John Olerud, Ken Griffey Jr., Jack Morris and Larry Walker. His favorite NHL team was the Boston Bruins, and his favorite MLB team was the Toronto Blue Jays. Morneau attended St. Thomas More Collegiate High School in 1994–95, for his grade 8 year, where he played basketball. Coaches approached him to play for the school's famed football program, based on his athletic ability, but he declined. Morneau transferred to New Westminster Secondary School and graduated in 1999. He continued to play basketball and hockey while in high school. He was named the New Westminster High School Athlete of the year and was a member of Canadian national champion baseball teams in 1997 and 1998. In 1998, he was selected the best hitter and catcher of the National Championships playing for Team British Columbia. Morneau was associated with the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League; he attended training camp and played one preseason game of Major Junior hockey as a goaltender. Morneau chose his jersey number (33) for goalie Patrick Roy. He is listed as winning the Memorial Cup in 1998 with the Winter Hawks. As Morneau put it, "I was the third goalie. A backup to the backup. If somebody got hurt, I might have gotten out there as a backup. I played in an exhibition game and backed up some regular-season games.". Morneau remained on Portland's Protected Player List until he decided to focus on baseball instead of hockey. According to Winter Hawks assistant coach at the time, Mike Williamson, "He was young and raw — a big guy who covered a lot of the net. I remember a conversation we had with him when recruiting him. We told him he should go to hockey because not many Canadian guys end up going very far and doing very well in baseball. He showed us otherwise." Professional career Minor leagues Morneau did not attend college, despite receiving many attractive offers from NCAA schools. He was selected by the Twins in the 3rd round as the 89th overall pick of the 1999 MLB amateur entry draft. He converted to first base in 2001 while playing for the Class-A Quad Cities River Bandits. In six minor league seasons, he hit .310 with 87 home runs, 153 RBIs and 122 doubles. Morneau participated in the 2002 and 2004 All-Star Futures Games, playing for the World teams. Morneau played for the World