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More than a dozen players of color are eligible for Vegas in NHL expansion draft

19 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Boston Bruins, Devante Smith-Pelly, Jarome Iginla, Los Angeles Kings, Malcolm Subban, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Pierre -Edouard Bellemare, T.J. Oshie, Washington Capitals

Some of the National Hockey League’s players of color are feeling a draft.

At least 17 minority players are among the players left unprotected by the NHL’s 30 teams for Wednesday’s Expansion Draft to help form the inaugural roster for the Vegas Golden Knights.

The players of color made available – a nicer phrase than “unprotected” – include a likely future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee,  three multiple Stanley Cup winners, three Olympians, and a few minor league prospects.

A look at the 2017 Expansion Draft rules https://t.co/lFspa7bG3e via @NHL

— Patrick Frithiof (@Barbabrorsan) April 16, 2017

Here’s a summary of the players available:

ANAHEIM DUCKS

Emerson Etem, left wing. The 29th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, Etem has bounced from the Ducks to the New York Rangers to the Vancouver Canucks and back to the Ducks. And he’s boomeranged between Anaheim and its American Hockey League affiliate in San Diego.

He only appeared in three games for the Ducks in 2016-17 and was held scoreless. He does have 22 goals and 24 assists in 173 NHL regular season games and 6 goals and 2 assists in 23 playoff games.

BOSTON BRUINS

Malcolm Subban, a Boston Bruins’ 2012 first-round pick. Could he be Vegas-bound?

Malcolm Subban, goaltender. Subban was 24th player picked in the 2012 NHL Draft but has been unable to secure a spot on a Bruins roster that features Tuuka Rask between the pipes. Rask won the Vezina Trophy in 2013-14 as the NHL’s best goaltender.

The younger brother of Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban, Malcolm Subban appeared in 32 games last season for the Providence Bruins, Boston’s AHL farm team. His stats: 11 wins, 14 losses, a 2.41 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. He had 2 losses in the AHL playoffs and sported a 2.12 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

Johnny Oduya, defense. Oduya was a member of the 2013 and 2015 Chicago Stanley Cup teams and the Swedish team that won the Silver Medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. He had 2 goals and 7 assists in 52 regular season games for the Blackhawks last season. He has 37 goals and 145 assists in 798 career regular season contests and 6 goals and 22 assists in 106 career playoff games.

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Jordin Tootoo, right wing. The diminutive dynamo of Inuit heritage was limited to 2 goals and 1 assist in 50 regular season games in 2016-17. He has 65 goals and 96 assists in 723 games with Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, and the New Jersey Devils.

DALLAS STARS

Forward Gemel Smith, the Dallas Stars’ 2012 fourth-round pick..

Gemel Smith, center. The Stars took the 23-year-old in the fourth round with the 104th overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft. He hasn’t seen much time in Big D.  He scored 3 goals and 3 assists in 17 regular season games for Dallas in 2016-17.

His younger brother, forward Giavani Smith, was taken by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round with the 46th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

EDMONTON OILERS

Jujhar Khaira, center. Khaira was one of the feel-good stories of the 2016-17 season when he scored his first NHL goal –  a source of pride for North America’s South Asian community. The Oilers took Khaira in the third round with the 63rd overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft. His one goal and 2 assists were his only points in 10 games for the Oilers in 2016-17.

LOS ANGELES KINGS 

Jarome Iginla, right wing.  Iginla, 39, is one of hockey’s most-decorated players. He’s a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner, and a recipient of the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s leading goal scorer in 2002 and 2004 and the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer in 2002. He won the Lester B. Pearson Award – the most valuable player award voted by the players – in 2002.

Iginla, a sure-fire Hall of Famer when he retires, had 14 goals and 13 assists in 80 games for the Kings in 2016-17.

Jordan Nolan, center. A proud member of the Ojibwe Nation, Nolan played for the Kings’ Stanley Cup championship teams in 2012 and 2014. Nolan, the son of former Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Ted Nolan, appeared in only 46 games for the Kings last season and tallied 4 goals and 4 assists.

MINNESOTA WILD

Matt Dumba, defense.  Of Filipino heritage, Dumba posted a career-best 11 goals and 23 assists in 76 games. His plus/minus – an indicator of defensive responsibility – improved from plus-1 in 2015-16 to plus-15 in 2016-17.

