Straight-A McDavid defies ‘jock’ stereotypes
OHL star reflects new focus by junior hockey leagues on players’ academic success
“It was almost like he was a student first.” SHARON MCQUAID CONNOR MCDAVID’S HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
Most kids in Sharon McQuaid’s 11th grade English class probably knew the shaggy haired boy at the back of the room was being hailed as the Next Great One by hockey nuts north of the border. But he sure didn’t act like it. He just came to school, finished his assignments, and usually got an A.
“I’ve had a lot of other players come in with some bravado,” said McQuaid, a 45-year-old teacher at McDowell Senior High School in Erie, Pa., home of the OHL’s Erie Otters.
“More often than not their academic quality is embarrassing, and I’m pretty tough on them,” McQuaid said. “Within a week’s time, I knew that was not going to be the case with Connor.
“It was almost like he was a student first.”
Almost. Because, even though he won the CHL’s Student of the Year twice in a row, we’re still talking about Connor McDavid. You know, hockey’s next Chosen One?
But his academic prowess is undeniable. He got straight A’s in Grade 12 this year, according to McDowell principal Tim Rankin, acing courses:
academic algebra
creative writing
social studies class on contemporary issues
English 12
personal finance
digital design
Hardly basket weaving or underwater bubble blowing.
“He’s just been awesome around here,” Rankin told the Star this week. “His focus is so much on hockey, in terms of making himself the best he can be, and then academically, he clearly wanted to be very devoted to academic integrity and quality work.”
That may be surprising to some people, given the preponderance of the hockey meathead stereotype which prevails in pop culture through movies like Slap Shot and Happy Gilmore (“I was the only guy to ever take off his skate and try to stab somebody”). It may be doubly surprising that a budding superstar like McDavid would take his studies so seriously, what with the fame and endorsements in the offing.
McDavid himself had this to say to The Canadian Press last month: “I enjoy English a lot, not so much the reading books but the writing aspects of it . . . I’m not going to be that typical jock stereotype.”
Anton Thun is an agent for MFIVE Sports Management, an agency based in Uxbridge, Ont., that represents the likes of Vincent Lecavalier and Kris Letang. In his decades of experience, he’s seen attitudes toward schooling change in the junior hockey culture.
“I don’t think it’s that rare, to be quite honest with you,” said Thun, when asked about McDavid’s book smarts. “Academics has essentially turned from being something that was an impediment to trying to get to the National Hockey League, to being a complement to your day-to-day hockey activity.”
Mike Kelly, general manager for the Guelph Storm of the OHL, said this trend was established in the 1990s, when teams started institutionalizing the tools to ensure players are encouraged to perform well in school. All 20 teams in the league have hired education counsellors and academic advisers, he said. Stronger liaisons were created with local high schools, and guaranteed scholarship funding for university provides an added incentive for players to beef up their marks.
Ninety eight per cent of junior hockey players now graduate high school, according to the OHL web- site. In the general population in Ontario, the rate is 84 per cent, according to the provincial government. Thun added that, apart from McDavid and his superskilled ilk, most junior hockey players don’t have a clear shot at the big show in the NHL. They’ll need decent marks to play at university or move on to something else if (and when) their hockey days come to a close.
“There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get a contract at all . . . Unless they are superstar athletes who are guaranteed success in professional hockey — and I would suggest to you that those players are very few and far between — they need a backup plan.”
The star hockey player and solid pupil of McDowell High, however, need not worry. There’s an ironclad consensus that McDavid will be picked first overall by the Edmonton Oilers at the NHL Draft this summer.
McQuaid and the rest of the staff are proud of him, though Principal Rankin harbours one regret.
“My son was mad at me,” he explained. “When he was a student here, I didn’t get his autograph.”