TheColorOfHockey

~ Hockey for Fans and Players of Color

TheColorOfHockey

Monthly Archives: January 2014

From Russia, with love at the 2014 Winter Olympics

31 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Jamaican Bobsled Team, Lolo Jones, Michael Martinez, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Shani Davis, T.J. Oshie, Ted Nolan

You can escape Washington, but not Alex Ovechkin - not in Sochi anyway.

You can escape Washington, but not Alex Ovechkin – not in Sochi anyway.

Greetings from Sochi, Russia, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The National Hockey League temporarily shutters its 2013-14 season next week to enable its players to represent their countries in Sochi, a subtropical seaside city with snowcapped mountains about an hour’s train ride away. Several of  the medal-seeking countries have diverse rosters. Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban,  the son of Caribbean immigrants, and goaltender Carey Price, whose mother is a former Ulkatcho First Nations chief, are playing for Canada. Their Montreal teammate Raphael Diaz, a defenseman who’s part Spanish, is representing Switzerland. Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya who’s of partial Kenyan descent, is skating for his native Sweden; St. Louis Blues forward T.J. Oshie, who is part Ojibwe is on Team U.S.A.; and Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Ted Nolan, Ojibwe/First Nations, is the Latvian Olympic hockey team’s bench boss.

Ted Nolan trades Buffalo blue for Latvia's maroon at Winter Olympics (Bill Wippert, Buffalo Sabres).

Ted Nolan trades Buffalo blue for Latvia’s maroon at Winter Olympics (Bill Wippert, Buffalo Sabres).

Coaching Latvia is just another highlight in a comeback season for Nolan, who was an NHL coaching outcast for 16 years before the team that fired him brought him back. Latvia asked him to be the national team’s coach in 2011. “The first thing I mentioned to (national team representatives) was whether I could coach Latvia in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games,” Nolan told the Olympic News Service. “I’m no different than most people in that I want to be in the NHL, but I wanted to coach Latvia and fulfill my obligation.” Hockey won’t be the only diverse sport in Sochi. The Winter Olympics has a rich tradition of athletes of color excelling in sports wrongly perceived as exclusively white. From 1988 Bronze Medal-winning American figure skater Debi Thomas, to 1992 Gold Medal-winning American figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, to bobsledder Vonetta Flowers, who in 2002 became the first African-American athlete to win a Winter Olympics Gold Medal, people of color have shown the mettle at the Winter Games.

Expect more of the same at Sochi.

American Speed skater Shani Davis is back for another Winter Olympics, hoping to add to the Gold and Silver medals he collected in Turin, Italy in 2006, and Vancouver, Canada in 2010.

Davis presents an interesting profile: Someone who’s part of the U.S. speed skating team yet apart from it. The system works for both parties.

Shani Davis is  hunting for more Olympic hardware in Sochi. (Harry E. Walker/MCT)

Shani Davis is hunting for more Olympic hardware in Sochi. (Harry E. Walker/MCT)

“This is how I like to do things,” Davis told Olympic News Service. “Sometimes you will see me (training) on my own and sometimes with the team. It depends. I am an individual athlete. For me, competing is winning and I’ve made it a long way.” For the most diverse sport at the Winter Games, look no further than the bobsled competition. Bobsled teams looking for muscle and power to help launch the vehicle down the icy course have increasingly turned to track and field athletes to serve as pushers. The U.S. women’s bobsled team features five women of color – Elana Meyers, Aja

USA Bobsled team member Aja Evans.

USA Bobsled team member Aja Evans.

Evans, Lolo Jones, Jazmine Fenlator and Lauryn Williams. Track stars Jones and Williams are the ninth and tenth Americans to participate in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Other black bobsledders in Sochi include Joel Fearon  and Lamin Deen of Great Britain and Bryan Barnett of Canada. Then there’s The Jamaican Bobsled Team, back after a 12-year Winter Olympics absence. The JamBob boys, whose 1988 Olympic debut inspired the Disney movie “Cool Runnings,” qualified for the two-man bobsled competition in Sochi and are out to prove that they’re more than a novelty. “We’re pretty good,” 46-year bobsled driver Winston Watts and Winter Olympics veteran told the Associated Press. “We’re not there with the rest of the world, of course. But if we had some more sources for funding, we’d have a better chance.”

Who needs Bolt? Jamaica's back on the bobsled track.

Who needs Bolt? Jamaica’s back on the bobsled track.

The world responded to Watt’s plea by donating $80,000 to help get him and teammate Marvin Dixon to Sochi.

Michael Martinez is a young man of many firsts. He was the first Olympic figure skater to hit the practice rink in Sochi this week. He’s the first-ever Olympic figure skater to represent the Philippines. And at 17, he’s the youngest figure-skating competitor at the Winter Games. As the Philippines’ only athlete in Sochi, Martinez will carry his country’s flag in the Games’ opening ceremony.

“I feel like, oh my gosh, all the hard work has paid off. I’m here,” he told Olympic News Service. “I am happy and proud to have made it. It means a lot to me. I put every effort and sacrifice into the sport.” Martinez knows he won’t win any medals. He’s just thrilled to be here.

So is Dachhiri Sherpa, a cross country skier from Nepal who’s brutally frank about how he’ll do in his competition.

“I think there is a very good chance I will finish last,” the 44-year-old Sherpa told Olympic News Service. “But the placing is not important if I can teach young people in Nepal about the Olympic spirit. The spirit is in my heart.”

Some folks wish that spirit extended to South Africa’s national Olympic committee. It decided not to send 18-year-old Sive Speelman, a black South African skier, to Sochi to compete in the slalom event even though he met qualifying standards under Olympic rules.

But South Africa’s national Olympic committee said Speelman failed to “meet minimum requirements” for them.

The organization told the BBC that it has an obligation to use only its best sportspeople in international competition.

“What a sad day. Sive Speelman qualified to compete at the Winter Olympics Games in Sochi, but SACOC has denied him the opportunity to race and raise South Africa’s flag,” Alex Heath, a three-time Winter Olympian from South Africa and Speelman’s coach wrote on Facebook. “It is an embarrassment to sport and the Olympic ideals.”

Peter Pilz, president of Snow Sport SA, told the Associated Press: “It’s actually a dream story that’s come true and is just what South Africa needs at this point in time. And it’s just sad.”

Note: For interesting and insightful news, features, sports, and entertainment stories and multimedia presentations throughout the 2014 Winter Olympics, visit McClatchy Newspapers at www.mcclatchydc.com.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

A neat shout-out from Caps’ Ted Leonsis

20 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Boston Bruins, Joel Ward, Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals

Thanks to Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis for the really nice shout-out that he gave to the Color of Hockey over the weekend on his popular “Ted’s Take” blog.

http://tedstake.monumentalnetwork.com/2014/01/17/the-color-of-hockey

Washington Capitals' Joel Ward.

Washington Capitals’ Joel Ward.

The love is especially appreciated because a Washington Capitals player was partially responsible for my decision to start the blog. I fiddled around for years with the idea of writing a blog, but couldn’t figure out what to blog about.

Then came Game 7 of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoff series between the Capitals and the Boston Bruins. When Capitals right wing Joel Ward scored the series-clinching goal 2:57 into overtime, it should have been a celebration of sports drama at its best – an underdog team knocking out the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Instead, it showed the sad underside of some people at their worst.  Several Bruins fans couldn’t handle the truth that a black man put the puck in the net and vanquished their beloved “B’s” to an early summer vacation.

They responded with racist venom that oozed from their keyboards and into the social media universe. The mean-spirited emails, tweets, and Facebook posts were so bad that it prompted the NHL and Bruins organization to issue statements chastising those so-called fans. Leonsis bashed the authors of the hate-filled missives for their display of keyboard courage.

The episode showed me that, despite a steady influx of people of color in hockey in recent years, a lot of folks still have a lot to learn about the history and growing influence of minorities in this wonderful game.

So Ward’s goal cemented what I wanted to do in a blog: To tell an under-told story, to educate, and, hopefully, entertain people with tales about what people of all stripes are doing in hockey. Hence, the Color of Hockey.

When the blog began, I had no idea how far or where it would go. You can only write so much about minorities in hockey before it gets redundant, I figured. Boy, was I wrong.

From the number of minority players chosen in last summer’s NHL Draft, to Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa’s  passion for hockey, to the three Indo-Canadians playing for the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips, to 69-year-old civil rights attorney John Brittain recounting his days as possibly the lone black high school hockey player in New England in the early 1960s, the blog has found different pathways to convey what we’re doing in the game.

 I’m learning that there are a ton of stories out there, from pee-wee hockey to the pros.

And the readers have been a blast! I love the tweets from people who follow the blog at @ColorOfHockey – especially those from minority parents who never envisioned being inside frigid ice skating rinks with their kids at ungodly hours but are now all-in as full-fledged, die-hard hockey parents.

So Thanks for the love, Ted, and please keep reading. And thank you, Joel. Please keep scoring – and reading – too.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Ho-Sang, Iverson, Lindo, and James crack NHL midterm draft ranking list

16 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2014 NHL Draft, Jaden Lindo, Josh Ho-Sang, Keegan Iverson, Owen Sound Attack, Portland Winterhawks, Windsor Spitfires

The National Hockey League’s 2014 midterm draft rankings are out and players of color populate the list from top to bottom. Forward Josh Ho-Sang of the Ontario Hockey League’s  Windsor Spitfires placed highest – listed as the 18th best North American skater. Forward Keegan Iverson of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks ranked 64th among draft-eligible North American players.Forward Jaden Lindo of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack was graded as the 96th-best North American player. And Cordell James, a forward for the OHL’s Barrie Colts, ranked 126th among North American skaters.

NHL scouts ranked Windsor's Josh Ho-Sang as the 18th-best North American skater.

NHL scouts ranked Windsor’s Josh Ho-Sang as the 18th-best North American skater.

Samuel Bennett, a forward for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs topped the list of North American skaters, with 26 goals and 66 points so far this season. Kasperi Kapanen, a forward for KalPa of Finland’s SM-liiga, heads the list of draft-eligible European skaters. He has four goals and four assists.

The draft will be conducted June 27-28 at the Wells Fargo Center, home of the Philadelphia Flyers. Last year, eight minority players were chosen in the draft. Some hockey experts think this year’s draft could exceed that number.

Some people believe that the offensively-gifted Ho-Sang could be a first or second round pick.  He has 19 goals and 32 assists for the Spitfires in 42 games. Craig Button, director of scouting for Canada’s TSN, ranks Ho-Sang 33rd among North Americans and European draft-eligible players.

“I like him as a player,” Chris Edwards, a scout for the NHL’s central scouting bureau told The Windsor Star. “He’s highly-skilled and has a chance to be a good pro.”

Bob Boughner, Ho-Sang’s coach at Windsor, agrees but also noted that the young player still has some work to do.

 Owen Sound's Jaden Lindo ranks 96th among North American players.

Owen Sound’s Jaden Lindo ranks 96th among North American players.

“You can’t teach his skill, but he still has to learn to conform a little and make guys around him better,” Boughner told The Star.

Ho-Sang, who’ll turn 18 on Jan. 22, still has some growing up to do. he was scratched for one game this season for what Boughner termed “internal discipline problems.” Ho-Sang told The Star the benching stemmed from being late for a practice.

Portland's Keegan Iverson occupies the 64th slot among North American skaters.  (Brian Heim/Portland  Winterhawks).

Portland’s Keegan Iverson occupies the 64th slot among North American skaters. (Brian Heim/Portland Winterhawks).

“I know it could (hurt my draft ranking), but that’s not what bothers me,” he told the newspaper. “It’s the 22 players (teammates) in that room that I let down.”

Barrie Colts' Cordell James ranks 126th on NHL draft list. Barrie Colts (Terry Wilson Photography)

Barrie Colts’ Cordell James ranks 126th on NHL draft list. Barrie Colts (Terry Wilson Photography)

Button ranks Lindo the 76th best player available. Lindo has nine goals and nine assists in 35 games for the Attack. Iverson, who didn’t make Button’s list, has 10 goals and 11 assists for Portland. James has tallied two goals and three assists in 39 games for the Colts.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Who knew? John C. Brittain, a distinguished civil rights lawyer with a rich hockey past

12 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

File this one under the “You Never Know Until You Know” category.

I was at a holiday party last December where a friend of mine was chatting up the Color of Hockey to John C. Brittain, a prominent civil rights attorney and a  mentor of his.

Attorney John C. Brittain grew up playing pond hockey.

Attorney John C. Brittain grew up playing pond hockey.

After hearing what the blog was all about, Brittain, a trim, impeccably-dressed, bow-tied black man with more salt than pepper in his hair, smiled. He then offered information that his protege – my friend – never knew in his decades of knowing Brittain.

“I was captain of my high school hockey team in Norwalk, Conn., in 1962,” he said.

It doesn’t take a historian or detective to deduce that very few black people played organized hockey in Connecticut – or anywhere else in the United States – in the early 1960s, let alone be designated as the undisputed leader of a team.

But there’s Brittain in the pages of Norwalk High’s 1962 year book, kneeling front and center in the first row of the hockey team’s picture and proudly wearing the captain’s “C” on his jersey.

 Brittain and Norwalk High School hockey team circa 1962.

Brittain and Norwalk High School hockey team circa 1962.

“I’m surprised I never really talked about it,” Brittain, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law, told me. “I never suppressed it for any conscious reasons – I loved it. That photo hangs in my office as part of a collage of my induction into the Norwalk Hall of Fame in the mid 1990s. And I mention it to people if they look at it and say ‘You played hockey? Or when something hockey comes up. But otherwise, no, I’ve never talked about it.”

Brittain learned to play hockey in the late 1950s the same way many New England kids do.

“I got started playing hockey on a frozen pond near our house,” he said. “I walked to school with my buddies.  Along the way, there was this very wealthy man’s estate high up on a hill. The land included a huge pond in the back of the mansion in the woods, kind of secluded. We played on the ice often to and from school, but a lot on the weekends. We began playing with just our shoes and boots on, just kicking a rock around or playing make-believe hockey with a stick and a rock.”

Christmas presents allowed the boys to graduate to ice skates, rubber pucks and real hockey sticks, which enabled Brittain and his friends to skate and play at Norwalk’s indoor ice rink.

“Virtually from grade school through middle school, I either skated on the pond and played hockey or skated at the indoor rink and played hockey,” he said. “By the time I reached the ninth grade I was in, modern-day terms, ‘tapped’ by the coaching staff to join the high school hockey team. I became captain because I was one of the best and the highest scorer on the team.”

Brittain says he never experienced problems or discrimination from Norwalk High’s coaches or his teammates. However, he remembers hearing the N-word and being called a monkey by spectators at road games played in parts of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Upstate New York.

But the taunting didn’t discourage him because he knew his teammates had his back.

“One of the reasons it didn’t bother me was in my neighborhood we had a ‘Rat Pack,’ so to speak, since I was one years old. We all went through elementary, junior high and high school together,” Brittain recounted. “It included an immigrant Jew from Israel…the second was an Italian…and the third was an Englishman.  It was one for all and all for one. If anyone ever called us the N-word, the K-word, the G-word, or the L-word, it was throw down your gloves and time to fight.”

John Brittain lets it fly in 1962.

John Brittain lets it fly in 1962.

To put the hockey timeline into perspective, Brittain was playing in high school five seasons after Willie O’ Ree became the National Hockey League’s first black player in 1957-58 with the Boston Bruins and one year after O’Ree’s last NHL game in 1960-61.

It would be 14 years before another black player – forward Mike Marson with Washington Capitals – would reach the NHL.

Meanwhile, several talented black Canadian players who had long-toiled in the minor leagues because the NHL’s unwritten race rules kept them down were hanging up their skates.

Forward Herb Carnegie, regarded by many as the best hockey player never to play in the NHL, retired in 1953. Forward Art Dorrington, who signed a contract with the New York Rangers in 1950 but never played a game with them, ended his nine-year minor league career in 1961.

Brittain said he thought about playing hockey in college. But any chance of that happening ended when he enrolled at Howard University, a black college in Washington, D.C. 

He put down his stick and took up the causes of the turbulent of the 1960s.

“One of my closest college mates was (black activist) Stokley Carmichael,” Brittain recalled. “Muhammad Ali coming up on campus, civil rights movement, John Lewis, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. I got involved in the activist wing at Howard University, joined the anti-war movement, got involved in track, and later went on to law school.  I had a whole bunch of new stuff to do.”

That “stuff” led to a distinguished law career in the courtroom and the classroom. In addition to his U.D.C. professorship, Brittain is a former University of Connecticut law professor and former dean of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

He’s a former chief counsel and deputy director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a group established under President John F. Kennedy to enlist private lawyers to take on civil rights cases at no cost.

Brittain has handled several high-profile school desegregation and funding cases. In addition, he’s chair of the Norflet Progress Fund, a charitable group created by a lawsuit settlement involving John Hancock that will distribute about $16 million in grants to benefit African-Americans in education, health, and post-Hurricane Katrina relief.

At 69, Brittain is a staunch vegan and a nationally-ranked masters runner.  He hasn’t played hockey in decades, but he hasn’t abandoned the sport. He’s a devoted Washington Capitals fan and college hockey follower who takes his 7-year-old grandson ice skating.

“I’ve got a new one-year-old grandson, so both my son and I said we’re going to introduce him to more winter sports,” he said. “We’re going to get him some hockey skates to see if he’s interested in that.”

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Everett Silvertips trio, Punjabi hockey broadcast, highlight game’s growth

09 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, Everett Silvertips, Nashville Predators, Seth Jones, Vancouver, WHL

They share a heritage, they share a team, and two of them share a line. But Everett Silvertips forwards Jujhar Khaira, Manraj Hayer and Tyler Sandhu have something else in common: undeniable talent.

The three Vancouver-area players are among the top seven in scoring on their Western Hockey League major junior team. Their scoring numbers jump off the stat sheets, but the trio also opens eyes because they are among a small but steadily growing number of Indian players who are helping change the color of hockey.

Everett Silvertips' Manraj Hayer (Photo: Christopher Mast Images)

Everett Silvertips’ Manraj Hayer (Photo: Christopher Mast Images)

“Kids have kind of seen us in the WHL and see players go into the AHL and NHL and they’re kind of taking note that it can be done,” said Hayer, 20, who was fourth on the team in scoring with 11 goals and 17 assists in 33 games before being sidelined by a concussion. “Lately, lots of East Indian kids have started to play hockey. Little kids have come up to me and said ‘I’ve seen you play and I want to follow in your footsteps.’ That’s kind of cool.”

Sandhu, who plays on a line with Hayer, seconded his teammate’s “cool.” “It’s exciting and an honor to have kids look up to you as you looked up to older players,” said Sandhu, 18, who is fifth on the Silvertips with 13 goals and 14 assists in 40 games. “For our culture, it feels good to be able to be part of a lot kids’ development in how they look at hockey and how they dream about playing as well. For me, it’s a dream of mine to play in the NHL and I just hope kids in my culture have that dream as well.”

Carolina Hurricanes center Manny Malhotra is currently the only Indo-Canadian player in the National Hockey League. But a next generation of players could be on the way in the near future, fueled by an interest in hockey that’s grown so large within Canada’s South Asia community that CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada” airs broadcasts in Punjabi.

HNIC Punjabi's crew. Left to right: Analyst Bhola Singh Chauhan, analyst Inderpreet Cumo and play-by-play man Harnarayan Singh.

HNIC Punjabi’s crew. Left to right: Analyst Bhola Singh Chauhan, analyst Inderpreet Cumo and play-by-play man Harnarayan Singh.

“This broadcast has really helped the Punjabi community to connect with the sport,” Harbs Bains, president of the Surrey (British Columbia) Minor Hockey Association, told The New York Times last April. “It allows someone whose first language is not English to connect with the sport and between generations.”

Hockey is even slowly gaining a foothold in cricket-crazed India. A member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since 1989, the country of more than 1.2 billion people has more than 900 hockey players. In March 2012, India captured its first international ice hockey victory, a 5-1 over Macau at the IIHF’s Challenge Cup of Asia tournament.

Tyler Sandhu in action. (Photo: Christopher Mast/Everett Silvertips)

Tyler Sandhu in action. (Photo: Christopher Mast/Everett Silvertips)

Hayer, 20, began playing hockey as a child because his older brother did. But Hayer never played with another Indian player in a game until Silvertips Head Coach and former NHL bench boss Kevin Constantine put him on a line with Sandhu in Everett two seasons ago.

“It’s been a different experience, I’ve never played with another East Indian player my whole life on any of my teams,” he told me recently. “It’s kind of cool just to be playing on his line. I think it kind of makes history – I don’t think it’s ever been done before, so it’s kind of cool.”

Hayer, Sandhu and Khaira were brought together in Everett, a city of 104,000 about 30 miles north of Seattle, by coincidence. Sandhu was among four prospects the Silvertips obtained in a May 2012 trade with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks in exchange for the rights to defenseman Seth Jones. Jones, a Nashville Predators rookie this season, was the fourth overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

Khaira, who’s seventh on the Silvertips in scoring with 10 goals and 11 assists in 30 games, played 37 games for Michigan Tech during the 2012-13 season. He exited college with three years of NCAA eligibility left after signing with the Oilers. He came to the Silvertips in a May 2012 trade from the WHL’s Prince George Cougars

Jujhar Kharia, a 2012 Edmonton Oilers 3rd-round pick (Photo/Christopher Mast/Everett Silvertips).

Jujhar Kharia, a 2012 Edmonton Oilers 3rd-round pick (Photo/Christopher Mast/Everett Silvertips).

“It was a lot of fun, it was probably one of the best years of my life,” Khaira said of his time at Tech. “The style of play is completely different. In college, you’re playing against older guys who are 23-24 years old and here you’re playing against guys who are 16, 17 so there’s a big difference in age.”

As for his future with the Oilers, the 19-year-old said “I’m going to focus on this season and develop my game as best as possible, and then try to make an impression at (the Oilers) camp next year and see where it goes from there.”

Hayer was scouted and signed by the Silvertips in the 2010-11 season.

The three have never played on a line together during a WHL game, but have during practices. Would they like to join the ranks of the 1970s Buffalo Sabres all-French-Canadian “French Connection” led by Gilbert Perreault ,” the Boston Bruins’ German-Canadian “Kraut Line” of the 1940s that featured Milt Schmidt, or the famed “Black Aces,” an all-black minor league line in the 1940s headlined by Herb Carnegie?

“It would be cool, but at the same time Kevin Constantine knows what he’s doing and what he needs in a line,” Khaira said. “So I’m really confident in him and what he has for us.”

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

St. Louis Blues’ Oshie to go for Gold with U.S. hockey team at Winter Olympics

02 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

St. Louis Blues right wing T.J. Oshie was one of 25 American-born National Hockey League players selected Sunday to represent the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics next month in Sochi, Russia.

Blues' T.J. Oshie lands a spot on the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team headed to Sochi next month.

Blues’ T.J. Oshie lands a spot on the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team headed to Sochi next month.

Oshie, who is part Ojibwe (Chippewa), and two other Blues players join an All-Star-caliber lineup of American skaters who hope to bring a Gold Medal back from Sochi. The U.S. narrowly lost to a Sidney Crosby-led Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Oshie, a 27-year-old from Everett, Wash., is ninth in the NHL in scoring with six goals and 27 assists in 39 games. Though it will be his first time playing in the Olympics, he brings a wealth of international playing experience to the U.S. team.

He played for the U.S. at the 2006 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship and the IIHF’s 2009, 2010 and 2013 World Championships. He’ll be joined in Sochi by fellow Blues teammates David Backes, a center with 16 goals and 14 assists in 35 games, and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk who’s scored six goals and 22 assists in 38 games.

The U.S. team, led by Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma, is a mix of youth and veterans players with Olympic experience. Thirteen members of the Silver Medal-winning 2010 Olympic squad are on the 2014 team, including Backes 2010 Olympic MVP goalie Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres, forwards Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks, Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings, Ryan Callahan of the New York Rangers, Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild, Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs and defensemen Brooks Orpik of the Penguins and Ryan Suter of the Nashville Predators.

“We went through a very thorough process to get to today and could not be happier with the team we’ve selected,” said David Poile, general manager of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Men’s hockey team of GM and president of the Predators. “We’re fortunate to have probably the deepest talent pool we’ve ever had in our country and that made for some very difficult decisions. In the end, however, we’re confident we’ve selected a group of players that puts us in the best position to have success in Sochi.”

USA Hockey invited a diverse group of players to its pre-Olympic orientation camp in Washington last summer. But the organization’s brain trust passed on forward Kyle Okposo, who’s enjoying his best season with the New York Islanders, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, and Predators rookie D-man Seth Jones.

Some hockey experts believe that Okposo, who is currently 12th in the NHL in scoring, didn’t make the cut because of concerns

N.Y. Islanders Kyle Okposo disappointed  about not making the U.S. Olympic team.

N.Y. Islanders Kyle Okposo disappointed about not making the U.S. Olympic team.

about his skating ability on the larger 200 ft. long by 100 ft. wide international ice surface even though he played on the big ice during his days at the University of Minnesota.

That assessment was verified Thursday in a brutally frank tic-tock story about the U.S. team’s selection process on ESPN.com. Okposo disagreed with the talk about his skating ability.

“That part of it is a little bit frustrating, that they think I’m not built for the big ice, but that’s their opinion,” Okposo told Long Island’s Newsday. “I think I’ve proven myself on the big sheet from college and I’ve had a lot of international experience playing world championships with them. But that’s their viewpoint and, you know, that’s okay…I wish them all the best.”

Byfuglien tantalized USA Hockey with his massive size and offensive upside with his powerful slap shot from the blue line. But questions lingered about his defensive prowess on the large ice.

As for Jones, the fourth overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft, it was a matter of 2014 being too soon for the Nashville rookie. Look for the 19-year-old son of former NBA standout Popeye Jones to be in the mix for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Oshie will be one of a handful of minority hockey players representing their countries at the Winter Games. Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban, who won the Norris Trophy as the NHL best blue liner last season, is under consideration to play for Team Canada.

Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, whose mother is a former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nations, will likely be one of three goalies chosen when Hockey Canada unveils its Olympic roster on January 7.

Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya will likely play for his native Sweden as he did at the 2010 Winter Games.

Here’s the U.S. Olympic Men’s team roster. GOAL: Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres, Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings, Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings. FORWARDS: T.J. Oshie, St. Louis Blues, David Backes, St. Louis Blues,  Ryan Callahan, New York Rangers, Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks, Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs, Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild, Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings, Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks, Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens, Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks, Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche, Derek Stephan, New York Rangers, James van Riemsdyk, Toronto Maple Leafs, Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets. DEFENSE: John Carlson, Washington Capitals, Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes, Cam Fowler, Anaheim Ducks, Paul Martin, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers, Brooks Orpik, Pittsburgh Penguins, Kevin Shattenkirk, St. Louis Blues, Ryan Suter, Nashville Predators

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Montreal Canadiens’ P.K. Subban awaits Hockey Canada’s Olympics judgment day

01 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

2014 Winter Olympics, Bobby Orr, Chicago Blackhawks, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, Nicklas Lidstrom, P.K. Subban, Paul Coffey, Steve Yzerman, Tampa Bay Lightning

Say you’ve won the Norris Trophy as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, lead your team in scoring as a defenseman, and are sixth among the league’s blue-liners in goals and assists.

Is that enough to earn a free round trip ticket to Sochi, Russia to represent your country at the 2014 Winter Olympics? Maybe not, if you’re Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban.

Whether or not P.K. Subban should be on Canada's Olympic team has sparked debate.

Whether or not P.K. Subban should be on Canada’s Olympic team has sparked debate.

One of the biggest questions heading into Hockey Canada’s January 7 announcement of its Olympic team is will Subban, the reigning Norris Trophy winner, make the cut?

“It would be silly not for a Norris Trophy winner to be on the team. I don’t even know why that’s a debate,” said Cyril Bollers, president and head coach of Skillz Hockey, a Toronto-based program and team that’s produced a bevvy of minority NHL and major junior hockey players. “You’ve won a prestigious trophy and you’re the best defenseman in the whole entire league, why would there be a debate for you not to be on the Olympic team?”

But questions about whether Subban will make it to Sochi have been brewing since October when media reports indicated that he appeared to be a long shot to play on an Olympics squad assembled by Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman and guided by Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock.

Babcock  added fuel to the debate last month when offered what seemed to be read-the-tea-leaves comments about Subban’s game and his chances of making Team Canada.

“The great thing about playing on the Olympic team is you’ve got to be a 200-footer,” Babcock told The Toronto Star. “You’ve got to do it in both ends of the rink consistently and the coach has to trust you.”

“What I mean by that is, you don’t put people on the ice you don’t trust, so you have to be dependable,” Babcock continued. “So that’s the No. 1 priority. I mean, there’s skating, elite hockey sense, but you’ve got to be a trustworthy player – whether you’re a goaltender, defenseman, a center. That’s what we told (the players) at camp, I don’t think it’s different for anybody.”

Babcock’s comments were vaguely similar to the rationale  given by Subban’s detractors for why he should be excluded from the Canadian squad. 

Subban’s a high-risk, high-reward defenseman whose defensive deficiencies would be exposed on the larger international ice surface that the games will be played on in Sochi, his critics say.

He takes too many penalties, he’s too flamboyant and too cocky for a team-oriented sport, they add. Besides, Team Canada will have enough offensive firepower from the blue line with the likes of Chicago Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith, the Los Angeles Kings’ Drew Doughty, and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators.

The “Whither P.K.” drama reached reached such a fever pitch in Canada that The Province newspaper of British Columbia wrote a scathing editorial last month headlined “With P.K. Subban, What Are They Thinking?”

“Some say that the hockey establishment’s snubbing of Subban is related to his strong personality and to the fact that he is black,” the op-ed piece said. “He plays the game on his terms and won’t conform to the code of expected behavior. If that’s the case, it’s the establishment and not Subban that should adapt.”

“Subban is one among the greatest defensemen in the world,” the editorial concluded. “He’s exciting to watch, has real joy for the game and is a terrific, entertaining personality. Leaving him off Team Canada would be unthinkable.”

Subban has taken all the Olympics talk in stride.

“Obviously, just like most of the Canadian players in the league, I’d love to have that opportunity to represent my country,” Subban said on Sirius XM’s “Hockey Night in Canada Radio” in November. “There’s a ton of players to pick from. The reality is that in Canada we’re so good we could send maybe even  two teams over if we had to. I don’t think there are too many people who would want to be in Steve Yzerman’s position right now because there are so many great players to pick from, but I’m confident he’ll make the right decision in selecting a team, for sure.”

Putting together a hockey team to compete in the high-pressure Olympic tournament isn’t as simple as putting together an NHL All-Star team, said Darren Lowe, head coach of the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues men’s hockey team.

Yzerman and Babcock must put together a team of players who fill specific roles and Subban could become a victim of numbers because of that, according to Lowe, who was the first black skater to play hockey for Canada in the 1984 Winter Olympics.

Adding to the roster anxiety is the fact that the Olympics is happening outside of North America and away from NHL-sized rinks. Team Canada and Team USA have performed poorly on the larger international ice surfaces used in Europe and elsewhere. Hockey Canada and USA Hockey are looking at players who they think have the skating skills and hockey sense to thrive on the 200 ft. long by 100 ft. wide international ice.

“He seems to have a very good offensive game, that’s without question,” Lowe said of Subban. “Based on how many offensive or power play guys they’re going to select for the team, and how many guys they’re going to have as shut-down guys, there becomes a debate. There are obvious guys who are going to make the team and then there are those who are that sort of in-between who are good at something. But how many guys will  they have who are good at whatever he’s good at? That’s the only reason why I would think there’d be a debate.”

Subban’s advocates scoff at the claim that he’s a potential liability on big ice by reminding people that he played junior hockey for the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls. They play their home games on a international-sized rink

Remember, they say, that Subban helped power Canada to Gold Medals at the 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship – a tournament played on big ice in the Czech Republic – and the 2009 IIHF Junior World Championship that was played on NHL-size ice in Ottawa.

They debunk the Subban is penalty-prone argument by pointing out that he had 41 penalty minutes as of Dec. 31, 2013, only one minute more than the Kings’ Doughty.

John Paris, Jr., the first black hockey head coach to win a professional league championship, said the criticisms of Subban should actually be considered compliments.

“We go back to the best of them all, who was Bobby Orr by far,” Paris, Jr., told me recently. “Some of the most ridiculous comments we heard about him were ‘He can’t play defense, he can’t do this, he can’t do that.’ Bobby Orr did everything that was physically and mentally possible for a defenseman to do – the best one ever to put on a pair of skates. But they found a way to criticize him enormously. Doug Harvey was the same thing, Paul Coffey was the same thing. Nicklas Lidstrom, for a while they gave him a difficult time. Good hockey players are always subject to a little bit of controversy. Subban is in the same category. Being an extraordinary athlete, it’s normal they’re going to criticize.”

But Bollers believes the criticism aimed at Subban has a certain edge to it.

“I think the issue is if you watched when P.K. first entered the league he brought that sort of swagger, the low-fives and all that sort of stuff, and I guess the NHL wasn’t ready for that,” he told me recently. “At times he’s very confident about in how he plays and his ability and sometimes that rubs people the wrong way.”

It rubbed “Hockey Night in Canada” commentator Don Cherry rougher and tighter than one of his starched, high-collared shirts. The man with the flamboyant wardrobe wasn’t a fan of the player with the flamboyant game.

But Cherry has been one of Subban’s biggest boosters as the Team Canada roster announcement nears. So has Edmonton Oilers great Wayne Gretzky.

“I keep hearing a doubt that he’s going to be on Team Canada,” Cherry said on a recent “Coach’s Corner” segment during a “Hockey Night in Canada” telecast in December. “What are they, nuts?”

Cherry took it a step on “Hockey Night in Canada Radio” a few days later.

“But if they let him go, he could turn it on with that big ice surface, and that cannon (of a shot) he’s got from the point,” Cherry said. “I don’t understand how they can think about (not choosing him). I’m not knocking the guys that they’ve got, but good gravy. He’s supposed to be the best defenseman, you think he’d be there somewhere.”

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Asian & Pacific Islander heritage players on 2020-21 team rosters in pictures
  • Meet the Black players on NCAA women’s hockey rosters in 2020-21
  • Jaden Lindo adds new chapter to ‘Soul on Ice’ by winning hockey championship
  • Sarah Nurse seeks gold at IIHF world championship after winning Olympic silver
  • Hockey Family Photo Album, Page 2

Archives

  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • December 2012

Categories

  • John Tortorella
  • nhl.com
  • Uncategorized

Hockey Links

  • American Collegiate Hockey Association
  • Black Ice Book
  • Detroit Hockey Association
  • Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation
  • Fort Dupont Ice Arena
  • Hasek's Heroes
  • Hockey is for Everyone
  • Hockeyland Canada
  • Ice Hockey in Harlem
  • International Ice Hockey Federation
  • Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation
  • Kevin Weekes Online
  • NHL official website
  • NHL Uniforms
  • Ted's Take
  • The American Hockey League
  • The ECHL
  • TSN
  • USA Hockey

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: