TheColorOfHockey

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Monthly Archives: November 2013

Hockey heals body and soul, prepares vets Roman and Lee for Paralympics

28 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Colorado College, Fort Sam Houston, Jen Lee, Mexico, Operation Comfort, Paralympics, Puerto Rico, Rico Roman, San Antonio Rampage, San Francisco, Taiwan, U.S. Army, University of Wisconsin Badgers, USA Hockey

As members of the U.S. Army, Rico Roman and Jen Lee are part of America’s first line of defense. As members of the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey team, Roman and Lee are the last line of defense.

Roman is a rugged defensemen who took to sled hockey because it reminded him of the hard-hitting football he played in his youth in Portland, Ore. Lee decided to don goalie gear because it brought back memories of playing net while growing up in San Francisco.

Neither man envisioned that they would become world-class athletes who’d be on the cusp of competing in the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, this March. But neither of them envisioned losing a limb, a devastating event that can alter the trajectory of a person’s life.

But don’t plan pity parties for Roman and Lee. They’ve turned tragedy into triumph by playing a sport they never thought they’d play that’s taking them to places that they never thought they’d go.

Army Staff Sgt. Rico Roman hopes to be Sochi-bound. (Photo/USA Hockey, Bill Wippert)

Army Staff Sgt. Rico Roman hopes to be Sochi-bound. (Photo/USA Hockey, Bill Wippert)

“I didn’t watch hockey, I don’t come from a hockey state, Oregon isn’t hockey country,” Roman told me recently. “Never did I know there was a Paralympic team. I never, never, never, never thought I’d be traveling and playing for the U.S.A. team.”

Hockey hurts: the vulcanized rubber puck that travels at speed in excess of 100 miles per hour always seems to find a section of unprotected flesh to strike and teeth-rattling body checks are jarring.

But hockey also heals, body and soul. And for Roman, 32, and Lee, 27, the game provided the right medicine at the right time.

“I think a lot of people thought, hey, our goal would be to try to walk again, or even run,” Lee told me. “Getting involved in this sport, to get out there, move around, play for the national team and represent your country and play all over internationally, it’s really cool.”

Army Staff Sergeant Rico Roman is the first war-wounded veteran to land a spot on the U.S. National sled hockey team. He joined the Army in 2001 after graduating from Alpha High School in Gresham, Ore.

Roman in action. (Photo/USA Hockey, Bill Wippert)

Roman in action. (Photo/USA Hockey, Bill Wippert)

On February 22, 2007, Roman was working his third tour in Iraq, finishing work at a security checkpoint that day at Sadar al Yusuf. He decided that his Humvee would lead the vehicular caravan back to base.

It was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and the blast damaged both of Roman’s legs. The pain in his left leg became so unbearable that a year later he opted to have it amputated just above the knee.

While recovering at the Brooke Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, Roman was approached by members of Operation Comfort, a nonprofit group that provided rehabilitative and therapeutic programs for wounded vets at the medical center.

The son of a Mexican-American mother and Puerto Rican father, Roman took up hand cycling, using specialized bikes for disabled users, and wheelchair basketball with competitive zeal. When Operation Comfort staffers suggested to Roman that he try sled hockey, he shook his head.

Once Operation Comfort staffers got Roman to the rink, they couldn’t get him out. He joined the San Antonio Rampage, a sled hockey team comprised of military veterans. He joined the U.S. National team in the 2011-12 season.

“Once I got on the ice, I was hooked,” said Roman, a Purple Heart recipient.  “I’m so happy they (Operation Comfort) did that for me. Now I do what they were doing; I go to Brooke Army Medical Center and I try to recruit guys to come try it out. And they tell me the same thing I said ‘I don’t play hockey, I don’t watch hockey.’ I go ‘I said the exact same thing you told me right now and now I’m on the Paralympic team heading to Russia.'”

Army Staff Sergeant Jen Lee is teammates with Roman on the Rampage and the U.S. Paralympics team.  He enlisted in the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Lee, 27, ended up at Brooke Army Medical Center after being involved in a motorcycle accident in 2009. His left leg was amputated above the knee. But the surgery didn’t dim his competitive athletic nature.

Staff Sgt. Jen Lee hopes to tend goal for U.S. team at Paralympics. (Photo/USA Hockey, Bill Wippert)

Staff Sgt. Jen Lee hopes to tend goal for U.S. team at Paralympics. (Photo/USA Hockey, Bill Wippert)

He embraced adaptive sports offered by Operation Comfort as part of his physical therapy regimen. His hockey experience as a kid convinced him to give sled hockey a chance.

“I couldn’t skate really well playing in-line, so I tried goalie,” he said. “When sled hockey came around, I had the same concept: I’m not great skating, I played goalie before, maybe it will be the same.”

Lee, who’s of Taiwanese heritage, quickly found a home between the pipes. He started playing for the Rampage in 2010. A year later, Lee was chosen for the U.S. National Sled Hockey team. He helped backstop the U.S. team to a gold medal at the 2012 International Paralympic Committee Ice Sledge World Championship and a silver medal at the 2013 world championships.

“I love it. I guess you’ve got to be weird to stop pucks, but I really enjoy it,” he said. “I’m the kind of person that f I play an away game I love to hear the crowd get upset that I’ve made a magnificent save or a great save.”

Army  Staff Sgt. Jen Lee, defending the goal. (Photo/USA Hockey, Bill Wippert)

Army Staff Sgt. Jen Lee, defending the goal. (Photo/USA Hockey, Bill Wippert)

Lee and Roman said the most enjoyable thing about being part of the sled hockey team is the locker room. The Rampage team is filled with members of all branches of the military.”We clown on each other and make fun of each other,” Lee said. “We always find ways to get ourselves going, motivate each other. We all know what we’ve got to do to prepare. Go out there like it’s a battlefield, prepare your boys, train well. It’s almost the same thing except you’re not getting shot at…except for me, really. I’m still getting shot at.”

The U.S. sled hockey program is serious business. The national and Paralympics team is coached by Jeff Sauer, the retired University of Wisconsin and Colorado College hockey coach who led the Badgers to NCAA hockey championships in 1983 and 1990. In a 31-year NCAA Division I coaching career, Sauer racked up 655 wins, two national titles, 12 NCAA tournament berths, six Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff titles and two WCHA regular-season crowns.

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Forget the Ice Capades, get me Adrian Alvar Stein!

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

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Adrian Alvar Stein, Alex Ovechkin, Andre Dupont, Jeremy Roenick, Los Angeles Kings, Norway, Philadelphia Flyers, Swaziland, Washington Capitals

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I still can’t resist.

Remember a few years back when hockey purists were appalled when Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin dropped his hockey stick like it was hot and danced around it to celebrate scoring his 50th goal of the season? Mr. Ovechkin, meet Adrian Alvar Stein, a forward for Norway’s second-division Narvick Arctic Eagles.

After his team defeated Norway’s Viking Hockey earlier this month, Alvar Stein felt the need to bust a move – or two, or three.  Norway may not be an international hockey power – though it’s in the running to host the 2022 Winter Olympics – but it sure is funky!

Alvar Stein’s dance was light-hearted but according to the Artic Eagles’ web site – with a rough translation via Google – how he wound up in Norway is a compelling story.

He’s 22 years old and was born in Swaziland, a landlocked country in southern Africa. He was abandoned on a church staircase moments after his birth, his umbilical cord still intact. He was adopted by a Norwegian family and moved to the Scandinavian country.

In 171 career games in Norway’s second division, Alvar Stein scored 43 goals and 63 assists. He collected 150 penalty minutes and had a plus/minus of -16.

As for his dancing, a story on the team’s web site said “Adrian danced in front of 1,000 crazy crowd as he usually does (in) the living room and locker room in front of teammates.”

Would Alvar Stein do his celebratory dance in the National Hockey League? I think not. But that’s not to say NHLers haven’t put on their boogie shoes – or skates – and done a little shake. Let’s moonwalk down memory lane and look at some of the league’s challengers to Fred Astaire, Patrick Swayze and John Travolta.

Disco’s long been dead, but not to the guy running the Los Angeles Kings public address system or then-King Jeremy Roenick. Nobody put JR in the corner.

Call this “The Ovechkin Games: Stick Catching Fire”:

Why should forwards have all the fun? Goalies like to groove:

Even old-school-era players liked to get down:

The older generation passed their Golden Slippers to the New Kids on the Block:

Hockey players are never too young to boogie:

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Berube and Nolan make NHL history

22 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

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Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Craig Berube, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, Ted Nolan, Toronto Maple Leafs

Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Craig Berube and Buffalo Sabres  Interim Head Coach Ted Nolan made hockey history Thursday night when they became the first Native/First Nations members to coach against each other in a National Hockey League game.

The Flyers defeated the Sabres 4-1 in Philadelphia. But the real winners Thursday were Native American and Canadian First Nations youngsters who got a glimpse of the modern-day possibilities for advancement in a game that their ancestors helped create hundreds of years ago.

Sabres coach Ted Nolan, left, and Flyers' coach Craig Berube before their teams squared off (Philadelphia Flyers photo).

Sabres coach Ted Nolan, left, and Flyers’ coach Craig Berube before their teams squared off (Philadelphia Flyers photo).

“It’s huge,” Nolan told Philadelphia Daily News columnist Marcus Hayes before Thursday’s game. “The significance of it is not really what it means to me, or Craig Berube, but what it means when you think of what our ancestors went through.”

Nolan is Ojibwe. Berube is part Cree. Nolan took over the Sabres after Head Coach Ron Ralston was fired earlier this month. Berube landed the Flyers job when Head Coach Peter Laviolette was canned in October.

The Flyers coach, nicknamed “Chief” during his two-fisted playing days, succinctly summed up the significance of the two men being bench bosses at the same time.

“It’s pretty cool,” he told Hayes.

Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated Muir reported that George Armstrong was the first First Nations member to coach in the NHL when he piloted the Toronto Maple Leafs for 47 games during the 1988-89 season. Former New York Islanders scoring machine Bryan Trottier followed when he coached the New York Rangers during the 2002-03 season.

“These coaches are real trailblazers in sport, especially in the NHL, Peter Dinsdale, chief executive officer of the Assembly of First Nations, told The Philadelphia Daily News. “It’s remarkable given all the barriers that exist for First Nations peoples.”

The rise of Berube and Nolan as coaches coincides with the 60th anniversary of Fred Sasaskamoose becoming the first First Nations member to play in the NHL. He joined the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1953-54 season.

He paved the way a generation of players that includes Trottier, former Philadelphia Flyers sniper Reggie Leach, Henry Boucha, Dale McCourt, Stan Jonathan, Gino Odjick, Bobby Taylor, and Chris Simon.

Current NHL players of Native/First Nations heritage include Carey Price and Rene Bourque of the Montreal Canadiens, Vernon Fiddler of the Dallas Stars, T.J. Oshie of the St. Louis Blues, Dwight King of the Los Angeles Kings, D.J. King, and Cody McCommick of the Sabres. Jordan Nolan, Ted Nolan’s son, is a forward with the Kings.

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Old Spice Guy loves hockey, and smells good, too

20 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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Isaiah Mustafa, Jamie McLennan, Kevin Weekes, Los Angeles Kings, Old Spice Guy, Vancouver Canucks, Weekend Warriors Hockey

The Old Spice Guy is the epitome of perfection. Chiseled and confident, he’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” the television commercials say.

But when he’s not shirtless, in a shower, or on a horse in the TV spots, the Old Spice Guy – aka actor Isaiah Mustafa – has skates on his feet and a stick in his hand, working diligently to perfect his hockey game. Mustafa, to put it mildly, is a puck nut.

“Old Spice Guy” Isaiah Mustafa takes his stick everywhere – even to South Africa.

He has a goal in his garage that he fires 300 pucks into daily; when he’s not traveling he’s at his local rink at 6:30 a.m. every day for a morning skate and pickup game; when he does travel he takes his hockey stick with him to practice his stickhandling; he has a Budweiser goal light that goes off every time his beloved Los Angeles Kings score; and he’s a Kings season ticket holder.

The success of the Old Spice ads has enabled Mustafa to mix business with hockey pleasure. He’ll be in Sochi, Russia, in February hawking Old Spice at the 2014 Winter Olympics and catching a hockey game or two. He attended the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas last year, and was mistakenly taken for a Vancouver Canucks fan when he visited the city for Old Spice during the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.

Mustafa admits that he’s hardly the second coming of Wayne Gretzky when he’s on the ice. The former National Football League practice squad player/turned actor is a relative late-comer to playing hockey – but he’s game for developing his game.

He attended a Weekend Warriors adult hockey camp in Montreal in summer 2012 to sharpen his skills and tweeted “Apparently there’s a whole left side of my body that needs to learn to skate.”

Mustafa, center, with friends at an adult hockey camp. (Rick Parisi, Weekend Warriors Hockey).

Mustafa, center, with friends at an adult hockey camp. (Rick Parisi, Weekend Warriors Hockey).

“I look at it like this: I gotta catch up,” Mustafa told me. “I gotta catch up with these dudes who’ve been playing all their lives. If I don’t start by doing crazy training, which I’m used to from football, I’ll be one of the dudes that just gets out there – a weekend player. I can’t just do that. I literally have to be the best I can be.”

Mustafa says he’s always loved hockey and the Kings, but he didn’t start playing the game until 2001. A woman he was dating at the time had a son who wanted to play hockey, so she bought equipment for him and Mustafa.

“She’s like ‘If you take him he’ll keep playing.’ So I ended up taking him a few times and the kid just stops, he didn’t want to play anymore,” Mustafa said. “I went a couple times more, like pickup games. Then I started acting, got busy and didn’t start thinking about skating anymore until right around the time the Kings won the Stanley Cup” in 2012.

After the Weekend Warriors camp, Mustafa joined a team that played in a tournament in Las Vegas but he “got so frustrated because of the fact I was the worst player out there.”

“I was, like, ‘screw it, I’m going to play everyday and in one year when I play in this tournament again I’m going to shock the s*** out of you guys,” he said, laughing. “That’s what I’ve been doing since mid-July. It’s been non-stop.

And he’s been watching hockey non-stop. When a relationship fizzled in 2011, Mustafa didn’t drown his sorrow in booze or women. He called his cable provider instead and ordered the NHL Center Ice package. He watched NHL Network “every damn day to learn the game inside out.”

“I literally watched every game I could possibly watch,” Mustafa told me. “I got to know (NHL Tonight analysts) Jamie McLennan and Kevin Weekes so good, I would just tweet them ‘like Hey guys, nice show, nice comment.’ I learned way more than any person should know that season.”

Mustafa said when people see the Old Spice Guy on the ice they “sometimes do a double-take and they go ‘Hey, are you…’ and I’m like, ‘yeah.'”

“Then they always ask ‘What got you into hockey,'” he said. “I just want to play, I want to challenge myself to see how good I can get. Honest-to-God, I think I’m getting better, but I’ve ‘ve got a ways to go.”

Inquiring minds want to know: Does the Old Spice Guy smell good after three sweat-drenched periods of hockey?

“He ALWAYS smells good,” Mustafa insisted. “If you asked him he would literally slap ‘good’ into your mouth and tell you to use Old Spice body wash because it prevents people from asking such asinine questions. But that’s just him.”

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Native/First Nation coaches Nolan and Berube join NHL ranks

15 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

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Buffalo Sabres, Craig Berube, Dallas Stars, First Nation, Jack Adams Trophy, Lindy Ruff, Philadelphia Flyers, Ted Nolan

It’s something that Reggie Leach can’t recall seeing during his 14-season National Hockey League career.

With the Buffalo Sabres hiring of Ted Nolan as interim head coach, two Native/First Nation people now pilot National Hockey League teams – Nolan and Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Craig Berube.

“This is probably the first time we’ve had two First Nation coaches ever in the National Hockey League coaching at the same time,” Leach, the former Conn Smythe Trophy-winning Flyers sniper told me. “I think it really helps First Nation people in general that Teddy Nolan is back in coaching. It’s really big in Ontario and it’s really great for the people. They give him a lot of respect, which is great because he earned it.”

Ted Nolan's back for second stint with Sabres. (Bill Wippert, Buffalo Sabres)

Ted Nolan’s back for second stint with Sabres. (Bill Wippert, Buffalo Sabres)

But  then the man known as the “Riverton Rifle” during his playing days quickly uttered the mantra that’s only too true in big-money sports today: “If he screws up, they’re going to fire him, it doesn’t matter if he’s First Nation. It doesn’t matter if he’s First Nation or what.”

Still, Leach couldn’t conceal his pleasure about Nolan and Berube gaining – in Nolan’s case, regaining – membership in the NHL coaching fraternity. Leach is First Nation, an Ojibwe, just like Nolan. While Leach knows of Nolan – they lived about 300 miles apart in Ontario – he knows Berube, who played for the Flyers just like he did.They both made their mark wearing the Orange, Black and White: Leach as a feared right wing with a lethal slap shot, and Berube as a fearsome left wing with a lethal right hook.

Craig Berube paid his dues to become the Flyers' new head coach.

Craig Berube paid his dues to become the Flyers’ new head coach.

Leach, who played on the famous LCB line with center Bobby Clarke and left wing Bill Barber scored 381 goals in his career. Berube netted 61 goals – what Leach scored in the 1975-61 season alone – in his 20-season NHL tenure and amassed 3,149 penalty minutes.

Berube paid his dues with his fists as a player then paid then again by slowly climbing the coaching ladder to earn the Flyers top spot after the team fired Peter Laviolette in October after a dismal start to the 2013-14 season.

“Craig Berube has spent time coaching in the minors and has been in the Flyer organization for a long team,” Leach said. “Coaching in the minors, being an assistant coach with the National Hockey League team, it’s great they gave a chance at this opportunity right now, which is wonderful for him.”

While Berube’s hiring is an opportunity, Buffalo’s nod to Nolan is a second chance. He coached Buffalo from 1995 to 1997 and amassed a record of 73-72-1. He was also the  bench boss for the New York Islanders from 2006 to 2008.

Sniper Reggie Leach, Number 27, in his Flyers heyday.

Sniper Reggie Leach, Number 27, in his Flyers heyday.

Nolan was a popular figure in Buffalo; he even won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL’s top coach 1996-97 season. But a poor relationship with then-General Manager John Muckler led to his ouster as coach.

Aside from his stint with the Islanders, Nolan barely got a whiff of interest from National Hockey League teams. Some in the hockey world speculated it was because of his heritage.

“I never said it was racism,” Nolan told The Toronto Star Wednesday, the day he introduced as the Sabres’ interim coach. But “when you’re not part of a group, it’s tough to fit into that group – whether it’s hockey or anything else.”

“If you don’t know someone from a different background, different race, it’s hard to get to know them,” he told the paper. “So it was very hard…You have to try to fit in.”

After years of getting the cold shoulder from NHL teams, Nolan now has two coaching

"Riverton Rifle" Leach firing for Flyers in alumni game.

“Riverton Rifle” Leach firing for Flyers in alumni game.

gigs – with the Sabres and with the Latvian team that will play in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in February.

In irony of ironies, Nolan will be in Russia with Dallas Stars Head Coach Lindy Ruff, who replaced Nolan in Buffalo in 1997. Ruff is an associate coach for Team Canada. And Laviolette, the man Berube succeeded in Philadelphia, is an associate coach for the U.S. hockey team.

Nolan’s never been shy about his heritage. In June, he spoke to The Buffalo News’ Tim Graham about his objection to Washington’s National Football League team being called the Redskins.

“Sure, the Redskins name has been around for generations,” Nolan told Graham, “but when you’re a person of that race and someone calls you a redskin, they don’t know why they’re saying it, where the word comes from or what the word means.”

Leach thinks Nolan’s tenure in the NHL will be a long one this time. With age, Nolan is 55, comes experience.

“You learn by your mistakes and you comeback,” Leach told me. “It took him a long time – a period of over 15 years – to get back. And he’ll learn from it and stay longer this time.  He’s qualified to coach, and they’ve got to give him a chance. I believe myself that if you give him a chance for 2-3-4 years in one position, he’ll do really well.”

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“Black Aces” players, coach, hope NHL futures are in the cards

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

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Black Mafia, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Fred Sasaskamoose, Josh Ho-Sang, Montreal Canadiens, Owen Sound Attack, Saginaw Spirit, Skillz Black Aces, Toronto, Willie O'Ree

With names like the Black Aces and Black Mafia and a logo featuring a smiling dude with sunglasses and an afro, you knew that these teams were going to be just a little different.

But different was what the Skillz Black Aces and Black Mafia were all about. The early squads were Toronto-based summer youth hockey teams comprised of elite,  National Hockey League draft-eligible players born in 1995 and 1996 – and almost all of them black.

The teams barnstormed summer hockey tournaments in the United States and Canada and consistently dominated opponents with their speed and skill.

“It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life,” said Windsor Spitfires forward Josh Ho-Sang, who skated for four summers with the Skillz teams before joining the Ontario Hockey League franchise. His father, Wayne Ho-Sang also served as a team coach.

Skillz Black Aces Coach Cyril Bollers, rear left, and his 2010  team.

Skillz Black Aces Coach Cyril Bollers, rear left, and his 2010 team.

The Black Aces and Black Mafia alumni reads like a page from “Who’s Who Among Up-And-Coming Hockey Players”: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds  defenseman Darnell Nurse, the Edmonton Oilers’ 2013  first-round pick last summer; Kitchener Rangers forward Justin Bailey, a Buffalo Sabres second-round pick; forward Stephen Harper of the Erie Otters; and Bellville Bulls defenseman Jordan Subban, the Vancouver Canucks’ fourth-round pick and the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and Boston Bruins goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban.

And players hoping to hear NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman call their name at next summer’s draft in Philadelphia includes forwards Ho-Sang, Jeremiah Addison of the Saginaw Spirit, Jaden Lindo of the Owen Sound Attack, Keegan Iverson of the Portland Winterhawks, and Cordell James and defenseman C.J. Garcia of the Barrie Colts.

Coach Cyril Bollers, right, with Josh Burnside, who now plays for the OHL Mississauga Steelheads.

Coach Cyril Bollers, right, with Josh Burnside, who now plays for the OHL Mississauga Steelheads.

Like his players, Skillz President and Coach Cyril Bollers has professional hockey dreams. He hopes the progress of his players – along with him obtaining the requisite certifications, credentials, and experience – will lead to a coaching job behind the bench of a major junior, American Hockey League or NHL team.

“I have ambitions and I’m hoping that I get an opportunity,” Bollers told me recently. “With the face of hockey changing, and more visible minorities becoming involved, eventually it has to change at the coaching level as well.”

The success of Bollers’ summer teams over the years has attracted the attention of the broader hockey community to the point that the squads are no longer just a black thing.

White players like Brendan Lemieux, a Barrie Colts left wing and son of retired NHL agitator supreme Claude Lemieux, and Chad Hefferman, a Bellville Bulls left winger and stepson of former Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers sniper Steve Larmer, have played for Bollers.

“Guys who all played (pro hockey) were sending their kids to come to play for us,” Bollers said. “We integrated (with) good hockey players. It doesn’t matter to us –  black or white or purple. We’re just a good hockey team.”

 Jeremiah Addison with OHL Saginaw. (Photo: Saginaw Spirit)

Jeremiah Addison with OHL Saginaw. (Photo: Saginaw Spirit)

Bollers teams are a legacy of a Skillz hockey program that was created to give minority and disadvantaged Canadian youth the exposure and the opportunity to play the expensive sport of hockey.

The program helped produce a talented crop of NHL players: Joel Ward of the Washington Capitals; Chris Stewart of the St. Louis Blues; Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers; and retired NHLers Anson Carter, Jamal Mayers, and Hockey Night in Canada/NBC Sports Network/NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes, who went on to help underwrite Skillz.

Skillz Black Aces alum Cordell James with Barrie Colts (Terry Wilson Photography)

Skillz Black Aces alum Cordell James with Barrie Colts (Terry Wilson Photography)

In the years that followed, Bollers added the competitive summer teams to the program. The initial squads wore their ethnicity with pride – and with a purpose.

“We wanted to make a statement. The statement originally was we had all black coaches, all the kids on the team were black, and that was great,” Bollers said. “We wanted to prove that, yes, African-Canadians can coach at this level and that our kids could play at this level.”

Racial attitudes have come a long way since Fred Sasakamoose became the NHL’s first Native/First Nation player during the 1953-54 season and Willie O’Ree became the league’s first black player in 1958.

But minority players are still occasionally subjected to stereotyping and racial taunts by

Barrie's C.J. Garcia, a Black Aces alum (Terry Wilson Photography).
Barrie’s C.J. Garcia, a Black Aces alum (Terry Wilson Photography).

fans, teammates, opposing players, coaches, and on-ice officials – from youth hockey to the professional ranks.

Look no further than the torrent of racist emails from so-called Bruins fans after Ward scored a Game 7 overtime goal that vanquished Boston from the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs. Or the Flyers-Detroit Red Wings 2011 preseason game in London, Ont., where an alleged fan threw a banana towards Simmonds during a shootout.

“People don’t understand what our guys go through, they don’t get it, even I don’t truly get what these guys go through,” said Amy Iverson, Keegan Iverson’s mother.

The Skillz elite teams offer is a change of pace for young players of color: a respite from being the only one on the team or the player who has to conform to a locker room culture where country and rock music are often rule, Bollers said.

“From the get-go, you walked into our dressing room the one thing you’d noticed we had reggae playing, we had Bob Marley, Caribbean music playing,” Bollers said. “So when we first started out, that was a of letting their hair down so to speak, culture, enjoying themselves.”

Justin Bailey of OHL Kitchener played for Bollers. (Kitchener Rangers).

Justin Bailey of OHL Kitchener played for Bollers. (Kitchener Rangers).

And how did the predominately black teams go over with opposing players and fans?

“There were some people who had problems with it and there were some people who thought it was great,” Ho-Sang recalled. “Sometimes when we played against teams from the (United) States there was a little more hostility, right, because I find the States are a little more race-conscious than Canada. But everything was good, we never had any problems.”

But Karen Buscaglia, Justin Bailey’s mother, recalled that the Black Mafia name was too much for one opposing parent. He angrily removed the name from the board at a tournament, she said.

“One of the dads from the other team was, like, “Stupid coons,” and erased it,” said Buscaglia, who’s white and Italian-American. “I was like ‘Did that just happen?’ I was so blown away by that.  If anybody else called themselves whatever the name was, nobody would have had an issue with it. But because the team was predominately black team, and they were winning, and they were good…it is what it is.”

