IHC Alumni Bio – John Scott – The Long Shot
By Jordan Laroche
For John Scott an NHL career seemed like a long shot, but against all odds, he became an NHL All-Star.
The Edmonton native started his Junior career with the Thorold Blackhawks, in what is now the GOJHL, tallying just 11 points in 40 games. He would move on to play for the Chicago Freeze in the NAHL where he would put up 12 points in 53 games. While Scott’s offensive numbers seemed low for a young forward, he made up for it with his physicality with 99 and 240 penalty minutes respectively.
His year with the Chicago Freeze was enough for him to earn a spot on Michigan Tech’s team. Scott would do much of the same as he had 350 penalty minutes in 126 NCAA games. Scott would finish his four years at Michigan Tech if his Hockey dream failed, but as a Free Agent in 2006, Scott would sign with the Houston Aeros in the AHL.
Scott would spend the next two years with the Aeros, where he would put up a combined nine points and 291 penalty minutes before being called up by the Minnesota Wild. After one more stint in the AHL during the 2008-2009 season, Scott would spend the majority of his career in the NHL playing for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks and the Arizona Coyotes.
Scott would be named an NHL All-Star during the 2015-2016 season, in what was one of the biggest storylines in the NHL over the past decade. Scott had just one point in 11 games after spending much of the season as a healthy scratch. But with the NHL allowing fans to pick who they wanted to appear in the All-Star game. As a result, Scott received the most votes of anyone in the NHL that season, which allowed him to be a captain for the All-Star game. Scott became the only player in NHL history to make it to the All-Star game while not playing in the NHL, also stating in his book “A Guy Like Me” that the NHL tried to persuade him to not play in the game. Another exciting story about John is the fact right after his All-Star MVP win, he joined the Ice Hockey Classic Australian tour where is was selected to the All-Star team and was Player of the Game. He enjoyed it so much he saved a page to talk about his experience in his book. He was not only a tremendous asset ion the ice as he entertained the large crowds but he was even more impressive off the ice.
“John Scott is a giant of a man but one of the nicest ice hockey players I have ever met. He took time to sign ever autograph, pose for every picture and took time telling stories, class act.” – Aaron Cusack, Melbourne, Australia
“I have had several unbelievable characters join us on the Classic Down Under, like Eric Neilson, Kyle Quincey, Tim Stapleton and the man “Brent Burns” but no like John. Larger than life, always smiling and joking with his teammates and the crowd and a very talented player in his own right. He brought his beautiful family and we saw first-hand what a wonderful husband and father he was too,” – Kerry Goulet, Global Director of the IHC.