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Al Montoya, goaltender, Montreal Canadiens

Al Montoya, goaltender. The well-traveled Cuban-American goaltender could be on the move again. A 2004 first-round of the Rangers,  Montoya has strapped on the pads for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers,  Phoenix Coyotes, and Winnipeg Jets before he seemingly settled in as Carey Price’s backup in Montreal.

Montoya appeared in 19 games for the Habs, posted an 8-6-4 record with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

Devante Smith-Pelly, right wing. Devo is coming off a down season in New Jersey, his third team since the Ducks chose him with in the second round with the 42nd overall pick in the 2010 draft. He scored only 4 goals and 5 assists in 50 games.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Christopher Gibson, goaltender. The black Finn didn’t play a minute in Brooklyn in 2016-17 and had a short season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Isles’ AHL team. There, he appeared in seven games and won 6. He had a 2.52 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.

Gibson played in four NHL games in 2015-16, posted a 1-1-1 record with a 3.40 goals-against average and an .882 save percentage.

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PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

Philadelphia Flyers LW Pierre Edouard Bellemare

Pierre-Edourard Bellemare, left wing. The French player probably enjoyed his most memorable season in 2016-17. It started with the World Cup of Hockey, where the fourth-line Flyers player became a key contributor for Team Europe and ended with him playing before his countrymen at the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship in Paris.

In between, Bellemare had a solid enough year for the Flyers that the team re-signed him to a two-year deal at $1.45 million per year and made him an assistant captain. The 32-year-old checking line forward scored 4 goals and 4 assists in 82 regular season games. He has 17 goals and 17 assists in 237 career NHL games.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Trevor Daley, defense. Daley is experiencing the cruel business side of hockey. Win a Stanley Cup one week, get exposed to the expansion draft the next.  The 33-year-old offensively-talented and defensively-responsible player began his NHL career with the Dallas Stars in 2003-04. Daley reached the 20-point mark seven times during his tenure with Dallas.

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He had 5 goals and 15 assists in 56 games for the Penguins in 2016-17 and tallied 1 goal and 4 assists in 21 playoff games that ended with him winning a second Stanley Cup. Daley 78 goals and 200 assists in 894 career NHL regular season games.

SAN JOSE SHARKS

Joel Ward, right wing.  Injuries in 2016-17 hampered the 36-year-old wing who earned a reputation as a clutch playoff performer during his NHL career. He scored 10 goals and 19 assists in 78 regular season games and 1 goal and 3 assists in six playoff games.

He’s tallied 22 goals and 30 assists in 83 playoff games for San Jose, Nashville, and the Washington Capitals.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

J.T. Brown, right wing. A tough player who isn’t afraid to speak his mind on social issues, Brown had 3 goals and 3 assists for the Lightning last season. He has 18 goals and 39 assists in 262 NHL regular season games.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

T.J. Oshie, right wing. Why in the world would the Capitals expose a player who notched 33 goals and 23 assists in 68 games last season? Our friends at the Russian Machine Never Breaks Capitals fan site break it down to money and uncertainty. Oshie needs a new contract and the NHL currently isn’t sure what the league salary cap will be next season. And Oshie could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.  All that might be enough for the Golden Knights to pass on him, leaving the Caps to move forward with a new deal once the 2017-18 salary cap is set.

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Introducing the All-Time Color of Hockey team

11 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

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Alec Martinez, Grant Fuhr, Jarome Iginla, Jim Neilson, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins., Ray Emery, Trevor Daley

We’ve picked the 2016-17 Color of Hockey All-Star team, but who would be on the greatest team of players of color of all time?

My choices span eras – from a time when goalies stood up and sticks were actually made of all wood – to today’s fast-paced, high-tech game. You’ll recognize some of the players chosen for the team while others named may not be familiar to new hockey fans.

Let’s be clear, this isn’t affirmative action on ice. These current and former players have distinguished themselves at hockey’s highest levels – their Stanley Cup rings, NHL awards, Olympic medals or Hockey Hall of Fame inductions prove that.

So who would you choose for your all-time team? Share your picks via the Color of Hockey Facebook page or Twitter @ColorOfHockey.

In the meantime, let the debate begin!

Grant Fuhr, goaltender. Owner of five Stanley Cup rings, a seven-time National Hockey League All-Star,  the first black player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003, and one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players, Fuhr is a no-brainer to be the All-Time team’s starting netminder.

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Fuhr won all five Cups with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s and early 1990s. But he also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs,  Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, and Los Angeles Kings in an NHL career that spanned from 1981-82 to 1999-00.

A 1988 Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s best goaltender, Fuhr is only one of six NHL goalies with over 400 wins.

