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Monthly Archives: March 2016

Showered with applause, Mike Marson basks in tribute by Washington Capitals

27 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Damon Kwame Mason, Mike Marson, Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals

Finally, he’s feeling the love.

Mike Marson, an original member of the woeful Washington Capitals 1974-75 expansion team, returned to D.C. Saturday to the sustained applause and appreciation that eluded the National Hockey League’s second black player during a five-season professional career that ended nearly four decades ago.

The Capitals paid homage to Marson during  the team’s 4-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues Saturday with a video feature on the Verizon Center’s giant center ice scoreboard. Then, when Capitals public address announcer Wes Johnson pointed out that Marson was in attendance in the team’s luxury box, the sellout crowd stood and clapped, long and loud.

“Really, really moving,” a still-beaming Marson told me Sunday, the morning after the tribute. “I had a great time. My son said, ‘Dad, you look like the Pope.’ I was waving to the people. It was so moving. In a quiet moment, you might shed a tear.”

#Caps great Mike Marson is in the house for #CapsBlues. Thank you for the memories, Mike! https://t.co/CyqBFxgnHB pic.twitter.com/NVCxtUyHhC

— MonumentalSportsNet (@MonSportsNet) March 27, 2016

Welcome back Mike Marson, pioneer and a man of quiet dignity. https://t.co/eWn3Zm6fC4

— Ted Leonsis (@TedLeonsis) March 26, 2016

Mike Marson gets a standing ovation. Well deserved. #CapitalsTalk

— Chuck Gormley (@ChuckGormleyCSN) March 27, 2016

The love was a sea change from some of the treatment Marson received during an NHL career that spanned from 1974-75 to 1979-80. Racist taunts on and off the ice, mailed death threats, and racial intolerance – even from some teammates – greeted Marson from the moment he entered the NHL at age 19 as the Capitals’ 1974 second-round draft pick.

“I was called n****r and every other bad name in the book,” Marson said in author Cecil Harris’ book, “Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey,” “along with stuff I didn’t even know was in the book.”

Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis wanted to meet Marson after seeing his story captured in Canadian filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason’s black hockey history documentary “Soul on Ice: Past, Present & Future,”  which had its U.S. premiere in Washington in January.

“I would like to and plan to invite him to join us for a game,” Leonsis wrote in his “Ted’s Take” blog shortly after the screening. “As a society and a league, we have come a long way since 1974, and I would like Mike to be closer to the Capitals family.”

Marson, a Toronto resident, appeared genuinely surprised by the reception he received Saturday from the Verizon Center crowd.

“Everybody was looking at me and clapping their hands – jubilation,” a smiling Marson told Comcast SportsNet’s Washington Capitals game reporter Al Koken shortly after the tribute.

Forward Mike Marson scored 16 goals for a Washington Capitals team that went 8-67-5 in its first NHL season in 1974-75 (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

Forward Mike Marson scored 16 goals for a Washington Capitals team that went 8-67-5 in its first NHL season in 1974-75 Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

Koken concluded his short interview by calling Marson’s tribute “long-overdue.” He urged hockey fans see Mason’s “Soul on Ice” and read Harris'”Breaking the Ice” book.

“Those are things you need to read,” Koken told the television audience. “Guys, I’ll leave you with this: 16 goals right out of junior hockey on one of the worst NHL teams ever. How about that man, Mike Marson, in his rookie year?”

 

 

 

 

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Washington Capitals to salute Mike Marson, the NHL’s 2nd black player

24 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Bill Riley, Damon Kwame Mason, Karl Subban, Mike Marson, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Soul on Ice, Sudbury Wolves, Washington Capitals

When the Washington Capitals face the St. Louis Blues at the Verizon Center on Fan Appreciation Night Saturday, perhaps no one in the arena will be more appreciative than Mike Marson.

Mike Marson was drafted by the Washington Capitals at age 18 in 1974.

Mike Marson was drafted by the Washington Capitals at age 18 in 1974.

The Capitals are scheduled to honor Marson, who was the National Hockey League’s second black player, with a video salute on the Verizon Center’s giant scoreboard during a TV timeout.