Portland's Keegan Iverson, a Black Aces alum (Brian Heim/Portland  Winterhawks).

Portland’s Keegan Iverson, a Black Aces alum (Brian Heim/Portland Winterhawks).

The “Black Aces” moniker has a rich hockey history. In the 1940s, former Bruins great Eddie Shore owned the minor league Springfield Indians and used the name to describe players who were trying to work their way back from injury or out of the doghouse.

The name was also given to the famous all-black 1940s hockey line of the Sherbrooke Saints that featured Herb Carnegie – regarded by many as the greatest player never to play in the NHL – brother Ossie Carnegie and Manny McIntyre.

Skillz players and parents describe Bollers, 44, as one part Hockey Hall of Fame Coach Scotty Bowman, one part NFL Hall of Fame Coach Vince Lombardi, and one part Sunday preacher. He instills in his players a hockey tactician’s knowledge, the X’s and O’s of the game. He’s a demanding, no-nonsense task-master who is quick to reward fine play and quick to punish poor performance with a seat on the bench. He’s a fiery motivational speaker a la televangelists T.D. Jakes or Joel Osteen.

OHL Windsor's Josh Ho-Sang skating for the Black Aces.

OHL Windsor’s Josh Ho-Sang skating for the Black Aces.

“After one tournament, the locker room was like a Baptist church on a Sunday morning because it was like (Bollers ) was giving a sermon,”Buscaglia recalled. “He had such a high energy, such excitement for the kids, such a love of the game. And he wasn’t easy on the kids, either. He really pushed you to be your best and you earned your time. It was just a different level of hockey and the kids were having fun while doing it.”

When Keegan Iverson saw how much the fun Black Aces were having during a tournament in Toronto about four summers ago, he desperately wanted to join the team. When he received an invite from Bollers, Iverson’s mother packed the family into the car the following summer and made a two-day trek from Minnesota to join the Bollers’ team at a tournament in Upstate New York.

Erie Otters' Stephen Harper played for Cyril Bollers

Erie Otters’ Stephen Harper played for Cyril Bollers

“It was a real powerful experience for Keegan,” his mother said. “It was just a different vibe. “C.J. is a strong personality of a guy. He instills that it’s okay to be good, it’s okay to be the best.”

She thinks the Black Aces influence on Keegan is reflected in the NHL players he’s chosen as role models. When HFBoards asked him during this year’s Ivan Hlinka Tournament who those players are, Iverson smiled broadly and said Simmonds and Boston Bruins forward Jarome Iginla.”

To learn more about the Skillz Black Aces and Black Mafia visit www.skillzhockey.com.

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Will it be lights, camera – and finally – action for black hockey history movies?

04 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Chris Stewart, Detroit Rockies, Jaden Lindo, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joel Ward, Owen Sound Attack, Paul Newman, Slap Shot, Soul on Ice, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals

Hollywood and the Canadian film industry love turning sports stories into movies – especially fact-based, against all-odds, underdog-to-overachiever athletic tales.

“Remember the Titans” chronicled a Virginia high school football team overcoming racial barriers to become champions. “Pride” captured the story of the U.S.’s first all-black competitive swim team. “Crooked Arrows” spun the real-life-inspired tale of a Native American youth lacrosse team. Heck, even Disney couldn’t resist turning the story of the Jamaican Bobsled Olympic team into the comedy “Cool Runnings.”

But when it comes to making feature films or documentaries about the rise of blacks in ice hockey, it seems to be a challenge convincing the entertainment powers that be that it’s a worthwhile venture. That hasn’t stopped Kwame Damon Mason, Joe Doughrity and George Fosty from trying.

For years, the three men have separately been knocking on the doors of film and television industry-types on both sides of the border to get them interested in supporting, funding, and eventually airing their individual hockey film projects.

“It’s a tough sell,” Doughrity told me recently. “When I’ve had meetings at studios about it, they think it’s a great story but hockey is the fourth or fifth sport. It’s not the NFL, the NBA or Major League Baseball.”

Hockey documentary-maker Joe Doughrity.

Hockey documentary-maker Joe Doughrity.

It’s not like hockey is an unknown quantity to showbiz folks. The sport has starred or played a prominent role in many a film, from the 1970 tear-jerker “Love Story” to Paul Newman’s classic “Slap Shot” to director John Singleton’s “Four Brothers.”

Television and film producer Jerry Bruckheimer is a pick up hockey regular in L.A. And Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., has been known to suit up for games. Still, getting a black hockey project green-lighted has been a slow slog.

Doughrity, a Detroit transplant who moved to Los Angeles to pursue a movie industry career, has been searching for backing to finish the documentary he started on the Detroit Rockies, an all-black Midget AA team that shocked the hockey world by winning a Can/Am tournament in Lake Placid in 1995. The young Detroiters outscored their U.S. and Canadian competition 35-8 on the way to capturing the title.

The Rockies’ story is compelling enough that Doughrity is working with Fox Television Studios on a pilot that uses the team as a springboard to explore the passion for the game and the resilience of the people of Detroit. He’s also working towards a feature film about the team.

“It’s been happening for a couple of years now,” Doughrity said of the television pilot. “On the feature film side, a pretty well-known producer named Mike Karz, he’s done a bunch of Adam Sandler films, he’s spearheading the feature film version. I can’t tell you anything definitively about a start date, who might be in it, because it’s all in its infancy.”

Still, the slow pace of the projects hasn’t diminished Doughrity’s excitement or drive to get the Detroit hockey story on the big or small screen.

“I love the story,” he said. “It will help make black kids feel comfortable playing the sport because they get it from both sides: they get it white kids who don’t think we play hockey, they get it from black kids who don’t think we play hockey. I want to make something cool about being black and playing hockey.”

Mason, a Toronto resident, recently launched an online fundraising drive on to support

Kwame Damon Mason interviewed hockey great Herb Carnegie, left, before he passed away in March 2012.

Kwame Damon Mason interviewed hockey great Herb Carnegie, left, before he passed away in March 2012.

his documentary: “Soul on Ice: Past, Present & Future.” For his project, Mason has interviewed some of the game’s black trailblazers, including the late Quebec Aces legend Herb Carnegie, who was regarded as one of the greatest hockey players never to reach the NHL; current players such as forward Joel Ward of the Washington Capitals; and follows the budding career of Jaden Lindo, a right wing for the Ontario Hockey League’s Owen Sound Attack. Lindo, 17, will be eligible for the 2014 National Hockey League draft this summer.

Mason hopes to have cameras rolling at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center  on June 27-28 to chronicle how Lindo fares at the draft. But until then, he’s out to raise $40,000 via the international crowd online fund-raising site Indiegogo to help keep film production going.

Mason has gone all-in on his project. He set aside his job in radio two-and-a-half years ago to devote all his time to conducting interviews, raising money, and trying to persuade entities like the Canadian Broadcasting Company to air the documentary when its hopefully finished by next September.

“I’m just being a starving artist right now and putting everything into the project,” he said. “It’s a perfect time for it, more blacks are coming into the league,” Mason said. “It’s not a new phenomenon with blacks playing in the NHL. But I think there needs to be this attention or understanding about the history of it because, as they say, you can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’re coming from.”

Kwame Mason profiles Owen Sound's Jaden Lindo in his documentary.

Kwame Mason profiles Owen Sound’s Jaden Lindo in his documentary.

Fosty and his brother, Darril, are equally passionate when it comes to trying to generate studio and investor interest in expanding their documentary which is based on their 2004 ground-breaking book, “Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey Leagues of the Maritimes, 1895-1925.” 

The book and documentary trace the roots of modern hockey, from the slap shot to butterfly-style goaltending, to an all-black league comprised largely of runaway U.S. slaves who settled in the Canadian Maritimes.

“It’s not been easy at all,” George Fosty told me. “You walk in with a hockey history, and a black history on top of it, add a Canadian history element to it, that’s three strikes and you’re out of it already.  They’re going to say ‘Somebody in Iowa is not going to be interested in this.'”

But he and other filmmakers say that perception is slowly fading as movie and TV executives are taking note that the changing complexion of hockey reflects the changing racial and ethnic demographics of the United States and Canada. in other words, movie-goers and TV audiences are becoming browner.

Fosty says recent conversations that he’s had with Canadian television executives about the possibility of making “Black Ice” a made-for-TV movie make him feel encouraged that the tide may finally be changing for him, Doughrity, Mason and their projects.

“We’re rounding third and heading home,” Fosty said. “These films will be reality, they will be made. Now do you want to work with us or stay on the sidelines? That’s the big question in the meetings we have with industry people today.”

For more information on Joe Doughrity and his hockey film project, visit https://www.facebook.com/joedfilmmaker, follow him on Twitter @afropuck or email him joedoughrity@gmail.com. To Learn more about Kwame Damon Mason’s project, visit Indiegogo at http://igg.me/p/542885/x/4899078. For more on George Fosty’s “Black Ice” efforts, contact him at  gfosty@boxscorenews.com.

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