Why Crosby played for Shattuck-Saint Mary?

[alko]

Why did he choose to play for this school and not in QMJHL? Didn't he applied for Exceptional Status then?

 

[Michael Farkas]

As I recall, he was a fan of the Shattuck coach...he'd also get virtually unlimited ice time at Shattuck, where as in the QMJHL it might not have been quite so plentiful...I think the practice schedule and techniques were better at Shattuck, which is fully a development situation...the Q - while it means well for development - there's also a win-now sentiment there that might detract a little bit from individual player development...

 

[MarkusKetterer]

There was no exceptional status then. I’m not sure when it was introduced, seeing the first person granted it was John Tavares, so I will assume it became a thing in 2004 or 2005.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Because he didn't want to schmooze in the hallways with common rabble.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i'm not sure anybody but me ever saw the third mighty ducks movie, but man disney made prep school in minnesota look like so much fun...

 

[JackSlater]

Crosby applied to play for the Mooseheads in the same way that Spezza played for his hometown team and other 15 year olds had been allowed to play for their hometown CHL team before entering the draft at 16. He was denied, so he took off for Minnesota. I think that he dabbled in junior A but it was not a good fit. I believe that the Crosby situation played a role in the creation of the exceptional status stream that Tavares used soon after.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Ooh, I forgot about that hometown thing...good call.

 

[alko]

In his biography on Wikipedia is also this:

During his midget season, Crosby appeared on the CBC's Hockey Day in Canada telecast.[4] He has recalled numerous instances in which opposing players intentionally attempted to injure him, as well as constant verbal abuse from parents on and off the ice. Parents taunted and threatened Crosby so harshly, he took to not wearing his jersey between tournament games while he waited to play so that he would not be recognized.[15] Due to this treatment, he elected to play for the American hockey program at Shattuck-Saint Mary's Boarding School, Minnesota for the 2002–03 hockey season.[15] In 57 games with the Sabres, he recorded 72 goals and 162 points, leading the team to a U18 AAA national championship.

Is it true? Was he really so abused as a kid because his skills?

 

[Voight]

In his biography on Wikipedia is also this:

During his midget season, Crosby appeared on the CBC's Hockey Day in Canada telecast.[4] He has recalled numerous instances in which opposing players intentionally attempted to injure him, as well as constant verbal abuse from parents on and off the ice. Parents taunted and threatened Crosby so harshly, he took to not wearing his jersey between tournament games while he waited to play so that he would not be recognized.[15] Due to this treatment, he elected to play for the American hockey program at Shattuck-Saint Mary's Boarding School, Minnesota for the 2002–03 hockey season.[15] In 57 games with the Sabres, he recorded 72 goals and 162 points, leading the team to a U18 AAA national championship.

Is it true? Was he really so abused as a kid because his skills?

Wouldn't be the first time this has happened in minor hockey.

 

[JackSlater]

In his biography on Wikipedia is also this:

During his midget season, Crosby appeared on the CBC's Hockey Day in Canada telecast.[4] He has recalled numerous instances in which opposing players intentionally attempted to injure him, as well as constant verbal abuse from parents on and off the ice. Parents taunted and threatened Crosby so harshly, he took to not wearing his jersey between tournament games while he waited to play so that he would not be recognized.[15] Due to this treatment, he elected to play for the American hockey program at Shattuck-Saint Mary's Boarding School, Minnesota for the 2002–03 hockey season.[15] In 57 games with the Sabres, he recorded 72 goals and 162 points, leading the team to a U18 AAA national championship.

Is it true? Was he really so abused as a kid because his skills?

Crosby was very well known as a kid. In Nova Scotia at the very least he was more or less "famous" years before he left for Minnesota. I believe I first saw Crosby play in 2000 or maybe 1999, and I remember a ridiculous pass that he unleashed in that game. Spinning and between the legs, needless but impressive. In any event, of course there was jealousy that this one guy was the best player in the world for his age while the rest of the players he played with and against weren't even NHL prospects. He would have played in the QMJHL at 15 rather than in Minnesota if he had the option though.

