Great article in ESPN magazine on Shattuck- St. Mary's Prep School

Coaches: I strongly recommend you purchase the May 5 th issue of ESPN magazine (Bionic Athletes is the cover story). Pages 80 to 85 is an outstanding article about Minnesota prep school Shattuck- St. Mary's. SSM with Sidney Crosby played at TGIH in 2003 where they won the tier 1 Midget Nationals and were the class act of the tourney. Tom Ward was the hockey coach then and did everything either Tom or I asked of him or his players. Several items I point out for you from the article:

• Players don't miss classes because of away trips including arriving back at school at 4:00 AM- they are in class at 8:00 AM
• No player, no matter how skilled can expect special treatment
• No vanity shifts, just 35 seconds at sprint speed
• No face washes. No trash talking. No garbage after whistles.
• After the game no one leaves the locker room until it is spotless. (Actually that's what Crosby remembers first about SSM: "The locker room is cleaner than any I have been in")

Very special. Yes they have the talent, but their fathers (Gretzky, Lemieux, Murray etc obviously felt these things are important. TCE always has.

Let's be sure we start this season at all levels working on these items and others that are crucial to creating special hockey players on and off the ice.