“I’m very pleased that the Capitals made a move to invite me to come down,” Marson, a Toronto resident, told me recently. “It’s an honor and a pleasure.”

Marson and his Capitals teammates endured the indignity of an 8-67-5 record in the team’s inaugural 1974-75 season, one of the worst records in NHL history.

But Marson also endured the indignities of racism  – on and off the ice. Taunts and physical liberties by opposing players on the ice and racist letters delivered to his home and to the Capital Centre, the team’s original suburban Maryland home, were the unsettling norm.

“It was a culture shock,” Marson recalled.”Nobody should have to make a comment that you’re with the team to get on the plane; nobody should have to, when you get to the hotel, hear the staff ask the coach ‘is that gentleman with you?’ Or hear ‘we don’t have people like him stay at our hotel;’ and nobody should then have to go down in the morning for breakfast and have people usher by you non-stop because they won’t feed you. This is before you even get to the rink, before you have to deal with your opposition. It was non-stop.”

Marson’s story is chronicled in filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason’s black hockey history documentary, “Soul on Ice, Past, Present & Future,” which aired on NHL Network in February as part of Black History Month.

His professional hockey career was brief –  five seasons with the Capitals and three games with the Los Angeles Kings combined with stints with the American Hockey League’s Baltimore Clippers, Springfield Indians,  Binghamton Dusters and Hershey Bears.

The left wing tallied only 24 goals 24 assists in 196 NHL regular season games and never appeared in a Stanley Cup playoff game.

Still, Marson left an imprint on the game. It’s evident in Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and New York Rangers forward Rick Nash, who, as youngsters climbing the hockey ladder, trained off-ice under Marson during his post-hockey career as a martial arts instructor.

“The main thing about Mike was he taught P.K. how to be mentally strong,” Karl Subban, P.K.’s father, told me recently. “If you look at P.K. today, that’s one of the traits he has as a hockey player. It doesn’t matter what’s happening off the ice, it doesn’t matter what’s written about him or what’s said about him. He’s going to go out and play. And I’ve got to give Mike Marson credit for that.”

The elder Subban also credits Marson for igniting his love for hockey – a passion that he passed onto P.K., middle son Malcolm, a goaltender for the AHL Providence Bruins, and youngest son Jordan, a defenseman for the AHL’s Utica Comets.

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Karl Subban grew up in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, where Marson played major junior hockey for the Sudbury Wolves, then of the Ontario Hockey Association.

Marson was the Man in Sudbury: a black skating, scoring, and fighting machine who wore the captain’s “C” on his jersey. He exuded unabashed blackness – sporting an Afro, Fu Manchu mustache and mutton chop sideburns.

Mike Marson, front row center, with the 1973-74 Sudbury Wolves (Photo/Courtesy Sudbury Wolves)

Mike Marson, front row center, with the 1973-74 Sudbury Wolves (Photo/Courtesy Sudbury Wolves).

“Mike Marson gave my community a reason to watch hockey,” Karl Subban told me. “I loved the Sudbury Wolves.But when Mike came onto the scene I took it to another level. They were not just the Sudbury Wolves, they were my team because they had a player who looked like me.”

Between 1972 and 1974 Marson tallied 40 goals, 87 assists and amassed a whopping 263 penalty minutes in 126 regular season games for the Wolves. His hockey resume was strong enough that the expansion Capitals grabbed him with the first pick in the second round of the 1974 NHL Draft.

“I was pretty quick,” said Marson, who works as a bus driver in Toronto.”Having attended so many training camps where I was the only person of color, I had to be able to handle myself. I liked to score, I wasn’t afraid of the rough stuff.”

He was chosen ahead of Hockey Hall of Famers Bryan Trottier, a center who scored 1,425 career points mainly for the New York Islanders, and Mark Howe, who tallied 742 career points as a defenseman playing primarily with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Mike Marson scored 16 goals in his rookie season with the Capitals in 1974-75. (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

Mike Marson scored 16 goals in his rookie season with the Capitals in 1974-75. (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

The Capitals believed they had a solid pick, so did other hockey people. Plus, it didn’t hurt to have a black player as a potential gate attraction in a new hockey city with a sizable black population.

Marson graced the cover of The Hockey News in October 1974. When he made his regular season debut with the Caps at age 19, he became the NHL’s second black player, the first since forward Willie O’Ree played his last game for the Boston Bruins in the 1960-61 season. O’Ree  first joined the Bruins in the 1957-58 season.

Marson showed promise in an otherwise dismal inaugural season for the Capitals. The rookie finished third on the team in scoring with 16 and 12 assists in 76 games.

“He was a great talent – a great skater, great puck skills, tough as they come. He was the complete package,” said right wing Bill Riley, who became the NHL’s third black player when he joined the Capitals for one game in 1974-75 and went on to become a sometimes line mate of Marson’s from 1976 to 1979. “He was strong. I only came across two guys with that kind of strength: Stan Jonathan and Mike Marson. When Mike hit you, you knew you got hit.”

There weren't many NHL players stronger than Mike Marson, according to former Capitals teammate Bill Riley, who was the league's third black player (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

There weren’t many NHL players stronger than Mike Marson, according to former Capitals teammate Bill Riley, who was the league’s third black player (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

Still, Riley, who went on to become Junior A hockey general manger and a head coach of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Moncton Wildcats in 1996-97, said “I was looking for bigger and better things for Mike.”

So was Marson. But being drafted at 18, becoming a $500,000 bonus baby, and going straight to the NHL without a proper apprenticeship in the minor leagues might have been too much too soon, he said.

And the culture shock of moving from Canada – where he considered himself a hockey player first – to an NHL city south of the U.S. Mason-Dixon line in the racially-tumultuous 1970s also took its toll.

“You can’t really compare my situation back in 1974 to today’s way of thinking,” he told me. “There’s no way to measure that by today’s uplifted society.”

But Marson says he doesn’t dwell on the painful past. Age brings perspective. And healing.

“You don’t get to be 60 and not have some regrets in your life – decisions you made here and there,” he told me. “You react differently than you did at 19 or 16. For me, it’s interesting to have put away all the negative things that transpired so many years ago – we’re talking over 40 years ago – when the world was a totally different place.”

 

 

 

 

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Hoops fan Barack Obama goes hockey on Canadian PM Justin Trudeau

13 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Barack Obama, Chicago Blackhawks, Justin Trudeau, March Madness

This is President Barack Obama’s favorite time of year, sports-wise. The Leader of the Free World no doubt is keeping his eyes on important matters both foreign and domestic.

But he’s also keeping tabs on the ACC, Big East, Big 10,  Big 12, SEC, Pac 12 and maybe even the Ivy League as those conferences wrap up their championships and winning teams await berths in the NCAA Division I men’s championship tournament, a.k.a. March Madness.

Obama is a stone-cold bracketologist basketball junkie who regularly puts his predictions to paper – he shares it with ESPN – on which team he thinks will successfully negotiate its way through the 68-team tourney and win the national title.

But a president who usually talks more hoops than hockey couldn’t resist going frozen pond on new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he visited the White House for an official visit last week.The president bragged about which team is the reigning National Hockey League champion.

Yes, the Chicago Blackhawks are Stanley Cup champs, but Trudeau reminded Obama that Canadian imports like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp were key components to Chicago’s Cup runs.

And the prime minister and citizens of the Great White North weren’t shy about pointing out which country has more Olympic hockey gold medals.

@JustinTrudeau @POTUS pic.twitter.com/ZivgLAphM1

— Sonny Sachdeva (@Sonny_Sachdeva) February 19, 2016

It’s interesting that Obama engaged in hockey trash talk with Trudeau. The president hasn’t attended a Washington Capitals game since entering the White House, according to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who maintains an authoritative record of presidential activities.

Throw out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game? Certainly. Take in NBA Washington Wizards or WNBA Washington Mystics matches? Yep. Attend George Washington University  and Georgetown University hoops contests? You bet. Make a trip to the Verizon Center to catch Alex Ovechkin’s Capitals? Nyet.

Will President Obama see Alex Ovechkin play live in D.C. before he leaves office?

