TheColorOfHockey

~ Hockey for Fans and Players of Color

TheColorOfHockey

Monthly Archives: July 2013

“Not in the right sport?”

22 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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black hockey players, NHL draft, Powerade, Seth Jones, Toronto Globe and Mail

The main goal of a television commercial is to inspire – inspire the viewer to buy the product being advertised.

I don’t know how Coca-Cola’s Powerade is doing in its battle for supremacy against Gatorade and the rest of the crowded sports drink field. But whether it translated into additional sales or not, Powerade certainly succeeded in generating a lot of buzz in the hockey world with an ad campaign it in unveiled last March.

In the 31-second spot, cameras quick-cut to athletes seemingly cast against type: a smallish basketball player driving to the hoop through a field of giants; a slow defensive football player on a search-and-destroy mission for someone to hit; a female wrestler preparing to do battle; a black hockey player skating with his teammates.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PoweradeUS?feature=watch

The basketball player starts the conversation: “I know what you think you’re looking at,” he says. “Someone who’s too small?”

“Too slow,” the football player continues.

“Not in the right sport?” the black hockey player asks.

“In the wrong body?’ the woman wrestler says.

The hockey player’s presence and speaking lines struck a chord on the Internet and at ice rinks. Many viewers and hockey players of color saw it as an “Aha” moment, a recognition by the mainstream media – or at least Madison Avenue (actually, a Portland, Ore., advertising firm developed the ad) –  of the growth of minority participation and interest in hockey.

Poking the eyes of athletic stereotypes was the theme of Powerade's ad campaign.

Poking the eyes of athletic stereotypes was the theme of Powerade’s ad campaign.

“Perhaps through market research and focus groups, the ad people have seen the future and it looks like (Seth) Jones,” writer Joe Lapointe penned in The Toronto Globe and Mail, referring to the Nashville Predators’ first-round draft pick. Jones was taken  fourth overall in the NHL draft last month, the highest an Afircan-American player has ever been chosen.

Some people expressed racial discomfort with the ad. And some less enlightened folks  – practitioners of  “keyboard courage,” to borrow a phrase from Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis – took to the Internet and Twitter to crudely proclaim the ad a fraud. After all, black people don’t play hockey, several tweets and blog posts insisted in much stronger language.

“Hockey’s own Jackie Robinson impersonator,” was one of the few printable takes from a review of the ad from the web site castefootball.us.

The ad provoked a lot of thought and generated a lot of talk. Just what the people at Coca-Cola, the maker of Powerade, had hoped for.

“In this campaign, Powerade confronts those preconceptions and challenges the conventional wisdom that your size, your gender or the color of your skin defines what sports you get to succeed in,” Lauren Thompson, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman told me recently in an email Q&A about the ad. “The hockey scene within the spot helped tell this story. We believe the campaign to be inspirational and celebratory of all those who power through adversity, shatter stereotypes, and disprove pre-conceived notions.”

Thompson said the commercial was shot at an ice rink in Los Angeles, home of the then-Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings, with actors who had the on-ice skills to keep it real.

“We were looking for authenticity from all the cast members, and we were particularly impressed with his skating,” Thompson said of the unnamed actor in the hockey scene. “Yes, he does play hockey.”

When the ad premiered last March, Coca-Cola officials were encouraged by the initial response to it

“When we posted the campaign online we saw a lot of likes and shares,” Thompson said. “We wanted to disrupt the status quo, and we believe we accomplished that with this campaign.”

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Ray’s day with Lord Stanley

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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No one can accuse Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ray Emery of forgetting his beginnings. For his day with the Stanley Cup – the reward for being part of the 2012-13 champion Chicago Blackhawks – Emery took Lord Stanley to the place that helped launch his hockey career.

Former Blackhawks goalie Ray Emery shares Stanley Cup with minor hockey kids in hometown Cayuga, Ont., Canada. Note to Justin Bieber: No kids are touching the Cup.  (Photo: Hockey Hall of Fame)

Former Blackhawks goalie Ray Emery shares Stanley Cup with minor hockey kids in hometown Cayuga, Ont., Canada. Note to Justin Bieber: No kids are touching the Cup. (Photo: Hockey Hall of Fame)

With Cup in tow, Emery went to Kenesky’s Sports, the legendary sporting goods store founded by Emil “Pops” Kenesky, regarded as the father of the modern goalie pad. According to CBC.ca, Emery began playing goal at a hockey camp run by the store.  He later work for the shop and ran hockey clinics of his own.

“I lived on and off with one of the owners and really have a lot of history with the store,” Emery told CBC. “So it’s really exciting to bring the Cup back and bring it here for the first time.”

Kenesky co-owner Joel Hulsman appreciated Emery’s gesture.

“You couldn’t ask for a better prize from a better person,” Hulsman told CBC. “But this store, with its history, deserves it.”

Besides the public events in Hamilton and hometown Cayuga, Ont., Emery spent private time sharing the Stanley Cup with his family. He savored one last moment reflecting on the season past before focusing on the season ahead.

“It’s one last day to remember that accomplishment, especially to share it with family and with friends,” Emery told CBC. “Then I’m a Flyer.”

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Rinks tell story of minority hockey history

13 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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To the naked eye they are nothing more than buildings – unremarkable structures that house sheets of ice, scoreboards, benches and locker rooms.

But a handful of ice skating rinks across the United States and Canada are much more. They bear the names of minorities who’ve contributed to hockey history and their left imprint on the game and in the communities that these rinks serve. Some of the rinks may not look like much, but they mean a lot in terms of the little-known story of hockey’s rich minority legacy.

From the shores of Atlantic City, N.J., to the chilly  river banks of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, the rinks offer a mixed roll call of recognizable and some not-so recognizable figures.

Art Dorrington back in the day. (Photo courtesy Boardwalk Hall & Atlantic City Convention Center via Getty Images)

Art Dorrington back in the day. (Photo courtesy Boardwalk Hall & Atlantic City Convention Center via Getty Images)

At age 83, Art Dorrington has long hung up his skates. But you can’t keep him out of the rink. He’s a fixture and legend in Atlantic City, known for being the first black hockey player to sign an NHL contract when he inked one with the New York Rangers in 1950 (he never played for the Blue Shirts). A veteran of  the old Eastern Hockey League, the former center is also known for founding the Art Dorrington Ice Hockey Foundation, a non-profit program that gives Atlantic City’s low-income children a chance to learn and play the expensive game of hockey. His mantra to the kids: “On The Ice – Off The Streets.”

Last year, the city’s Boardwalk and convention center officials renamed the Boardwalk Hall ice skating rink The Art Dorrington Ice Rink with an elaborate ceremony that was attended by Willie O’Ree, the man who broke the National Hockey League color barrier eight years after Dorrington signed his pro contract.

“It felt great, I was very honored,” the Canadian-born Dorrington told me recently. “It was an honor for my family, and it’s a thrill for the kids in our program. They get inspired and are honored to play in the rink.”

Hockey pioneers Art Dorrington, left, and Willie O'Ree have ice rinks named after them. (Photo by Tom Briglia, PhotoGraphics)

Hockey pioneers Art Dorrington, left, and Willie O’Ree have ice rinks named after them. (Photo by Tom Briglia, PhotoGraphics)

O’Ree, who broke in with the Boston Bruins in 1958, knows how Dorrington felt. In 2007, officials in his home town of Fredericton, N.B., voted to name a new rink in his honor.

Today, the city’s Wilie O’Ree Place is a state-of-the-art facility with two NHL-sized rinks, 11 locker rooms, an indoor walking track and three community rooms.

“It’s a nice feeling, O’Ree, director of the NHL’s diversity program, told the Associated Press in 2007. “My close friends in Fredericton never forgot from Day 1 when I left there, the things that I accomplished playing hockey. I’m deeply honored.”

