The development of hockey’s top prospect started here, in an unfinished basement in a suburban Toronto neighborhood.

When Connor McDavid was three years old, his mother or grandmother would frequently watch over the nets at either end as he slapped pucks at them while wearing rollerblades.

Kelly McDavid, sitting on a couch in the room—which has since been redecorated and is now a monument to hockey genius—says, “He would be down here for hours.” Surrounding her are pictures and keepsakes of her two sons, Connor, who is 18 years old and set to start his NHL career, and Cameron, who recently graduated from the Ivey Business School. “Connor’s imagination was always very strong. He would gather his plush toys and arrange them in various locations.

His mother would go back to taking care of the house after becoming bored with goalkeeping.

“Mom, I just scored the winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals!” he would exclaim as I was in the kitchen, she recalls. “I would reply, ‘That’s good, my dear.'”

Doting father and youth hockey coach Brian McDavid told his wife their youngest son was a whirlwind well beyond his years old when Connor was little. Kelly would nod before implying to her husband that he was slightly moved.

She smiles at the recollection, “He kept saying, ‘He’s special.'” “Oh my god, for heaven’s sake,” I would say. Every young person dreams of being an NHL player. Remove that idea from your mind.

The last time an Alberta team won the Stanley Cup was 25 years ago, and now the Oilers are banking their future on the recently graduated high school student who just got his driver’s license this summer.

“I think I started noticing things about Connor when he was about 12 years old, playing minor hockey,” says Kelly McDavid, whose prodigy son is as quiet and introspective as she is talkative and gregarious. “But I remained grounded.”

She started to believe for the first time two years later, during Connor’s second season with the Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League.