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U of Penn ice rink to become Snider Hockey’s home after $7 million makeover

23 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Ed Snider, Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Philadelphia Flyers

PHILADELPHIA – Ed Snider won two Stanley Cups with the Philadelphia Flyers that he founded, launched a regional sports and entertainment cable network, and is enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

But it’s the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation that the late team owner said would be his legacy.

“It’s the only thing I’ve ever put my name on,” Snider told me in 2015. “We’re going to fund it properly and when I’m no longer around hopefully it will be a program that will go on forever.”

Philadelphia Flyers and Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation alumni faced-off at a charity game Friday at the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 Arena (Photo/Bill McCay/Tournament Shooters).

Snider passed away in April 2016 at the age of 83. And, true to his word, the one thing that he named after himself is not only alive, it’s thriving.

So much so that Snider Hockey announced Friday that it will make the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 Arena home for the youth hockey program that serves over 3,000 Philadelphia-area kids, many of them from under-resourced communities.

As part of the agreement with Penn, Snider Hockey is providing $7 million to help make upgrades and renovation to the aging arena. Once the work is completed – tentatively in October – Snider Hockey will expand its programs and operations at the arena located in West Philadelphia.

Hockey Hall of Famer Willie O’Ree (center) drops the puck before former Philadelphia Flyers Alumni forward Scott Hartnell and a Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation alum at a charity game at Penn’s Class of 1923 Arena Friday (Photo/Bill McCay/Tournament Shooters).

“Mr. Snider had a lasting impact on our lives, as well as the entire hockey community in Philadelphia,”  said Flyers Alumni Association President Brad Marsh said, who played with the team from 1981-82 to 1987-88. “This pledge was made as a way to honor Mr. Snider’s legacy and continue to grow the sport of hockey.

Snider Hockey, part of the NHL’s “Hockey is for Everyone” initiative, teaches the Philadelphia-area’s at-risk youth about the world of possibilities beyond their neighborhoods and life skills through the prism of hockey.

Ed Snider talks with Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation kid at the University of Pennsylvania Class of 1923 Arena in October 2005. Snider passed away Monday at age 83.

“We are delighted that Snider Hockey wanted to strengthen our longstanding relationship by choosing Penn’s ice rink to be its home,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said. “The Flyers and the Foundation’s investment in the rink will greatly improve the facility allowing it to sustain the program for many years to come.

Snider Hockey is contributing $4.3 million for the renovations;  the Flyers Alumni association is kicking in $2 million; the NHL Industry Growth Fund is donating $600,000 and Penn is adding $600,000.

“This is a great example of what can be done when organizations come together in support if their community,” Snider Hockey President Scott Tharp said. “Mr. Snider would be proud to have a truly great institution – the University of Pennsylvania – as a home for Snider Hockey.”

The University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1923 Ice Arena will undergo a $7 million makeover and become the home of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation (Photo/Courtesy the University of Pennsylvania).

And what better way to celebrate than with a hockey game?

The Flyers Alumni played a charity game against Snider Hockey alums at Class of 1923. Steady defensemen Jim and Joe Watson and other Flyers from the 1974 and 1975 Cup teams suited up for the game  with recent orange and black retirees  that included Scott Hartnell, Danny Briere,  goaltender Brian Boucher.

Many of the players from both squads felt at home at the arena Friday, with good reason. The Class of 1923 rink has hosted Snider Hockey since the organization’s creation in 2005. And it was the Flyers’ main practice rink from 1969 to 1983.

“The Class of 1923 Arena was part of my daily life when I first arrived with the Flyers, so coming back there for the Alumni Showdown and the announcement of the renovation plan with Snider Hockey is going to take me back to some old memories while we’re celebrating the facility’s future,” Marsh told the Flyers Alumni’s website.

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Snider Hockey tops Ice Hockey in Harlem in Fundraising contest – everybody wins

01 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Ice Hockey in Harlem, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers

And the final score is Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation $124,637.67, Ice Hockey in Harlem $83,370.93.

The kids from Snider Hockey topped their New York youth hockey rivals in a friendly fundraising competition that began with the drop of the puck at the Philadelphia Flyers-New York Rangers game on Nov. 25 and ended around midnight on Nov. 29.

Victory is ours!! The Ed Snider youth Hockey Foundation outraised New York's Ice Hockey in Harlem in a friendly fundraising competition over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Victory is ours!! The Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation out-raised New York’s Ice Hockey in Harlem in a friendly fundraising competition over the Thanksgiving holiday.

The battle for bragging rights was part of #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage philanthropy and celebrate generosity worldwide.

During the competition, donors and supporters of the two minority-oriented youth hockey organizations visited the websites of Snider Hockey and Ice Hockey in Harlem to make contributions, or gave via mail or in person.

Ice Hockey in Harlem came up a little short in its fundraising tilt against Philly's Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. But there's always next year.

Ice Hockey in Harlem came up a little short in its fundraising tilt against Philly’s Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. But there’s always next year.

With their victory, the Philly kids were crowned #FaceOffChamps. As part of the competition, the Harlem skaters – who normally wear Rangers colors – must don Flyers orange and black T-shirts and proclaim their love for their dreaded turnpike rivals on Ice Hockey in Harlem social media sites.

Stay tuned.

 

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Snider Hockey and Ice Hockey in Harlem face off in a grudge match for good causes

18 Friday Nov 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Hockey is for Everyone, Ice Hockey in Harlem, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers

It’s that time of year again.

Time for turkey and stuffing. It’s also time for the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers to beat the stuffing out of each other in a National Hockey League Metropolitan Division matinee the day after Thanksgiving at Philly’s Wells Fargo Center.

