Monthly Archives: June 2014

Skillz Black Aces among NHL new faces

29 Sunday Jun 2014

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The 2014 National Hockey League Draft concluded Saturday with alums of the Skillz Black Aces youth hockey teams doing the squad’s smiling Afro-man logo proud.

Three Skillz veterans were chosen in the draft Saturday, joining Windsor Spitfires forward Joshua

Barrie Colts and Skillz alum Brendan Lemieux.

Barrie Colts and Skillz alum Brendan Lemieux.

Ho-Sang, who was taken Friday night in the first round with the 28th overall pick by the New York Islanders. The draft began Saturday morning with the Buffalo Sabres choosing Brendan Lemieux, a Skillz alum who’s a forward for the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts, with the first pick in the second round, the 31st overall pick.

While elated to be selected by Buffalo, Lemiuex, the son of former NHLer Claude Lemieux, was disappointed that he wasn’t chosen in the first round, where some mock drafts projected him. Lemieux tallied 27 goals, 25 assists and a whopping 145 penalty minutes in 65 games for Barrie during the 2013-14 season.

“I expected to be a first round pick and never really looked at the second round,” Lemieux told Yahoo Sports. “But that being said, things have a way of working out.”

The Skillz Black Aces and Black Mafia teams began as Toronto-based summer youth hockey teams coached by Cyril Bollers and comprised of elite, NHL draft-eligible players born between 1995 and 1996 – and almost all of them black. As the program became successful, kids of all colors began filling out the rosters.

A torn ACL didn't stop Pittsburgh from drafting Skillz alum Jaden Lindo.

A torn ACL didn’t stop Pittsburgh from drafting Skillz alum Jaden Lindo.

Alums include 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.

Now add Lemieux, Keegan Iverson, and Jaden Lindo to the list. Iverson, a forward for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks, was scooped up by the New York Rangers in the third round with the 85th overall pick. He registered 22 goals, 20 assists and 85 penalty minutes in 67 games for the Winterhawks. Last week, the Minnesota-born Iverson was among 42 players invited by USA Hockey to attend the U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp, an audition for a roster spot on Team USA for the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship tournament.

“Pretty exciting stuff,” Amy Iverson, Keegan’s mother, said in an email message Saturday.

Portland and former Black Aces forward Keegan Iverson.

Portland and former Black Aces forward Keegan Iverson.

Iverson barely had time to celebrate being drafted. He boarded a plane Sunday for the Big Apple to attend the Rangers prospect camp, which runs June 30 to July 4 at Madison Square Garden Training Center.

“With the way the game is going you’ve heard every GM say we want to get bigger and stronger and faster, and that heavy style; well that’s the type of game (Iverson) plays,” Gordie Clark, the Rangers director of player personnel said on the team’s website. (Portland) had a really good team with five really high-skilled players that got most of the ice time. So I think with more ice time available next year (Iverson’s) numbers will go up.”

Iverson didn’t attend the draft at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, preferring to watch at home in St. Louis Park, Minn., with his family.  Lindo wasn’t in Philadelphia, either. The forward for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack was trying to watch the draft on television at home in Ontario, Canada.

Frustrated with the broadcast’s lag in listing drafted players, Lindo switched on his tablet to get more up-to-date results. That’s how he learned he was chosen by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the sixth round with the 173rd overall pick. Lindo was surprised about being selected because he suffered a torn left ACL that curtailed his 2013-14 season at Owen Sound.

The power forward who lists Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds and Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward as role models, collected 9 goals, 9 assists and 41 penalty minutes in 40 games for the Attack.

“When I saw my name, I just screamed,” Lindo told me. “My mom jumped up and hugged me. I feel amazing, Pittsburgh’s a good organization. I’m going to work harder than before so the (knee) rehab goes well.”

The Penguins foresee Lindo becoming a Simmonds-like NHL power forward.

“Jaden Lindo is big, good along the wall, heavy on pucks, strong, good on the forecheck…great low game,” Randy Sexton, the Penguins co-director of amateur scouting said on the Penguins official website. “He’ll chip in with some offense, very reliable defensively.”

Any comparisons to Ward and Simmonds, who led the Flyers with 29 goals last season, is fine with Lindo.

“I try to model my game to theirs,” he told the Penguins website. “They’re both strong, physical players. I’m a big, strong winger. I like to use my size and strength to my advantage. I’m physical. I like to separate men off the puck and create room for my teammates.”

 

 

 

New York Islanders take Joshua Ho-Sang in first round of 2014 NHL Draft

28 Saturday Jun 2014

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Look out Brooklyn, here comes Joshua Ho-Sang.

