Mythbuster, featuring Steven Stamkos and the sophomore jinx
Joe Scaringi
If the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary were looking for an opposite for the term 'sophomore jinx', it would be hard-pressed to find something more appropriate than the name Steven Stamkos.
Stamkos enjoyed anything but a sophomore slump in the 2009-2010 National Hockey League season, potting a mind-bending 51 goals and 95 points to lead his club, the Tampa Bay Lightning, in both categories. His 51-goal effort tied him with 22-year-old Sidney Crosby for the league lead, placing the pair as co-winners of the Rocket Richard Trophy. At 20 years of age, Stamkos became the third-youngest player in league history to have a 50-goal season, trailing only Wayne Gretzky and Jimmy Carson.
"Being in my second year, I had a little more confidence than my first year," said Stamkos of his breakout campaign. "You become a lot more comfortable with your surroundings."
"To think that he has scored 51 goals in his second year [in the NHL] is pretty crazy," said Paul Clancy, Stamkos' teammate on the Junior 'A' Markham Waxers. "Ever since he was a kid, he's always been the hardest worker. So if anyone deserves it, it would be him."
Stamkos, a native of Markham, Ontario, played for his hometown Waxers in the 2005-2006 season, where he racked up a ridiculous 109 goals and 99 assists in 72 games played. While sometimes paired with Stamkos as a linemate, Clancy quickly began to realize that his friend was a special player.
"If I was going to say that any one [of my teammates] was going to make the NHL, it would have been him for sure," said Clancy.
"He's a very versatile player and I think his overall game is what makes him so good because he's so good at every single part of the game."
Following his stint with the Waxers, Stamkos was drafted to the Ontario Hockey League where he played two seasons with the Sarnia Sting. There, he tallied 197 points in 126 games over the two seasons. During his second season with the club, he represented Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, notching six points en route to a gold medal.
"It's definitely a tournament I love to follow every Christmastime," said Stamkos of the World Junior Tournament. "I was very happy to be a part of that team."
At the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Stamkos was selected first overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Clancy credits Stamkos' character to getting him to where he is.
"He was drafted first overall, so he's obviously doing something right," said Clancy. "Yet he stayed even-par and he doesn't get stupid about it."
Stamkos would sign a three-year, entry level contract with the Lightning, and in his first season with the club, would put up 46 points, including 23 goals, in 79 games played.
"Usually you get guys coming into the NHL who are either cocky or they change because it gets to their head. But he didn't get like that at all," said Clancy. "He honestly didn't even change at all through the years. He's always been a great guy. He's not cocky, yet he has all the reason in the world to be."
During the summer of 2009, Stamkos trained with former NHLer Gary Roberts, working to improve his strength and endurance in an effort to elevate his game. The result was the Rocket Richard Trophy.
"It's hard to be a 50-goal scorer in the NHL at 20 years old. It's pretty remarkable," said Clancy. "To see the guys that he was racing with - Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin - it's pretty crazy to think about."
"I've been playing with so many good players and playing a lot [this season]," said Stamkos. "I worked really hard training in the summer and it paid off."
With Stamkos enjoying such success in his sophomore season, many argued he should have been penned into the roster for Canada's Olympic men's hockey team. At the end of the day, with the squad claiming gold in Vancouver, no one can really point fingers; however, Stamkos was certainly a deserving candidate.
"Realistically, I didn't think I'd make it," said Stamkos of the Olympic squad. "There's so many good players, especially when you're dealing with Team Canada. It's a tough team to make, especially when you're 19."
With so much talent to choose from, being a centreman certainly didn't help Stamkos' chances of cracking the roster, as Canada possesses a surplus of top-notch players at the centre position.
"I can't really dig into that scenario because I play centre," said Stamkos. "Sure, there are a lot of great centreman so who knows if I were a winger, but it's a tough team to make. There's so many great players who've had past experience, especially at events like the Olympics.
"They're going to go with the guys they think they can win with, and that's the reality you have to live with."
While he did not participate in the Olympic Games, Stamkos is currently serving as assistant captain for Canada at the World Hockey Championship in Germany.
"When I played with him, he was a really good leader," said Clancy. "He was never negative, never harping on guys; he just worried about his own game and at the same time led by example."
This year marks Stamkos' second turn at the World Championships, having sniped 11 points in nine games in the 2009 tournament. That year, however, Canada failed to claim gold, instead bringing home the silver.
Having won gold at the World Juniors in 2008 and silver at the World Tournament in 2009, Stamkos empathized with Canada's overtime loss to the U.S. in the gold medal game of the 2010 World Junior Tournament.
"It was a tough game," he said of the gold medal contest. "We obviously had a big comeback, but I thought the States had a really good team. It was a really good game to watch - very exciting."
When comparing the 2010 Junior squad to the club he was part of two years prior, Stamkos pointed to certain subtle differences.
"Obviously you want to play the Canadian style, [but] every Canadian team is different. There's different players and different identities," he said. "I think in my year, we had more of a grinder team. We didn't really blow anyone out too much; we just worked really hard and won."
As it currently stands, Stamkos has been a point-per-game player at the World Tournament, where Team Canada has gone 2-1 in the preliminary round. No matter how the tournament plays out, rest assured that Stamkos will factor in one way or another - whether it be in 2010 or any number of years down the road.
For Steven Stamkos, he has only just begun to tell his tale of hockey mastery. Stay tuned, as the bulk of the story is yet to come.
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