The Philadelphia-New York rivalry won’t be limited to the ice that Friday. Philly’s Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and New York’s Ice Hockey in Harlem will use the game to face off in a grudge match of their own- for good causes.

Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation players hope to win the #GiveTuesday challenge against Ice Hockey in Harlem - and avoid having to wear New York Rangers gear.

Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation players hope to win the #GiveTuesday challenge against Ice Hockey in Harlem – and avoid having to wear New York Rangers gear.

The two mostly-minority youth hockey organizations will engage in a head-to-head  fund-raising battle when the Flyers-Rangers puck drops at 1 p.m. EST on the 25th.

The competition is in recognition of #GiveTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage philanthropy and celebrate generosity worldwide.

Folks interested in participating in the challenge can do so by visiting the respective websites of Snider Hockey – www.sniderhockey.org – and Ice Hockey in Harlem  – www.icehockeyinharlem.org – to make contributions online. Donations can also be done by mail or in person.

For Snider Hockey and Ice Hockey in Harlem – both nonprofits – it’s about helping to keep two successful youth hockey programs running.

For the kids, the challenge is about bragging rights.The organization that raises the most money will be crowned #FaceOffChamps.

Skaters from Ice Hockey in Harlem look to defeat Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation players in the #GiveTuesday challenge.

Skaters from Ice Hockey in Harlem look to defeat Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation players in the #GiveTuesday challenge.

If Snider Hockey wins, a group of players from Ice Hockey in Harlem must wear Flyers T-shirts while sharing ‘Ice Hockey in Harlem LOVES the Philadelphia Flyers’ on IHIH’s social media pages.

Should Ice Hockey in Harlem win, Snider Hockey students must share their love for the Rangers on Snider Hockey’s social media pages while sporting Rangers gear.

“The real winners of this friendly competition will be the boys and girls of both programs who, through hockey, are learning life lessons and how to succeed in the game of life,” said Snider Hockey President Scott Tharp.

IHIH will take on @SniderHockey in a #FaceOffFundraiser!
Start: Rangers/Flyers Game 1pm 11/25
End: 11:59pm on #GivingTuesday 11/29#GoBlue! pic.twitter.com/Sqo5O8STvj

— Ice Hockey in Harlem (@HockeyinHarlem) November 16, 2016

Ice Hockey in Harlem Executive Director John Sanful agreed.

“Snider Hockey and Ice Hockey in Harlem are committed to improving the social and academic well-being of children through the sport of ice hockey,” Sanful said. “This initiative will positively impact many deserving boys and girls.”

The two programs are part of “Hockey is for Everyone,” an NHL initiative that provides support and unique programming to some 40 nonprofit youth hockey organizations across North America.

It offers children of all backgrounds the opportunity and access to learn to play hockey at little or no cost.

People wishing to make donations or pledges to Ice Hockey in Harlem for the #GiveTuesday challenge can do so online or send donations to the attention of  Ice Hockey in Harlem Executive Director John Sanful, 127 West 127th Street, Suite 415, New York, New York, 10027.

Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation supporters can make donations or pledges online, a dated check by mail, or by contacting Snider Hockey Development Staff at 215-952-4125. Flyers game attendees can also drop off donations at the Snider Hockey kiosk outside of section 108 during the hours of the competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fort Dupont Hockey Club founder Neal Henderson still skating strong at 79

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Hockey is for Everyone, Neal Henderson

His deep-voiced bark is still matched by its bite, and the tough love he bestows upon the kids of the nation’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program remains as strong as ever.

Neal Henderson, founder, coach, and father-figure of the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, turned 79 over the weekend.

Through joint surgeries, an ancient ice arena with a sometimes leaky roof, and often with only just enough money to pay the program’s bills, Henderson continues to skate strong –  his passion for the program he created nearly four decades ago unabated by time.

Tough but tender, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club founder Neal Henderson celebrated his 79th birthday over the weekend.

Tough but tender, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club founder Neal Henderson celebrated his 79th birthday over the weekend.

Henderson is responsible for producing a generation of black hockey players and fans in the Nation’s Capital. He’s also helped launch a generation of at-risk kids on the right course in life.

He preaches life through the prism of hockey, teaching the value of teamwork, responsibility, punctuality, good manners, and the necessity and value of staying school.

Fort Dupont developed into a model for programs like the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and similar organizations under the National Hockey League’s “Hockey is for Everyone” umbrella to follow.

“Neal Henderson has been a pioneer in helping develop and shape the lives of young boys and girls and use the core values of hockey to affect other life skills that these children would need as they become adults,” Kenneth Martin, the NHL’s vice president for community affairs told me. “His relentless commitment to children has been a trademark of our ‘Hockey is for Everyone’ program. He has been a true hero and a shining light, not only for the NHL, but for young boys and girls.”

James T. Britt, the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said Henderson’s “impact on his community and hockey throughout the United States has been tremendous.”

“His coaching style and communications are direct – when you hear him begin to address a player in his deep voice with ‘Young man…,’ it makes you feel you’d better take notes because something important is being highlighted,” Britt added.

Born in St. Croix, Henderson founded the program in Southeast Washington’s  Anacostia neighborhood in 1977, in large part to teach his son the game that he played while growing up in Canada.

The Fort Dupont club has no fees or dues. The only thing participants have to pay is attention to Henderson rules: maintain good grades, be respectful, and behave.

Embed from Getty Images

 

Henderson has had to beg, borrow – he would never steal – over the years in order to cover the free ice time, equipment, and instruction.

The NHL, members of the U.S. Congress and Washington’s lobbying community  have helped by hosting an annual lawmakers vs. lobbyists charity hockey game, with part of the proceeds going to the Fort Dupont hockey program and rink.

