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Caps’ Smith-Pelly does the rounds with Stanley Cup at Toronto area pub, hospital

07 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Alex Ovechkin, Chris Stewart, Devante Smith-Pelly, Stanley Cup, Washington Capitals

Talk about Soul on Ice.

Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly had a cool day with the Stanley Cup Monday complete with an ice sculpture likeness of him in at a Scarborough, Ontario, pub hoisting the treasured trophy.

Washington Capitals right wing Devante-Smith Pelly.

Hundreds of fans braved torrential rain in the Toronto area to venture to the Black Dog Pub to get a glimpse of the Cup and the man of the hour.

“When I saw it start to rain, I didn’t know what to expect,” Smith-Pelly told NHL.com. “To see the line of people snaked around and down the block, I’m so excited…I  mean, you want to bring the Stanley Cup where you grew up. I grew up right down the street from here and used to come here and hang out.”

Chris Stewart, a forward who skated for the Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames last season, was among the water-logged faithful at the Black Dog.

“He’s come a long way. I’m proud of him,” said Stewart, who has 160 goals and 161 assists in 652 National Hockey League games. “He stuck it out and now he’s on top.”

How cool is this? Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly and an ice sculpture likeness of him with Stanley Cup (Photo/Courtesy Phil Prtichard/HHOF).

The Black Dog Pub wasn’t Smith-Pelly’s only stop with Stanley on Monday. He took the Cup to downtown Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and showed off the trophy to family and close friends in private moments.

Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff’s most valuable player, but Smith-Pelly also had a heroic Stanley Cup run.

Devante Smith-Pelly with Toronto Mayor John Tory, left, and some young hockey fans (Photo/Courtesy Phil Pritchard/HHOF).

He tallied 7 goals and 1 assist in 24 playoff games; potted a goal in three consecutive Stanley Cup Final games against the Vegas Golden Knights; netted the game-winning goal in Game 4; scored the tying goal in Cup-clinching Game 5, a highlight reel kick-the-puck-onto-the-stick and fly-in-the-air snipe past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury; and the series-clinching goal in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Not bad for a guy who only scored 7 goals and 9 assists in 75 games and averaged 12:21 minutes of ice time per game during the regular season and 12:02 minutes per game in the playoffs.

Devante Smith-Pelly has a little quiet time with the Stanley Cup and his grandparents, who rocked the Washington Capitals red hockey jerseys (Photo/Courtesy Phil Pritchard/HHOF).

“There’s been some struggles,” Smith-Pelly told NHL.com. But at the same time, I’m not the first guy to go through it and I won’t be the mast. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to go out there and do what you have to do.”

Smith-Pelly’s playoff prowess made Capitals fans love him. And Smith-Pelly fell in love with Washington. So much so that he rejected contract offers from other teams with longer terms and more money to sign one-year, $1 million deal to return to the Capitals.

Ain’t no party like a Stanley Cup party. Washington Capitals’ Devante Smith-Pelly shares the Stanley Cup with some of his long-time buddies (Photo/Courtesy Phil Pritchard/HHOF).

“It wasn’t worth it to leave somewhere where I’m happy and somewhere where I really want to be,” Smith-Pelly told the Associated Press in June. “The money to me personally is not that important if I’m not going to be happy somewhere else.”

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NHL trade deadline, O’Ree Skills Weekend, showcase hockey’s growth

03 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Anthony Duclair, Chris Stewart, Evander Kane, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Wayne Simmonds, Willie O'Ree

Notes and quotes about hockey folks.

Another sign of how far people of color have come in hockey: Four black players were traded by the close of the National Hockey League’s trade deadline Monday.

The Buffalo Sabres shipped forward Chris Stewart to the Minnesota Wild Monday for a 2017 second-round draft pick.

Forward Chris Stewart, one of four black players moved before NHL trade deadline.

Forward Chris Stewart, one of four black players moved before NHL trade deadline.

The New York Rangers sent forward Anthony Duclair, their 2013 3rd-round draft pick, to the Arizona Coyotes as part of a package that took coveted puck-moving defenseman Keith Yandle  to Broadway.

The trade potentially reunites Duclair, currently playing for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, with Max Domi, a Coyotes 2013 first-round draft pick who plays for the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights.

Duclair, Domi and Sam Reinhart, a Sabres 2014 first round draft pick, combined on a line for Team Canada that dominated the competition on Canada’s way to a Gold Medal at the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship. Don’t be surprised to see The Duke and Domi  as high-scoring pups who reinvigorate the Desert Dogs next season.

