Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympics: Ice hockey prodigy Parker Trottier, grandson of NHL legend Bryan Trottier, eyes gold for Team USA
The 15-year-old is the grandson of Hockey Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier, who won seven Stanley Cups as a player and a coach. Team USA won men's ice hockey Youth Olympic gold in 2016 but fell short in 2020.
Ice Hockey
When the United States men's under-16 ice hockey team takes to the ice at the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024, one player will stand out simply through name recognition: Parker Trottier.
Ice hockey fans will no doubt know his last name. His grandfather, Bryan Trottier Sr., won six Stanley Cup championships in a storied playing career as well as one as an assistant coach, and is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Four of those Cups came with the New York Islanders, for whom Bryan's number 19 is retired. Parker, incidentally, does not wear his grandfather's number 19, and wears the number 16 instead.
Parker, who turns 16 two weeks after the end of the Youth Olympics, is one of four players from the renowned Shattuck St. Mary's youth hockey program on the American team in Gangwon.
And, given his famous hockey bloodlines, it's no surprise that he is attracting significant attention.
Bryan Trottier, a seven-time Stanley Cup champion as a player and a coach, is Parker's grandfather
The teenager earned his selection off the back of a strong season last year for Shattuck St. Mary's under-14 team, in which he registered 45 goals and 46 assists in just 59 games.
This season on the school's 16U team, the forward – who is listed at 6 ft (183cm), 165 lbs (75kg) – has scored fewer goals as he adjusts to the higher level of play, but is still considered a big scoring threat thanks to his ability on the ice. As of December 12, Parker Trottier had tallied 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points in 32 games.
The young Trottier is no stranger to success, telling USA Hockey: "[My] best memory was playing as a second year Pee Wee AA player. Our team went undefeated that season, and we won the Minnesota State Championship. It was great winning with all my hometown friends."
With Team USA having won one gold medal – in 2016, on a team which included current NHLers Ty Emberson (San Jose Sharks), Mattias Samuelsson (Buffalo Sabres) and Oliver Wahlstrom (Islanders) – from three prior appearances at the Youth Olympics, this set of players is hoping to regain the top spot on the podium and rebound from silver in 2020.
Parker Trottier could be an important part of that.