With several National Hockey League teams reluctant to pull the trigger and use a first-round draft pick to take the flashy, high-scoring Windsor Spitfires forward, the New York Islanders eagerly snapped up the 18-year-old Ho-Sang Friday night with the 28th pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. In fact, the Islanders made a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning to get back into the first round to get Ho-Sang.

Joshua Ho-Sang (left) was taken by the New York Islanders, the 28th player picked in the 2014 NHL Draft.

Joshua Ho-Sang (left) was taken by the New York Islanders, the 28th player picked in the 2014 NHL Draft.

A relieved-looking Ho-Sang walked onto the stage inside Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, pulled on an Islanders jersey and happily tugged on a team cap.

“It’s just such an opportunity and a moment I’ll cherish forever,” he told TSN.

Many general managers were down on Ho-Sang, despite the 32 goals and 52 assists in 67 games for the Ontario Hockey League Spitfires last season. They viewed Ho-Sang as an individualistic, one-dimensional offensive machine who’s more of an electrifying highlight reel entertainer than a hockey player. They were concerned that he could not – or would not – conform his game to fit their teams.

Some comments he made in pre-draft interviews this week also didn’t endear him some in the hockey establishment. Some NHL team were quoted as saying Ho-Sang was on their Do Not Draft lists.

“All I was saying was that I truly believe in myself and I think if you ask any player in the draft, they do, too,” Ho-Sang said.

The Islanders weren’t scared off. General Manager Garth Snow said Ho-Sang will “fit right in” with the Isles and joked later in a television interview that “They(critics)  sh** on me, too.”
“They can’t s*** on me any more than they do, I think is what I said,” Snow later told The New York Daily News. “I don’t care. We get players that we feel can help us win a championship, and we don’t give a s*** what anyone else thinks – except our fans, or course.”
So the son of a Jamaican father of Chinese descent and a Jewish Chilean mother with Russian and Swedish bloodlines now hopes to take his talents to New York. Ho-Sang isn’t NHL-ready yet. But he could be by the 2015-16 season when the Islanders move from Long Island’s Nassau County Coliseum – one of the NHL’s oldest arenas – to multi-ethnic, multicultural Brooklyn and the Barclays Center.

When and where for Joshua Ho-Sang in 2014 NHL Draft?

25 Wednesday Jun 2014

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As this weekend’s 2014 NHL Draft approaches perhaps the biggest question is where Windsor Spitfires forward Joshua Ho-Sang will land?

Most scouts agree that Ho-Sang has first round talent – a natural goal scorer with great hands, vision, playmaking skills, agility and speed. Still, on the eve of the draft it’s anyone’s guess which team will select him and in what round. In its final draft rankings, Canada’s TSN.ca listed Ho-Sang as the 30th among North American and European skaters, a 10-slot drop from the sports website’s March ranking.

When and where will Windsor's talented Joshua Ho-Sang go in 2014 NHL Draft?

When and where will Windsor’s talented Joshua Ho-Sang go in 2014 NHL Draft?

He was ranked 18th in the NHL’s Central Scouting midterm list and slipped to 22nd in their final survey. Still, TSN Scouting Director Craig Button wrote that Ho-Sang “Continues to grow as a player. Excellent hands and can make plays in tight and is very difficult to get the puck from. He can make plays that very few are capable of. A dynamic type player. One of the most highly skilled players in draft.”

But Button’s assessment hasn’t stopped the naysayers from saying their nays about Ho-Sang.

Some of the negatives are physical: Listed at a generous 5-11, 176-lbs he’s considered undersized by some hockey people. But being short and light didn’t stop him from tallying 32 goals, 53 assists in 67 games for the Ontario Hockey League Spitfires. He’s scored 129 points in 130 career OHL regular season games. Defense isn’t his forte, though his plus/minus was a plus-26 in the 2013-14 season.

Then there are the questions of conformity. In a team sport the stresses playing the right way, Ho-Sang is pure offense and makes no apologies for it. He loves the puck and apparently it loves him because its hard to get it off his stick. He’s a human highlight reel who dangles, dekes, scores and enthusiastically celebrates. One of his tweets says  “A goal without a celly is like peanut butter without jelly.”

“A majority of skill players love to dangle, everyone loves to score, set up nice goals,” he told Sportnet’s Damien Cox. “You kind of have to find that in-between because not every play can be a highlight reel, you can’t beat two or three guys every shift. You have to pick your spots. A lot of that comes with maturity and understanding when to o it and not to do it.”

And Ho-Sang talks proudly about his talents and who he is, the son of a Jamaican father of Chinese descent and a Jewish Chilean mother with

Windsor Spitfires' Josh Ho-Sang skating for the Skillz Black Aces.

Windsor Spitfires’ Josh Ho-Sang skating for the Skillz Black Aces.

Russian and Swedish bloodlines. In interviews, he’s talked about being ready to be part of the changing face of the NHL, joining the likes of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, players who’ve also been under hockey’s sometimes harsh microscope.

“Because of all the backgrounds I have, I could bring a lot of interest in the game, for sure,” he told Cox. “I have all the pieces to bring a lot of people together. It’s cool to have the ability to inspire people, for sure.”

Ho-Sang hasn’t been afraid to mention race. He told The Toronto Sun “I think color definitely plays a factor in perception.” said Ho-Sang.

“When I start dangling, my GM calls me a Harlem Globetrotter,” Ho-Sang told The Sun’s Steve Simmons. Why am I a Harlem Globetrotter? Analogies get related to basketball all the time with me. I don’t play basketball. I’ve never played basketball. I’m a hockey player. Why are they doing that?

Apparently all of this – coupled with a six-game OHL suspension for a play that caused London Knights defenseman Zach Bell to suffer a broken leg – might be too much for some NHL teams.  Simmons reported Tuesday that “numerous teams have Ho-Sang on their Do Not Draft List.” Simmons wrote that only 18 of the NHL’s 30 teams interviewed him at the NHL Combine.

“And if I picked him, my scouts would all revolt,” the chief scout told Simmons. “He doesn’t fit what we’re looking for.” So much for the sports mantra of taking the best available player with a pick.

The criticisms haven’t dampened Ho-Sang’s spirit or confidence going into the draft this Friday and Saturday at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, home of the Flyers.

“If I was a general manager and had first pick in the draft, I’d pick me No. 1,” he told The Sun. “In three years, I’ll be the best player in this draft. And I have no doubt about that. I know myself. I know the other players. I believe in my ability. There are guys ranked ahead of me who are nowhere near me.”

 

 

WHL Winterhawks’ Keegan Iverson invited to U.S. National Junior team tryout camp

20 Friday Jun 2014

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Portland Winterhawks center Keegan Iverson was among 42 players invited to the U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp, an audition for a spot on the American team that will compete in the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.

The one-week evaluation camp takes place August 2-9 in Lake Placid, N.Y. The world juniors, a showcase of future National Hockey

U.S. national junior team tryout, NHL Draft await Portland's Keegan Iverson.

U.S. national junior team tryout, NHL Draft await Portland’s Keegan Iverson.

League talent, is Dec. 26, 2014 to Jan. 5, 2015 in Montreal and Toronto. USA Hockey officials invited Iverson to the evaluation camp two days ago.

“I was really excited to find out I have an opportunity to play for Team USA again,” said Iverson, a St. Louis Park, Minn., resident who skated for the U.S, Under-17 national team in 2012-13.

He drew the attention of USA Hockey officials with an excellent 2013-14 season with the Western Hockey League Winterhawks, tallying 22 goals, 20 assists and 70 penalty minutes in 67 games. Iverson, an alum of Canada’s Skillz Black Aces youth hockey teams, will have familiar faces around him at the U.S. evaluation camp. Three other Winterhawks – goaltender Brendan Burke and forwards Chase De Leo and Dominic Turgeon – are also auditioning in Lake Placid to audition for spots on the U.S. squad.

Nashville's Seth Jones, former Portland Winterhawks and U.S. junior team star.

Nashville’s Seth Jones, former Portland Winterhawks and U.S. junior team star.

“The evaluation camp is an important step as the players try to earn spots on the U.S. World Junior Team,”  Portland Winterhawks General Manager and Head Coach Mike Johnston said. “I am confident all four players will have strong showings and make positive impressions at the camp.”

The Winterhawks have been a talent incubator of sorts for junior championship teams. USA. Former Portland defenseman Seth Jones, who completed his rookie season with the Nashville Predators last April, played on 2011, 2012 and 2013 U.S. national junior squads. Winterhawks defenseman Mathew Dumba, the seventh overall pick in the 2012 NHL draft by the Minnesota Wild, played for Canada in the 2014 world juniors.

Iverson’s evaluation camp invite is part of what’s shaping up to be an excellent summer for him. Next weekend,

Winterhawks' Mathew Dumba, a Minnesota Wild 1st-round draft pick and 2014 Team Canada national junior team member.

Winterhawks’ Mathew Dumba, a Minnesota Wild 1st-round draft pick and 2014 Team Canada national junior team member.

he’ll be glued to the television waiting to see which team selects him in the 2014 NHL Draft in Philadelphia. He’s ranked as the 85th-best North American skater by the NHL’s Central Scouting Service.

Iverson said watching the draft at home may be nerve-racking, but it’ll be a breeze compared to going through the grueling NHL Combine strength and endurance camp in Toronto last month.

“At the Combine, my teammates told me to be myself and everything will go well,” Iverson told reporter Lesley Dawson. “As for the draft process, they told me to be excited for when my name gets called, and be ready to work after.”

 

 

 

 

Alec Martinez strikes again – scores double OT goal to lift L.A. Kings Stanley Cup

14 Saturday Jun 2014

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It’s getting to be a habit for Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alec Martinez, one that Kings fans hope he never breaks.

Mr. Overtime, Alec Martinez of Los Angeles Kings.

Mr. Overtime, Alec Martinez of Los Angeles Kings.

Martinez scored at 14:43 in double-overtime late Friday to defeat the New York Rangers 3-2 and power the Kings their second Stanley Cup in three

seasons. It’s the second time this month that Martinez has been the man of the moment: He scored the Game 7 overtime goal that defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 and sent the Kings to the Stanley Cup Final.

And proving that things do indeed happen in threes, Martinez scored an overtime game-winner in his freshman year at Miami University of Ohio that defeated Western Michigan University and sent the RedHawks to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association championship in the 2005-06 season. Overtime heroics don’t seem to get old for Martinez. Neither does winning.

“I saw there was a loose puck in my own end, and I just tried to get it in a forward’s hands, I think (Kings left wing Tyler) Toffoli had a great shot far pad,” Martinez told NBC’s Pierre McGuire after the game. “Fortunately, the rebound came to me and I was able to put it in. It was a great play by them, I was just the benefactor.”

Martinez’s playoffs and Stanley Cup Final heroics have sent people scrambling to Google and other search engines to learn more about him and his heritage.

“My grandfather—that’s the Spanish side of my family.” Martinez told the Frozen Royalty website in May 2013. “My grandfather’s brothers were born in Spain, but he was born here, in the States. That’s where I get my last name.”

“His wife, my grandmother, she was English-Canadian, and my mom’s side of the family is all English,” told MayorManor.com’s podcast in 2012. “If you want to break it down in percentages, I’m about a quarter Spanish. My parents don’t speak it, my dad doesn’t speak it. When my dad was growing up, the Martinez side of the family only spoke Spanish when they didn’t want the kids to know what they were walking about. I essentially have the last name, and a little (Spanish) in me but I hate to disappoint anyone, but I just don’t really know how to speak it.”

Alec Martinez OT goal helps L.A. Kings roll “Lucky 7” to Stanley Cup Final

02 Monday Jun 2014

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Los Angeles Kings defensemen Alec Martinez didn’t see it but realized he must have done something good, judging by the excited reaction of forward Jarrett Stoll and the rest of his Kings teammates.

L.A. Kings defenseman Alec Martinez.

L.A. Kings defenseman Alec Martinez.

Seconds later, Martinez realized that he had just score the overtime goal that pushed the Kings to a 5-4 victory past the Chicago Blackhawks Sunday night and propelled Los Angeles to the Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

“I didn’t know it went in until I saw Stolly going bananas there,” Martinez told reporters after the game. “He was pretty excited. That’s when I started celebrating, too. I didn’t really see it go in. I know it went off a couple of bodies. I just tried to get it though and fortunately it went it.”

The goal past screened Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford at 5:47 of the overtime frame was the latest up in a rollercoaster ride for the Kings in the playoffs. L.A. has rolled Lucky Sevens throughout the playoffs – winning all their series in seven games. They’re the first NHL ream to play 21 games through the first three rounds of the playoffs to reach the Final.

“Well, I think the playoffs are obviously a very emotional time of year, but I think we’ve got a good group of guys in here that have been through it before and know it can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster,” Martinez said. “But it’s real important to stay even keep, not get too high and too low. I think it speaks to the character of this hockey club that there are quite a few times throughout the series that we could have gotten down on ourselves. But the resiliency that (teammate) Willie (Mitchell) just spoke of is really evident in this team.”

The Kings now turn their attention to goaltender Henrik Lundqvist the Rangers, a well-rested team that eliminated the Montreal Canadiens last week in six games. “Great goaltending. Great defense. Great forwards. Great special teams,” Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter said of the Broadway Blue Shirts.

