BY Jonathan Huntington
PRINCE ALBERT – From Switzerland to Prince Albert, it has been quite the journey for new Mintos head coach Dion Antisin.
“I grew up in Switzerland and started hockey there,” said Antisin, whose father played pro hockey for several years in that country. “My dad blew-out his knee, so we moved to Kelowna when I was eight-years-old.”
Antisin stayed in B.C. until he made his first stop in the SMAAAHL – as as player with the Note Dame Argos, scoring 13 goals and recording 32 points in 41 games in 2011-12. He graduated to the SJHL Hounds the following year with 16 goals in his rookie Junior A season.
After touring through U.S. College ranks for a couple of cups of coffee, Antisin returned to Notre Dame as a coach from 2019-23, including one year as associate coach in the SJHL. It was during that second tour of duty that he met his future wife – which ultimately played a key role in his decision to come to Prince Albert.
“I spent the last two years coaching in Sweden,” remarked Antisin, who left Notre Dame in 2023 to take a junior coaching job in Sweden. “My wife is from Regina and we just had a kid in the spring.”
“It was time to come back (to Saskatchewan) and I started talking to the Mintos in the spring.”
That led to him becoming the Mintos new bench boss this summer. “I take it year-by-year in coaching. It keeps you hungry because you are always working for your next (contract),” said Antisin.
At just 31 years of age – which is very young in the coaching game – Antisin makes a good first impression and should relate to a young team finding its way to start to the season. While sitting in the Mintos dressing room, Antisin talks clearly of developing young players and making a playoff push in the second-half of the season.
But like any player or coach, Antisin has a long-term future goal in mind. “I’d like to get back to Switzerland,” he explained. “For a family, it is great. Sundays are always a day off. The grocery stores are closed and it is family time.”
For now, though, the SMAAAHL pre-season started tonight with the Mintos winning 4-1 over Warman at the Art Hauser Centre in Antisin’s debut behind the bench.