Will President Obama see Alex Ovechkin play live in D.C. before he leaves office?

“Well, the President is not a regular viewer of the sport,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters last month. “I think even casual fans of hockey can appreciate, again, both the skill and athleticism that’s required to engage in that sport, but also appreciate how exciting playoff hockey is, and that brand of hockey is something that I think causes television ratings to spike in playoff time for hockey.”

Capitals and NHL officials had hoped that Obama would break his absence streak for the 2015 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic when his hometown Blackhawks faced the Capitals at Nationals Park, but no dice.

Frustrated by the no-show president, the Capitals fan site Russian Machine Never Breaks wrote Obama a letter in 2013 imploring him to venture down to Washington’s Chinatown and attend a game.

The letter was part of a petition drive to get Obama to “Barack the Red,” a take on the Capitals’ “Rock the Red” motto.

“Right around the time President Clinton attended a Caps game, he had eliminated the budget deficit and projected a surplus for the first time in decades,” the Russian Machine Never Breaks editors wrote to Obama. “And watching the officials loosely interpret the NHL rulebook might be a great chance to refresh your Constitutional law background.”

 

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Hockey hair, even players of color go with the flow

08 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Anson Carter, Edmonton Oilers, Grant Fuhr, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban

Hair.

It’s as much a part of hockey as sticks, pucks, and goalie pads. We marvel at Florida Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr’s business-in-the-front-party-in the back mullet, a style so timeless, so awesome, so hockey, that Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban paid homage to it at the NHL All-Star Weekend in January.

Washington Capitals forward Mike Marson had it all - an Afro, mutton chops, and a Fu Manchu.

Washington Capitals forward Mike Marson had it all – an Afro, mutton chops, and a Fu Manchu.

New York Rangers forward Ron Duguay was all about Sassoon jeans, Studio 54, and curly locks in the disco days of the 1970s. And those of us of a certain age can recall catcalling St. Louis Blues sniper Garry Unger as his long red mane flew when he skated up ice in the early 1970s.

Hair is so synonymous with hockey that there’s a term for it: Flow. Hockey players are perfectionists, dedicating countless hours making sure that a move, a shot, a save is just right. They’re apparently just as fussy about their flow.

So much so that an enterprising anonymous filmmaker has been producing High School All Hockey Hair Team videos since 2011.

The 2015 YouTube video went viral with more than 2.5 million views. And this year’s

Anson Carter stuffed dreadlocks into his helmet during his NHL career.

Anson Carter stuffed dreadlocks into his helmet during his NHL career.

edition is quickly racking up the clicks and views. Flow is such a serious business that

hockey equipment manufacturer Warrior sponsored the video in 2015, giving the filmmaker $15,000 if the video surpassed 100,000 views.

There aren’t many players of color in this year’s video, but that doesn’t mean minority

hockey players haven’t let it flow.

Mike Marson became the NHL’s second black player when he joined the Washington Capitals in 1974. But he was the first to sport a killer Afro, mutton chops, and a Fu Manchu.

Goalie Eldon "Pokey" Reddick - need we say more?

Goalie Eldon “Pokey” Reddick – need we say more?

Edmonton Oilers goaltending great Grant Fuhr  rocked an Afro early in his playing days that would’ve made the Ohio Players proud.

And who could forget goalie Eldon “Pokey” Reddick?

He appeared to be as active with the hair activator as he was in net for the Winnipeg Jets,  Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

High-scoring forward Anson Carter and enforcer Georges Laraque packed dreadlocks under their helmets during their NHL careers. Hockey tough guy Chris Simon wore  his dark hair at Rapunzel-length during most of his NHL career to show  Ojibwa First Nation pride.

Like their teammates, they just went with the flow.

 

 

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From TO to Traverse City, Kyle Bollers scores in USPHL rookie season

07 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Buffalo Sabres, Cyril Bollers, Jack Eichel, Kyle Bollers, Minnesota Wild, Skillz Black Aces

It’s one thing to be a hockey coach and tell a young under-the-radar player on what he or she needs to do to grab the attention of NCAA and major junior hockey programs, it’s another thing bestowing that advice when the player in question is your kid.

