skatee
04-04-2008, 05:12 PM
doesnt appear to have originalted from standard.. but this was from st. catharines standard website.
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The Stamkos sweepstakes; Sarnia Sting star will likely be picked first in NHL draft
Posted By Ryan Pyette
Posted 11 hours ago
Mark Katic usually just sighs when it's his roommate's choice on cheap movie night.
Steve Stamkos loves the scary stuff.
"He'll be all into the movie and I'll end up staring at the floor for two hours," the veteran defenceman for the OHL's Sarnia Sting said. "It's no fun for me because those aren't the kinds of movies I like. Steve gets a kick out of them."
Suspense, unpredictability and shock make a good fright flick. But there's little of that in the 18-year-old Stamkos' life on or off the ice.
It's readiness, consistency and foresight that has turned him into the projected No. 1 pick in the NHL draft at Ottawa in June. When you're this prepared, there's no reason to be scared.
"There's actually a lot of repetition to my day," Stamkos said. "I get up at 7:30 a.m. and go to school with Mark. After classes, we'll go to the gym or home or out for lunch depending on how we feel. We go back to the house to rest. Then we go to practice and work hard for a couple of hours.
"It's not (as glamorous) as everyone thinks."
That's coming. His hockey future will be determined by the bounce of a ping-pong ball in a lottery on Monday. Tampa Bay and Los Angeles are the front-runners in what has been dubbed "The Stamkos Sweepstakes."
"I was in the (Sting) dressing room when I first saw and heard that mentioned and when the rest of the team did, too, we all had a pretty good laugh about it," Stamkos said. "It's funny to see that on the highlight shows, but you can't get caught up in all the media hype."
But how he got to this point - desired by every NHL team for his skating skill and quick, hard shot - is no laughing matter.
For the past two years, the end-of-practice routine for the Sting has rarely altered.
Advertisement
An assistant coach - either long-timer Greg Walters or newcomer Jim Sandlak - threads passes to different areas of the offensive zone to a waiting player.
Then, Stamkos shoots. Again and again. One-timers from all different angles. Over and over.
"I went to a shooting camp when I was younger where they had a piece of Plexiglas on the floor and you'd blast pucks off it to work on your release," Stamkos said. "Our coach (Dave MacQueen) usually gives us 15, 20 minutes at the end of practice to work on what we want. When I'm shooting, I'm not even looking at where the goalie would be. I'm looking at the back of the net, trying to get the feeling so that it comes naturally in the game."
Want to score 42 goals in your rookie season of junior hockey? Want to follow it up with a team-record 58 tallies in your second season and nine more in the first round of the playoffs?
This is what it takes.
"He's the only player in the league who can move faster with the puck than without it," Katic said. "He's got another gear. He's a great defensive player, too. He can pretty much do it all."
In Sarnia, he is often asked to do a lot. He has become the team's most recognizable face and the draft talk and his world junior gold medal have only raised his profile across the country.
The Hockey News wanted him for a cover photo shoot this week. There are phone interview requests to answer and memorabilia to sign.
There are two interesting items in his dressing room stall - game pucks from big goals he has scored this season and a stack of mail from fans requesting autographs and pictures.
"It's overwhelming to realize what a big deal you are to some kids," he said. "But I was like that, too. I had players I idolized."
Stamkos' start in the game isn't much different than many Canadian youngsters. Growing up in tiny Unionville and of Macedonian descent, Stamkos' father Chris, a Toronto Maple Leafs diehard, and mother Lesley had young Steve skating by age two.
"I started out pushing the chair around the ice and graduated from there," he said. "Junior A hockey was a big part of my life. I would try to go watch the Markham Waxers play every Friday night when I was younger. I followed the OHL and especially the Mississauga IceDogs with Jason Spezza there."
In 2006, Sarnia made Stamkos the first pick in the OHL draft. Next stop: summer school.
"All my friends were out enjoying the summer and I was stuck in school," Stamkos said. "But it was always important for me to get my high school diploma and going in the summer made it a lot easier this year. I only have a couple of courses to finish up (he's taking data management and exercise science at Sarnia Northern) and then I'm done.
