When the Melville Millionaires hired Antonio Di Paolo to assist Doug Johnson on the bench this off-season, they became the eighth out of 12 teams in the league to employ a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League alum as a full-time assistant.
As far as experienced mentors go, Di Paolo, 25, could not have a better teacher than the man in his 14th year as a league bench boss.
“(This job) has been quite different from what I anticipated, especially coming from my career as a player,” he says.
“What I’ve found most rewarding, and what Doug has taught me, is that I don’t have to come in with an overinflated ego, thinking I know everything. Instead, I approach each day with a mindset of learning and adapting. This approach has proven to be the best way to succeed. I believe my skill set, particularly in player development, power skating, and the technical aspects of the game, has provided me with a solid foundation. As a mentor, Doug has been an invaluable resource, offering a wealth of experience and knowledge from which I can draw.”
As a player, Antonio’s hockey bloodlines are pretty good.
His cousins Brett and Quinton Howden were both first-round National Hockey League draft picks, and he got to celebrate with the former when his Las Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023.
A highly skilled, smooth-skating defenceman, Di Paolo was picked up by head coach Darcy Haugan and the Humboldt Broncos for the 2016-17 SJHL campaign.
The following season, he played 15 games as an 18-year-old for Humboldt before being traded to the La Ronge Wolves. Of course, this meant he was intimately acquainted with and connected to the Broncos team that would later be involved in the tragic bus crash that year.
“I’ve felt like they’re with me every day and every step of the way,” he says.
“Whether it’s those who have passed away or those who are still here, for example, I am very close to Xavier Labelle…when you get a chance to talk to those guys, it’s pretty special.”
“In my career as a player, I think I sometimes put too much pressure on myself,” he continues.
“There were times and days when I almost had to live and play for them. To a certain extent, that helped me to a high standard regarding my preparation, discipline, and the game. However, in certain ways, I think it also hurt me mentally by putting so much pressure on myself. It’s hard to contextualize when you’re going through something that profoundly impacted the entire hockey world. To be just one degree removed from a big tragedy like that, it would be easy to use it as an excuse or to let yourself get angry at the world and be down, but I believe it’s actually had a profound and opposite impact. It’s made me more thankful to be here, and on this journey, I’ve been on.”
Antonio credits his mother, Gina, an educational assistant at the University of Saskatchewan, as a big help in processing all the complex emotions he felt in the aftermath of April 2018, as well as his friends and other family members, including his sister Sahara.
Di Paolo played another year for the Ice Wolves before moving on to play for the Aberdeen Wings in the North American Hockey League at 20. His work and development led him to college stops in NCAA Division I at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and NCAA DIII at Wisconsin-Superior, where he finished in 2022-2023.
Last year, he helped with coaching, skills, and power skating with the Beardy Blackhawks youth programs at the Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation, an hour north of Saskatoon.
He was informed that the Melville assistant job became available late last season when Geordie Wudrick became the head coach at Creston Valley in the KIJHL. He applied and has settled in well in the Parkland Region.
“I’m really enjoying it,” he says.
“I have a notebook full of chicken scratch notes of things I’m trying to learn, especially from Doug. He always says so many wise things to our guys, like he’s always saying, ‘Don’t listen to yourself. Talk to yourself.’ When you listen to your own thoughts, you’re probably being too critical. When you talk to yourself, you can instill confidence and have more autonomy over what you say. He has so many connections all over the place in the hockey world and takes such pride in being diligent and checking in on our prospects and the health of the whole organization.
“I hope to learn from him as we progress and emulate some of his principles and the strategies that have contributed to his long-term success here,” he adds.
The SJHL consistently seeks to develop players first and foremost, but at the same time, the desire to develop coaches, officials, broadcasters, and all facets of the game is central to the heart of the league.
The league is proud to have Antonio back to provide his story, experience, and personality. He is undoubtedly one of Saskatchewan’s Finest in many ways.