Crosby did play a game or two on junior A before leaving the province but I believe that safety concerns ended that quickly. He may have barely played in either game. Crosby's family also wouldn't have had the money that is now typical of the families of most elite hockey prospects, so his options were somewhat limited I suppose. Crosby went to Shattuck St. Mary's on a full scholarship, though he did pay it back once he had money.

 

[McGuillicuddy]

Wouldn't be the first time this has happened in minor hockey.

People suck.

 

[BadgerBruce]

Essentially, Crosby went to Shattuck to receive better training/ coaching/ quality of competition.

Keep in mind that his father, Troy, unsuccessfully sued Hockey Nova Scotia when Sid was 13 and the local minor hockey association would not allow him to “play up” in Midget AAA hockey.

Anyone who has spent a week around the minor hockey rinks knows that a dad who sues the governing body and the local MHA just put a target on his kid’s back. Was Sid in tough? Oh yeah. He can thank his Dad for making things worse. Gretzky’s dad did the same thing (also lost) and thank God for Wayne there was an outlaw junior B league he could go to. In fact, it was right around the time Troy Crosby sued that Hockey Canada and all the provincial governing bodies created new regulations that call for an immediate suspension from all sanctioned activities if a player turns to the courts. Gretzky, Crosby, Lindros — they all went litigious when they didn’t get to do what they wanted.

Anyway, Crosby had an excellent experience at Shattuck and escaped a lot of the Nova Scotia minor hockey shite that would have made his day to day life awful.

 

[kaiser matias]

There was no exceptional status then. I’m not sure when it was introduced, seeing the first person granted it was John Tavares, so I will assume it became a thing in 2004 or 2005.

While exceptional status didn't become a reality until Tavares, I believe there was an OHL player a year or two before who tried to do the same thing, John McFarland. In hindsight the right call by the CHL to deny him.

 

[kaiser matias]

Essentially, Crosby went to Shattuck to receive better training/ coaching/ quality of competition.

Keep in mind that his father, Troy, unsuccessfully sued Hockey Nova Scotia when Sid was 13 and the local minor hockey association would not allow him to “play up” in Midget AAA hockey.

Anyone who has spent a week around the minor hockey rinks knows that a dad who sues the governing body and the local MHA just put a target on his kid’s back. Was Sid in tough? Oh yeah. He can thank his Dad for making things worse. Gretzky’s dad did the same thing (also lost) and thank God for Wayne there was an outlaw junior B league he could go to. In fact, it was right around the time Troy Crosby sued that Hockey Canada and all the provincial governing bodies created new regulations that call for an immediate suspension from all sanctioned activities if a player turns to the courts. Gretzky, Crosby, Lindros — they all went litigious when they didn’t get to do what they wanted.

Anyway, Crosby had an excellent experience at Shattuck and escaped a lot of the Nova Scotia minor hockey shite that would have made his day to day life awful.

It's quite interesting that all the top players had parents have to get litigious with their kids' hockey associations to let them play. I won't comment on the merits of the cases (and also acknowledge there must be a lot more on behalf of not-so-great players), but it does speak to the disfunction of Canadian minor hockey to an extent, which should not be a surprise to anyone here.

 

[BadgerBruce]

It's quite interesting that all the top players had parents have to get litigious with their kids' hockey associations to let them play. I won't comment on the merits of the cases (and also acknowledge there must be a lot more on behalf of not-so-great players), but it does speak to the disfunction of Canadian minor hockey to an extent, which should not be a surprise to anyone here.

I would completely agree with you.

So many of the regulations are absolutely cracked. The longest section of the Ontario Hockey Federation’s Manual of Operations is called “Player Eligibility and Movement.” Hire a lawyer — and many do! — if you want to understand the sometimes impenetrable legalese designed to prevent 6 year olds from playing recreational hockey with their friends.

This is a discussion for another thread and probably another time, but (somewhere) I’ve got a digital copy of the Ontario Hockey Association’s Constitution from around 1900. Most of the language in that document, which was intended to regulate amateur hockey played by ADULT men, was simply plunked down unchanged into the constitutions of youth hockey governing bodies 35 years later, no matter how inappropriate it was. And most of that same language remains.

