Veteran forward Eric Staal did not play in hockey’s top league this past year. But in this feature story from The Hockey News’ June 1, 2003, edition (Volume 56, Issue 37), senior writer Mike Brophy put a spotlight on Staal – and his brothers, who also became NHLers – prior to him being drafted second overall that summer by the Carolina Hurricanes.
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Before this past season, Eric Staal had amassed 1,365 regular-season NHL games, and he won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006. Staal eventually became a “Triple Gold Club” member, winning a Cup, an IIHF World Championship in 2007 and a Winter Olympic gold medal for Canada in 2010. He generated 455 goals and 1,063 points. And those who’ve coached him and coached against him marvelled at the start of his career.
“He is resilient and in control of his emotions,” then-Oshawa Generals coach George Burnett said of Staal. “He makes the people around him better and that’s the sign of a star player.”
Growing up in Thunder Bay, Ont., Staal came to thrive in the sport because his father, Henry, built a high-quality home arena for the family to use. Staal and his brothers had every opportunity because of that rink, and all four brothers – including Jared, Marc and Jordan Staal – each played at least one NHL game.
“We used to be out on the rink for hours and hours,” Eric Staal said. “My cousin, Ian, and I would play on it all the time. Playing hockey was all we thought about. When you live out in the country, like we do, there’s not a lot else to do in the winter.”
“I’d call the boys to come in late at night, but they would just keep on playing,” added Linda Staal, the matriarch of the family. “So I would turn out the lights, but they had that flashing puck and they could see it in the dark so they’d just keep on playing.”
THAT’S STAAL, FOLKS
Vol. 56, No. 37, June 1, 2003
By Mike Brophy
It was the kind of play that could haunt a guy for the rest of his life. A fluke – no question about it – but a bitter pill to swallow nonetheless.
With the Peterborough Petes up by a goal in Game 7 of the opening round of the Ontario League playoffs against their arch-rivals, the Oshawa Generals, and less than three seconds remaining in regulation time, Eric Staal could smell victory for his team. Less than three stinking seconds.
But the sweet taste of a home victory turned into the bitter taste of a stunning defeat when a Hail Mary shot from an impossible angle by Oshawa’s Brandon Nolan deflected off Staal and past startled Peterborough goaltender David Currie. And when his team lost early in overtime, the feeling that came over Staal – the top-ranked prospect for the 2003 NHL draft – was one of sickening devastation.
Skating on the impressive backyard rink that his dad, Henry, makes each year at his rural Thunder Bay home, this was not the way the big game played out. He was supposed to score the winning goal. Just like the million game-winners he scored under the stars when everyone else had gone home and Staal remained behind…skating and scoring…skating and scoring. And dreaming.
“(Nolan) shot it from the comer and it hit my stick,” Staal said. “It was absolutely heartbreaking.”
Indeed it was. Truth be told, though, the Petes would not have been in a Game 7 against the Generals had it not been for Staal’s heroics. He single-handedly carried his team in the series, scoring nine goals and 14 points. Two of his goals were shorthanded markers, two came on the power play and he managed one game-winner. Staal was pounded and hacked and whacked, but he never gave in. He kept his cool and played his game.
“I think he’s a guy that you have to play physical against and to his credit, he handled it,” said Oshawa coach George Burnett, who coached Staal on the Ontario under-18 team two years ago.
“He is resilient and in control of his emotions. He makes the people around him better and that’s the sign of a star player.”
The 6-foot-3, 182-pound Staal is not the swiftest of skaters, but he is a deft stickhandler, a superb passer and possesses a sneaky hard shot. And he is dogged on the puck, which makes him a threat to score every time he is on the ice. He will need to get stronger to compete at the pro level, however, especially if he is going to remain the center of attention.
“He joined us as a 148-pounder and has put on about 15 pounds each year,” said Peterborough coach Rick Allain. “He started on our fourth line as a 16-year-old (in 2000-01) and by Christmas, he was centering the No. 1 line. As he got stronger, it allowed him to skate and perform in traffic. He doesn’t need players around him to make him better; he makes others better.”
If Staal does indeed go No. 1 this year, then perhaps the first assist on his selection should go to his father, Henry. Each winter on the family farm just outside Thunder Bay near Slate River, Ont., Henry Staal would build a 50-by-100-foot rink, complete with rickety boards, regulation nets and lights for his sons Eric, Marc, Jordan and Jared.
Marc, 16, was recently selected second overall in the Ontario League draft by the Sudbury Wolves; Jordan, 14, plays Bantam AAA for the Thunder Bay Kings; and 12-year-old Jared, if you believe those who have seen him play, might be the best of the Staal boys. (Keep in mind some people said the same thing about Keith and Brent Gretzky.)
All through the winters, when he was growing up, Eric lived in his skates. And remember, in Thunder Bay, on the shores of Lake Superior in northwestern Ontario, the winters are long.
Henry Staal built the rink 10 years ago using scrap sections of actual arenas in Thunder Bay that had been discarded after being replaced.
“I knew a guy at the parks and recreation department who told me about the boards and said I could have them,” Henry Staal said. “I loaded them into the truck and brought them home. I welded some pipes together and bought some mesh for the nets.”
Eric Staal has played in some great facilities, but he’ll always hold a special place in his heart for his dad’s home rink.
“We used to be out on the rink for hours and hours,” Staal said. “My cousin, Ian, and I would play on it all the time. Playing hockey was all we thought about. When you live out in the country, like we do, there’s not a lot else to do in the winter.”
Day and night the Staal brothers and their cousins would be on Henry’s rink. Once, while attending a tournament in Minneapolis, the Staals were fortunate enough to catch one of those flashing pucks that Fox Network experimented with (and which drove long-time fans to distraction). It was a great souvenir, to be sure, but it also opened the door to allowing the boys to stay out on the rink even later.
“I’d call the boys to come in late at night, but they would just keep on playing,” said the boys’ mom, Linda Staal. “So I would turn out the lights, but they had that flashing puck and they could see it in the dark so they’d just keep on playing.”
Added Henry Staal: “Even before they got that puck, there was one night when I kept calling the boys to come in and they wouldn’t so I turned the lights off from inside the house expecting them to come in then.
“I waited for about 10 minutes and they still hadn’t come in so I turned the lights back on. When the lights came on, they were just standing there looking at the house and as soon as they were on, they just started playing again.”
It is hard to say what the future holds for the rising star, but one thing is for certain: if Staal is selected high, yet returned to junior, you can count on him staying humble and doing whatever he can to make the Petes a champion.
“He’s a coach’s dream,” Allain said.
“A lot of times with your top players, you have to treat them differently, but with Eric, he’s just one of the guys. He’s the hardest working guy every day.”
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- Archive: 21 Years Ago, Hurricanes Star Eric Staal Validated Hype As Second-Overall Draft Pick
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