Callum Croskery’s success on the ice begins with success off it in his
studies.
The 2024 Ontario Hockey League draft prospect is capping off a
seven-year journey with the U16 AAA Oakville Rangers, posting 52 points in 29
games during the 2023-24 season with a plus/minus of plus-28.
He also recently represented Canada at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics in
South Korea, helping him land on lists of top 2008-born
defencemen for the 2024 OHL draft.
But for the 16-year-old to keep playing, he needs to prioritize his
schoolwork, a condition his parents set when he first started playing.
“My parents are very straightforward, they know academics always come
first,” he said in an interview. “If I’m ever not performing well in the
classroom or maybe skipping classes and stuff like that, I would have to lose
hockey because it is a privilege. Thankfully though, I am a good student. That
hasn’t happened yet.”
On the ice, what sets Croskery apart from other defencemen is that he
can generate offence.
According to Rangers coach Mike DeRenzis, he is a great skater who
distributes the puck well and is very deceptive in that the opposition never
knows where he is going to feed the puck.
Any OHL team that selects Croskery during the April 12-13 draft is
getting, “a special player,” DeRenzis said. “And an organizational player. I
think Callum is a piece that you build around. You’re getting a piece that is
getting you leadership off the ice. It’s going to bring you both good defending
and elite offensive skills on the ice. They’re getting a very special player
and a player that they can build around, so whichever team chooses to draft him
is going to be extremely lucky.”
DeRenzis has been with Croskery through highs and lows for the last six
seasons.
Croskery’s mental toughness was put to the test at the Winter Youth
Olympics. According to DeRenzis, Croskery has been an absolute star at
quarterbacking the power play for the Rangers, but did not find much ice time
with the extra man for Canada.
He wound up being one of two players on the team with no points at the
tournament.
Croskery handled that by realizing “that some things that you can’t
control, like for example, I can’t change what the coach is thinking. I can
just control how I can play and how I react to that, so it wasn’t something I
was super upset about. I just knew I had to put my head down and work hard.”
About the author: Ismail Fasih is a student in the Sport Journalism post-grad program at Centennial College.