Tag Archives: Florida Panthers

Former Florida Panthers enforcer Peter Worrell joins pro hockey’s coaching ranks

14 Saturday Jul 2018

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 Peter Worrell punched his way into professional hockey. Now he’s looking to coach his way back to the pros.

Worrell, who accumulated more than 1,500 penalty minutes as a left wing and enforcer for the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche from 1997-98 to 2003-04, was named assistant coach of the Fayetteville Marksmen of the single-A Southern Professional Hockey League last week.

Former Florida Panthers forward Peter Worrell in 2002.

A Panthers 1995 seventh-round draft pick, Worrell quickly turned to coaching after playing his last professional game with the ECHL’s Charlotte Checkers in 2005-06.

He returned to Florida the following season to become head coach of North Broward Preparatory School. He assumed additional responsibility in 2010-11 when he became bench boss of Florida Atlantic University’s American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division III team.

“When I ended my seasons last year, I made the decision I wanted to explore new challenges,” Worrell said. “I contacted a lot of teams, in many leagues. When I first contacted the Marksmen and I talked to (Head Coach Jesse) Kallechy, it just felt right. It was a big decision for me, as I was comfortable in my previous positions, but everyone in Fayetteville has been so welcoming and first class, I know I couldn’t have found a better position.”

And Kallechy believes that he couldn’t have found a better bench sidekick for the Fayetteville, North Carolina, team than Worrell.

“He blew me away in the interview process,” Kallechy said. “He was an excellent communicator, our views on player personnel aligned, and he is eager to learn and bring fresh viewpoints to the team.”

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Worrell will become the SPHL’s second black coach when the puck drops for the 2018-19 season. In May, the Macon Mayhem tapped Leo Thomas as its head coach, making him the only black professional hockey head coach in North America.

While the SPHL’s minority coaching numbers grow, the ranks of coaches of color in the National Hockey League declined following 2017-18 season.

The Calgary Flames let go veteran Assistant Coach Paul Jerrard, who was the league’s only minority coach to work behind the bench during games.

He wasn’t unemployed very long. The University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks hired Jerrard in May to be an assistant coach for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference team.

“He has a very good track record of developing players,” UNO Head Coach Mike Gabinet said. “I knew, first off, how good of a person he was having played for him. He was my (defense) coach. And when you’re a player, people always ask you afterward who’s influenced you as a coach.”

Jerrard, who played hockey for Lake Superior State University from 1983-84 to 1986-87, said he’s stoked about returning to the college game. He tallied 40 goals and 73 assists in 156 games as a defenseman for the Lakers.

“I’ve always loved college hockey, and I’m looking forward to working with and developing our players, not just in their careers but academically as well to help them prepare for success in the future,” he said.

The NHL’s remaining coaches of color are goalie coaches Sudarshan Maharaj of the Anaheim Ducks, Frantz Jean, of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Fred Brathwaite of the New York Islanders.

Scott Gomez is on the Isles’ coaching staff and Nigel Kirwan serves as a video coach for the Lightning.

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The waiting over, Serron Noel can’t wait to play for Florida Panthers after being drafted

23 Saturday Jun 2018

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DALLAS – Oshawa Generals forward Serron Noel could relate to the old  Tom Petty & TheHeartbreakers hit “The Waiting.” 

The waiting was the hardest part as Noel, projected to be a first-round pick at the 2018 NHL Draft, sat and sat and sat through the opening round and left Dallas’ AmericanAirlines Center Friday. He left the arena without hearing his name called.

He didn’t have to wait long Saturday as the Florida Panthers – a team in the late Petty’s beloved home state – chose Noel in the second round with the 34th overall pick.

Oshawa Generals forward Serron Noel was projected as a first-round draft pick but slipped into the second round (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

“Definitely a little frustrating just waiting through the whole process, thinking you’re going to go,” a relieved-looking Noel said. “But you come in today hoping you go pretty early. I’m just so excited to be picked by the Florida Panthers.”

He said he’s looking forward to “being an ambassador or role model” to the Miami-area’s diverse community.

“Someone who can reach out to the young children and just kind of inspire,” Noel added. “Because it is a new age, and hockey’s becoming more diverse, and I want to be someone like P.K. Subban, someone who can kind of be a role model in the game.”

NHL Central Scouting ranked Noel as the 10th-best North American skater available in the draft.