Angela James has been racking up honors lately. Regarded as the best female hockey player of her era, she was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010 and the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008, and the Black Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. But she said one her biggest honors came when folks in North York, Ont., renamed the old Flemingdon Arena the Angela James Arena in 2009.

“That was right up there with everything else that’s happened in my life,” she told me. “It meant a lot to me and my family. It was a gathering of my family and community. To see that while I’m living was great.”James said seeing her name on the rink serves as inspiration to minority kids in her area who are lacing up the skates and reaching for sticks.

Angela James, center. (Photo: Hockey Hall of Fame)

Angela James, center. (Photo: Hockey Hall of Fame)

“I’m in a bi-racial family – the color of any skin doesn’t mean much one way or another,” she said. “But the (rink’s) influence of black, Afro-Canadians, I think it’s important to them.”In 2011, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s Team Up Foundation – part of the empire that owns the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs and NBA Toronto Raptors – donated $250,000 to the James Arena which helped replace dasher boards, skate matting, build a women’s dressing room, and upgrade existing dressing rooms.Unlike James, Laura Sims never scored a goal, took a face-off, or blocked a shot. Sims wasn’t a player. She was a doer who became a Philadelphia ice skating and hockey institution.A community activist, Sims almost single-handedly pushed, prodded, and cajoled Philadelphia officials into building an ice skating rink on the edge of West Philadelphia. When it opened in 1985, the Cobbs Creek Skate House was believed to be the first ice rink in the nation built smack in the middle of an African-American neighborhood.”Laura was a dedicated citizen, a concerned member of the community and was relentless in her efforts to build this skate park,” then-Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell recalled in 2005 in a statement honoring the rink’s 20th anniversary. “She was a true inspiration to those who knew her and those who know her story.”

In 1999, city officials renamed the rink the Laura Sims Skate House in Cobbs Creek Park. Then-President Bill Clinton sent a letter honoring the late Sims that was read at the dedication ceremony.

But time wasn’t kind to the rink. With a city in budgetary crisis, the semi-enclosed rink fell into disrepair with a leaky roof, battered walls, iffy ice, awful locker facilities and other unsafe conditions. As the city’s budget woes worsened, Mayor Michael Nutter signaled that the city might be unable to afford to open its public rinks for the winter season.

Snider’s Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation took over Sims and other city-run rinks in 2008. In 2010, Snider’s foundation kicked in $6.5 million, which was matched by state funds, to renovate Sims and three other down-and-out public rinks.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (second right), NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Flyers Chairman Ed Snider  cut ribbon on renovated Laura Sims rink. (Photo: ESHYF)

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (second right), NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Flyers Chairman Ed Snider cut ribbon on renovated Laura Sims rink. (Photo: ESHYF)

In late 2011, the Sims rink began life anew – fully enclosed, with NHL-caliber lighting, glass and boards. Now open year-round, it’s the flagship rink among four rinks that house nearly 3,000 mostly-minority kids who participate in the Snider Hockey program.

The late Herb Carnegie is yet to recognized for his achievements by the Hockey Hall of Fame, but the city of North York honored the hockey pioneer in 2005 by renaming the North York Centennial Stadium the Herbert H. Carnegie Arena.

The son of Jamaican immigrants to Canada, Carnegie was a dazzling center who’s regarded as the best black player never to play in the NHL. Held back by his color, Carnegie played for the Quebec Aces, where he was teammates with Montreal Canadiens’ great Jean Beliveau.

“It is my belief that Herbie Carnegie was excluded from the National Hockey League because of his colour,” Beliveau wrote in the introduction to Carnegie’s book “A Fly in a Pail of Milk.” “How could NHL scouts overlook not one, but three Most Valuable Player awards for a player on a team in a top senior league?”

Carnegie, who died last year, was part of the famed “Black Aces” – a high-scoring all-black line with his brother, Ossie, and Manny McIntyre. Herb Carnegie  was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and he was named to the Order of Canada in 2003.

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Hail the Hall! Fred Shero finally gets in

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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After years of being snubbed, the late Fred Shero, who coached rough-and-tumble yet highly-skilled Philadelphia Flyers teams to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in the 1970s, was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame Tuesday.

Coach Fred Shero finally to join other Flyers greats in Hockey Hall of Fame.

Coach Fred Shero finally to join other Flyers greats in Hockey Hall of Fame.

“I am thrilled to hear that Fred Shero was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame,” Flyers chairman and founder Ed Snider said. “There’s no sense looking back as to why it didn’t happen sooner, because today’s a happy day to celebrate the fact that a guy deserves it immensely has finally been elected to the Hall Fame. It’s a great day for the Philadelphia Flyers.”

Under Shero’s leadership, the Flyers won the Stanley Cup during the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons and were the first expansion team to capture the trophy. Coaching the Flyers and New York Rangers over a 10-year NHL career, Shero complied  a record of  390 wins, 225 losses and 119 ties (no shootout in those days).

Shero, who died in 1990, was a hockey innovator: he was the first NHL coach to hire a full-time assistant coach; the first to visit the Soviet Union and incorporate the Soviet hockey system into his own;  the first to employ in-season strength training; the first to study and break down game film; and among the first to employ morning skates.

“The Hall of Fame is for people who have done things for the sport of hockey,” Bob Clarke, who captained Shero’s Cup teams, told CSNPhilly.com in 2009. “Freddy did that. He was ahead of roger Neilson for using video. He was ahead of other coaches for using system hockey. He won at the minor league level and he was way ahead of his time.”

Despite his accomplishments, the Hall had repeatedly denied Shero while enshrining Flyers Snider, Clarke, left wing Bill Barber and general manger Keith Allen. Some suggested that the exclusion was payback by the hockey establishment for Shero coaching teams where fighting and intimidation were part of the game plan.

The Flyers earned the nickname “Broad Street Bullies” from the physical exploits of winger Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Don “Big Bird” Saleski, Bob “The Hound” Kelly, and Andre “Moose” Dupont even though the team also featured skill players like Clarke, Barber, left wing Reggie Leach and goaltender Bernie Parent.

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Will the Hall be ready for Freddie this time?

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto has become an increasingly diverse place over the years. Grant Fuhr, goaltender during the Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup runs, became the first black player in the Hall when he was inducted in 2003. U.S. hockey player Cammi Granato and Canadian hockey sensation Angela James joined the previously all-boys club when they were inducted in 2010. James, regarded as the female Wayne Gretzky of Canada, became the second black player and first black woman to enter the Hall.

There’s room for anyone of distinction and accomplishment in the hallowed Hall, regardless of race or gender. But what about room for diversity in hockey style or philosophy? What about Fred Shero?  Those questions will be answered Tuesday afternoon when Hockey Hall of Fame officials announce their 2013 inductees Tuesday.

The late Fred Shero guided the Philadelphia Flyers to two Stanley Cups and revolutionized NHL coaching along the way. Will that be enough for a call from the Hall?

The late Fred Shero guided the Philadelphia Flyers to two Stanley Cups and revolutionized NHL coaching along the way. Will that be enough for a call from the Hall?

Shero is among a talent-rich  pool of 2013 finalists the Hall that includes Detroit Red Wings right wing Brendan Shanahan, Chicago Blackhawks center Jeremy Roenick, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Kevin Lowe, and Flyers center Eric Lindros.

Shero coached the Philadelphia Flyers to their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1973-74 and 1974-75. He also coached the New York Rangers during a 10-year NHL career in which he complied  a record of  390 wins, 225 losses and 119 ties (no shootout in those days).

Aside from Lindros – who faces questions about whether he fulfilled lofty expectations during his concussion-abbreviated 14-year career – Shero seems to be the toughest call for  the Hall in the minds of some in the hockey establishment.

To them, the unconventional Shero embodied everything bad about the game: He was the ringmaster of Flyers teams that willfully and gleefully punched, kicked, crosschecked, tripped, slashed, mugged and gooned its way to two Cups.

