Mike Gabinet

Biography

Mike Gabinet is the head coach of Omaha's NCAA Division I men's ice hockey team, a position he has held since 2017. A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Gabinet is the first former Maverick hockey player to become head coach of the program. He played 131 games as a defenseman at Omaha from 2000-04, ranking in the top 15 for all-time points by a Maverick defenseman with 47 (6G-41A). Selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2001 NHL Draft, Gabinet played professionally from 2004-2012 in North America, Finland and Sweden. Before joining Omaha, he served as head coach at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in 2015-16, where he led the team to an undefeated 36-0 season and Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference Championship, earning ACAC Coach of the Year honors as the first rookie head coach to lead a team to an undefeated season in Canadian college hockey history. At Omaha, Gabinet has established himself as a successful coach, leading the Mavericks to five consecutive winning seasons, three NCHC Herb Brooks Coach of the Year finalist nominations, and the program's first-ever NCHC Frozen Four Championship appearance in 2024. His grandfather, Clare Drake, was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (1989) and Hockey Hall of Fame (2018) for his legendary coaching career.