"It's been a busy year and looking back, it was a good idea to get some of those credits out of the way."
He is a smart kid and won the league's Bobby Smith Trophy as the top scholastic player last year. But his high marks were never used as leverage against the Sting.
"His family never played the NCAA card, never even brought it up during negotiations," Sting owner Rob Ciccarelli said. "We knew he came from a good family and they were a complete pleasure to deal with. All they wanted to know is if Sarnia would be the right place for him."
Will Stamkos graduate high school in Sarnia or go back home?
"Last year, I went back because we lost in the first round (four straight to Kitchener)," Stamkos said. "But it depends on how we do. If we keep playing into May, I'll stay. I know my mom misses me being home every day but obviously, I hope it's here. I love Sarnia. There's nowhere else I would've wanted to play."
Everyone there realizes this could be his final season of junior hockey. From Rob Ciccarelli, whose ex-NHL star brother Dino keeps teasing him that Stamkos will be long gone after this year, to GM Alan Millar, who improved his team at the trade deadline to take advantage of what he had on his roster.
"I didn't want to look back a year from now with Steve Stamkos playing in Tampa or L.A. and say I wish I should've made that trade," Millar said.
It worked. The Sting are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and Stamkos was his team's best offensive player.
"To be part of the team that did it, it's something special because I know the fans have been waiting for it a long time," Stamkos said. "But you can't be satisfied with one round. The goal is always to win a championship."
Sandlak knows what Stamkos is going through and the pressure he faces. The former London Knight was the fourth overall pick of the NHL draft by the Vancouver Canucks in 1985.
"You're expected to be a lot more mature on the ice than your age and Stammer is one of those kids who is," he said. "You look at our (five-game) series with Windsor. When it was getting tense and physical, I told him don't get involved, don't worry about that stuff because he knew they would be going after him. In Game 4 at home, the pivotal game, he scores four goals and we win to go up 3-1.
"The next game, he doesn't score but makes a great defensive play to save a goal."
"Oh, he can bark. He has his moments. He hates to lose, he's very competitive. He doesn't say a lot but the difference is when he does speak up, the guys stop and listen. I never had the privelege of playing with Mark Messier but I think it's a lot like that. They acknowledge him as a leader on this team."
Added veteran defenceman Steve Ferry: "When you have a player like that, it makes everybody better, it raises the level of the whole team and their game. I'm just glad I don't have to play against him."
Now, Kitchener does. Stamkos lives with billet Andrew Shaw, a scout for the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that has Rangers goalie Steve Mason under contract. In a nationally televised game during the regular season, Mason robbed Stamkos with his glove for a game-saver.
"I said to him, 'the guy's 6-foot-5 and he's got a great glove hand and how can you go upstairs on that shot rather than on the ice," Shaw recalled, "and Stammy said he forgot Mason was a right-handed glove and it wouldn't happen again."
Stamkos watches and learns. With help from Shaw and the blessing of his Newport Sports Management agent Mark Guy, he went to the NHL draft last year to Columbus and saw Pat Kane get scooped up by Chicago first overall.
He got to experience the day through Katic, who was selected by the New York Islanders.
"Mark's like my brother and to see the excitement of him getting picked was a great feeling," Stamkos said. "He has been through the process. I've asked him about the draft combine, about the interviews with the teams. He had 15 or 20 of them and said it was intense."
In the real-world NHL, the Vancouver Canucks are in a dogfight just to make the playoffs.
But they're a powerhouse in Shaw's basement, where Stamkos, Katic, and Sting mates Matt Martin and Jamie Arniel are frantically punching buttons on their XBox 360 video game controllers.
"We don't have Guitar Hero or Rock Band or any of those games," said Stamkos, "but we have NHL (2008). We created our own players using our own names and we're all on the same team. We don't change lines and it's a big race between us to see who's going to win the scoring title."
In a season of surreal moments, this one stands out: next year, Stamkos is going to be a character in the video game he and his friends play.
"Oh, he can bark. He has his moments. He hates to lose. He's very
competitive. He doesn't say a lot but the difference is when he does speak up, the guys stop and listen."