His stats: 403 wins, 295 losses, 114 ties and a 3.38 goals-against average in 867 NHL games. Not bad for a player who many thought was washed up after a season with the Kings in 1994-95.  His career was resurrected by a trade to the Blues and hooking up with fitness guru Bob Kersee, husband and trainer of Olympic Gold Medal sprinter Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Fuhr gave a special shout-out in his Hall of Fame induction speech to another person who influenced his life and career – Willie O’Ree, the NHL’s first black player.

“It just shows that hockey is such a diverse sport that anybody can be successful in it,” Fuhr said in 2003. “I’m proud of that, and I thank Willie for that.”

Jarome Iginla become the NHL’s second black captain as a member of the Calgary Flames.

Jarome Iginla, right wing. Iggy will be the second black NHL player in the Hall of Fame after he retires. He should be a first-ballot inductee just for the length of his full name: Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tij Junior Elvis Iginla.

Iginla, whose father is Nigerian, is one of Canada’s most-decorated and loved players. He scored two goals that helped power Canada to a 5-2 win over the U.S. at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City that gave the True North its first Olympic hockey Gold Medal in 50 years.

He scored 5 goals at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, but he’s best known for his assist on Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal that clinched another Gold Medal for Canada over the U.S.

Iginla has 625 goals, 675 assists in 1,554 NHL games, most of them with the Flames from 1996-97 to 2012-13.  He has 37 goals and 31 assists in 81 playoff games.

He won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s leading goal scorer in 2002 and 2004 and the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer in 2002. He won the Lester B. Pearson Award – the most valuable player award voted by the players – in 2002.

But it’s the big trophy, the Stanley Cup, that Iginla covets most to cap his career. That Cup quest has taken him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings.

An aside: With all his accomplishments, why was Iginla left off the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players list? Just asking.

You missed someone. pic.twitter.com/BhvoW7oZ29

— Leah Kessel (@leahflame) January 28, 2017

Bryan Trottier, center. A seven-time Stanley Cup winner – four straight with the New York Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach for the Avalanche – an eight-time NHL All-Star, and winner of both the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP and the Art Ross Trophy as its top scorer in 1979.

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Of Metis, Chippewa, and Cree heritage, Trottier was the glue of the Islanders’ Cup dynasty.  He won the Calder Cup as the NHL’s best rookie in 1975-76, a season in which he scored 32 goals and 63 assists.

He played 1,279 NHL regular season games between 1975-76 to 1993-94 and tallied 524 goals and 901 assists. He notched 71 goals and 113 assists in 221 playoff games for the Islanders and Penguins. He also performed a rare feat by representing the United States and Canada in international competition.

Trottier entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997 and is on the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players list.

Paul Kariya, left wing. One of the mightiest of the then-named Mighty Ducks of Anaheim when it came to goal scoring.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound wing played 15 seasons NHL with Anaheim, Colorado, St. Louis and the Nashville Predators. He scored 402 goals and 587 assists in 989 regular season games and 16 goals, 23 assists in 46 playoff contests.

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He led the University of Maine Black Bears to the 1993 NCAA Division I championship and won the Hobey Baker Award that year as U.S. college hockey’s best player. The Mighty Ducks chose him with the fourth overall pick in the 1993 NHL Draft.

Kariya was named to the NHL’s All-Rookie team in 1995 and was an NHL All-Star in 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2002-03.

Kariya, whose Japanese-Canadian father was born in an internment camp during World War II, played on Canada’s 1994 Silver Medal-winning Winter Olympics squad and on the 2002 Olympic team.

Jim Neilson, defense. Nicknamed “Chief,” Neilson played at the dawn of the era of rushing defensemen like Bobby Orr and Brad Park. Part Cree, part Dane, Neilson was a 6-foot-2, 205-pound defenseman who was agile enough to occasionally play left wing.

N.Y. Rangers defenseman Jim Neilson zeroes in on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Loren “Gump” Worsley (Photo/Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame).

But D was where Neilson’s heart and mindset were and he helped solidify the Rangers’ blue line from 1962-63 to 1973-74. He finished his career playing for the old California Golden Seals, Cleveland Barons and the WHA’s Edmonton Oilers.

“I don’t go out of my way to score goals,” Neilson once told Inside Hockey. “I get a much better feeling when I break up a scoring play or block a shot.”

Neilson scored 69 goals and 299 assists in 1,023 NHL games and 2 goals and 16 assists in 65 post-season contests.

