strome stephens

Two of a kind holding a winning hand

World Juniors hopefuls Dylan Strome and Mitchell Stephens have a long history of success together

Wendy Graves
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August 6, 2015
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Once upon a time if you had walked into a minor hockey arena in the Greater Toronto Area during the spring you could be excused for feeling a certain sense of déjà vu.

There were Dylan Strome and Mitchell Stephens winning the Peewee AAA championship in the Greater Toronto Hockey League in 2009 with the Toronto Marlboros.

Then there they were receiving the same trophy in 2010.

In 2011, they were crowned GTHL Bantam AAA champions with the Marlboros.

Rinse and repeat for 2012.

They capped their Marlboros careers with the Major Midget GTHL title in 2013.

If this sounds like a fairy tale it’s because it kind of is. Especially when you add in that Strome also won a league title in 2008 with the Marlboros’ Atom AAA team.

“We got pretty close throughout those years,” says Strome. “It was pretty cool to be on a team with such a good player as Mitch.”

Strome is from Mississauga, Ont., just west of Toronto. Stephens, however, is from Peterborough, Ont., about two hours east of the provincial capital.

“I made a decision with my family to move when I was in Minor Peewee for a better opportunity to play hockey and play against better competition,” says Stephens, who moved in with his dad, Lee.

Incredible success soon followed the new teammates and frequent linemates.

“Lots of good memories and tournament wins,” says Strome. “We beat the Russians one time in Peewee [at a tournament] in Chicago.”

Stephens points to the 2012 Major Bantam provincials as a turning point for both of them.

“Dylan and I had a good tournament playing together,” he says. “We really complemented each other there, and it set the stage for Minor Midget.”

That year Stephens put up 44 goals and 84 points in 58 games and was selected by the Saginaw Spirit eighth overall in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection; Strome had 65 goals and 143 points in 60 games on his way to being taken second by the Erie Otters.

Now playing on opposing teams on the other side of the border, the duo have faced each other 13 times over the past two Ontario Hockey League seasons, with Strome holding a decided advantage, 11-2, including a first round knockout in the 2014 playoffs.

“There’s always been a competition between Dylan and me, but that’s good competition,” says Stephens, who ended up captaining Team Canada at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship after his Spirit were eliminated by Erie. “We sort of give each other whacks here and there, but it’s all in the good spirit of competition. We’re friends off the ice and not friends on the ice.”

There’s also a mutual admiration between the two, each appreciating the seemingly complementary dichotomy of the other.

“He’s fast. He can fly,” Strome says about Stephens. “When you look at a guy like that he burns defencemen on the daily.”

“He slows the game down,” says Stephens about Strome. “He has so much poise with the puck. [He has] great vision on the ice and if you’re open he’s going to find you.”

The two competed together at the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Cape Breton, N.S., finishing fifth with Ontario. Last year at this time they were teammates on Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-18 Team. Each put up six points in five games as Canada won its seventh straight U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup. And, in January, they played together at the 2015 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

This week finds them reunited once again. Both are hoping to make their mark at Canada’s National Junior Team Sport Chek Summer Development Camp, the first step in potentially earning a spot to compete at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship.

“You sort of get an understanding of how hard [the other has] worked over the years,” says Stephens. “Dylan and I have worked together for the past eight years. It’s good to be with familiar faces.”

Meetings will become more infrequent in the future, with Strome drafted third overall in June’s 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Phoenix Coyotes and Stephens headed to the Eastern Conference, a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Before they eventually find themselves on opposite coasts as professionals, both are hoping the 2016 World Juniors gives them a lucky seventh championship together.

“Winning so much makes you close,” says Strome. “We got a couple of years here to hopefully make the team and win a gold medal, and that would be pretty special.”

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

[email protected] 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

[email protected]

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

[email protected]

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