Michael St. Croix (born April 10, 1993) is a Canadian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player who last played for the Winkler Royals of the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League. He formerly played for the

Greenville Swamp Rabbits The Greenville Swamp Rabbits are a professional ice hockey team located in Greenville, South Carolina. They play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference and play their home games at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in downtown Gr ...

in the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

as a prospect of the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

organization. He was drafted by the Rangers in the fourth round of the

2011 NHL Entry Draft The 2011 NHL entry draft was the 49th entry draft for the National Hockey League. It was held on June 24–25, 2011, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was the first time the draft was held in the state of Minnesota since the ...

. As of 2011, he is the Oil Kings all-time leading scorer. His father is former NHL goaltender Rick St. Croix and his brother is former professional hockey defenseman Chris St. Croix.

Playing career

Midget

St. Croix represented Team Western at the

World U-17 Hockey Challenge The World U-17 Hockey Challenge, originally known as the Quebec Esso Cup, is an international ice hockey tournament held annually in Canada. Prior to 2011, the tournament did not operate during years in which the Canada Winter Games were held. A ...

in both

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

as a 15-year-old and

2010 World U-17 Hockey Challenge The 2010 World U-17 Hockey Challenge was an international ice hockey tournament held in Timmins, Iroquois Falls, Cochrane / Kapuskasing, Kirkland Lake, New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada between December 28, 2009, and January 4, 2010. The venues used ...

as a 16-year-old, reaching the semifinal in 2009. In his final season in Midget AAA hockey, he led the Manitoba Midget AAA league in scoring with 103 points in 41 regular season games, and added 20 points in 9 playoff games.

Junior

Michael was drafted 4th overall by the Oil Kings in the 2008 bantam draft. He played two games for the Oil Kings in the 2008-09 season, scoring one goal and one assist for two points. In 2009-10, St. Croix played 66 games for young Oil Kings team that only won 16 games. He scored 18 goals and 28 points for 46 total points, leading the Oil Kings in both goals and points. In 2010-11, St. Croix and the Oil Kings were more successful. The Oil Kings made the playoffs and St. Croix scored 27 goals and 48 assists for 75 total points. His 48 assists led the team and set a modern franchise record, his 75 points placed second on the team and his 27 goals were third on the team. His 75 points also placed him 36th in the WHL and his 48 assists placed him 32nd. St. Croix also played in four playoff games, scoring one goal. As of 2011, he was the Oil Kings all-time leading scorer. During the 2011-12 season, St. Croix was named the WHL Player of the Week for the week of November 28 to December 4, 2011, for scoring 3 goals and 5 assists with a +5 plus-minus rating in 3 games. He was beaten out by fellow New York Ranger draftee Christian Thomas for the honor of

Canadian Hockey League The Canadian Hockey League (CHL; , LCH) is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canada-based major junior ice hockey leagues. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, and is composed of its three me ...

player of the week for that week. St. Croix was later named the WHL Player of the Month for December 2011, for scoring 10 goals and 16 assists in 12 games with a +11 plus-minus rating during the month. St. Croix repeated as WHL Player of the Week for the week of January 16–22, 2012 for 6 goals and 4 assists in 3 games with a +7 plus-minus rating, including two

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s. He ended the regular season with 45 goals and 60 assists for a total of 105 points. The 105 points placed 8th overall in the WHL. His 45 goals ranked 7th in the league and his 60 assists ranked 9th. He also tied for 6th overall in the league with a +40 plus/minus rating. He was named to the WHL Eastern Conference second all star team. During the 2012 WHL playoffs, St. Croix finished tied for 6th in the league and 1st on the team with 19 points in 20 games, helping Edmonton win the WHL championship. In the deciding 7th game of the championship series, St. Croix scored a goal and an assist. For the 2012-13 season, St. Croix finished 7th overall in WHL scoring with 37 goals and 55 assists for 92 total points. His 55 assists tied him for 9th in the league. He led the WHL with 20

power play goal "Power play" is a sporting term used to describe a period of play where one team has a numerical advantage in players, usually due to a rule violation by the opposing team. Temporary numerical advantage in players during a team sport In several ...