The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder from Guelph, Ontario, was the Generals’ second-leading goal scorer with 28. He was fifth overall on the team in scoring with 28 goals and 25 assists for 53 points in 62 regular season games.

He had an assist in five OHL playoff games and chipped in 2 goals and 4 assists in five games for Canada at the 2018 U18 world juniors.

Dennis MacInnis, director of scouting for ISS Hockey called Noel an “intriguing package of size and skill.”

“Skating has improved slightly (but) still needs to improve speed,” MacInnis wrote in his assessment of Noel. “Hard on the forecheck. Load to handle in front of the net and down below the goal lines for defenders.”

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Karl Stewart, who evaluates OHL talent for NHL Central Scouting, told NHL.com that “it’s scary to think about the player he’ll be when he’s fully developed.”

“His skating is as close to NHL ready when he wants to skate,” Stewart said. “He can drive you wide and get around you, and he’s got quick acceleration to separate himself from anyone.”

Noel said he’s been working to  get even better on his blades and hopes to showcase his skating skills at the Panthers’ development camp next week.

Noel, 17, is the son of Dean Noel, a former Canadian Football League wide receiver. He steered Serron toward hockey because of concerns about the rate of  concussions in football.

“Growing up, I was never really exposed to football,” Serron said. “A bunch of kids on my street were out playing road hockey all the time. I joined them and had a lot of fun, so I think hockey has just always been the right sport for me.”

Erica L. Ayala contributed to this report. Follow her @elindsay08.

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J.T. Brown claimed off waivers by Anaheim Ducks

15 Monday Jan 2018

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Forward J.T. Brown has gone from a being a Bolt to a Duck.

Tampa Bay Lightning placed right wing J.T. Brown on waivers Saturday.

The Anaheim Ducks claimed Brown on Sunday after the Tampa Bay Lightning placed him on waivers Saturday.

Brown became the only National Hockey League player to conduct a silent protest during the playing of the U.S. national anthem to draw attention to racial inequities and police brutality in America.

He raised his fist skyward during the Star Spangled Banner before an Oct. 7 game between the Lightning and Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla.

Brown received death threats for the gesture, which he discontinued after the first time. But the threats didn’t quell his community activism. He worked with the Tampa Police Department, going on ride-alongs with officers.

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Before the 2017-18 season began, Brown donated $1,500 to help pay for the removal of a Confederate monument from Tampa’s downtown courthouse.

Brown had only 1 goal and 3 assists for the Lightning and appeared in only 24 of the team’s first 44 games this season.

Brown has no hard feeling over being waived. He thanked the organization and Tampa Bay hockey fans in a lengthy tweet on Sunday.

“I’m excited for this opportunity and the next chapter of my career. Let’s go Ducks!” he tweeted.

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Ang, Suzuki and Yamamoto compete for spots on U.S. and Canadian WJC teams

10 Sunday Dec 2017

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Three players of Asian heritage are vying for spots on the U.S. and Canadian teams that will compete at the 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.

Forwards Jonathan Ang and Nick Suzuki were among 32 players Hockey Canada selected last week to participate in the selection camp to determine Canada’s 22-player roster for the eight-team WJC tournament to be played Dec, 26-Jan.5 in Buffalo, New York.

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Ang, a center for the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League, and Suzuki, a center for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack, begin their quest for roster spots Monday at Hockey Canada’s four-day camp in St. Catharines, Ontario.

“It’s an honor to be given the opportunity to attend selection camp,” Ang said. “Growing up and watching the World Juniors every year, it’s an unbelievable feeling to be considered for this year’s National Junior Team and to be given a chance to represent our country.”

Peterborough Petes forward Jonathan Ang hopes he’ll don Team Canada’s jersey at the 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Buffalo, New York Dec. 26-Jan. 5 (Photo/ Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images).

Kailer Yamamoto, a right wing for the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League, was chosen for the United States’ preliminary WJC roster. He’ll be among 23 U.S. players who’ll attend USA Hockey’s training camp Dec. 15-19 at Nationwide Arena and OhioHealth Ice Haus in Columbus, Ohio.

If Yamamoto, makes the cut, he’ll attend an additional camp in Jamestown, New York, Dec. 20-23.

Suzuki, whose great-great grandparents immigrated to Canada from Japan in the early 1900s, was the 13th overall pick in the 2017 National Hockey League Draft, chosen by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.

