Mitch Calvert
Joe Basaraba, last season’s Muskie boys’ hockey standout, is now making waves south of the border.
The 16-year-old finds himself suiting up for the renowned Shattuck St. Mary’s prep team—the hockey program know for developing such NHL stars as Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Zach Parise.
Basaraba’s path to the school was a last-minute decision as he was still weighing his hockey options just a month ago. Until a call he received from Shattuck made the decision an easy one.
“They phoned and invited him, so we went and saw it and thought it was a good option for this year,” Basaraba’s mom, Laurel, said. “We’ll re-evaluate next year, but he’s taking it one year at a time and seems to really be enjoying it.”
Basaraba—a second-round pick of the Erie Otters in the OHL’s entry draft this past spring—is rooming with an international student from China (who is there for the educational element). He is learning not only to be a better hockey player, but a better person, too.
“Yeah, I was kind of still looking at all my options but then this came up and it was nice and close, with good hockey and education,” Basaraba enthused. “The schooling is really tough, but it also makes you a better person in general, with the time management skills and everything you learn here.
“You have to be able to plan your day accordingly and stay on top of things, with hockey, school, and homework every day.”
A look at the prep team’s roster appears more like the lineup at a United Nations convention, with players from as far away as Belarus, Finland, and Sweden on the squad.
“It’s really spread out with players from all over the world,” Basaraba noted. “Everybody can speak English, but they have it as a second language, and there are Americans from all over and one from Alberta on the team.”
So how does the hockey compare to the high school competition he faced the last two seasons?
“It’s a step up, for sure, really good hockey,” Basaraba admitted. “[But] there’s great coaching, have already learned lots from them, and now I just have to keep working hard and hopefully will get even better.”
With the heavy on-ice schedule and off-ice emphasis on education, including a no-phone-calls policy for homework after 7:30 p.m., Basaraba is certainly in the right environment to excel in his hockey and academics.
The prep team plays an independent schedule against similar competition across North America, and has been tuning up for future games against high school elite league teams so far.
