Stamkos showing why he has been talked about as the 1st overall pick in 2008 for a few years now with this unbelievable goal against the Erie Otters.

To check out this video and others check out the Steve Stamkos Video section.

Steve Stamkos recently did a piece on what moves you can expect in the new shootout competition at the NHL All-Star game.

Check out this video and a ton more of Steve in the Steve Stamkos Video section of the blog.

Stamkos is a six-foot-one, 183-pound centre from Unionville, Ont., who plays for the OHL’s Sarnia Sting.

”He’s so dynamic,” says Sting head coach Dave MacQueen. ”His skill level, awareness on the ice and hockey sense are so much more advanced than a lot of the players in our league.”

Stamkos had a goal and five assists in seven games during the world tournament that ended last Saturday in the Czech Republic. In 32 OHL games, he has 30 goals and 21 assists.

”Fans watch guys with the puck, and he has it more than most guys,” says MacQueen.

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Stamkos isn’t as flashy as Patrick Kane or Sam Gagner, who graduated to the NHL from the OHL last autumn, but he’s just as effective.

”Steven is more of a scorer than a guy that’s going to wow you with a tremendous pass through three or four guys like Kane and Gagner,” says MacQueen. ”He’s got a gear that is above everybody else and he can do everything at high speed. He wows people in that sense.”

Like most teens aiming for the NHL, work remains to be done on increasing physical strength and bearing down on defensive responsibilities.

”It’s not that he’s weak in those areas,” says MacQueen. ”It’s just that he needs to keep getting better in those areas.”

Stamkos appears to be coping well with his mushrooming notoriety. It has been said about many great young players, including Sidney Crosby, that they are mature beyond their years. The same applies to Stamkos, who is regarded as a team-first player.

”It’s a credit to the way he was raised,” says MacQueen. ”He puts things (like personal recognition) on the backburner and just goes out and plays the game he loves, and has fun doing it.”

The Sting will hold a ceremony before their home game Friday against Plymouth to recognize the contribution Stamkos made to Canada’s team. He’ll be presented with his framed Team Canada jersey and a banner will be raised.

Doughty, a six-foot, 213-pound native of London, Ont., is a standout defenceman with the Guelph Storm. At the world turnament, he had four assists in Canada’s gold-medal run. In 30 OHL games, he has seven goals and 24 assists.

”The enthusiasm that he brings every time he steps on the ice, whether it’s a practice or a game, is what makes him a special player, along with his high skill level,” says Storm coach Dave Barr.

Doughty is an exceptional playmaker.

”Drew has a very high patience level in regards to holding onto the puck and making decisions, and he usually makes good decisions with the puck,” says Barr.

Like most teens in the sport, being at his best on a consistent basis is a primary aim.

”His consistency is already pretty good but it can get better,” says Barr.

Doughty rejoins his teammates at practice Thursday to prepare for a home against Owen Sound on Friday.

Zach Bogosian of Massena, N.Y., a defenceman with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes, is ranked third. Bogosian wasn’t on the U.S. team in Pardubice.

Kyle Beach of Kelowna, B.C., a centre with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, is ranked fourth. Beach wasn’t picked to play for Canada.

Alex Pietrangelo of King City, Ont., a defenceman with the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs, rounds out the top five.

Chet Pickard of Winnipeg, who plays for the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, is the top-rated North American goaltender.

Left-winger Nikita Filatov of Russian Super League club CSKA and goaltender Harri Sateri of Tappara of the Finnish junior league are the top-ranked skater and goaltender, respectively, in Europe.

Filatov is only five-foot-11 and 165 pounds but is known to play a physical game. He’s not expected to be a top-three pick in Ottawa when the draft is held June 20-21.

”He definitely has an NHL upside because he can score, he is a well-rounded player and he is responsible in the defensive zone,” says Russian national team junior coach Sergei Nemchinov.

Central Scouting director E.J. Maguire has nine full-time and 12 part-time scouts on the prowl.

”This is a good year,” he replies when asked to judge the quality of the Class of 2008. ”The draft (talent) is deep through the first round.”

The mid-term rankings were released Wednesday but are already in flux.

”The nature of this list is a snapshot,” says Maguire. ”We’re already re-evaluating the rankings.”

While Stamkos has emerged as the consensus No. 1 pick, ”It is nowhere near as definite as it was with Crosby or, going back quite a few years, Mario Lemieux.”

A final list will be released in April - before many of the teens complete their team’s playoffs.

”The 30 teams we work for want (the final list) early so when they do their final meetings they have a basis for comparison - a second barometer from which they can judge their own individual rankings. We’re proud that our rankings hold up well against any individual team’s assessments over any number of years.”

In the gold medal final today at the 2008 World Junior Championships team Canada was able to get the win in dramatic fashion.

After scoring twice in the first period which saw Brad Marchand score less then two minutes into the game, with assists going to Claude Giroux and Kyle Turris. And then midway through the 1st period that line struck again on the power play but this time off the stick of Claude Giroux assisted by Marchand and Turris.

Then after a scoreless second period Sweden put the pressure on and were able to come storming back capped off with a goal 38 seconds left in the game to tie it up 2-2 and force the game into overtime.

But at the 3:36 mark of overtime Shawn Mathias pushed his way to the front of the net from the corner where Matt Halischuk was able to pounce on the rebound and put it behind Swedish goalie Jhonas Enroth.

This is Canada’s 4th straight gold medal and will have a chance at a 5th straight at home for the 2009 World Junio Championships in Ottawa.

Team Canada has up to 10 players that can potentially comeback next year including their two 17 year old stars, John Tavares & Steve Stamkos and also the tournaments best defenceman Drew Doughty.