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He leads the Attack, a major junior team, in scoring with 17 goals and 27 assists in 26 games. He said he’s looking forward to Canada’s World Juniors camp.

“It’s been on my mind since the summer. I definitely want to make that team,”  he told the Owen Sound Sun Times. “I think I can PK (penalty kill), or be on the power play, or maybe even be a lower-line guy and just build energy for the top line…I think I could do any role for the team.”

Ang, 19, became the first player of Malaysian heritage to be drafted by an NHL team when the Florida Panthers, chose him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. He signed a three-year entry level contract with the NHL team in November.

Ang is the Petes’ top scorer this season with 15 goals and 20 assists in 31 games.

Yamamoto, 19, was taken by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 2017 draft with the 22nd overall pick.

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He appeared in nine games for the Oilers this season, collecting 3 assists before being reassigned to Spokane. He has 1 goal and 9 assists in 12 games since returning to Washington State.

A Spokane native of Japanese and Hawaiian heritage, Yamamoto led the Chiefs in scoring in 2016-17 with 42 goals and 47 assists in 65 games.

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An old school ex-player praises Tampa Bay Lightning’s J.T. Brown for ‘taking a stand’

09 Monday Oct 2017

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One thought raced through Bill Riley’s mind when he saw Tampa Bay Lightning forward J.T. Brown raise his fist in the air Saturday and become the first National Hockey League player to engage in a silent protest during the playing of the U.S. national anthem.

Yes!

Tampa Bay Lightning right wing J.T. Brown is the first NHL player to protest during the U.S. national anthem.

“I think it’s good that he took a stand,” Riley, who became the National Hockey League’s third black player when he skated for  the Washington Capitals in 1974-75, told me. “Something had to be done.”

Brown conducted his protest in Sunrise, Florida, before the Lightning faced the home team Florida Panthers.

Riley, 67, saw it on TV from his Nova Scotia home. He watches a lot of U.S. news when he’s at home and is unnerved by what he sees: a deadly rally in Charlottesville, Va., organized by neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan supporters;  a spate of high-profile killings of African-Americans by law enforcement officers from Ferguson, Missouri, to Staten Island, New York; and a president who seems more concerned by National Football League players taking knees to protest the treatment of African-Americans than the damage Hurricane Maria caused to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Trump lashed out at athletes who protest during the national anthem, accusing them of displaying a total disrespect for the American flag, a “total disrespect of our heritage, a total disrespect of everything that we stand for.”

Riley respectfully disagrees.

Bill Riley, the NHL’s third black player, played in an era when black players didn’t talk publicly about the racial abuse they endured, let alone speak out about political topics.

“They’re not trying to cause trouble. They’re doing things in a peaceful way,” he told me. “They’re not disrespecting the flag, like people are saying. They are not doing it to disrespect the flag. They’re just trying to make a point.”

This from a hard-nosed, old-school former player who skated in an era when black players rarely spoke out publicly about the racial abuse they endured from fans, opposing players, and even teammates. Forget about taking a political stand.

“A lot of stuff you had to pretend you didn’t hear,” Riley told me. “Because you didn’t want to become a problem because they’d get rid of you.”

Riley said he hopes that doesn’t happen to Brown. The 27-year-old right wing isn’t a superstar – he tallied only 3 goals and 3 assists in 64 games with the lightning in 2016-17. But he is a popular player and active in the Tampa Bay community, especially when it comes to introducing the area’s kids of color to hockey.

Brown has taken some heat from fans for his protest  Saturday. But he’s also received support from Riley and others in the hockey world.

Riley said Brown’s defiant stance Saturday was refreshing and he hopes other NHL players follow his lead.

“I’d like to see more of the white players stand with some of these black guys,” he told me.

Brown told The Tampa Bay Times Joe Smith  that he raised his fist because “I wanted to do something to show my support.”

“There are some issues that we have to talk about,” Brown told Smith. “In my mind, I’m just trying to bring awareness and any type of conversation we can get started would be great.”

He elaborated further in a lengthy tweet Sunday, saying “there comes a time when you cannot remain silent, hoping and wishing for change.”

“I also want to reiterate that this is not and never has been about about the military or disrespecting the flag,” he tweeted. “It is about police brutality, racial injustice, and inequality in this country.It is something that I and many others feel needs to be addressed. I love my country, but that doesn’t mean I cannot acknowledge that it is not perfect.”

Brown added that “I have been through my fair share of racism both on and off the ice.” He said he’s received death threats and racist comments since his protest.

Brown, the son of former Minnesota Vikings running back Ted Brown, hasn’t been afraid to speak his mind on matters of race and politics. In September, he reached into his pockets and donated $1,500 to help get a Confederate monument removed from Tampa’s downtown courthouse.

He criticized Columbus Blue Jackets Head Coach Mike Tortorella in September 2016 for  vowing to bench any player  any player on the U.S. World Cup of Hockey team who conducted a protest during the national anthem as former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick did last season.

“Wouldn’t benching a black man for taking a stance only further prove Kap’s point of oppression? But hey,” Brown wrote in a tweet that went viral.

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Tyler Inamoto follows Samurai code on path to NHL after 2017 draft

24 Saturday Jun 2017

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CHICAGO – Tyler Inamoto talks about playing hockey the right way.

Florida Panthers draftee Tyler Inamoto (Photo/Len Redkoles).

He also talks about playing it the Samurai way.

“Hockey is a lot of courage and passion and a lot of integrity,” said Inamoto, a defenseman for the USA Hockey National Development Team. “The principles of the Samurai code is pretty applicable to hockey.”

Inamoto hopes to employ the code playing for the Florida Panthers, which took the 6-foot-2 defenseman in the fifth round with the 133rd overall pick in the 2017 National Hockey League Draft in Chicago Saturday.

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“I was just honored to be picked by the Florida Panthers and look forward to the opportunity to play for them some day,” said Inamoto, who grew up in the Chicago area.

However, Inamoto won’t be suiting up for the Panthers soon. He’ll start playing for the University of Wisconsin and head coach Tony Granato this fall. NHL Central Scouting ranked Inamoto as the 68th-best North American skater eligible for the draft.

Granato calls him a big, mean defenseman whom he expects to contribute to the Badgers almost immediately.

“He’ll be a physical impact player right away next year,” Granato said.

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Inamoto joins a growing list of players of Asian heritage who were drafted in this weekend’s draft and previous NHL drafts in recent years.

Inamoto is of Japanese descent and learned a lot about his heritage – including the Samurai code – from his grandfather, Fujio Inamoto, who was placed in a British Columbia internment camp during World War II. He passed away in 2014.

“He taught me a lot about hard work and perseverance, as well, because coming out of internment camp, he had to work hard to support the family since he lost all (his) land,” the younger Inamoto told The Chicago Tribune. “…And he persevered through all that. I learned a lot from him.”

They are lessons that he doesn’t take lightly. He hopes to make history by becoming one of the few players of Japanese heritage to reach the NHL.

“It’s a big deal – there aren’t too many Japanese hockey players out there,” said Inamoto, who was born in New Jersey but raised in suburban Chicago. “So if I can be an influence to some of those guys growing up and inspire them to play hockey, I definitely take that very seriously and I’ll do my best to be a good role model to them.”

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Asia rising in hockey ahead of Winter Olympics in South Korea and China

14 Sunday May 2017

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Asia rising?

In ice hockey, it sure seems like it.

South Korea Assistant Hockey Coach Richard Park (Photo/Minnesota Wild/Bruce Kluckhohn).

From the winning exploits of  teams from the continent in recent international tournaments to players of Asian heritage poised to be picked in the 2017 National Hockey League Draft, to skaters of Chinese and Malaysian descent who were selected in previous drafts, hockey appears to be gaining ground in Asian nations and Asian communities in North America.

The interest could grow even more once pucks are dropped at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, and  the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China.

“I think it’s a testament to the growth of the game,” Richard Park, a retired NHL forward and an assistant coach for the South Korean national team that will compete in the 2018 Winter Games, told me recently. “I think it’s very welcoming,  I think it’s very refreshing. I think it’s a testament again to all these cultures that the game is reaching.”

Park, who’s also a development coach for the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, and retired NHL defenseman Jim Paek, the South Korean men’s national team’s head coach, are helping guide the country of their ancestry up the world hockey ladder.

They coached South Korea to a dramatic 2-1 shootout win against Ukraine in April, earning a second-place finish at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship Division I Group A tournament in Kiev.

The victory bumped South Korea up to the IIHF’s top division next year, joining the United States, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland and other hockey powers.