Through the program, Henderson has helped guide his charges to victories on and off the ice. He’s seen alums from his program complete high school and go on to college or serve in the military.

Some, like Donnie Shaw III., have gone on to play hockey in college. Still others, like Daunte Abercrombie, became so hooked on the game through Henderson’s teachings that they’re pursuing professional hockey opportunities.

“Coach Neal is a true living legend and a man with a long list of accomplishments that continue to grow,” said Shaw,  a 2013 NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholarship recipient who plays for Elmira College in New York. “I cannot thank him enough for all that he has done for me, as well as the devotion that he personally puts into every single kid who joins his hockey program as if they were family.”

Happy 79th,  Coach Neal.

 

 

 

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Flyers founder Ed Snider passes away at 83, but his minority hockey legacy lives on

12 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Ed Snider, Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Ice Hockey in Harlem, Philadelphia Flyers

“This is my legacy.”

Philadelphia Flyers founder Ed Snider and I were standing in the middle of a dry, under-renovation ice skating rink in West Philadelphia in 2011 when he made the remark.

He looked the picture of health then. Tennis-tanned and trim with his slicked-back snow white hair offering a contrast to his jet black warm-up jacket with the orange logo of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation.

The rink – the Laura Sims Skatehouse at Cobbs Creek Park– belonged to the city. But Snider helped spruce up the previously down-and-out semi-enclosed facility and three others, kicking in $6.5 million of a $13 million renovation program.

Ed Snider talks with members of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation in October 2005. Snider passed away Monday at age 83.

Ed Snider talks with members of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation in October 2005. Snider passed away Monday at age 83.

Snider Hockey was his, created in 2005 to teach the Philadelphia-area’s at-risk youth about the world of possibilities beyond their neighborhoods and life skills lessons through the prism of hockey. When the program needed more ice time for some 3,000 kids and growing, Snider ponied up to help enclose and modernize the public rinks without flinching.

He was a billionaire who sported two Stanley Cup rings and desperately thirsted for a third. He was a driving force in the National Hockey League, and a giant in sports and entertainment fields – but all those accomplishments took a back seat to Snider Hockey.

“It’s the only thing I’ve ever put my name on,” he told me for a story about the program was published in 2012. “We’re going to fund it properly and when I’m no longer around hopefully it will be a program that will go on forever. When I see what we’ve done for young children who may not have been able to accomplish what they’ve accomplished, what greater satisfaction in life can you get?”

Ed Snider, far right, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, and then-Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, cut a ribbon dedicating a renovated Laura Sims Skatehouse at Cobbs Creek Park in November 2011.

Ed Snider, far right, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, and then-Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, cut a ribbon dedicating a renovated Laura Sims Skatehouse at Cobbs Creek Park in November 2011.

Ed Snider, the fiercely proud patriarch of Philadelphia ice hockey, passed away early Monday in California at the age of 83 following a two-year fight with cancer.

Much of discussion of Snider’s life Monday centered on his role with his beloved Flyers, and rightfully so. But he also left a legacy with Snider Hockey, establishing one of the top non-profit, minority-oriented youth hockey programs in North America, if not the world.

According to Snider Hockey, 95 percent of its participants perform at satisfactory or above in core classes; 99 percent achieve grade-to-grade promotion; 85 percent of high school seniors continue their education in some form beyond high school.

“Ed created the Flyers professional, no-nonsense culture, fostered their relentless will to win and set the highest standards for every activity on and off the ice, including such initiatives as the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and the Flyers Wives Carnival,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday.

In a statement announcing his passing, Snider’s children said their father “was a man with deep convictions and never hesitated to promote causes in which he believed.”

“His children and grandchildren will continue his philanthropic mission for years to come through the work of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation (Snider Hockey) and the Snider Foundation,” the statement said.

John Sanful, executive director of Ice Hockey in Harlem, said “Mr. Snider’s greatest  achievements come through his philanthropic efforts.”

“Snider Hockey has impacted the lives of thousands of Philadelphia youth leaving a legacy for which Mr. Snider will always be remembered,” Sanful told me.

Philadelphia Flyers  players like forward Wayne Simmonds volunteer their time to Snider Hockey, the late Ed Snider's legacy.

Philadelphia Flyers players, like forward Wayne Simmonds, volunteer their time to Snider Hockey, the late Ed Snider’s legacy.

Snider Hockey’s reach extends beyond the Delaware Valley. On my way home from a convention in Minnesota last summer, I ran into a group of Snider Hockey players at the Minneapolis airport.

Dressed in the program’s team sweats and toting hockey sticks and duffel bags, they were on their way to Brainerd Lakes, Minn., for a camp through the combined efforts of Snider Hockey and former Flyer forward Scott Hartnell’s  #HartnellDown Foundation.

When developers of a currently-stalled project to build the world’s largest ice skating facility in a gigantic old armory in the Bronx, New York, were struggling with gaining acceptance from the mostly-minority neighborhood around it a few years ago, they loaded 65 community leaders onto a bus, drove to Philadelphia, and showed them Snider Hockey.

Snider followed up the bus trip with personal telephone conversations with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.

“What I saw was amazing,” Diaz told me in 2014. “To see 75 black and Latino kids in the centers enthusiastic about coming in after school; to see them with their big duffel bags full of equipment that, by the  way, was donated and readily-available to them free of charge; to see them getting academic instruction in math and reading; and to see these kids get on the ice as if it were second nature. You look at the numbers from the program and we see school attendance has gone up, we see that bad behavior has gone down. That’s exactly what I want for my Bronx kids.”

Diaz jokingly told the developers that “you guys messed up” because “you allowed me to come to Philly and see the Ed Snider program…And that’s the standard I’m going to hold for them right here in the Bronx.”

Snider was charitable, but he was also highly competitive. As we toured the Sims Skatehouse in 2011, he explained to me that the mission of Snider Hockey was to build good people, not necessarily to make good hockey players.

Then he pointed out that Sims and the other public rinks that he helped renovate with  NHL-standard boards and lighting would be open year-round, giving his urban Snider Hockey participants “more ice time than…those kids in the suburbs.”

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“Hockey is for Everyone” is managing to build good people and good hockey players

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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American Hockey League, Cameron Burt, ECHL, Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Gerald Coleman, Hockey is for Everyone, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tarasai Karega

Listen to National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman or anyone else connected with the league’s “Hockey is for Everyone” initiative and they’ll tell you that its goal is to build good people over building good hockey players.

“As nice as it would be to have graduates of these programs actually play in college (or the pros), the fact that there are children in these programs who stay in school and go to college is more important than whether or not they’re actually still playing because to me this is about life’s lessons,” Bettman told me in 2011.

But it seems that “Hockey is for Everyone” is doing both. Designed to expose boys and girls from all backgrounds to hockey and use the sport as a tool to encourage them to thrive in school, the more than 30 programs under the “Hockey is for Everyone” umbrella are also doing a pretty decent job of producing players good enough to skate for college hockey teams at all levels – and beyond.

Detroit Hockey Association alum Cameron Burt earned a scholarship to RIT...

Detroit Hockey Association alum Cameron Burt earned a scholarship to RIT…

Over the years, several graduates of “Hockey is for Everyone” programs and its precursor NHL Diversity initiative have made it onto NCAA hockey rosters, college and university club hockey teams, minor league squads, and even to the NHL for a hot minute.

“Hockey’s been good to me,” Cameron Burt, a defenseman for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades told me recently. “It’s gotten me to places I would have never gone.”

Indeed, hockey has taken Burt a long way since the day his mother enrolled him in the Detroit Hockey Association. The instruction and nurturing the program provided helped land him a hockey scholarship at the Rochester Institute of Technology, which in turn helped him embark on a professional career that he hopes will lead to a spot in the NHL.

“It was good for me,” Burt said of his DHA experience. “I still look back at pictures of me playing in early years. It gave us an outlet to do something different. It was something that was ours right there in the city and no one could take it away from us. It was the best place for me to start.”

...which helped launch Burt's pro career. He's a defenseman for the ECHL's Florida Everblades (Photo/Al Larson).

…which helped launch Burt’s pro career. He’s a defenseman for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades (Photo/Al Larson).

Burt has two goals and 15 assists in 22 games for the Everblades this season. He tallied 43 goals and 95 assists in four seasons at Division I Rochester from 2008-09 to 2011-12. The 2009-10 season was especially sweet for Burt because RIT played in the NCAA Frozen Four tournament, held that year in hometown Detroit at Ford Field.

About 173 miles separate Estero, Fla., home of Burt’s Everblades, and Orlando, Fla., the new home of Tarasai Karega, yet the distance in the Sunshine State can’t melt the ties that bind the two hockey players.

Like Burt, Karega got her hockey start with the Detroit Hockey Association, where the the two developed a friendship. Like Burt, hockey provided a collegiate path for Karega.

She attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, where she was a standout for the NCAA Division III Lord Jeffs. She was named first team New England Small College Athletic Conference in 2006-07 as a sophomore and notched 61 goals and 51 assists in 110 games during her collegiate career while maintaining a 3.34 grade-point average.

Detroit Hockey Association grad Tarasai Karega, right, earned an NCAA title with Amherst College.

Detroit Hockey Association grad Tarasai Karega, right, earned an NCAA title with Amherst College.

In the 2008-09 season Karega became one of the first black women to win an NCAA hockey title when the Lord Jeffs won the Division III crown.

After college, Karega moved to Philadelphia where she served as hockey operations coordinator for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, a “Hockey is for Everyone” affiliate created by the founder of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Today, she’s a  premium guest services representative for the National Basketball Association’s Orlando Magic. She still keeps up with hockey, attending ECHL Orlando Solar Bears games.

Gerald Coleman’s NHL career was fleeting – 43 minutes over two games in goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2005-06 – but significant nonetheless. He was the first NHL Diversity alum to play in the league.

Gerald Coleman played less than an hour over 2 NHL games but his time in goal was historic.

Gerald Coleman played less than an hour over 2 NHL games but his time in goal was historic.

Coleman played in the program in Evanston, Ill., as a teenager while also playing for a AA travel team. Playing AA hockey was more challenging, Coleman said, but the NHL Diversity program provided him with a comfort zone from those who questioned why a 6-foot- five-inch black kid would want to play a predominantly white sport like hockey.

“I felt at home when I was with that group,” Coleman told me recently. “When I was playing with my travel team, I had racial slurs hurled against me from parents, from the kids. They always looked down upon me because I was different from everyone else.”

Coleman’s skill caught the attention of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. After three seasons in net for the major junior hockey team, the Lightning took Coleman in the seventh round with the 224th pick in the 2003 NHL Draft.

Coleman’s NHL stat line is scant – two games, 43 minutes, two goals against, 2.77 goals-against average, .882 save percentage – but he enjoyed a lengthy minor league hockey career. He spent nine seasons stopping pucks for 10 ECHL and American Hockey League teams.

“Even though I didn’t make it in the NHL, at least I made it a lot farther than I could have done in my life,” Coleman said.

Chronic hip problems forced Coleman to retire in August at the age of 29, but his career ended on a high note. He helped guide the Alaska Aces to ECHL’s Kelly Cup. Coleman’s hip pain helped inspire his post-playing career path – to become a physical therapist.

NHL Diversity alum Gerald Coleman finished his hockey career on top - winning the ECHL Kelly Cup in 2013-14.