Check out the Steve Stamkos Store now to pick up anything Steve Stamkos related. Go grab some team Canada gear and help cheer on Steve, John Tavares and the rest of team Canada as they try and go for 4 straight gold medals.

Steve Stamkos playing in his first World Junior gam as a 17 year old looked good. Getting an assist on Canada’s first goal of the game, the goal scored by the other 17 year old on team Canada, John Tavares.

Stamkos also picked up an assist on Canada’s second & third goals of the game.

Sarnia Sting forward Steven Stamkos of the Ontario Hockey League is the top choice in the latest NHL draft rankings released by International Scouting Services.

Stamkos, 17, is regarded as the consensus No. 1 pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

The Unionville, Ontario native has 30 goals and 51 points in 32 games this season and was named to Canada’s national junior team last week. He finished last season with 92 points (42 goals, 50 assists).

Defenceman Alex Pietrangelo of the Niagara Ice Dogs is the second-ranked prospect, while Guelph Storm blueliner Drew Doughty and Kelwona defenceman Luke Schenn - also on Canada’s World Junior team - are No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.

Russian winger Nikita Filatov rounds out the Top 5.

Source [TSN]

CALGARY — Hard to believe for a player projected to go first overall in the 2008 NHL entry draft, but Steve Stamkos described himself as flying “under the radar a bit” when he arrived Monday to try out for Canada’s world junior team. The reason has more to do with his age (17) than his ability level (sky high). Only the most precocious of 17-year-olds generally crack the line-up of a tournament officially known as the world under-20 championships; and of the ones that do, most demonstrate a maturity in their game at an unusually early age.

Al Murray, Hockey Canada’s chief scout, described the challenge this way: “When you look at the top players, they’re usually the top players because they have the puck all the time, so they’re very used to creating scoring chances and handling the puck and being involved in the play all the time.

“Usually when you see 17-year-old guys playing against 19-year-olds, they don’t have the concept of how to cover defensively in all three zones. They tend to follow the puck in their own zone. They tend to gamble and get into an offensive part of the rush instead of following the rush or taking what comes to them but not trying to force something that isn’t there.”

It’s why Canada invited just two 17-year-olds to camp — Stamkos and the Oshawa Generals’ John Tavares. With only three returnees in camp from last year’s world junior team, Tavares solidified his place in the pecking order with an excellent performance on behalf of Canada in last summer’s Junior Summit series against Russia. Stamkos, meanwhile, did himself a lot of good in the first two days of tryout camp, catching the eye of the scouts and the coaching staff alike.

“We see Stamkos quite a bit because we play them eight times a year,” said Craig Hartsburg, the national junior coach, who is also the coach of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. “It doesn’t surprise me at all what he’s done. He’s got great speed and great puck skills. He’s very competitive. He’s not going to back off anybody physically. He’s been excellent.”

Tavares, who isn’t eligible for the NHL draft until 2009, may be better known than Stamkos at the moment, but both are projected as high-end NHL players in time.

“He (Tavares) deserves all the attention,” said Stamkos. “He’s a great player. I don’t mind playing under the radar. There’s a little less pressure for me.”

It is easy to identify both Tavares and Stamkos on the ice because under International Ice Hockey Federation rules, they are both obliged to wear full face masks.

“There’s nothing given to a 17-year-old,” said Hartsburg, but added of Stamkos: “He’s done a great job. He’s certainly on the right track. We’re still watching and evaluating but so far, so good. If he didn’t have the cage on, you wouldn’t know how old he was.”

Canada plays three intra-squad games here this week - Stamkos scored a goal in the first game — before finalizing its roster Friday morning, after which they’ll head overseas. Canada had tentatively planned to play an exhibition game against the University of Calgary men’s team this week, but it was cancelled after a mumps outbreak on the latter team. Hartsburg said he was looking at some other options, but even if they were restricted to intra-squad competitions, that would be fine.

Stamkos suggested he was a little nervous in the first scrimmage, “but once I got a few shifts under my belt — a few hits, a few shots — I got a little more comfortable out there.”

If Stamkos does make the team, he’ll have one advantage over the majority of his teammates — he played in Prague just this summer on the Canadian under-18 team that finished fourth in that tournament. Playing with and against a group of mostly 19-year-olds, says Stamkos, is actually working out just fine.

“The guys are older, a lot bigger, stronger, faster. They’re better players, the best players from around Canada and it makes it easier. Everyone knows where everyone is on the ice and they just know how to play hockey and it definitely makes it easier for me.”

To Murray, it is Stamkos’s all-around game that makes him an attractive candidate for this team.

“Steve Stamkos is a player who seems to have it right now,” said Murray. “He understands the defensive part of the game as well as the offensive part of the game and uses his speed in the defensive part of the game as well as the offensive part. On the rush, he’s got a change of pace to beat the defenceman one-on-one or he backs defencemen off and takes the space and finds the second guy coming in. But also as soon as the puck turns over, he uses his speed to get back in solid defensive position and he’s the first guy back to your own net, covering his own position. Steve is playing with a maturity well beyond his years in my opinion.”

That’s just what Hartsburg wants from all his players.

“With this group, we’re going to have to get a little bit of offence from everybody,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to rely on one or two lines, we’re going to have a team with four lines � and we’re going to count on them all to chip in a little bit offensively.”

In the meantime, Stamkos is taking nothing for granted, with the cuts still a few days away. To make the team as a 17-year-old, he says “would be a tremendous honour. It’s a dream come true just being here. To make the team would be the ultimate dream.
“Whatever coach Hartsburg wants me to do, I’m willing to do it. I think I can utilize my speed and be an aggressive fore-checker and be effective on the penalty kill. If I have to be on the third or fourth line or be the 13th forward, that’s fine with me. It’s worth it in the end.”

December 12, 2007