St. Croix playing for love of the game

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This article was published 25/01/2018 (2783 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Michael St. Croix, a bona fide star on the University of Manitoba men’s hockey team, has a brutally honest assessment of himself as an NHL prospect.

“I’m an undersized guy that might not be the best skater,” the 5-10, 180-pound centre said. “At the next level, I think the game at a very high level and have offensive instincts, but the game has changed — even in the last five years. There is a prototype. That’s not to say you can’t be small and play in the NHL. But to be small you have to be really fast and for me… I had a little bit of an opportunity, but didn’t do as well as I should have. Your time frame to succeed and get that chance is very small.”

Chosen by the New York Rangers in the fourth round (106th overall) in the 2011 NHL Draft, the Winnipeg product toiled for three seasons in the minors before making a life-altering decision two weeks prior to the start of the 2016-17 season. He thought better of his plan to return to the ECHL on a two-way ECHL/AHL contract and called Bisons head coach Mike Sirant about going to school.

Sirant was thrilled, even if St. Croix was required by U Sports eligibility requirements to sit out an entire season after leaving the pro ranks.

“I didn’t want to play in the minors for the next 15 years,” said St. Croix, 24. “It’s not easy to transition out of pro hockey. I’ve seen that from a bunch of different people. Everyone thinks it’s glamour. At the end of the day, it’s tough. If you’re in the minors and not making a lot of money, it’s tough to have a family and a wife and a stable place to live. For me, it was trying to get out of it at 23, 24, rather than stay in it until you’re 35 and not be able to get a salary with no education. It was almost a no-brainer for me.”

St. Croix was able to draw on some helpful advice.

His dad, Rick, is a former NHL goaltender and currently the goaltending coach of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose while his older brother, Chris, had an 11-year career as a defenceman in the minor leagues and Europe.

St. Croix scored 105 and 92 points, respectively, during his final two seasons with the Edmonton Oil Kings, who chose him fourth overall in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft. He turned pro for his 20-year-old season, but the Rangers took the unusual step of placing him with the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits, a league normally reserved for older players.

“Mike’s an excellent hockey player,” Sirant said. “We think of him as an offensive player and he is a tremendous offensive player, (with) a high level of skill and a really good understanding of the game. Tremendous vision on the ice. He can make plays you don’t expect in practice or games.”

St. Croix is older and wiser now, happy to be where he is. He leads the Bisons in scoring, with eight goals and 26 points in 22 games, and has found a good home at the U of M’s Asper School of Business, where he is enrolled in three classes. He owns and maintains several rental properties while also moonlighting with a local solar panel company.

“When you’re not playing for money, it does change it a lot…” he said. “People are playing because they love the game and it all comes back to why we started playing the game in the first place. It’s not that easy to have that at the pro level when you have contracts, you’re up and down, and you’re never in a steady situation.”

St. Croix and his teammates host the Regina Cougars in a crucial Canada West weekend series tonight (7 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.) at Wayne Fleming Arena. The Bisons, third in Canada West with a 12-8-2 record, are one point ahead of the fourth-place UBC Thunderbirds and three ahead of fifth-place Mount Royal. The top-four finishers will host a first-round playoff series.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sawa14