The Anaheim Ducks sent right wing Devante Smith-Pelly, a force in the Ducks’ Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance last season, to the Montreal Canadiens for left wing  Jiri Sekac.

The Winnipeg Jets shipped unhappy left wing Evander Kane to Buffalo in a multi-player mega-deal that landed the Jets defenseman Tyler Myers, right wing Drew

Stafford, and left wing Brendan Lemieux, a highly-touted prospect who plays for the OHL’s Barrie Colts.

What do these trades say about minorities in hockey? Growth. It wasn’t so long ago when there weren’t even four black players in the NHL. Today, there are nearly three dozen. Some of them are fixtures on their teams while others are call-ups from the minor leagues. The trades are a testament not only to the quantity of players of color in the league but to their quality and skill level as well.

Diversity on display in Flyers' locker room. Left to right: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Wayne Simmonds, Willie O'Ree and Ray Emery (Photo/Philadelphia Flyers).

Diversity on display in Flyers’ locker room. Left to right: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Wayne Simmonds, Willie O’Ree and Ray Emery (Photo/Philadelphia Flyers).

Congrats to the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation for hosting a fun and successful 2015 Willie O’Ree Skills Weekend last weekend. The event involved kids from the NHL’s “Hockey is for Everyone” programs.

O’Ree, the NHL’s first black player, is a role model for “Hockey is for Everyone” kids and for many of grownups playing on NHL teams.

“He’s my elder,” Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds told reporters. “I treat him with respect and let him know I have a lot of admiration for him. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be playing this game today. I know that.”

Team Ontario Assistant Coach Cyril Bollers, second row, right.

Team Ontario Assistant Coach Cyril Bollers, second row, right.

And finally, congrats to Cyril Bollers, coach and president of Skillz Hockey, for his work as assistant coach for Team Ontario’s Gold Medal-winning hockey team at the Canada Winter Games, which ended Sunday.

Ontario beat Team Alberta 3-1 Sunday in the championship game played in Prince George, B.C.  The Ontario squad finished the Under-16 tournament with a 6-0 record.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Subban vs. Subban? Oh, brother, it could happen on Sunday

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Anthony Stewart, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Chris Stewart, Malcolm Subban, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, St. Louis Blues

Goalie Malcolm Subban awaits first NHL start.

Goalie Malcolm Subban awaits first NHL start.

There’s something special about brothers playing against each other in hockey.

Former Boston Bruins sniper Phil Esposito had an intense rivalry with his younger brother and fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Tony Esposito, a stingy goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Carolina Hurricanes forward Eric Staal once knocked brother Marc, a member of the New York Rangers, silly with a questionable hit against the boards. And Keith and Wayne Primeau actually dropped the gloves and duked it out when Keith played for the Hartford Whalers and Wayne for the Buffalo Sabres.

Hockey fans could be in for a treat Sunday when the Montreal Canadiens play the Boston Bruins, a game scheduled to air nationally on NBCSN. If Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien decides to start rookie goaltender Malcolm Subban against defenseman P.K. Subban’s Habs, it will be one of the rare times when players of color who are related square off in an NHL regular season game.

There are no guarantees that it happens. Malcolm Subban hasn’t played a regular

Montreal's P.K. Subban.

Montreal’s P.K. Subban.

season minute in the NHL. He’s up from the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins because Boston sent backup goalie Niklas Svedberg to its Rhode Island affiliate for a conditioning stint.

Boston has been slow and deliberate in grooming Malcolm Subban, their 2012 first-round draft pick. When asked if the rookie goaltender would get a start this weekend, Julien only told reporters “We’ll see, guys.”

Julien could give Subban his first NHL start Saturday when the Canadiens play the New York Islanders.

Malcolm Subban told reporters that he’s up for whatever, even facing P.K. and his Howitzer slapshot from the point.  “It would be pretty cool, but I’m not thinking into it too much,” he told WEEI.com Thursday. “Just trying to stay focused. Whenever the opportunity comes, hopefully I’ll be ready.”

Netminder Subban and defenseman Subban have faced each other before in a 2013 preseason game that Boston won 6-3.

“He had one (shot), it was probably the slowest shot I had all night,” Malcolm told NHL.com after that game. “A little knucklepuck on net.”

Sounds like blackboard material to me.

Minority hockey-playing brothers have skated against each other before.  Chris Stewart, then a forward for the St. Louis Blues,  and Anthony Stewart, a forward for the Hurricanes at the time, faced each other in 2011.

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

04 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hockey documentary-maker Joe Doughrity.

Hockey documentary-maker Joe Doughrity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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