Just ask Cyril Bollers.

Traverse City Hounds forward Kyle Bollers.

Traverse City Hounds forward Kyle Bollers.

After his 16-year-old son, Kyle Bollers, was bypassed by Canadian major teams, the elder Bollers, who’s the director of player development for the Skillz Black Aces and has coached for Canadian hockey teams at the youth and junior levels, convened a family meeting to go over the options Kyle had to chase professional hockey-playing dream.

With skating for an Ontario Hockey League major junior team close to his suburban Toronto home out, Kyle’s family concluded the he’d have to leave home and play in a lower but nonetheless important league to catch the eyes of collegiate and major junior scouts.

So he packed his bags, grabbed his passport, and made the 436-mile, seven-hour trek from Toronto to  Traverse City, Mich., to play for the Traverse City Hounds of the U.S. Premier Hockey League.

The youngest and only foreign-born player on the team, Kyle finished fourth on the Hounds in scoring with 29 goals and 27 assists in 46 regular season games.

He helped propel the Hounds to second place in the USPHL’s Eastern Conference Division with a 37-9 record with two overtime losses. The Hounds are currently battling the Detroit Fighting Irish in the second round of the playoffs.

“Honestly, I never expected to do this well. This was a good step – a great decision that me and my family chose to send me down here,” Kyle told me recently. “Missing my mom, my dad, and my brothers and sisters, that’s been the hardest part. There are some days that I wish I could be home. But at the same time, I just think to myself  ‘Why am I here, what’s, my goal, and what I do need to do to achieve that goal?’ And what I need to do is to be here.”

Kyle Bollers scored 29 goals in 46 regular season games for the USPHL Hounds (Photo/Jay Johnston/Game Day)

Kyle Bollers scored 29 goals in 46 regular season games for the USPHL Hounds (Photo/Jay Johnston/Game Day)

While Kyle may have been occasionally homesick, his parents confessed to being occasionally heart-sick about his absence. Still, father Cyril said move to Traverse City gives Kyle “an opportunity to be seen in the U.S., it gives him an opportunity to pursue his dream of playing college or major junior hockey, it gives him a brand new start, it gives him sense of independence being away from home as a 16-year-old.”

“It also gives him a sense of accomplishment of achieving and continuing to progress at a high level,” the elder Bollers said. “So for us, it’s a bitter sorrow because he is away from home. But he’s being productive in pursuing his hockey endeavors.”

The USPHL was founded in 2012 and it consists of 110 teams from 55 hockey organizations across 19 states. The teams skate in the Premier, Elite, Midwest, USP3, Under-18, Under-16 and Under-16 Futures divisions.

More than 350 USPHL players have gone on to play college or professional hockey. Center Jack Eichel  went from the USPHL’s Boston Junior Bruins to a standout career at Boston University to being the Buffalo Sabres’ 2015 first-round draft pick and a top contender this season for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s best rookie.

Center Charlie Coyle advanced from Massachusetts’ South Shore Kings to BU to being the San Jose Sharks’ 2010 first-round draft pick. Coyle is the Minnesota Wild’s leading scorer so far this season.

Kyle Bollers, left, hopes that success in the USPHL leads to playing NCAA or major junior hockey in the near-future.

Kyle Bollers, left, hopes that success in the USPHL leads to playing NCAA or major junior hockey in the near-future.

Kyle is hoping the USPHL will put him on the same glide path. Lester Griffin, the Hounds’majority owner and general manager, thinks it’s only a matter of time .

“He’s got great hands, sees the ice real well. We’re working with him to help improve his puck movement, passing,” Griffin told me recently. “He’s got a lot of potential and next year, he should be playing up somewhere.”

This summer, Kyle will likely spend some quality time on-ice with his dad, who’s a coach for the Jamaica Ice Hockey Federation, an organization  that’s trying to develop a team that would eventually represent the Caribbean island nation in the Winter Olympics.

Kyle, whose family is of West Indian heritage,  has practiced and played in an exhibition game for Team Jamaica. He said he’s looking forward to donning the team’s snazzy yellow, black, and green jersey and skate in more exhibition matches this summer.

 

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Why no World Cup of Hockey love for P.K. Subban from Hockey Canada?

03 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

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Chicago Blackhaws, Los Angeles Kings, Mike Babcock, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban

Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban wasn't among the players picked for Canada's World Cup of Hockey team.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban wasn’t among the players picked for Canada’s World Cup of Hockey team.

Again? Really?

Once again, Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban received the back of the hand from Hockey Canada. Subban, Montreal’s leading scorer this season, wasn’t among the initial 16 players named to Canada’s roster for the World Cup of Hockey tournament in September.

Defensemen Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators, Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Marc Edouard-Vlasic of the San Jose Sharks were selected to the team.

Subban? Crickets. It’s a sound he’s heard before.

Subban, a former Norris Trophy-winner as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, was named to Team Canada for the 2014 Winter Olympics,  but only after much hand-wringing by Hockey Canada’s brain trust and an outcry from hockey fans.

Team Canada’s Head Coach Mike Babcock made clear back then that he didn’t trust Subban’s game. He responded to Subban’s placement on the team by playing him for just 11 minutes – in one game – on Canada’s march to Olympic Gold. Babcock is Canada’s coach for the World Cup.

So what does a Norris Trophy-winning, NHL All-Star, Gold Medal-owning  brotha have to do to get some hockey love from his country?

Team Canada General Manager Doug Armstrong gave The Toronto Star some insight into the mind of Babcock, the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs

“What I know Mike likes, working two Olympics, he likes predictability…He likes to know that he can play a player in every situation. What we have here at the World Cup, and in the Olympics, is you’re not going to be able to hide anyone. There’s no real good matchup when you’re playing the Russians, there’s no real good matchup when you’re playing any team at this level. So we want players out there who can play in any situation, against anyone, 5-on-5.”

Subban seemed to offer a pre-buttal to Armstrong/Babcock when he told Canada’s Sportsnet ahead of the Team Canada roster announcement that “I play close to 30 minutes a game, I kill penalties, play on the power play; I play in all situations against the league’s best players…I think those are the kind of players Team Canada is looking for, but there’s plenty of competition there.”

There’s no doubt that the Montreal Canadiens are enduring the hockey season from hell. All-world goaltender Carey Price has been injured for much of the 2015-16  season, but that didn’t stop Hockey Canada from naming him to the World Cup roster.

Off-ice issues regarding forward Alex Galchenyuk and recently-traded forward Devante Smith-Pelly raised questions about discipline on the team.

Through it all, Subban has been a mainstay on the team. As a defenseman, he leads the Canadiens in scoring with 5 goals and 43 assists. He’s second on the team in plus/minus – an indicator of defensive responsibility – with a plus-7.

He’s sixth among NHL defensemen in scoring. He’s fourth among all NHL players in time on ice averaging 26:14 minutes per game, just behind Doughty.

Subban averages 19:16 minutes of ice time per game when the Canadiens play at even strength, 5-on-5 hockey; 2:19 minutes when the Habs are shorthanded because of penalties; 4:38 minutes when Montreal has the power play man advantage.

So the numbers make the case for Subban playing for Team Canada. But there are other intangibles that Subban brings the game that some of his defensive brethren don’t. Subban is electric on the ice and an electrifying personality off it. He’s become a charitable force in Montreal, his adopted city.

The dog pound @SnoopDogg pic.twitter.com/iywE6MwHqe

— P.K. Subban (@PKSubban1) March 2, 2016

He isn’t the cookie-cutter, stoic, player who says “we’re taking this one game at a time” when a microphone is stuck in front of him. He’s a refreshingly candid presence who draws attention on and off the ice.

He and his family  – brother Malcolm is a goaltender for the American Hockey League Providence Bruins and youngest brother Jordan is a defenseman for the AHL Utica Comets – have been ambassadors for the game, helping to draw kids of color to hockey.

So with seven Team Canada roster slots still up for grabs, picking P.K. for the World Cup of Hockey wouldn’t be a PC or an affirmative action move by Hockey Canada. It would be the right move.

 

 

 

 

 

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