Canadiens defenceman Noah Dobson was a great all-around athlete while growing up in Summerside, P.E.I.
In Grade 8 at Summerside Intermediate School, Dobson earned a perfect 100 per cent mark in physical education. But the phys-ed teacher who gave him that grade remembers Dobson as much more than just a great athlete.
“Noah got 100 because Noah was that kind of kid,” Trevor Bridges, who has taught phys-ed for more than 25 years, recalled in a phone interview this week. “He was the best athlete. He was the nicest kid. And he was really good at everything he did.
“You never had to discipline him,” added Bridges, who now teaches at Stonepark Intermediate School in Charlottetown, P.E.I. “You never had to talk to him twice. A lot of these hockey players almost feel like they’re better than other people at times. They have that hockey mentality is kind of what we say around here. They’re not that nice all the time. But Noah was never like that. He always was a good kid. It didn’t affect the way he was. Some of these guys they’re just not like that … they’re not as nice and genuine as he is. There’s lots of them that are, but not all of them. He was just a genuine, nice kid all the time.”
Dobson is the last phys-ed student to earn a perfect grade from Bridges, who noted the curriculum has changed over the years, incorporating more health studies with written tests, making it more difficult to get 100 per cent.
Dobson chuckled recently when I asked him about his perfect mark in phys-ed.
“Growing up, I wasn’t much of a scholar in school, but when it came to phys-ed time it was fun,” he said. “(Bridges) was a great guy, a great teacher.”
Dobson said he tried to play a lot of sports as a kid growing up.
“Soccer in the summer and stuff,” he said. “I think it’s important as kids even now growing up to be an athlete. I think it helps you grow. On the ice you’re just being more athletic.”
Dobson started to focus only on hockey after Grade 8 when he left P.E.I. and attended the Red Bull Academy in Salzburg, Austria, which has specialized hockey and soccer development programs for promising athletes from around the world between the age of 14 and 20.
Dobson was the sixth overall pick at the 2016 QMJHL Draft by the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. He won back-to-back QMJHL championships and Memorial Cups with the Titan in 2018 and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in 2019 and was selected by the New York Islanders in the first round (12th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.
Dobson hasn’t forgotten his roots and holds a HockeyFest road hockey event every summer in Summerside.
“He was an early grower, so he was a big, strong kid for his age,” Bridges recalled about Dobson.
“I can still remember we were playing flag football (in high school) and he was playing defence,” Bridges said. “And every time the quarterback threw the ball he picked it off. He’s used to having everyone in front of him (as a defenceman), he knew where the ball was going and he knew how to read the play. He was one of those kids that just got it. There’s some stuff that he had you don’t teach. He had that, plus he was a hard worker, plus he was a big kid. He had everything, but it didn’t go to his head. That’s part of the reason he’s been as successful as he is.”
Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes have put an emphasis on bringing “good people” into the organization. The soft-spoken Dobson, who is always thoughtful and polite in interviews, certainly seems to fit the bill.
“They hit the jackpot with Noah,” Bridges said.
Bridges said he hasn’t spoken with Dobson in quite a few years.
What would he say to him now?
“That it’s nice to see that all the hard work paid off,” Bridges said. “And that from what I can tell you’re the same person you were when you were in junior high. The success didn’t go to your head from what it seems like — and that’s refreshing to see.”
Times are changing
It’s tough for kids to become good all-around athletes today since the focus on one sport 12 months a year can start early.
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis said he didn’t really play hockey in the summer, playing soccer instead.
“I think growing up it’s nice to try to become an athlete, not just one specific sport,” St. Louis said. “But it’s hard because 99 per cent of the kids they have early specification. And if you’re the only one who’s trying to be an athlete and trying to get better in your sport, you might be behind just because of what everybody else is doing. It’s really hard.
“But I think we would probably create better hockey players if we were creating athletes first,” St. Louis added. “But I don’t know … I think the train is so far down the road right now I don’t know if that’s going to be possible. But I think I would definitely encourage every kid to mix in some other sports.”
The Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher played baseball until he was 16 and joined the WHL’s Vancouver Giants.
“It was my mom’s game,” Gallagher said about baseball. “My dad was a lacrosse player, so he had me in lacrosse pretty early. But he got me out of that when he realized I was getting beat up a little bit too much. So they put me in ball and it was a little bit better suited for the summers.”
Gallagher was a catcher and shortstop in baseball and also played a little centre field. He encourages young kids to play more than one sport.
“I think it’s super important — not only mentally to change it up,” he said. “But I think there’s so many skills that you can take from other sports, hand-eye coordination, basic athleticism. There’s something in every sport that carries over into hockey and it’s going to help you with hockey. Obviously, you dedicate a lot of your time there, but I think it is so important to play other sports and really broaden your athleticism.”
The Canadiens’ Joe Veleno played soccer until he was 11 and his family moved to Kirkland on Montreal’s West Island.
“Just too much travelling,” he said. “It was pretty tough. I really enjoyed playing soccer, especially in the summers just being outdoors. Made a lot of connections and friendships through playing soccer. It kind of took my mind off of hockey a little bit, especially as a young kid. You play so much hockey that sometimes you just want to enjoy something else, so my parents put me in soccer.
