Steen mingles with his heroes
As a boy, he hung out with players
Now at 19, he's playing with them

September 15, 2003
PAU HUNTER
Toronto Star

STOCKHOLM—They are, to Alexander Steen, his boyhood heroes come to life. These men, fondly frozen in his childhood memories, now sitting as equals in the Maple Leafs' dressing room.

Hockey change rooms are insular but within that players-only sanctuary, an exception is sometimes made for sons. They'll be there, playing tape-ball hockey with sticks their fathers have cut down or lacing up their skates for a spin with dad after practice.

Growing up in Winnipeg, Steen was one of those boys viewed as lucky by his peers. As the son of Thomas Steen, a talented centre on the Jets, he would hang out in the team's dressing room. There he might take shots with his mini-stick on Bryan Marchment, who was always willing to play goal, or clown around with Tie Domi who always seemed to have time for him.

So when Steen, Toronto's first-round draft pick in 2002, checked in at training camp here, it was a reunion with his past.

There was Marchment, Domi, Joe Nieuwendyk, who was forever going head-to-head with his father in big games against Calgary, and even general manager John Ferguson Jr., whose father held the same role with the Jets.

"Never," said Steen of walking into the Leafs' room, "have I had a smile on my face this long. It was unreal."

Most children of hockey players never again see the inside of an NHL dressing room once their fathers retire. But Steen has enough of his dad in him that he proved to be an exception.

At 19, he's grown up enough to be considered a sure-fire NHLer yet young enough to still have a Tie Domi poster, one personally signed, hanging in his bedroom.

"It's kind of like one of those great Canadian stories where a kid grows up to meet his boyhood hero," said Marchment. "He was always around the (Winnipeg) dressing room, just goofing around. Now here he is."

But Steen wasn't just an aimless wannabe — he was also a hotshot player in Winnipeg minor hockey.

Domi went to see him play a few times with Thomas Steen and once even gave the kid a pair of skates on his birthday.

"He was unbelievable; it was scary how good he was," recalls Domi.

Frolunda, his club team here in Sweden, only allowed Steen to be a boy at Leaf camp for two days but he used that time to impress.

The talk is that the Leafs will likely try to bring him to the NHL for the 1994-95 season, if there is one, after his contract here expires.

"I think since I've been here, he's the best prospect this team has had," said Domi. "I'm not saying that because I'm friends with his father. Just watch him. Everyone sees it."

While Steen is very skilled offensive player, assistant general manager Mike Penny believes it helped that he lived in Winnipeg for the first 12 years of his life, "growing up with that grittiness you get in Canadian hockey. He's not one to shy away ..."

That upbringing may have also helped in another way. His father, now a scout with Minnesota, says all that time in the Jets' dressing room imprinted the game on his son.

"Just the experience of being in Canada, where hockey is so important and then always hanging around the team gave him a love for the game," said the senior Steen.

"I remember when I first played in Sweden, I played with players I had only seen on TV. This is an even more weird feeling for him I think because he used to be in that dressing room, now he's playing with some of them."