No Longer Flying Under The Radar

Colorado College standout Noah

Laba skating toward NHL future

By Brad Emons

Although he was once considered flying under the radar as a youth player, Noah Laba suddenly caught the attention of hockey scouts from their air traffic control towers. And it’s been quite a take-off and landing for the 19-yearold Northville native, who is a standout freshman for Colorado bringing home a bronze medal from the recently completed IIHF 2023 World Junior Championship hosted by Moncton, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

And although he was a healthy scratch for six of seven of Team USA’s games at the World Juniors, Laba did appear in the bronze medal game, a wild 8-7 overtime win over Sweden.

Two of his teammates also had Northville ties including forwards Dylan Duke, a sophomore at Michigan, and Cutter Gauthier, a freshman at Boston College. Colorado College teammate Kaidan Mberko, a freshman goalie, was also on the squad.

Despite not getting a chance at the gold medal after losing 6-2 in the semifinals to host Canada, it was rewarding to return with some hardware.

College, along with being a 2022 fourth-round pick of the NHL’s New York Rangers.

The 6-foot-2, 192-pounder centerman also earned a spot on the Team USA’s 25-man roster

“It was actually a great experience,” said Laba, who made the cut after 32 players were invited to participate at an evaluation camp held at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth.

“It was special playing for your country. Obviously, USA

Hockey is great. The work and all the time I spent with the staff there and the players there . . . you can learn a lot and take away a lot from them.”

Laba grew up in Commerce Township before the Laba family of six, moved to Northville when he was 11. He first put on skates at age four, but got his hockey wings climbing through the junior ranks with Belle Tire, Compuware and the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies AAA teams.

He attended Hillside Middle School as a seventh- and eighthgrader and attended Northville High until his junior year. His older brother Devin played hockey at Northville.

Coming out of AAA, Laba went undrafted by both the Ontario Hockey League and U.S. Hockey League, but made the most out of a tryout with the Lincoln (Neb.) Stars of the USHL.

“I just came out of U-16 looking for a place to play,” Laba said. “Their assistant coach at the time gave me a call, wanted me to come to their camp, so that’s what I did. Obviously made it out of the camp and made the team.”

In two seasons with the Stars, Laba collected 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in 46 games during the 2020-21 season followed by 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists) in 50 games in 202122 where he was tied for fifth in goals and sixth in points.

The Right Fit

While playing for Lincoln, Laba signed an NCAA letter-ofintent with Colgate University, but had second thoughts.

“I committed there early,” he said. “Really wasn’t the right fit, so kind of decommitted from there and opened my options back up. Talked to Colorado, some of the coaching staff through mediators and I was impressed with the facilities they had. And being in the NCHC (National College Hockey Conference) I believe is the best league in college hockey, and Colorado is a great state to live in. Those were kind of the main reasons.”

Laba was also on the flight log of new Colorado College coach Kris Mayotte, who was an assistant for the two previous seasons at the University of Michigan.

“We kind of had our eye on him a little bit, but he committed to Colgate somewhat early out of the Junior Grizzlies, so he wasn’t a guy that was big on our radar,” said Mayotte, who is in his second season with the Tigers. “But he was starting to make some noise once he got out to Lincoln. And you go watch him play and he’s this big, long powerful center man that can skate, has some heart and has some skill. Guys like that catch your attention pretty quickly.”

Through the team’s first 26 games, Laba has held his own for CC, scoring eight goals (second on the team), including two unassisted, to go along with six assists as the Tigers were 10-15-1 overall and 6-9-1 (as of Feb. 5) in the highly competitive NCHC, which includes defending NCAA champion and chief rival University of Denver.

“He hunts pucks so well,” Mayotte said. “He’s got great speed. He can create time and space for himself. Because of it, but at the same time, he can take away and close time and space pretty quickly. He’s an offensive guy. He’s got pretty good numbers for us as a freshman.

“When he closes you down in the D zone, he can end plays. He’s been great at the face-off dot. He’s been between 55 percent and 60 percent all year for us at the dot. He’s a guy you feel like can play in any situation. He can shut another team’s top line down, but at the same time he can score and player was Pavel Datsyuk.

“I just remember being really little, watching him, watching Detroit,” Laba said. “He’s obviously a pretty special player to watch. Just every time he touched the puck, he did something very cool.”

When Laba was taking summer classes at Colorado College, he got an unexpected call on July 8.

“I didn’t necessarily know if I’d get drafted or not,” he said. “I was watching the draft. Watching whatever was going on at the time and then kind of saw my name, then got a phone call. I was in shock. Got up and left, took the call of course, and they told me I was drafted. It friends.”

The Rangers, one of the NHL’s Original Six, made him the 111th pick overall in the draft.

“They showed interest in me,” Laba said. “I think I had a couple of interviews with them as well as some other teams. I think I talked to nine or 10 total. But for sure I didn’t know if I’d get drafted or not.”

From there, Laba went to the Rangers prospect camp and visited one of the most famous sports arenas in the world -Madison Square Garden.

“That was pretty special,” Laba said. “I think MSG just being right in the home of New York . . . driving to the stadium you’re surrounded by skyscrapers and things like that. It’s just such a historic building not only for hockey, but all the events they host there. It was

Only time will tell whether Laba, whose favorite movie is understandably Miracle, ultimately makes it to the NHL, but it’s no longer just a longshot. He brings a lot of intangibles to the Colorado College program both on and off the ice, and has been a great fit.

“I guess they thought I had a lot more to develop, but definitely a late bloomer for sure,” Laba said of an evaluation of himself. “I like to try and be that best I can be. Obviously, they have the resources here. It takes a lot of work to play pro hockey, so it’s been great. The people here are great. The fans are great and obviously everyone here loves hockey.”