NHL Diversity alum Gerald Coleman finished his hockey career on top – winning the ECHL Kelly Cup in 2013-14.

“I’m going to start going to school in January and I’m working at a rehab facility in Chicago. Over the last three years with my injuries, I was in  rehab for six months every  summer. I know the ins and outs of it. I know it could lead me back to hockey, if not coaching.”

Coleman, Karega, and Burt say they keep tabs on their old hockey programs and are proud to see “Hockey is for Everyone” alums continuing their progress educationally while keeping their passion for playing the game.

Elmira College hockey player and Fort Dupont alum Donnie Shaw III, left, helps out  at his old rink.

Elmira College hockey player and Fort Dupont alum Donnie Shaw III, left, helps out at his old rink.

Four of Karega’s former charges from Snider Hockey are playing for college teams this season: Elizabeth and Kimberly Feeney on the University of Pennsylvania’s American Collegiate Hockey Association Division III club team; Alivia Bates at NCAA Division III Plymouth State University in New Hampshire; and Saidie Lopez on New Jersey’s Rowan University women’s hockey club.

Sixteen other Snider Hockey alums tried out for college club hockey teams at local Temple University, Drexel University and West Chester University.

Malik Garvin,  a forward who got his hockey start with New York’s Ice Hockey in Harlem, is enjoying his first season playing for Division III Western New England University in Massachusetts.

Devan Abercrombie, a former member of Washington’s Fort Dupont Hockey Club, is a freshman forward for St. Joseph University’s club hockey team in Philadelphia.

He’s attending St. Joe’s on a full four-year ride as a 2014 NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholarship recipient. The scholarship is awarded annually to academically-eligible “Hockey is for Everyone” participants.

Donnie Shaw III, another Fort Dupont alum and a 2013 NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholarship recipient, is a sophomore at Elmira College in New York and plays for the Soaring Eagles NCAA Division III junior varsity team.

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Home rink broken, Ice Hockey in Harlem looks for temporary place for kids to play

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Adam Graves, Boston University, Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Ice Hockey in Harlem, New York Rangers, Union College

Since its inception, Ice Hockey in Harlem has done what many folks considered impossible.

It’s taken at-risk black and Latino kids from one of the city’s more impoverished areas and not only hooked them on playing hockey, but used the sport to expose them to a world beyond their neighborhood and to the world of possibilities if they stay in school and pursue life’s positive path.

The group’s presence helped revive a down-and-out outdoor rink in a part of New York where few white people dared to venture, making it a welcoming, family-friendly destination – a lynchpin in an evolving Harlem where people of all colors now live, shop, and dine.

“Hey, if Wayne Gretzky can go near 110th Street to hang with the kids at the Lasker Rink in the 1980s, why can’t I go skating there now” has become the mantra. Like Harlem’s Apollo Theater, the Lasker Rink is a place where everyone wants to play.

The Philadelphia Flyers practiced there in 2012, so did the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011 and the Ottawa Senators in 2010. Boston University worked out with the IHIH there last year, ditto Union College in 2012.

But Ice Hockey in Harlem has been Lasker’s longest-running act, calling the rink on the north end of Central Park home since the organization’s creation in 1987. That run was interrupted over the weekend when the New York’s parks department suddenly announced that it was shutting down for the 2014-15 season to make major repairs to the facility’s refrigeration plant.

Ice Hockey in Harlem players are looking for a place to skate after their home rink is suddenly closed for repairs.

Ice Hockey in Harlem players are looking for a place to skate after their home rink is suddenly closed for repairs.

The shutdown sent Ice Hockey in Harlem, one of the nation’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey programs, scrambling to find a place for over 240 kids to practice and play.

“We’re working on an emergency plan,” John Sanful, IHIH’s executive director told me. “I don’t have details yet, but suffice to say we’re committed to making the season happen.”

Sanful called the shutdown “a setback” but added that Ice Hockey in Harlem will do what it’s always done: overcome.

“It’s a minor setback, as with any situation beyond your control,” he said. “Ice Hockey in Harlem is stronger than it’s ever been. We will continue on and the future is very bright and very strong for Ice Hockey in Harlem.”

Still, there are no easy or ideal solutions for IHIH’s current predicament. New York is a city of 8.2 million people, but there are only seven indoor year-round ice sheets in the area.

Developers of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center are hoping to build the world’s largest ice skating facility in the New York City borough of the Bronx, a short subway ride from Harlem. But the mega rink in a massive renovated armory is years away.

Looking to solve their here-and-now dilemma, Ice Hockey in Harlem officials sent its squirts and Lady Harlem hockey team to practice Saturday in Brewster, N.Y., nearly 60 miles from New York City.

Ice Hockey in Harlem kids, who know their way around NYC's transit system, face playing in temporary digs.

Ice Hockey in Harlem kids, who know their way around NYC’s transit system, face playing in temporary digs.

Whatever IHIH does for the rest of the season will likely cost the nonprofit some money. Ice Hockey in Harlem depends on the hockey community and donations for funding.

The organization, founded by Dave Wilk, Todd Levy, and former New York Rangers player Pat Hickey, is part of the National Hockey League’s “Hockey is for Everyone” initiative which provides support and unique programming to more than 30 non-profit youth hockey organizations across North America.

Programs affiliated with”Hockey is For Everyone” help lower the biggest barrier that keeps many minority and poor kids from playing the game: The expense. Organizations like IHIH, Philadelphia’s Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, and Washington’s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, provide free equipment, ice time, and instruction.

Ice Hockey in Harlem vows to play in 2014-15 despite home rink shutdown.

Ice Hockey in Harlem vows to play in 2014-15 despite home rink shutdown.

In return, kids in the programs must stay in school, be in good academic standing, and be respectful people.  Most of the programs provide academic assistance – tutoring, computer access, college counseling – and mentoring.

While the NHL assistance is beneficial, IHIH is almost always in fund-raising mode. They host an annual “Benefit on the Green” golf tournament that attracts current and former NHL players along with corporate and private sponsors.

The Rangers pitch in by hosting an annual Winter Sports Auction, and legendary team play-by-play man Sam Rosen and former Blue Shirts like Adam Graves generously give their time to the IHIH cause.

IHIH Alum Malik Garvin, good person, good hockey player, scored his first college goal.

IHIH Alum Malik Garvin, good person, good hockey player, scored his first college goal.

People inside and outside IHIH stress that its goal isn’t about building good hockey players. It’s about building good people. Levy’s voice filled with pride recently when he talked about Malik Garvin, who he use to coach on cold Harlem nights at Lasker.

Saturday, Garvin scored his first goal on his first shot for Western New England University, an NCAA Division III school. The Golden Bears lost to Suffolk University 3-1, but Levy said Garvin, a 22-year-old senior, was still a winner.

“He epitomizes what we want for all our kids…not the goal he scored but the fact that he is a double major – finance and accounting – and has used his love for hockey to propel him in life,” Levy. a member of the IHIH board, told me. “The sad irony is that with our rink closing this year, I fear that the next Malik will be prohibited from this kind of life success.”

 

 

 

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NY-Philly hockey hate takes a timeout to help get mega-iceplex built in the Bronx

19 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Kingsbridge National Ice Center, Mark Messier, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Ruben Diaz, the Bronx, Wayne Simmonds

When the founders of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center achieve their goal and build the world’s largest ice skating facility in the Bronx section of New York City, add an assist to a seemingly unlikely line mate from Philadelphia.

While the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers duke it out of the ice in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a group comprised of New York hockey enthusiasts – including iconic former Rangers captain Mark Messier – and officials from the Philadelphia’s Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, established by the Flyers’ founder and patriarch, are working together in helping transform the massive vacant Kingsbridge Armory into a $320 million state-of-the-art ice hockey, skating, and ice sport palace that serves its surrounding community and the city by 2017.

Kingsbridge National Ice Center rendering.

Kingsbridge National Ice Center rendering.

There’s a lot of hockey hate between New York and Philadelphia. Rangers fans haven’t forgotten the pounding and hair-pulling helpless defenseman Dale Rolfe endured courtesy of Broad Street Bully heavyweight forward Dave Schultz during the 1974 playoffs or the sick feeling from being eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the 2010 season by the Flyers in a shootout.

Flyers faithful always remember their team being looked down on as unworthy hockey heathens by their more gentlemanly Original Six neighbor up I-95 and vividly recall the heartache of watching the 1982 team get unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs by a third-string Rangers goalie named Eddie Mio, who somehow managed to channel his inner Eddie Giacomin.

But when it comes to the KNIC project, there are no cat-calls about Rangers’ Ron Duguay’s flowing curly locks and disco-era fondness for Sassoon jeans or chants that pugilistic former Flyers goalie Ron Hextall sucks! Just cooperation, and lots of it.

“They’re hockey people,” John R. Nolan, KNIC project co-founder, Boston College alum, and long-time Rangers season ticket-holder said of his new-found friends from Philly. “We’ve talked about this. Hockey is a religion and if you’re under the tent, you’re under the tent and everyone wants to help. There’s always room for good-natured ribbing and rivalry but that has never gotten in the way.”

In fact, the close working relationship has taken some of the edge off for Nolan.

“As a life-long Rangers fan who grew up hating the Flyers, in some respects I’m mad at the guys at Snider because they’ve taken that away from me,” Nolan told me recently. “I don’t have the same level of distaste for Philadelphia that I used to. I’ve had to shift that to New Jersey.”

Scott Tharp, the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation’s president, said two things are the ties that bind his program and the KNIC project: hockey and kids.

Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds gives tips to a Snider Hockey participant. The program's ice and educational activities helped sell Bronx leaders on the KNIC project.

Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds gives tips to a Snider Hockey participant. The program’s ice and educational activities helped sell Bronx leaders on the KNIC project.

“It’s not unusual for non-profits with common missions to share information and help each other. Our interest is in helping kids,” Tharp told me recently. “What the Flyers and Rangers do on the ice is kind of separate from what Snider Hockey and the Kingsbridge Armory folks do.”

What the KNIC folks plan to do is turn the 750,000-square-foot armory located just below West 195th and adjacent to the Number 4 Express subway line into the mother of all iceplexes with nine rinks – including a 5,000-seat arena that they hope will attract a minor league hockey team- locker rooms, office space, a health and wellness facility, community center and office space.

The project’s brain trust says that the mega facility will help solve a severe rink shortage in New York, a city of 8.2 million people and only seven indoor year-round ice sheets.

The New York City Council approved the KNIC project last December, enticed by the prospect of the facility becoming a lynchpin for the Bronx’s revitalization efforts and lured by the prospect of it creating at least 260 permanent jobs, 890 construction jobs and boosting the fortunes of nearby businesses.

When completed, Kingsbridge will eclipse the eight-sheet, 300,000-square-foot Schwan Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota, as the largest ice arena complex in the world.

Kingsbridge National Ice Center rendering.

Kingsbridge National Ice Center rendering.

Winning New York City Council approval was one thing. Winning over skeptical Bronx political and community leaders who questioned the wisdom of putting a giant ice facility in a borough that’s 53.5 percent Hispanic and 30.8 percent non-Hispanic black was another. Several critics dismissively asked “If you build it, who will come?”

