OHL Cup Graduate Profile – Steven Stamkos
Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning is one of the NHL’s most prolific goal scorers in just his third season. He currently leads the league with 43 goals after sharing the Rocket Richard Trophy with Sidney Crosby with 51 goals in his sophomore season one year ago.
He played two OHL seasons with the Sarnia Sting from 2006-08 and scored 100 goals in 124 games before being selected first overall by the Lightning in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
And just five years ago, Stamkos was scoring goals on OHL Cup ice and leading the Markham Waxers to a 2006 Championship title.
“That was my last minor hockey memory,” Stamkos said following a morning skate in his last trip to Toronto. “That was the last time I played with the Markham Waxers before heading to the OHL, and we won the OHL Cup.”
Stamkos contributed an MVP performance with four goals and seven assists for 11 points in five games.
“To look back on it and see the guys on the team, it brings back all the memories you had and it is definitely nice that we won it. And that’s the kind of the thing every team gears towards.”
Stamkos would be selected first overall in the 2006 OHL Priority Selection and was followed by Waxers teammate and current New York Rangers defenceman Michael Del Zotto at number two. The Waxers lineup also featured former CHL Player of the Year Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battalion and former Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors captain Cameron Gaunce. Both Hodgson and Gaunce made their NHL debuts this season scoring their first career goals with the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche respectively.
“The OHL Cup was the championship of all championships right before you head off to play junior. I was fortunate to have a coach like Paul Titanic back then who taught me a lot of things to this day I still work on. Whether it was teaching me the two-way game or little things like that I learned so much from him that definitely still applies today.”
By Paul Krotz/OHL with files from Tony Ambrogio/Rogers Sportsnet