Jim Sandlak Sting assistant coach on Steve Stamkos sports
Article ID# 971398
--------
The Stamkos sweepstakes; Sarnia Sting star will likely be picked first in NHL draft
Posted By Ryan Pyette
Posted 11 hours ago
Mark Katic usually just sighs when it's his roommate's choice on cheap movie night.
Steve Stamkos loves the scary stuff.
"He'll be all into the movie and I'll end up staring at the floor for two hours," the veteran defenceman for the OHL's Sarnia Sting said. "It's no fun for me because those aren't the kinds of movies I like. Steve gets a kick out of them."
Suspense, unpredictability and shock make a good fright flick. But there's little of that in the 18-year-old Stamkos' life on or off the ice.
It's readiness, consistency and foresight that has turned him into the projected No. 1 pick in the NHL draft at Ottawa in June. When you're this prepared, there's no reason to be scared.
"There's actually a lot of repetition to my day," Stamkos said. "I get up at 7:30 a.m. and go to school with Mark. After classes, we'll go to the gym or home or out for lunch depending on how we feel. We go back to the house to rest. Then we go to practice and work hard for a couple of hours.
"It's not (as glamorous) as everyone thinks."
That's coming. His hockey future will be determined by the bounce of a ping-pong ball in a lottery on Monday. Tampa Bay and Los Angeles are the front-runners in what has been dubbed "The Stamkos Sweepstakes."
"I was in the (Sting) dressing room when I first saw and heard that mentioned and when the rest of the team did, too, we all had a pretty good laugh about it," Stamkos said. "It's funny to see that on the highlight shows, but you can't get caught up in all the media hype."
But how he got to this point - desired by every NHL team for his skating skill and quick, hard shot - is no laughing matter.
For the past two years, the end-of-practice routine for the Sting has rarely altered.
Advertisement
An assistant coach - either long-timer Greg Walters or newcomer Jim Sandlak - threads passes to different areas of the offensive zone to a waiting player.
Then, Stamkos shoots. Again and again. One-timers from all different angles. Over and over.
"I went to a shooting camp when I was younger where they had a piece of Plexiglas on the floor and you'd blast pucks off it to work on your release," Stamkos said. "Our coach (Dave MacQueen) usually gives us 15, 20 minutes at the end of practice to work on what we want. When I'm shooting, I'm not even looking at where the goalie would be. I'm looking at the back of the net, trying to get the feeling so that it comes naturally in the game."
Want to score 42 goals in your rookie season of junior hockey? Want to follow it up with a team-record 58 tallies in your second season and nine more in the first round of the playoffs?
This is what it takes.
"He's the only player in the league who can move faster with the puck than without it," Katic said. "He's got another gear. He's a great defensive player, too. He can pretty much do it all."
In Sarnia, he is often asked to do a lot. He has become the team's most recognizable face and the draft talk and his world junior gold medal have only raised his profile across the country.
The Hockey News wanted him for a cover photo shoot this week. There are phone interview requests to answer and memorabilia to sign.
There are two interesting items in his dressing room stall - game pucks from big goals he has scored this season and a stack of mail from fans requesting autographs and pictures.
"It's overwhelming to realize what a big deal you are to some kids," he said. "But I was like that, too. I had players I idolized."
Stamkos' start in the game isn't much different than many Canadian youngsters. Growing up in tiny Unionville and of Macedonian descent, Stamkos' father Chris, a Toronto Maple Leafs diehard, and mother Lesley had young Steve skating by age two.
"I started out pushing the chair around the ice and graduated from there," he said. "Junior A hockey was a big part of my life. I would try to go watch the Markham Waxers play every Friday night when I was younger. I followed the OHL and especially the Mississauga IceDogs with Jason Spezza there."
In 2006, Sarnia made Stamkos the first pick in the OHL draft. Next stop: summer school.
"All my friends were out enjoying the summer and I was stuck in school," Stamkos said. "But it was always important for me to get my high school diploma and going in the summer made it a lot easier this year. I only have a couple of courses to finish up (he's taking data management and exercise science at Sarnia Northern) and then I'm done.
"It's been a busy year and looking back, it was a good idea to get some of those credits out of the way."
