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Class of 2017 is Particularly Special For Scott Young

By Gary R. Blockus, 12/12/17, 9:30AM MST

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Young will be inducted to U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame with familiar faces

Three-time Olympian. Two-time Stanley Cup champion. United States Hockey Hall of Fame member for a team.

And now, Clinton, Massachusetts, native Scott Young is a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame all on his own.

Young, 50, was inducted last year as part of the 1996 U.S. World Cup of Hockey championship team, along with that team’s coach, Ron Wilson, who is also being inducted individually in the Class of 2017 that includes Ben Smith, Jack Parker and Kevin Collins.

“We were together on stage in Philadelphia last year when we got inducted as a team,” Young said. “It will be an honor to be back on stage with Ron Wilson in Boston.”

The induction ceremony will take pace at the Westin Boston Waterfront on Dec. 13.

Young is connected to each member of the Class of 2017 in very unique ways. Smith and Parker recruited him to play at Boston University, Wilson coached him to the World Cup championship, and Collins, an NHL linesman, officiated in many of his games.

“When I was getting recruited in high school, I sat across the table from Jack Parker and within five minutes of the conversation, I knew I wanted to play for Jack Parker,” Young remembered.

“I get to see Ben a lot, we’re still good friends. I have so much respect for the passion he brings to USA Hockey. He’s done so much for the men’s side, so much for the women’s side.”

And as for Collins, Young tried to avoid those long arms of the NHL law as often as possible while playing in games where the fellow Massachusetts native served as a linesman.

Young competed in three Olympic Winter Games: Nagano in 1988 as a defenseman, and then as a forward in Albertville in 1992 and Salt Lake City in 2002 when Team USA won the silver medal.

“They were all different experiences,” Young said. “The first one, we were basically college players and we traveled the whole year training, living out of suitcases. My roommate all year was Tony Granato, and I was fortunate enough this summer to get the call from Tony to be his assistant for the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team.

“Obviously my fondest Olympics would be 2002 and winning the silver medal,” he said. “It wasn’t a gold medal, but it was the best of the three and winning a medal is always going to be the best memory.”

Young played two seasons at Boston University before the NHL’s Hartford Whalers drafted him in the first round, 11th overall, in 1986. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the latter part of the 1990-91 season, just in time to help the Penguins win their first Stanley Cup.

“I found out early on we could score goals,” he said of a team that included Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Mark Recchi, Kevin Stevens and Paul Coffey and was coached by the legendary Bob Johnson. “It was a complete change from where I was coming from with Hartford, so it was a lot of fun, but I also learned so much.

“I learned I had to commit more by watching how some of the best players in the game trained, how they focused, how they prepared. I give credit to that particular experience for remaining in the league for 17 seasons.”

Young went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1996 on a team that included Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy, the same year Team USA won the World Cup of Hockey.

Young said much of his success began when he was selected by USA Hockey for the 1985 World Junior Championships in Helsinki, Finland. He knew little about USA Hockey, but became friends with Brian Leetch, Craig Janney and other teammates who were a tad below age.

“It was something where USA Hockey had the vision of bringing over some younger players to play against older players like the Russians, the Finns and the Czechs, to expose us to that level of hockey,” Young said. “It was really an eye-opener for a senior in high school. You got to see what was out there in the world of hockey, and that helped me down the road.

“They knew we were too young and probably not ready, but there was a purpose for it.”

That purpose paid off with the bronze medal, the first time the U.S. had ever earned a medal at the world juniors.

Young retired from the NHL following his 2005-06 season with the St. Louis Blues, finishing his NHL career with 1,181 career games, 342 goals and 414 assists for 756 points.

He coached his former high school team, St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts, for three seasons from 2011-2013 before joining his college team, Boston University, as director of hockey operations in 2014, and then assistant coach in 2015. This summer, the Pittsburgh Penguins hired him as director of player development.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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