To many, the “Broad Street Bullies” were more about the brutality of Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Don “Big Bird” Saleski, Andre “Moose” Dupont, and Bob “The Hound” Kelly than the scoring prowess of Bobby Clarke (no Boy Scout himself), Bill Barber, Reggie Leach and Rick MacLeish and the elegant goaltending of Bernie Parent.

When some hockey purists look at the Flyers of that era they see a real-life “Slap Shot” with Shero subbing for Paul Newman as Reggie Dunlop.

If they looked beyond the punches and penalty minutes they might understand why Shero, who died in 1990,  belongs in the Hall and is aptly nominated in its “builders” category.

That’s because he helped build the foundation for modern-day coaching in the NHL. He was the first NHL coach to hire a fulltime assistant coach – Mike Nykoluk – and have him on the bench (some teams today have assistant or associate coaches for defense, offense, power plays, penalty killing and goaltending); the first NHL coach to visit the old Soviet Union and incorporate many of their systems, which are staples in hockey today.

“Freddie was ahead of the game,” Clarke, a Hall of Fame inductee who captained Shero’s Stanley Cup squads, told The Philadelphia Daily News last year. “His style of game, he was the first coach to really use system hockey, where everybody knew where they were supposed to go. Everybody stayed in their positions. It was the first time that a style of game had been perfected.”

He was a master motivator, though he earned the nickname “Freddie the Fog” because his players and sports writers didn’t always comprehend his thoughts.  But Shero was clear as a bell when he scribbled a message on the Flyers’ locker room board before Game 6 of the 1974-75 Stanley Cup Final against Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr and the rest of the Boston Bruins: “Win today and we walk together forever.” The Flyers won that game 1-0 and, true to his word, players from that team to this day share a closeness between themselves and a city that is unbreakable.

Four members of the Cup-winning Flyers team are already enshrined in the Hall – center Clarke, left wing Barber, team founder Ed Snider and general manager Keith Allen, who built the teams.

Why an innovator like Shero isn’t in the Hall with coaching peers Scotty Bowman, Herb Brooks, Emile Francis, Al Albour, and Punch Imlach is a mystery to many of “The Fog’s” supporters. They hope the mystery will be solved on Tuesday.

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2013 NHL draft beyond Seth and Darnell

03 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Sunday’s 2013 NHL Draft may go down in the record books as one of the deepest in terms of the quality of the players picked. It also may go down in history in terms of the number of players of color among the 211 players drafted.

“Black talent goes early in NHL draft,” read a proud headline from the online edition of The St. Louis American, the city’s weekly African-American newspaper.

At least eight  players of color were chosen over seven rounds during the day-long festivities at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

They all hope to some day play in a National Hockey League that’s already growing more diverse. According to the league, there were 69 minority players in the 2012-13 season, including 44 who were on season-opening team rosters. Of the 44, half were black, 11 were native/aboriginal, four were Hispanic, three were Asian, two were West Asian/Arab, one was Inuit and one South Asian/Indian.

Much of the attention at the draft focused on defenseman Seth Jones, a projected Number One pick in the eyes of many, and defenseman Darnell Nurse, who worked his way into the Top 10 player rankings in the weeks leading to the draft.

Jones, the son of former NBA player Popeye Jones, was selected fourth by the Nashville Predators, the highest an African-American player has ever been chosen. Nurse, a Canadian and nephew of retired Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, went seventh to the Edmonton Oilers. But he would have won the draft’s “Top Quote Award” – if they offered one – for reminding folks about how Uncle Donovan was treated by the Philly faithful when he was drafted in 1999.

“Yeah, we’re even,” Nurse said. “Because he went higher than me but I didn’t get booed in my draft. So we’re even.”

