Stone rolls to spot on Canadian junior squad

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This article was published 21/12/2011 (5120 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mark Stone has always had his doubters, but they’re quickly becoming an endangered species.

From his minor hockey days in Kirkfield-Westwood, to his standout midget AAA season with the Winnipeg Thrashers, to his steady improvement with the Brandon Wheat Kings, to last week, when he was named to the Canadian junior team, Stone has made a habit of proving people wrong.

“I’m very excited,” Stone said from Banff, where the team was preparing for the 2012 World Junior Championship, which begins Mon., Dec. 26. “This is the best moment in my hockey career so far.”

The 19-year-old forward said he was confident going into Canada’s selection camp that he would make the team. But Stone isn’t one of those players who seemed preordained to play in the tournament from a young age.

Even as recently as when he was a 15-year-old midget, playing for then-Thrashers coach Kevin Benson, Stone felt it was “a bit of a stretch” to think he might play someday for Canada in one of the country’s most hyped annual sporting events.

“The knock against Mark was that he wasn’t a great skater,” Benson said. “A lot of people didn’t think he’d be able to play in the Western (Hockey) League because of that.”

Rather than being content as an above-average AAA player, Stone evaluated himself with brutal honestly and devoted himself to improving his game.

“He never listened to the critics,” Benson said. “He kept working hard, doing off-ice training, going to outdoor rinks, spending extra time after practice trying to get better.”

Stone may not have thought wearing a Team Canada jersey was a realistic goal, but his mom, Jackie, had other ideas.

“I did,” said Jackie Stone, who along with Mark’s father, Robert, will be attending the tournament in Calgary and Edmonton. “He’s a kid who’s always hated to lose, and he would do everything he could to succeed.”

Stone, a fifth-round pick of the Wheat Kings in the WHL Draft, was the leading scorer in the 2008 Telus Cup, where the Thrashers won a silver medal. Benson said he wasn’t surprised when Stone made the Brandon roster that fall.

As a Wheat King, Stone’s offensive numbers have been on a steady climb. After scoring 39 points as a rookie, he only managed 28 in an injury-plagued second year. Last season, he broke out with 106 points, and this year he led the WHL with 65 points as of Dec. 10.

“I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get here over the last couple summers,” said Stone, who went to Ottawa for a month this past summer to work with power-skating guru Mark Power. “I’ve worked on a lot of pieces of my game. I’m pretty happy with the strides I’ve made.”

The upcoming tournament may not be the last chance Winnipeg hockey fans have to see Stone play on a big stage. The Ottawa Senators selected him in the sixth round of the 2010 NHL Draft, and his former coach believes he’ll soon be playing with the world’s best players.

“I’m convinced he’ll be playing in the NHL in a couple or three years,” Benson said.

avi.saper@canstarnews.com