He is a smart kid and won the league's Bobby Smith Trophy as the top scholastic player last year. But his high marks were never used as leverage against the Sting.
"His family never played the NCAA card, never even brought it up during negotiations," Sting owner Rob Ciccarelli said. "We knew he came from a good family and they were a complete pleasure to deal with. All they wanted to know is if Sarnia would be the right place for him."
Will Stamkos graduate high school in Sarnia or go back home?
"Last year, I went back because we lost in the first round (four straight to Kitchener)," Stamkos said. "But it depends on how we do. If we keep playing into May, I'll stay. I know my mom misses me being home every day but obviously, I hope it's here. I love Sarnia. There's nowhere else I would've wanted to play."
Everyone there realizes this could be his final season of junior hockey. From Rob Ciccarelli, whose ex-NHL star brother Dino keeps teasing him that Stamkos will be long gone after this year, to GM Alan Millar, who improved his team at the trade deadline to take advantage of what he had on his roster.
"I didn't want to look back a year from now with Steve Stamkos playing in Tampa or L.A. and say I wish I should've made that trade," Millar said.
It worked. The Sting are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and Stamkos was his team's best offensive player.
"To be part of the team that did it, it's something special because I know the fans have been waiting for it a long time," Stamkos said. "But you can't be satisfied with one round. The goal is always to win a championship."
Sandlak knows what Stamkos is going through and the pressure he faces. The former London Knight was the fourth overall pick of the NHL draft by the Vancouver Canucks in 1985.
"You're expected to be a lot more mature on the ice than your age and Stammer is one of those kids who is," he said. "You look at our (five-game) series with Windsor. When it was getting tense and physical, I told him don't get involved, don't worry about that stuff because he knew they would be going after him. In Game 4 at home, the pivotal game, he scores four goals and we win to go up 3-1.
"The next game, he doesn't score but makes a great defensive play to save a goal."
"Oh, he can bark. He has his moments. He hates to lose, he's very competitive. He doesn't say a lot but the difference is when he does speak up, the guys stop and listen. I never had the privelege of playing with Mark Messier but I think it's a lot like that. They acknowledge him as a leader on this team."
Added veteran defenceman Steve Ferry: "When you have a player like that, it makes everybody better, it raises the level of the whole team and their game. I'm just glad I don't have to play against him."
Now, Kitchener does. Stamkos lives with billet Andrew Shaw, a scout for the Columbus Blue Jackets, the team that has Rangers goalie Steve Mason under contract. In a nationally televised game during the regular season, Mason robbed Stamkos with his glove for a game-saver.
"I said to him, 'the guy's 6-foot-5 and he's got a great glove hand and how can you go upstairs on that shot rather than on the ice," Shaw recalled, "and Stammy said he forgot Mason was a right-handed glove and it wouldn't happen again."
Stamkos watches and learns. With help from Shaw and the blessing of his Newport Sports Management agent Mark Guy, he went to the NHL draft last year to Columbus and saw Pat Kane get scooped up by Chicago first overall.
He got to experience the day through Katic, who was selected by the New York Islanders.
"Mark's like my brother and to see the excitement of him getting picked was a great feeling," Stamkos said. "He has been through the process. I've asked him about the draft combine, about the interviews with the teams. He had 15 or 20 of them and said it was intense."
In the real-world NHL, the Vancouver Canucks are in a dogfight just to make the playoffs.
But they're a powerhouse in Shaw's basement, where Stamkos, Katic, and Sting mates Matt Martin and Jamie Arniel are frantically punching buttons on their XBox 360 video game controllers.
"We don't have Guitar Hero or Rock Band or any of those games," said Stamkos, "but we have NHL (2008). We created our own players using our own names and we're all on the same team. We don't change lines and it's a big race between us to see who's going to win the scoring title."
In a season of surreal moments, this one stands out: next year, Stamkos is going to be a character in the video game he and his friends play.
"Oh, he can bark. He has his moments. He hates to lose. He's very
competitive. He doesn't say a lot but the difference is when he does speak up, the guys stop and listen."
Jim Sandlak Sting assistant coach on Steve Stamkos sports
Article ID# 971398