Much has been made about the prospects and pedigrees of Jones and Nurse. But the other players of color drafted after them are also very talented. Here’s a look at some of them:

Defenseman Madison Bowey hopes to Rock the Red for the Washington Capitals. (photo: Washington Capitals/Getty Images)

Defenseman Madison Bowey hopes to Rock the Red for the Washington Capitals.
(photo: Washington Capitals/Getty Images)

Defenseman Madison Bowey of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets was taken by the Washington Capitals in the draft’s second round, the 53rd pick overall. Future Considerations, a hockey scouting publication, describes him as an “athletic, strong, skating, two-way blueliner who has very good NHL upside.”

“He has fluid movements and smooth feet that allow him to transition without loss of speed,” according to Future Considerations. “He is at his best when he goes back into his own zone, retrieves the puck, take(s) a couple of strides and then shoot a crisp first pass to one of his streaking forwards.”

“I like to play a physical game and also use my speed to my advantage,” Bowey told reporters after being drafted. “I think I can bring that to the Caps.”

Right Wing Justin Bailey should feel right at home if he makes the Buffalo Sabres roster after the team drafted him in the second round with the 52 overall pick. The Kitchener Rangers junior player grew up in Williamsville, N.Y., about a 20 minute drive to downtown Buffalo.

Like Jones and Nurse, Bailey comes from a pro-sports family. His father, Carlton Bailey, was a linebacker for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. Justin Bailey scored 17 goals, notched 19 assists and was a plus-22 in 57 games for the OHL Rangers in the 2012-13 season.

Winger Justin Bailey gets drafted by hometown Buffalo Sabres (Photo: Jamie Squires/Getty Images)

Winger Justin Bailey gets drafted by hometown Buffalo Sabres (Photo: Jamie Squires/Getty Images)

“Justin’s on the upswing,” Kevin Devine, the Sabres’ director of amateur scouting told NHL.com. “He’s a big guy who hasn’t filled out his frame yet, and very athletic. He’s just kind of getting it now after his first year in Kitchener. That’s a heck of a league he played in, and to score 17 goals is a good accomplishment. His potential is unlimited.”

Jonathan-Ismael Diaby of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Victoriaville Tigres is yet another big defenseman taken in the draft. The Predators, who took big defenseman Jones in the first round, selected Diaby with the 64th pick in the third round. Again, Diaby has an athletic pedigree. His father, from the Ivory Coast, played professional soccer in Africa.

“They don’t really know much about hockey there (Ivory Coast),” Diaby told The Buffalo News. “My father didn’t know much. I started playing because of my friends at school, and I enjoyed it so I kept playing.”

The Hockey News called the 6-foot-5, 223-pound, Quebec-born  Diaby “a beast on the ice” who’s not afraid to drop the gloves and fight. Future Considerations calls him a “toolsy defenseman that has a ways to go to fulfill his potential.”

Jonathan-Ismael Diaby  hopes to make the Nashville Predators with Seth Jones. (Photo by Victoriaville Tigres)

Jonathan-Ismael Diaby hopes to make the Nashville Predators with Seth Jones.
(Photo by Victoriaville Tigres)

Combine Diaby and Jones and you potentially have nearly 430 pounds and more than 12-feet worth of defenseman protecting Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne, a tall drink of water himself at 6-foot-5, 204 pounds

With the 69th pick in the third round, the Sabres selected Nicholas Baptiste, a versatile right wing from the OHL Sudbury Wolves.

The website “Hockey’s Future” said “Baptiste is a solid, two-way right-winger who rocketed up Central Scouting’s ranking of North American skaters. He jumped 44 spots to 61st overall in the final rankings, based upon his commitment to focusing on the defensive zone. Last year, Baptiste was all offense all day, but this year he improved all facets of his game and the scouts have taken note.”

Apparently, so did the Sabres.

Winger Nicholas Baptiste's dedication to defense boosted his draft stock and landed him in Buffalo. (Photo by Bill Wippert via Getty Images)

Winger Nicholas Baptiste’s dedication to defense boosted his draft stock and landed him in Buffalo.
(Photo by Bill Wippert via Getty Images)

Defenseman Jordan Subban had to wait until the draft’s fourth round to hear his familiar last name called.  The Vancouver Canucks took the Belleville Bulls blueliner with the 115th pick. He’s the brother of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and goaltender Malcolm Subban, who was a first-round pick of the Boston Bruins last year.