Hockey Heritage has become little more than adherence to a mindset that existed when Queen Victoria was still alive and on the throne. The stubborn refusal to entertain changes just fuels legal challenges launched by people who do not understand just what kind of constipated Goliath they are taking on.

 

[kaiser matias]

I would completely agree with you.

So many of the regulations are absolutely cracked. The longest section of the Ontario Hockey Federation’s Manual of Operations is called “Player Eligibility and Movement.” Hire a lawyer — and many do! — if you want to understand the sometimes impenetrable legalese designed to prevent 6 year olds from playing recreational hockey with their friends.

This is a discussion for another thread and probably another time, but (somewhere) I’ve got a digital copy of the Ontario Hockey Association’s Constitution from around 1900. Most of the language in that document, which was intended to regulate amateur hockey played by ADULT men, was simply plunked down unchanged into the constitutions of youth hockey governing bodies 35 years later, no matter how inappropriate it was. And most of that same language remains.

Hockey Heritage has become little more than adherence to a mindset that existed when Queen Victoria was still alive and on the throne. The stubborn refusal to entertain changes just fuels legal challenges launched by people who do not understand just what kind of constipated Goliath they are taking on.

It's ridiculous that the issues faced in 1900 are still problems today. Cyclone Taylor famously sat out a year because the OHA wouldn't let him play in a different city, and then went to Manitoba where they had no authority. That this is still a problem in the twenty-first century makes even less sense (not that it ever did).

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

In his biography on Wikipedia is also this:

During his midget season, Crosby appeared on the CBC's Hockey Day in Canada telecast.[4] He has recalled numerous instances in which opposing players intentionally attempted to injure him, as well as constant verbal abuse from parents on and off the ice. Parents taunted and threatened Crosby so harshly, he took to not wearing his jersey between tournament games while he waited to play so that he would not be recognized.[15] Due to this treatment, he elected to play for the American hockey program at Shattuck-Saint Mary's Boarding School, Minnesota for the 2002–03 hockey season.[15] In 57 games with the Sabres, he recorded 72 goals and 162 points, leading the team to a U18 AAA national championship.

Is it true? Was he really so abused as a kid because his skills?

i never played at a level where asshole dads think their kid is going to the NHL but i think it's not uncommon. feels weird to invoke the mighty ducks a second time in this thread but that prodigy character, adam banks, he was intentionally injured in all three movies wasn't he?

Crosby went to Shattuck St. Mary's on a full scholarship, though he did pay it back once he had money.

i'm sure just by him being him he brought magnitudes more money to the school than the cost of a year's tuition, but that's a really nice symbolic gesture to pay it back anyway. i hope he earmarked the funds for giving another scholarship, so they didn't just get a climbing wall or more "college counsellors" or new leather chairs for the cigar lounge, or whatever else a school like that spends its money on.

 

[Staniowski]

I think Crosby's family just wanted him to move on from Midget AAA, which he played at 14....so, when he was denied the chance to play in the Q, they searched for something elsewhere....and no doubt received multiple offers.

 

[Staniowski]

Essentially, Crosby went to Shattuck to receive better training/ coaching/ quality of competition.

Keep in mind that his father, Troy, unsuccessfully sued Hockey Nova Scotia when Sid was 13 and the local minor hockey association would not allow him to “play up” in Midget AAA hockey.

Anyone who has spent a week around the minor hockey rinks knows that a dad who sues the governing body and the local MHA just put a target on his kid’s back. Was Sid in tough? Oh yeah. He can thank his Dad for making things worse. Gretzky’s dad did the same thing (also lost) and thank God for Wayne there was an outlaw junior B league he could go to. In fact, it was right around the time Troy Crosby sued that Hockey Canada and all the provincial governing bodies created new regulations that call for an immediate suspension from all sanctioned activities if a player turns to the courts. Gretzky, Crosby, Lindros — they all went litigious when they didn’t get to do what they wanted.

Anyway, Crosby had an excellent experience at Shattuck and escaped a lot of the Nova Scotia minor hockey shite that would have made his day to day life awful.

and Lemieux went to court against the QMJHL in '83 because he didn't want to play for Team Canada (WJC)....and he won....the judge ruled that no player should be forced to play for Team Canada.