Dan Gibb was prepared to leave professional hockey behind him. But, there's a chance it could still be part of his future.
Gibb, born and raised in Prince George and a former captain of the Prince George Cougars, has been asked to attend the rookie camp of the Washington Capitals. A scout from the National Hockey League team got a look at him in March in Halifax when he was playing for the University of Calgary Dinos at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championship tournament.
Gibb's performance in a game against the Guelph Gryphons led to the invitation, which was confirmed via email last week.
The camp will start on July 6.
Gibb, a six-foot-three, 220-pound defenceman, is still getting used to the idea that he'll be skating with the top prospects of the Capitals.
"It's quite surreal, in all honesty," the 22-year-old said Tuesday from Calgary.
"I came to school hoping to get better at hockey but to do a degree and then kind of pursue hockey once I had a degree. It's a humbling experience to think that I still have a chance to do something down there. I'm pretty ecstatic."
Gibb, a defensive-oriented blueliner, played four seasons with the Cougars and was captain for the latter part of his final year, 2012-13.
As soon as he graduated from the Western Hockey League, he signed a deal with the Stockton Thunder of the minor-pro ECHL. He played the last few regular-season games with the Thunder and was then a key part of the club for a playoff run that finally ended with a loss to the Reading Royals in the Kelly Cup championship series.
Gibb said his time with the Thunder - 26 games in total - was "an awesome experience" but he decided at the end of those playoffs it was time to change his focus.
"I realized that, at that point, I wanted to get a degree," he said. "At that age I wasn't sure if pro hockey was going to work out or not and so I came back."
Gibb landed at the University of Calgary, where he is working on a bachelor of arts degree in international relations. On the hockey side of the equation, he now has two seasons under his belt with the Dinos.
At the CIS national tournament, Calgary lost 3-1 to Guelph in its opening game and was eliminated but Gibb had a typically solid outing.
"I was just steady on the defensive side and I moved the puck to the guys that needed the puck," he said.
If Gibb does well at the Capitals rookie camp, he could get invited to the team's main camp. That would mean sharing ice space with NHL superstars like Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.
Gibb, however, doesn't want to get too far ahead of himself.
"Even to be in the same vicinity as those guys would be quite the eye-opening experience and I look forward to it if I'm given the chance but we'll cross that bridge when it comes," he said.
Of course, there's also the chance the Capitals could offer Gibb a spot in their organization, either with the big club or with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. Given that he's now part way down the road to a university degree, Gibb said he'd have to weigh his options if pro hockey becomes a possibility again.
"It would have to be a decision that my agent (Saskatchewan-based Jeff Helperl), myself and my family would have to make - whether it's enticing enough that I could potentially save enough to go back to school after," Gibb said. "At the same time, pro hockey, an offer like that doesn't come around every day so I would seriously consider it."