“Korea has never ever been close, let alone in the top division in the world of hockey,” said Park, who played 738 NHL games for the Wild, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks and New York Islanders. “It’s huge. It’s big, it’s never been done before. But in saying that, what it leads to in the future is kind of up to not only the media, but the young kids, and the really young next generation in Korea.”

In North America, a next generation of players of Asian descent is already making its presence known. Just take a glimpse at NHL Central Scouting’s player rankings for the June 23-24 draft at Chicago’s United Center.

Owen Sound Attack center Nick Suzuki is ranked as the 10th-best North American skater. The 5-foot-10 native of London, Ontario, was Owen Sound’s second-leading scorer last season with 45 goals and 51 assists in 65 games.

Owen Sound Attack forward Nick Suzuki hopes he’ll be chosen in the 2017 NHL Draft in June (Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images)

His younger brother, forward Ryan Suzuki, was the first player chosen in the 2017 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection Draft in April, plucked by the Barrie Colts.

Kailer Yamamoto is hoping to hear his named called at next month’s NHL draft.  The 5-foot-8 right wing for the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs is ranked as the 17th-best North American skater by Central Scouting.

Spokane Chiefs’ Kailer Yamamoto is the 17th-ranked North American skater by NHL Central Scouting (Photo/Larry Brunt/Spokane Chiefs).

A Spokane native of Japanese and Hawaiian heritage, Yamamoto led the Chiefs in scoring in 2016-17 with 42 goals and 47 assists in 65 games. His older brother, Keanu, was Spokane’s fourth-leading scorer last season with 26 goals and 43 assists in 72 games.

USA hockey National Team Development Program defenseman Tyler Inamoto (Photo/Rena Laverty/USA Hockey).

Whether he’s drafted or not, defenseman Tyler Inamoto knows where he’s headed this fall. The 6-foot-2 blue-liner for the USA Hockey National Development Team, ranked the 68th-best North American skater, will be skating for the University of Wisconsin Badgers in 2017-18.

“He’s big, strong and has a mean streak,” said Badgers Head Coach Tony Granato, who enjoyed a long and prolific NHL career, “He’ll be a physical impact player right away next year.”

If drafted, Inamoto, Yamamoto and Suzuki, hope to join a small but growing list of players of Asian heritage who are on NHL career paths.

Center Cliff Pu, Buffalo Sabres’ third-round draft pick in 2016.

Last year, the Buffalo Sabres took London Knights forward Cliff Pu in the third round with the 69th overall pick in the NHL Draft. Pu led the Knights in scoring in 2016-17 with 35 goals and 51 assists in 63 regular season games.

The Florida Panthers chose Peterborough Petes forward Jonathan Ang in the fourth round with the 94th overall pick of the 2016 draft.

Ang, the first player of Malaysian heritage to be drafted by an NHL team, was the Petes’ third-leading scorer in 2016-17 with 27 goals and 32 assists in 69 games.

Andong Song also made history when the New York Islanders selected the Beijing-born defenseman in the sixth round with the 172nd pick of the 2015 draft.

Song, who has committed to play hockey for Cornell University in 2018-19, will likely be a key member of China’s hockey team for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Beijing.

George Chiang’s voice fills with pride and hope when he talks about players like Pu and

Forward Jonathan Ang, the Florida Panthers’ 4th-round pick in, 2016.

Ang.

“Cliff Pu has good size and plays for the London Knights, which is great,” Chiang told me recently. “Jonathan Ang just seems to become a better player every year in the Ontario Hockey League. It’s kind of cool seeing those guys.

Chiang is a Canadian hockey dad. His 14-year-old son, Lee Chiang,  played for Lac St. Louis Lions Nord bantam AAA team in Quebec last season and will likely be selected by an OHL team in the league’s priority draft next year.

The elder Chiang dreamed of pursuing a pro career when he was younger. But that dream was stymied by his parents, immigrants to Canada from Taiwan, who initially forbade him from playing hockey.

Lee Chiang playing for the North York Rangers in 2015.

” I came from immigrant parents and they didn’t understand hockey. I begged every year since I was five,” Chiang, 47, told me recently.  “They put me in baseball because they understood baseball. It’s the national sport of Taiwan. Finally, when I was 12 they let me play on a (hockey) team.”

Unlike his folks, Chiang didn’t hesitate in allowing his son to lace up the skates and grab a stick.

“My plan was to also put him in baseball, but he ended up hating baseball and he loved hockey,” George Chiang told me. “He’s a hockey player.”

 

 

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The 2016 NHL Draft, a diversity recap

27 Monday Jun 2016

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Once the whirlwind of the two-day, seven-round 2016 National Hockey League Draft was complete, five players of color or minority ethnic heritage were selected, including the Number One overall pick.

Here’s a Color of Hockey snapshot of the five player chosen.

The Toronto Maple Leafs surprised no one and took forward Auston Matthews with the first pick. You want diversity? Matthews is it. The son of a Mexican mother and a California dad, Matthews began playing hockey in Arizona, a state that is slowly gaining a reputation for the sport beyond the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

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“I think it’s been great not only for Arizona, but the whole southwestern region,” said of his selection. “It’s continuing to grow, and it’s just cool to be a part of it.”

Matthews is supposed to be The Next One, a can’t miss superstar a la Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros, and Sidney Crosby.

That’s a heavy burden for a 18-year-old to carry, especially in the hockey pressure-cooker that is Toronto. But at 6-foot-2, 216 pounds, Matthews can shoulder the load.

He already has pro hockey experience, having played last season for the ZSC Lions in Switzerland’s top league.  He scored 24 goals and 22 assists in 36 games regular season games for the Lions and had 3 assists in four playoff games.

Matthews also played for the United States in 2015-16, tallying 7 goals and 4 assists in 7 games of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championship and 6 goals and 3 assists in the IIHF World Championship.

The Detroit Red Wings took right wing Givani Smith of the Ontario Hockey League’s Guelph Storm in the draft’s second round with the 46th overall pick. The 6-foot-1, 216-pound forward was second on the Storm in scoring in 2015-16 with 23 goals and 19 assists in 65 regular season games.

Detroit Red Wings 2016 draftee Givani Smith (center) patterns his game after Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds (Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).

Detroit Red Wings 2016 draftee Givani Smith (center) patterns his game after Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds (Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).

Smith said his game is similar to the way rugged Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds plays.

“The way he plays his game, he a force on the ice,” Smith said. “He scores goals right in front of the net, and that’s where I like to score. He’s a good skater, he finishes checks, and he’s not scared to fight.”

Right wing Cliff Pu of the OHL’s London Knights didn’t have to go far to check out the facilities and offices of the team that drafted him. He was taken by the Buffalo Sabres, host of this year’s draft, in the third round with the 69th overall pick.

On a London Knights team filled with stars, forward Cliff Pu's all-around game impressed the Buffalo Sabres (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

On a London Knights team filled with stars, forward Cliff Pu’s all-around game impressed the Buffalo Sabres (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

On a star-studded team Knights team, Pu scored 12 goals and 19 assists in 63 regular season games. However, the 6-foot-1, 185-forward was a scoring machine in the OHL playoffs with 8 goals and 5 assists in 18 games.

Pu said he’s proud to be drafted by the Sabres, but he’s even prouder of his parents who moved to Canada from China. Pu’s father, Jun, arrived when he was 25. His wife joined him a year later.

“Coming over from a different country isn’t easy, and he came over with a few hundred bucks in his pocket,” Cliff Pu told reporters. “I’m really proud of him.”

The Sabres have been one of the NHL’s more aggressive teams when it comes to drafting or signing minority players. They drafted right wing Justin Bailey – second round, 52nd overall – and right wing Nick Baptiste – third round, 69th overall – in 2013. The organization  signed left wing Evan Rodrigues, a former Boston University star, in 2015.

The Maple Leafs nabbed U.S.-born defenseman James “J.D.” Greenway in the draft’s third round with the 72nd overall pick.  A member of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, the 18-year-old 6-foot-4, 205-pound New York native had 5 goals and 23 assists in 68 games for the U.S. National Under-18 team.

Toronto Maple Leafs draftee James Greenway will play for U of Wisconsin this winter..

Toronto Maple Leafs draftee James Greenway will play for U of Wisconsin this winter..

Greenway is the newest member of the NHL Draft’s black brothers brotherhood. His older brother, Jordan Greenway, was a second-round, 50th overall pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2015.

In addition, there’s the Smith brothers – Givani, who was drafted earlier on Saturday, and Gemel, a 2012 Dallas Stars fourth round pick,  the 104th overall.

And the Jones boys – Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, first round, 4th overall in 2013 by the Nashville Predators; defenseman Caleb Jones, fourth round, 117th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2015.

And, of course, there’s the Subban clan  – defenseman P.K, Montreal Canadiens, second round, 43rd overall in 2007; goaltender Malcolm,  Boston Bruins, first round, 24th overall in 2012; and defenseman Jordan, Vancouver Canucks, fourth round, 115th overall in 2013.

Peterborough Petes center Jonathan Ang admitted that he didn’t actually hear his name called when the Florida Panthers took him in the fourth round with the 94th overall pick. He was taking a bathroom break at the time.

But that didn’t diminish the thrill of being picked or the history he likely made. Ang is probably the first player of Malaysian heritage to be drafted by an NHL team.

Florida Panthers draftee Jonathan Ang (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

Florida Panthers draftee Jonathan Ang (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

He finished fourth on the OHL  Petes in scoring in 2015-16 with 21 goals and 28 assists in 68 games.

The 5-11, 160-pound Ang led the Petes in playoff scoring, tallying 3 goals and 6 assists in seven games with one playoff game-winning goal.

Miami ice: Randy Hernandez joins U.S. National Team Development Program

10 Thursday Sep 2015

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Most kids who grow up in Miami, Florida, and dream of becoming professional athletes usually think football – the unofficial religion of the U.S. South – basketball, baseball, or even soccer.

Randy Hernandez thinks ice hockey. And his dream has taken him from a novice skater who first laced up a pair of skates at a cousin’s birthday party at age six to a member of the prestigious U.S. National Team Development Program’s Under-17 squad.

Randy Hernandez will play for the NTDP in the USHL (Photo/Rena Laverty).

Randy Hernandez will play for the NTDP in the USHL (Photo/Rena Laverty).

Hernandez was named to the team after finishing one full season of AAA hockey with the Florida Alliance in which he tallied 53 goals, 40 assists in 54 games at center. In addition to USA Hockey, Hernandez’s play caught the attention of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, an Ontario Hockey League major junior team. The Greyhounds drafted him in the 13th-round in April with the 261st overall pick.

“I don’t think I’m ready to play for major juniors right now,” Hernandez told me recently. “NTDP will help me grow as a player, and then I’ll make a decision between the OHL and college when I’m done.”

In the meantime, he is slated to play 35 games in the 2015-16 season for the U.S. National Under 17 team that competes in the United States Hockey League, a feeder league for several NCAA Division I hockey programs. The team is located in Plymouth. Mich., a long way from sunny Miami.

“My mom’s definitely a little bit nervous that I’m staying here with a new family, of course,” said Hernandez, 16. “But my family is happy for me because they know that this is what I want to do. I’m going to leave my parents and it’s going to be a little tough on me, but this is obviously the sport that I want to play and I want to get as far as I can in it. I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”

In many ways, Hernandez’s ascension in hockey is the typical All-American story of a kid who falls in love with the game and chases the dream of playing in the National Hockey League.

But Randy Hernandez’s story is far from typical. He is the son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in Florida 20 years ago. His father, Roberto, is a trucker and his mother, Marlen, a stay-at-home parent.

His grandfather, Dr. Fernando Gonzalez, is a psychiatrist who came to Miami from Cuba via Spain in 1972. He was the one who took Hernandez to the birthday party at Miami’s Kendall Ice Arena, where he immediately fell in love with skating.

“My grandfather, he actually pushed me to play hockey – he wanted me to try a new sport,” Hernandez recalled. “He’s the one who helps me out with hockey. He’s gone to all my games, he’s really supportive of me. He’s also paid for my hockey, and I’m really grateful for that.”

After a big season of AAA hockey in Florida, Randy Hernandez will play two seasons for the NTDP team in Plymouth, Michigan (Photo/Rena Laverty).

After a big season of AAA hockey in Florida, Randy Hernandez will play two seasons for the NTDP team in Plymouth, Michigan (Photo/Rena Laverty).

After the birthday party, Gonzalez enrolled his grandson in skating lessons. Hernandez’s progress on the ice was noticed by coaches of the AA Miami Toros and they approached Gonzalez about his grandson give hockey a try.

“I didn’t even know hockey existed,” Gonzalez recalled. “I was a fan of baseball.”