“At a certain point, I had to realize I have to make a full commitment to playing hockey,” he added. “That’s what I wanted to do and I loved playing hockey more than I loved playing soccer.”
Learning from the best
Mike Matheson’s father wouldn’t let him play hockey past May 31 as a young boy growing up in Pointe-Claire on Montreal’s West Island. Matheson played some soccer, but preferred football and was named the offensive MVP as a running back with the mosquito Triple-A Lakeshore Cougars in 2005.
“You could always tell when you got to (hockey) camp when you were younger the kids that played all summer might have had a bit of a step early in camp, but there was no excitement,” Matheson recalled. “It was just another practice and the kids that had taken the whole summer off couldn’t wait to get on the ice, which I think is the point of sports. It should be fun, especially at that age.”
Matheson started to really focus on hockey and off-season training when he was 15 and joined the midget Triple-A Lac St. Louis Lions.
At age 31, Matheson remains one of the most fit players on the Canadiens and leads the team in ice time once again this season with an average of 24:21 per game. Last season, Matheson averaged 25:05 per game to rank seventh in the NHL.
Matheson said he learned a lot about conditioning during the two seasons he had Sidney Crosby as a teammate with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“His ability to take care of his body, he’s so dialled in on everything,” said Matheson, who developed a close friendship with Crosby. “He definitely has his routine, but I think he’s always open to new things, too, and so that kind of opened my eyes into continuing to work on it instead of just kind of have your ideals set. So I definitely learned a lot from him in just how he approaches off-days and when to skate, when to not skate, all that kind of stuff.
“So just one of those other things that make it so special to play with those guys, like (Kris) Letang, who have done it for so long,” Matheson added.
Matheson flashed a big smile when I asked if he had heard speculation about Crosby possibly joining the Canadiens in a trade with the Penguins.
“Yeah,” he said. “Who knows?”
Home away from home
St. Louis said he was surprised when he made his first road trip to Western Canada as head coach of the Canadiens and saw all the bleu-blanc-rouge sweaters in the stands.
“But I don’t think we go in there and think it’s going to be a home game,” he said before the Canadiens left on the current four-game road trip that started with a 2-1 overtime win over the Flames in Calgary on Wednesday and a 6-5 loss to the Oilers in Edmonton on Thursday. “But the support is always awesome. Surprised a little bit, but we kind of got used to that and it’s fun to see.”
After Wednesday’s win in Calgary, fans wearing Canadiens sweaters were singing “Olé! Olé! Olé!” as they left the Saddledome.
The Canadiens will play the Canucks on Saturday in Vancouver (7 p.m., CBC, TVA Sports) and wrap up the road trip Tuesday in Seattle against the Kraken (10:30 p.m., ,TSN2, RDS).
Lambert a hit at HI/O Summit
The annual Hockey Inside/Out Fan Summit was held last weekend, bringing Canadiens fans from across North America and beyond who follow the team on The Gazette’s website to Montreal for a game.
The Canadiens lost 4-3 to the New York Rangers last Saturday night at the Bell Centre, but the pre-game get-together at Hurley’s Irish Pub on Crescent St. was a big hit with former Canadiens’ Réjean Houle and Yvon Lambert making an appearance. They also brought an autographed team stick that was part of a charity raffle that raised more than $4,000 for the Montreal Canadiens’ Children’s Foundation.
Lambert shared some great stories about his hockey career, including how he grew up on a farm in Drummondville and only learned to skate when he was 13. He only started playing organized hockey at the midget level and also played in a garage league, where he paid $2 a game to take part.
After posting 50-51-101 totals and 89 penalty minutes in 52 games with the junior Drummondville Rangers in 1969-70 as a 19-year-old, the Detroit Red Wings selected Lambert in the fourth round (40th overall) of the 1970 NHL Draft.
Lambert was upset after the Canadiens claimed him off waivers a year later, thinking he would never be good enough to play for them. He would go on to win four Stanley Cups with the Canadiens.
Lambert tells his amazing life story in a book titled Yvon Lambert, un glorieux au coeur de la dynastie, that was published in 2021.
Gallagher learning French
Mon ami J.F. Chaumont, who used to work for the Journal de Montréal and now writes for LNH.com, had a good story this week on Gallagher on the NHL’s French website.
Gallagher spoke about how he’s learning French thanks to his wife — Emma Fortin, who is from Ste-Julie on Montreal’s South Shore — and their daughter, Everly Mona Della Gallagher, who was born in February and is named after her two grandmothers.
“I tried to learn on my own, but without success,” Gallagher told Chaumont. “My wife does her best to teach me French, but I’m probably not the best student. Now, I’m going back to basics by learning alongside my daughter. That’s my new strategy.
“At home, I speak English with my daughter and my wife speaks French to her,” Gallagher added. “I don’t dare speak French with my daughter. I’d be afraid of harming her French! Our daughter will soon speak both languages. I would like to speak French with my children one day. But I still find it difficult.”
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