Inside The Classroom: From Grand Forks to Cup Champion

Although he was the first pick in the 2006 WHL bantam draft, Jonathan Toews decided to go a different path than most of his Canadian counterparts, as the Winnipeg native chose instead to attend Shattuck St. Marys high school in Minnesota and then play for the University of North Dakota. As a Freshman Toews was third on the team with 22 goals and 4th with 39 points as he helped the Sioux advance to the Frozen Four. He compiled his stats despite missing a couple of games to go play in the World Junior Championships. Despite being Canada’s youngest player, in a shootout vs. the United States in the semis it was Toews who shot and scored multiple times to give Canada a big win on their way to a gold.

After his Freshman year Toews was drafted 3rd overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. He followed up his Freshman year with an even better season as he had 18 goals and 46 points, and due largely to his efforts his teammate Ryan Duncan won the Hobey Baker award as the nation’s top player (fun fact: Duncan was the same age in his Hobey season as Toews is right now).

Taking his game to the pro ranks, Toews scored on his very first NHL shot. After his great rookie season, Toews became the third youngest captain in history.

This year has truly been a coming out party for the superstar. Despite being considered a borderline Team Canada selection, he was named Most Outstanding Player at the Olympics. He is the only player to win the Olympic MVP and Conn Smythe in the same year. Toews is also the youngest member of the triple gold club (Olympic gold, World Championship gold, Stanley Cup).

Watching Toews in college, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that he is where he is. A lot of the hockey players that come to campus are, shall we say, not 100% focused on hockey. While there was an unfortunate incident involving him sneaking into a bar, and this semi-famous picture it was pretty innocent stuff compared to the exploits of teammate and fellow first round pick TJ Oshie, who unfortunately is one of the more despicable athletes in UND hockey history. So we can just chalk it up to bad influence.

But while some of his teammates were busy getting all the immaturity out of their systems, Toews was probably the most stable kid on the team, despite being one of the youngest. I had the opportunity to meet him when I was a Freshman at UND, and I can’t say enough good things about how good of a guy he was. Even though he was a huge star he didn’t think of himself that way or act that way. It is clear he has carried this attitude into the NHL: Toews spent New Year’s Eve 2009 not at a club or trying to hit on some women, but instead dining with his brother and the rest of this year’s UND Fighting Sioux hockey team as they were in town for the Shillelagh holiday tournament.

A lot of people won’t like this comparison probably, but the best thing I can say about Toews is he’s the midwest version of Sidney Crosby: hard working, amazingly talented, and humble despite being the toast of a city. Very rarely do athletes live up to the image that is lavished upon them, but Jonathan Toews does even more than that: he surpasses it.