“I have to be quite honest with you, that was my initial reaction as well,” Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., told me recently. “And then I started to notice that those individuals who would make those comments – which, by the way I believe are borderline racist, I’m going to use that word – are blacks and Latinos. I think what happens is you get people who are, for so long, put in this mental box that they start to accept as if it were reality that this is something that their kids don’t want to do or cannot do.”

Messier, Kingsbridge’s CEO and the hockey face of the project, told NHL.com that the project had to stress the benefits of a partnership between the mega rink and the community.

“We had to sell them on that fact,” Messier told NHL.com. “The only way to do that is to get to know each other and gain the trust. We know it’s not our armory. It’s theirs. We have to be respectful of that.”

That’s where Snider Hockey came in. By coincidence, Kevin Parker – hockey dad, founder of KNIC Partners LLC, die-hard Rangers fan, and former Deutsche Bank asset management director – met and dined with T. Quinn Spitzer, Jr. – partner and chairman of McHugh Consulting, die-hard Flyers fan, and a Snider Hockey board member – during a European business trip in 2011.

“These two Americans sit down at a table in somewhere Europe and quickly discover they both have a passion for hockey: one’s a Flyers fan, one’s a Rangers fan,” Nolan recalled. “As the conversation progresses, Kevin shares what he wants to do in New York City and the concerns he has in how he can get a rink or rinks into areas where you would need community acceptance. I think we knew early on that the community angle was not just something we were interested in, but something we needed in order to succeed.”

“Kevin kind of shared ‘These are our challenges,'” Nolan continued. “Quinn said ‘Let me tell you about Snider Hockey.'”

Created in 2005, the Snider Hockey program exposes 3,000 Philadelphia-area children to the game of hockey by providing them with free equipment, ice time, and instruction at five skating rinks. The hockey serves as a hook for participating children to stay in school and improve both academically and as people.

The program works closely with the School District of Philadelphia and Philadelphia’s Department of Parks and Recreation to offer a cutting edge program that blends hockey with a rigorous off-ice life skills curriculum and additional educational services.

“We’re trying to impart skills that help the children grow up to be productive citizens,” Tharp told me in 2011. “Communication skills, the simple things that are taken for granted: the ability to introduce yourself; to look a person in the eye; give a firm handshake; the ability to carry on an open-ended conversation rather than a closed conversation.”

When Snider Hockey began, about 70 percent of its personnel were dedicated to hockey, Tharp told NHL.com. Today, academic aides and tutors outnumber hockey personnel 4-to-1, Tharp said. Over the last three years, 100 percent of the program’s participants have graduated. About 83 percent of the kids moved on to post-secondary education, with a handful of them playing hockey in college.

The program grew so large in size and stature that it struggled to find enough ice time for its kids. In 2010, Snider’s foundation kicked in $6.5 million, which was matched by state funds, to renovate four run-down public ice rinks. Today, those rinks are all enclosed and have National Hockey League-caliber boards, lighting, glass, and community space.

The conversation between Parker and Spitzer in Europe swiftly led to meetings between the KNIC founders and Snider Hockey officials back in the United States. Nolan said he and Stephan Butler, another founding Kingsbridge partner, hopped an Amtrak train to Philadelphia to check out the Snider program and returned to New York  “blown away” by what they saw.

Kingsbridge National Ice Center rendering.

Kingsbridge National Ice Center rendering.

“Everything about Snider in terms of how their organization was put together, what their values were, in terms of how they practiced, the kind of kids they were turning out, literally every aspect of their program was impressive,” Nolan told me. “We kind of took that message back and started selling it in the Bronx in answer to the question ‘Why are our kids going to play hockey?’ There was a huge jump, leap of faith, necessary from the community that minority kids, be they black or Hispanic, would really take to hockey. When confronted with the question our answer was ‘Snider. Take a look at Snider, Snider’s got thousands of kids.’ Snider became an answer to the question.”

So much so that Bronx elected officials and community leaders wanted to see the program themselves. So about 65 of them climbed aboard a chartered bus outside the armory and took it the Scanlon ice rink, one of the renovated facilities, in Philadelphia’s Kensington section.

“What I saw was amazing,” Diaz told me. “To see 75 black and Latino kids in one of the centers enthusiastic about coming in right after school; to see them with their big duffel bags full of equipment that, by the way, was donated and readily-available to them free of charge; to see them getting academic instruction in math and reading; and to see these kids get on the ice as if it were second nature. You look at all of the numbers from the program and we see that school attendance has gone up, we see that bad behavior has gone down. That’s exactly what I want for my Bronx kids.”

The Scanlon tour has been followed up by several telephone conversations between Diaz and Snider.

“I think Ed told him of his vision, told him that we would be willing to support their efforts as consultants, and basically convinced Ruben that hockey was a great vehicle, to help children, to help kids stay the course,” Tharp said.

Diaz said the Philadelphia visit and talks with Snider have set a high bar for the KNIC group in their Bronx community outreach efforts.

“I have a joke with Kevin Parker and Mark Messier. I say ‘You guys messed up’ and they ask me ‘Why?’ And I say ‘Because you allowed me to come to Philly and see the Ed Snider program,'” Diaz said. “And so that’s the standard I’m going to hold for them right here in the Bronx.”

And that’s just fine with Nolan.

“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he told me. “Our intent is to build a program just like theirs. I don’t know if there’s much to improve on, but we’re going to try. They’ve given us the playbook and we’re going to execute.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Eddie Joseph, spreading the gospel of ice hockey in soccer-mad Great Britain

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

" Lee Valley Lions, Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Hockey is for Everyone, Ice Hockey in Harlem, Wayne Gretzky

Being a black ice hockey player in Great Britain in the 1980s wasn’t exactly a walk in Hyde Park. Eddie Joseph can attest to that.