s. He was named Player of the Week by both the WHL and the

for the week of February 25 through March 3, 2013, scoring two goals and seven assists in three games, with a +5 plus-minus rating. For the season, he was named a WHL Eastern Conference First Team All-Star. In the postseason, he ranked 3rd in the WHL with 26 points. His 13 playoff goals ranked 2nd on the league and his 13 playoff assists ranked 9th.

Professional

St. Croix was the 106th pick in the 4th round of the

by the

. He had been ranked as the 46th best prospect in the draft by

The Hockey News ''The Hockey News'' (''THN'') is a Canadian-based ice hockey magazine. ''The Hockey News'' was founded in 1947 by Ken McKenzie and Will Cote and has since become the most recognized hockey publication in North America. The magazine has a reader ...

, ahead of Rangers' first round draft pick J.T. Miller. The International Scouting Services ranked him as the 59th best prospect in the draft and

Central Scouting The NHL Central Scouting Services (CSS) is a department within the National Hockey League (NHL) that ranks prospects for the NHL entry draft at specific times during the hockey season. Players are ranked based on how well they will translate t ...

ranked him as the 56th best North American skater. Central Scouting had ranked him 36th in their midseason rankings. Hockey Prospectus ranked him 26th overall. On September 14, 2012 he signed a 3-year, two-way entry-level contract with a cap hit of $665,000. He began the 2013–14 season with the

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of the

and scored a goal and an assist in his professional debut with Greenville on October 18, 2013. After scoring a goal and three assists in Greenville's first two games he was promoted to the

Hartford Wolf Pack The Hartford Wolf Pack are a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at the PeoplesBank Arena. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds. ...

of the AHL. He split the season between Greenville and Hartford, scoring 17 goals and 31 assists in 52 games for Greenville, and going scoreless in 13 games for Hartford. St. Croix became a free agent when his initial contract expired after the 2015-16 season and the Rangers relinquished their rights to him. St. Croix elected to attend the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

and play hockey for the

Manitoba Bisons The Manitoba Bisons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The football team plays at Princess Auto Stadium, the soccer team plays at the outdoor soccer field on campus, track and field te ...

for the 2017-18 season.

Playing style

St. Croix regards his vision as his best asset as a player, allowing him to set up plays, complete passes with little space, and to make fancy plays with the puck, and also views his playmaking and hockey sense as key assets. He also positions himself well to take advantage of scoring opportunities. He tries to emulate

Patrice Bergeron Patrice Bergeron-Cleary (born July 24, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre (ice hockey), centre who played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League, all with the Boston Bruins. He served as Captain (sports), team captain f ...

as a player.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

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WHL Play of the Year (top spot with an "incredible one-handed goal" against the

Vancouver Giants The Vancouver Giants are a Canadian major junior ice hockey team playing based in Langley, British Columbia, and playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Founded in 2001, the Giants won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as league champions in 2006 and th ...

) *WHL Player of the Week, November 28, 2011 to December 4, 2011 *WHL Player of the Month, December 2011 *WHL Player of the Week, January 16, 2012 to January 22, 2012 *WHL Eastern Conference Second Team All-Star, 2011–12 *WHL Player of the Week, February 25, 2013 to March 3, 2013 *

Player of the Week, February 25, 2013 to March 3, 2013 *WHL Eastern Conference First Team All-Star, 2012–2013

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:St. Croix, Michael 1993 births Living people Canadian ice hockey centres Edmonton Oil Kings players Greenville Road Warriors players Greenville Swamp Rabbits players Hartford Wolf Pack players New York Rangers draft picks Ice hockey people from Winnipeg Manitoba Bisons ice hockey players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen