdon believes they’ll push each other to become stronger goalies.
“We’re not considering either a No. 1 or 2,” he said. “We’re calling them 1A and 1B at this point in the season.”
Just like Shaw, Kuntz came to camp donning Mintos’ colours.
“Everybody is painted up,” Bourdon said. “Both goalies have all their hockey style going already, which is great.”
Kuntz, a draft selection of the major junior Lethbridge Hurricanes in 2025, is headed to their WHL training camp this week. At the junior A level, he was a third-round draft choice of the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos this past spring.