“I went to a place called Sunderland, near New Castle, I remember walking into the ice rink in Sunderland and a 10-11 year old little kid came up to me, rubbed my hand and said ‘Oh, it doesn’t come off,’  recalled Joseph, who played semi-pro hockey for the London Rangers and Lee Valley Lions. “That’s what the country was like. There were parts of this country where there were no black people at all.”

Times have changed in Great Britain, along with population demographics and

From player to coach, Eddie Joseph pays it forward with Lee Valley club.

From player to coach, Eddie Joseph pays it forward with Lee Valley club.

attitudes. When Joseph takes the racially and ethnically diverse East London youth hockey teams that he coaches on road games today people barely bat an eye.

“When I was playing, this country was very different – I was racially abused,” Joseph told me recently. “Today, it just doesn’t happen. People are so much more enlightened.”

Joseph didn’t envision it when he retired from semi-pro hockey at the age of 32, but he’s a hockey lifer. When he’s not carrying a night stick as a London Metropolitan police sergeant, Joseph is holding a hockey stick and coaching kids ages 10 to 18 and teaching them to love a sport that he says he owes everything to.

“It’s my passion,” said Joseph, 52. “Hockey has been the most constant thing in my life. I don’t know why the game bit me as it did, but it did.”

Joseph just wishes more folks on his side of the pond felt the same way. In the land of Big Ben, fish & chips, and One Direction, ice hockey is obscured by the large shadows cast by soccer, cricket, rugby, field hockey and tennis.

“To say it’s a minority sport is overplaying the word minority,” Joseph told me recently. “It’s such a small game in this country.”

Eddie Joseph, left, hopes his players grow up to teach their kids ice hockey.

Eddie Joseph, left, hopes his players grow up to teach their kids ice hockey.

With a population of nearly 64 million people, Great Britain has only 6,798 ice hockey players, according to International Ice Hockey Federation statistics. Of that group, 2,289 are men, 3,815 are junior players, and only 694 are female.

The IIHF ranks the country 22nd in the world in men’s hockey and 18th in women’s hockey. An IIHF founding member in 1908, Great Britain used to be a beast in ice hockey. Team Great Britain captured a Bronze Medal at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, a Gold at the 1936 games in Germany, and experienced international success with teams comprised mostly of Canadian-born players

But as Canada gained independence from the monarchy, Great Britain’s hockey prowess faded. It hasn’t had an ice hockey team in the Winter Games since 1952.

When Brits do think ice, most of them think figure skating, Joseph said. Robin Cousins, Tim Curry and the pairs team of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean brought Olympic Gold and notoriety to the country in recent decades.

“Ice rinks aren’t necessarily ice hockey-friendly,” Joseph said. “Figure skating is more popular here than ice hockey because over the years we’ve had success at that sport. Whereas with ice hockey it’s ‘What is it, who is it?'”

But that hasn’t stopped Joseph from preaching the gospel of hockey in his East London community and around the country.

Joseph returned to hockey when his son, then 10, said he wanted to play the game. Joseph went to the Lee Valley where his hockey odyssey began only to discover that the game was no longer played there.

“Hockey had pretty much died at the ice rink,” Joseph recalled. “I was fortunate that when I went back to the rink I met a lady there who was one of the rink directors. She said ‘Hockey would be a great idea.’ The rink manager wasn’t very keen, but she was one of the directors of the company that runs the facility.”

After receiving coaching training, Joseph started a hockey program with about 15 children once a week. Today, Lee Valley has about 125 hockey players spread over five youth teams and an adult squad.

About 25 percent of the players are minority – black, Asian, Arab and Jewish, Joseph said.

Eddie Joseph, standing center, instructs some of Lee Valley's young players.

Eddie Joseph, standing center, instructs some of Lee Valley’s young players.

The hockey program draws many of its patrons from the East London/Hackney area, historically one of London’s poorest communities. Spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on hockey equipment and ice time isn’t the first priority for most families in the neighborhood.

So the Lee Valley rink does what U.S. programs like New York’s Ice Hockey in Harlem, Washington’s Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, Philadelphia’s Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and other non-profit NHL-affiliated “Hockey is For Everyone” organizations do and minimize the cost of the game for those interested in playing it.

“The people that walk through our door and want to give hockey a go can’t afford to buy the kit, can’t afford to buy skates,” Joseph said. “So what we, people with a like mind to myself, do is we’ve done fund-raisers, we’ve bought equipment so we can just say to kids ‘Here you go, you can borrow this from us.’ I think it doesn’t necessarily go down well with our hockey establishment here, but we are more akin to a charity than we are to an ice hockey club.”

Lee Valley youngsters against a team from Slough.

Lee Valley youngsters against a team from Slough.

Joseph can identify with the needy patrons. He was a 14 year-old boy in the rough-and-tumble neighborhood when he and some mates walked into the Lee Valley rink, saw hockey, and were instantly captivated by a sport they never knew existed.

“I grew up in one of the worst parts of London, if not the country. I had friends who were killed, friends who were in prison – it was that kind of area,” he told me. “And for some reason, they put an ice rink up in this place. It gave me something other than hanging around the streets. In my circles, I got to see our country playing hockey. It gave me a sense of pride, gave me some value, some worth.”

No one confused Joseph for the next Wayne Gretzky. Between 1984 and 1993, Joseph tallied 54 goals, 68 assists and racked up 271 penalty minutes.

“I was never a great hockey player, but I served a purpose on the team and they signed me up every year,” he said. “Yeah, I got a bit of a reputation for being a scrapper, nonetheless I wanted to play hockey.”

He hopes the rest of Great Britain will, too, someday soon.

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