Jordan Subban is a departure from most of the defensemen taken in the draft and he plays a much different game than bigger big brother P.K., who was awarded the Norris Trophy last month as the NHL’s best defenseman in the 2012-13 season.

The younger Subban is small, about 5-foot-9, 177 pounds. But he has survived and thrived in hockey as an offensive-minded, puck-moving defenseman, a commodity that most NHL teams covet.

P.K. Subban said NHL teams shouldn’t be fooled by Jordan’s size. He said Jordan plays big and has more skills than he does.

The waiting was the hardest part for defenseman Jordan Subban. But the Vancouver Canucks  made it worthwhile. (Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images)

The waiting was the hardest part for defenseman Jordan Subban. But the Vancouver Canucks made it worthwhile.
(Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images)

“Jordan plays more of a cerebral type (of game),” P.K. told TSN.com. “He’s more of a thinker. I play off my instincts and I try to do a little bit of everything, but Jordan’s skill level his higher than mine. I mean, I’m on the ice with him every day during the summer doing skill stuff and he’s the one demonstrating the drills…I’m not.”

The entire Subban clan sat in the Prudential Center waiting for Jordan to be picked. The family exploded with joy when Vancouver finally made the call.

“Obviously I was hoping to go a little bit earlier, but it doesn’t matter how long you wait. I’ve waited 18 years for this day,” Jordan told NHL.com. “I’m ecstatic that I’ve been given this opportunity to be part of an NHL organization. Being a Canadian team is the cherry on top.”

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Nashville nabs Seth Jones at No. 4 in NHL Draft

01 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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The 2013 NHL Draft Sunday went as expected – except when the unexpected happened.

The Colorado Avalanche, as expected, selected forward Nathan MacKinnon from the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the first overall pick of the draft. The Avs’ brain trust stated for over a week that they liked MacKinnon over defenseman Seth Jones of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks. He was rated the top player in several mock drafts leading up to Sunday’s events. The fact that Jones started playing hockey as a child growing in Denver seemed like a feel-good storyline too good for the Avalanche to pass on him. But they did.

“Yeah, it definitely sounded too good to be true,” Jones told reporters.  “It turned out that way… I mean, I’m not unhappy that they didn’t choose me. It was their decision, and that’s what they thought would be best for their organization. You’ve got to respect that.”

Seth Jones goes to Nashville as NHL Draft's No. 4 pick, but he's not singing the blues about it. (Photo by USA Hockey).

Seth Jones goes to Nashville as NHL Draft’s No. 4 pick, but he’s not singing the blues about it.
(Photo by USA Hockey).

 After Colorado passed, the unexpected happened. The Florida Panthers, a pourous team defensively, sent murmurs of surprise through Newark, N.J.’s, Prudential Center when the team bypassed Jones and choose Aleksander Barkov from Tappara of Finland’s SM-Liiga with the No. 2 pick.

Then the Tampa Bay Lightning, an offensive juggernaut that struggled to keep pucks out of their net, chose forward Jonathan Drouin, MacKinnon’s teammate in Halifax, at No. 3.

The Nashville Predators wasted no time in taking Jones, son of former NBA player Popeye Jones, with the 4th pick in the draft. The pick appears to be a win-win for the Preds.  The team already has an all-world defenseman in Shea Weber and teaming him with Jones, who’s projected to be a beast on defense and a solid contributor on offense in the near future, could produce stunning results.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about going to those (other) teams, but at the same time I’m excited to be a Predator, and obviously Shea Weber is there; He’s a great player, and they have a lot of other great players, and I’m happy to be a part of the organization,” Jones said.

But Jones’ arrival in Music City could also spell Weber’s eventual exit. The Predators signed Weber last summer to a 14-year, $110 million contract – a tough note for the medium-sized market team made even tougher after the NHL decided to lower the salary cap for teams in the 2013-14 season. Long story short, the Predators could shop Weber if Jones turns out to be the star shut-down defenseman that many experts project him to be.

Jones didn’t go first overall but, as a No. 4 pick, he is the highest selected African-American player ever taken in the NHL draft and the highest Texas-born player chosen. He didn’t shed tears for falling into Nashville’s lap. And he had a message for the teams that passed on him.

“Yeah, you definitely want to prove them wrong and you definitely want to show them why they should have picked you,” he said. “That’s not my only goal next year, but it’s definitely on my list.”

While playing in hometown Denver would have been nice, Jones said Nashville’s a good fit as well.

“I love country (music) to be honest,” he said. “I listen to it a lot, actually.”

  Jones’ fall and Barkov’s rise sent ripples in the rest of the first round. Darnell Nurse, a rugged defenseman from the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, went 7th to the Edmonton Oilers. After his name was announced, Nurse got a huge bear hug from his uncle, retired  Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who received a rough reception from Philly fans when the Eagles chose him with the second overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft over running back Ricky Williams.

New Edmonton Oiler Darnell Nurse (second on left) does TV interview with uncle Donovan McNabb (far right)

New Edmonton Oiler Darnell Nurse (second on left) does TV interview with uncle Donovan McNabb (far right)

“Yeah, we’re even, because he went higher than me but I didn’t get booed at my draft, so we’re even,” Nurse said.
The New Jersey Devils pulled off the biggest surprise of the night when the team traded its pick, No. 9, to the Vancouver Canucks for goalie Cory Schneider who became available after the Canucks were unable to trade goalie Roberto Loungo and his hefty contract.
From a Canuck to a Devil. New Jersey stuns draft with trade for Vancouver's Cory Schneider.

From a Canuck to a Devil. New Jersey stuns draft with trade for Vancouver’s Cory Schneider.

So Schneider went from being the Canucks’ goalie of the future to being the heir apparent to the Devils’ Martin Brodeur, a future Hall of Fame netminder. The Canucks used the 9th pick to draft Bo Horvat, a center from the London Knights of the OHL.

Long-time Devils goalie Martin Brodeur gets a new partner - and eventual successor.

Long-time Devils goalie Martin Brodeur gets a new partner – and eventual successor.

Jones and Nurse were just two of a handful of players of color chosen in Sunday’s draft. With the 64th pick in the third round, Nashville chose another big defenseman, Jonathan-Ismael Diaby from the QMJHL’s Victoriaville Tigers. Like Jones and Nurse, Diaby comes from an athletic family. His father was a professional soccer player in Africa, according to The Hockey News.

The Buffalo Sabres used the 52nd pick in the second round to take right wing Justin Bailey of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. Bailey’s a Western New York native who has been likened to another player from the region: the Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane. The Sabres also plucked right wing Nick Baptiste from the CHL’s Sudbury Wolves with the 69th pick in the third round.

Freshly-minted draftees Jordan Subban of the Vancouver Canucks (left) and Anthony Duclair of the New York Rangers.

Freshly-minted draftees Jordan Subban of the Vancouver Canucks (left) and Anthony Duclair of the New York Rangers.

The Washington Capitals bulked up their defense by choosing Madison Bowey of the CHL’s Kelowna Rockets with the 53rd pick of the draft. The New York Rangers took left wing Anthony Duclair from the QMJHL’s Quebec Ramparts with the 80th pick in the draft’s third round.

And the Subban family notched a hat trick Sunday when defenseman Jordan Subban was selected by the Canucks in the fourth round as the 115th overall pick. He’s the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens’ P.K. Subban, who recently won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman, and goaltender Malcolm Subban, who was a Boston Bruins first round draft pick last summer.

Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation intern Robert "Dodger" Stuckey (left) and Canucks draftee Jordan Subban.

Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation intern Robert “Dodger” Stuckey (left) and Canucks draftee Jordan Subban.

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