Hernandez said he quickly took to hockey and started to notice that by age 8 he was a little faster than the other players.

“When I was 12 or 13 and when I started going up North with my Florida team to play against AAA teams, that’s when I thought I might have a shot” at a pro career, he said.

In March, Hernandez was invited to the NTDP’s evaluation camp, where he skated with players from hockey powerhouses like Massachusetts’ Cushing Academy, Minnesota’s Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, Michigan’s Compuware minor midget program, and Philadelphia’s Team Comcast minor midget team.

John Arceo, a Miami Toros coach, said he wasn’t surprised that Hernandez was able to compete with players from New England and Minnesota, despite coming from the land of palm trees, South Beach and KC & the Sunshine Band.

“He has a professional hockey player’s work ethic,”  Arceo told me. “He’s the first kid on the ice, the first kid in drills, the first kid in off-ice training. Even as a 10-year-old, he had that ethic.”

And these days, his rise has parts of Miami talking. Octavio Sequera, a reporter for ESPN Deportes Miami who does color analysis in Spanish for Florida Panthers broadcasts, calls Hernandez’s move to the national development team “huge.”

“For Florida, especially the city of Miami, it means a lot because he’s the first one, the first one from the Kendall Ice Arena, the South Florida area, to be selected for USA Hockey,” Sequera told me. “He will be like a pioneer, in that sense. Randy will be the first Cuban – I say Cuban because of his parents – to be selected from Miami.”

Sequera said that Hernandez’s selection to the NTDP shows that hockey is gaining traction in South Florida’s Hispanic community, fueled by the Panthers. Last season, the broadcast seven games in Spanish. It will carry all 41 home games in Spanish for the 2015-16 season. The Panthers have one Hispanic player, Cuban-American goaltender Al Montoya.

“Here at ESPN Deportes we’re working on a campaign where we can actually bring more kids to the games, more Randy Hernandezes,” Sequera said. “There are a lot of other kids that see Randy as an example. Not only that, a lot of Hispanic parents are taking Randy’s story as an example.”

Sequera included. He enrolled his five-year-old son in a learn to play hockey program at the Kendall arena and he marvels at what he sees and hears on the ice and in the stands.

“The kids know the game, love the game, so now their parents are getting involved,” he told me. “You go to the bleachers, you go to the stands, you see a lot of people speaking in Spanish trying to learn about the game, and the kids are the ones teaching the parents what the game is all about. It’s very nice to see.”

 

 

Announcer’s gooooaaalll! is for more Florida Panthers games broadcast in Spanish

01 Saturday Nov 2014

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Play-by-play announcers for National Hockey League teams called a total of 49 goals in 10 games that were on the league’s schedule Thursday night. The calls ranged from the mundane “He shoots, he scores” to more rousing acknowledgements of players putting the biscuits in the baskets.

Panthers' Scottie Upshall's goals will never sound the same after Arley Londono's call Thursday.

Panthers’ Scottie Upshall’s goals will never sound the same after Arley Londono’s call Thursday.

But the calls of that night belonged to Arley Londono, who rocked the play-by-play mike in the Florida Panthers’ 2-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes. The game was the he first of three that the Panthers will broadcast on two Spanish-language radio stations this season. Fox Sports Florida made Thursday’s radio broadcast available for television via SAP.

Londono, who was the Panthers’ original Spanish-language announcer from the team’s inaugural season in 1993 to 1996, brought his hockey knowledge and a touch of World Cup soccer flair to the Thursday’s broadcast, as evidenced by Panthers goals from forwards Brandon Pirri and Scottie Upshall.

Londono was no doubt pumped about being back on the air calling a sport that he loves and hopes will catch on with the Miami-area’s large Spanish-speaking community.

“For me it’s a special moment,” Londono told the Sun-Sentinel of Broward and South Palm Beach countines before Thursday’s game. “Now with (Cuban-American goaltender) Al Montoya on the team, it’s a great challenge to restart the mission to teach hockey to the Spanish community.”

He hopes that this season’s Spanish-language broadcasts on ESPN Deportes 1210 AM in Miami and ESPN Deportes 760 in West Palm Beach will be successful enough to persuade the team’s management to offer Panthers’ entire 2015-16 season in Spanish.

“That is the mission right now, to connect the Spanish population with this sport,” he told the Sun-Sentinel, and I hope next year we’ll have it all season.”