An article from today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Minnesota prep school spawn hockey elite) highlights the strong qualities of Shattuck-St. Mary School‘s community and the school’s hockey program. S-SM produces great prep hockey teams and individual players, but more than just the hockey, S-SM provides a great setting for hockey players to mature.

As S-SM alumnus and Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby told the paper:

“I was away from home for the first time…I didn’t know what to expect, and I was lucky to meet a bunch of really nice people. I grew as a person on and off the ice.”

The S-SM team seems to live an especially intense boarding school life:

“They live together, eat together, go through a grueling course load together and play 50-60 hockey games a season against high school teams, junior teams and men’s teams. Down time is rare.”

Tenth year S-SM coach explains it this way:

“It takes a special breed of cat to fit in and get through a day here…The expectations are high for them on the ice and in the classroom, and they need self discipline and good time-management skills.”

“They have to do it on their own. That’s what makes this place special.”