“I’d say it’s against us,” Sutter said. “We’re up against it again.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Kibui: From ice skating novice to Internet hockey teaching sensation

01 Sunday Jun 2014

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Chris Kibui’s hockey reality began with a Hollywood fantasy.

Chris Kibui, from self-taught to teacher.

Chris Kibui, from self-taught to teacher.

“It’s pretty cliché: I watched ‘The Mighty Ducks’ quite a while ago,” Kibui, a 25-year-old resident of Cambridge, England, told me recently. “While watching, I told myself that at some point when I would be able to, that’s something I’d definitely do because the area I grew up in it wouldn’t be a possibility to play ice hockey. I said as soon as I had the means, the transport, and the money to go out and buy the equipment, it would be something I’d commit to. And I did.”

And how. These days Kibui is all hockey, all the time, sharing his basically self-taught knowledge of ice skating and hockey in a series of YouTube videos and on his Web site, http://www.hockeytutorial.com. The 214 videos shot over four years chronicle his hockey journey from a late-bloomer novice ice skater to a swirling dervish with hockey stick in hand.

Kibui’s work has attracted a following. His videos have generated millions of YouTube views worldwide over the last few years, lured 18,000 subscribers to his Hockey Tutorial YouTube Channel and 15,000 subscribers to his hockeytutorial.com Web site.

He believes the videos have caught on because they give beginning adult skaters and hockey players an inspirational push from a guy who’s striving to learn the game in a country where ice hockey is an afterthought.

“I receive messages at least weekly from people saying that ‘I’ve been watching your videos for the last 3-4 years and I’ve decided to learn how to play some rec hockey after feeling the need to play from watching some of the videos you posted,'” Kibui told me. “I don’t think there’s anything more fantastic than that because it’s doing what the videos are there to do. They’re there to show ‘Look, I’m a 25-year-old black guy from Kenya that lives in the UK that plays hockey.’ If I can do it, why can’t you?”

Growing up in East London, Kibui didn’t put on a pair of ice skates until he was 16. Getting around the ice as a beginner was tough for Kibui. Getting help and tips from more experienced skaters at his local rink was even tougher, he said.

“I quickly discovered that all of the people that were really good skaters normally were quite older than me and, at the time, did not want to spend two minutes to help the newbie learn how to get his edges on the ice” he said. “And that was something that I found in every ice rink I visited in all of the countries – even when I went on holiday to different ice rinks in Europe and also in the States and Canada. It was the exact same thing. The people that I met were not friendly or give you the time of day.”

That’s when the light bulb clicked on in Kibui’s head.

“I thought ‘There’s got to be other people in this position,'” he said. “So instead of having them go through what I’m going through now, I thought to myself ‘When I learn how to stop, I’m going to show other people how to stop.’ So we filmed a video, and it’s just grown from that.”

Chris Kibui in action with the Peterborough Dynamo.

Chris Kibui in action with the Peterborough Dynamo.

Feeling confident in his skating abilities by age 20, Kibui felt ready to give hockey a try. Only problem was there weren’t that many players around to teach him. A nation of nearly 64 million people, Great Britain has 2,289 male ice hockey players, 3,815 junior players, and only 694 female players, according to International Ice Hockey Federation statistics.

“Nobody taught me how to play hockey. I literally learnt through watching countless NHL games, watching a lot of movies. I got myself a stick, a puck I could use off the ice, and just spent a lot of time stickhandling,” he said. “Then I got a goal and then I used to practice shooting. I just tried to develop the basic skills at home, and then I went in and just started playing.”

While Kibui was doing his self-help hockey thing, his English mates were scratching their heads.

“They were pretty confused because over here it’s football, or soccer as you call it, and there’s nothing else that people do,” he said. “You have the few people who are considered strange who play tennis and the guys that are considered jocks that play rugby, similar to your American football.  about. The people in the UK, as soon as you mention hockey, they think of a toothless brute that likes to fight. But it’s so much more than that, and that’s what we’re trying to show them. We’re just trying to spread the love of hockey.”

Kibui’s avocation has become his vocation. He quit his day job at Apple to dedicate all his time to the Web site and videos that he works on with his friend Dan Fry, the technical mastermind behind the enterprise. They’ve forged business relationships with hockey-related companies and they also sell hockey training items and jerseys on the Hockey Tutorial Web site.

“I made the decision to subside my work because I really wanted to give this my all,” he said. “In essence, hockey has changed my life because it’s allowing me to do what I love. I look forward to waking up the next morning to start on the next project, which I think is very important. I never want to wake up and not be passionate about what I’m doing.”