Date of Birth: 1949
Place of Birth: St. John’s, NL
Inducted: 2021 (Player Category)
When Sandy Gibbons was five years old, he saw Memorial Stadium open for the first time across the street from his boyhood home. Little did he realize at the time how much that building would impact his life.
Sandy grew up playing minor hockey at Memorial Stadium, where he quickly became a prolific scorer; leading St. John’s teams to five provincial minor championships at the Pee-Wee, Bantam and Midget levels during a five-year period between the early to mid-1960s.
When he jumped to the ranks of senior hockey with the St. John’s Capitals, and later the St. John’s Blue Caps during the 1970s, the championships followed.
He led the Caps to three-straight Herder titles as Newfoundland Senior Hockey League champs from 1973 to 1975 and got his hands on the trophy once again in 1978 as part of the Blue Caps’ 4-3 series victory over the Gander Flyers.
The Herder titles for Sandy’s Capitals earned the squad the right to compete nationally for the Allan Cup Canadian championship. And, while St. John’s fell short in each of Sandy’s three years competing for the Allan Cup, he was among the squad’s top scorers during the run.
In 11 Allan Cup playoff games over three seasons, Sandy banged home nine goals and assisted on seven others. His 16 points ties him for 20th overall in all-team Allan Cup scoring for a player from this province.
After playing partial seasons between 1976 and 1978 due to university commitments in Nova Scotia, Sandy returned to St. John’s for his final season of senior hockey in 1979-80.
By the time he hung up the blades, he had amassed a career total of 59 goals and 73 assists for 132 points in 109 regular season games, as well as 23 goals and 36 assists in the playoffs.