His numbers aren’t as eye-popping as offensive-minded Hall of Famers Orr, Park, Paul Coffey, and Ray Bourque. But his talent level can’t be disputed. He was an NHL All-Star in 1966-67, 1969-70, and 1970-71.

Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban.

P.K. Subban, defense. Subban is currently in his playing prime, yet he’s already accomplished enough to earn a spot on this list.

He won the James Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman in 2013. He was a member of the Canadian team that won the Gold Medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi – although he only played 11 minutes during the entire tournament. He helped Canada capture gold at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship tournaments in 2008 and 2009.

He has 73 goals and 245 assists in in 500 NHL regular season games and 13 goals and 36 assists in 74 career playoff games. Most of his career points came as a member of the Canadiens, the team that selected him in the second round with the 43rd overall pick of the 2007 NHL Draft.

Subban anticipated being a Canadien for life, establishing roots in Montreal and pledging $10 million to Montreal Children’s Hospital – the largest philanthropic commitment by any athlete in Canadian history.

But Subban was sent to the Predators in June 2016 in a controversial trade for defenseman Shea Weber.

SECOND TEAM

Ray Emery, goaltender. A netminder known for dropping the gloves as well as using them to make dramatic saves, Emery’s career is a tale of two goalies. He was the brash youngster who led the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006-07.

Goaltender Ray Emery played for four NHL teams in his career.

After suffering a career-threatening hip injury, he morphed into a steady, mature veteran who served as a backup goalie on the 2013 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. But even as an aging vet, Sugar Ray enjoyed fisticuffs.

Still, Emery, a 2001 Ottawa fourth-round draft pick, was one of the best puck-stoppers in the business. He compiled a 145-86-28 win/loss/overtime loss record in 287 regular season games from 2002-03 to 2014-15.

He appeared in 39 playoff games for Ottawa, Philadelphia and Anaheim and had a 21-17 record.

Tony McKegney, left wing. McKegney was the NHL’s first high-scoring black player, the first to score more than 20 goals in a season.

He scored 20 or more goals for five straight seasons from 1979-80 to 1983-84. His best season: 40 goals and 38 assists in 80 games for the Blues in 1987-88.

McKegney tallied 320 goals and 319 assists in 912 games from 1978-79 to 1990-91 for Buffalo, St. Louis, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.

McKegney’s route to the NHL was rooted in racism. He initially signed a contract with the Birmingham Bulls of the defunct World Hockey Association, but the team’s owner had second thoughts after fans in Alabama complained about the prospect of having a black player on the team’s roster. So McKegney, the 32nd player chosen in the 1978 NHL Draft, joined Buffalo instead.

Tony McKegney was a high-scoring forward for Buffalo, St. Louis, Detroit, Quebec, N.Y. Rangers. and Minnesota North Stars (Photo/Buffalo Sabres Archives).

Angela James, center. The first woman of color inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010, James was a trailblazer regarded as the Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey. She was a dominant player in the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association in the late 1970s and a fixture on Canada’s international women’s teams.

She led Canada to a Gold Medal at the first International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship in 1990, scoring 11 goals in five games. She powered Canada to gold medals in 1992 in Finland, 1994 in Lake Placid, and 1997 in Kitchener, Ontario.

James was also a force for Canada on gold medal teams in 1996 and 1999 at the Three Nations Cup tournament.

Despite those impressive credentials, Canada left James off its roster for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan- the first Winter Games that women’s hockey was featured.

Canada’s Angela James is one of two black players in the Hockey Hall of Fame (Photo/Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame).

The snub didn’t stop the accolades from rolling in. James was inducted into the Black Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2006.

She was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2008 along with fellow Canadian Geraldine Heaney and the United States’ Cammi Granato. James entered Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

The Canadian Women’s Hockey League introduced the Angela James Bowl, a trophy awarded to the league’s leading scorer, in 2008. An indoor ice rink in Toronto’s Flemingdon Park was renamed the Angela James Arena in 2009, making it one of the few skating facilities in North America named after a black person.

Forward Reggie Leach, Number 27, scored 19 goals in 16 playoff games in 1975-76.

Reggie Leach, right wing. Nicknamed the “Riverton Rifle” for his Manitoba hometown and his lethal shot, Leach scored 381 goals and 285 assists in 934 NHL regular season games with the Flyers, Bruins, Red Wings, and California Golden Seals from 1970-71 to 1982-83.

He was a prime-time Stanley Cup Playoffs performer with 47 goals and 22 assists in 94 career post-season games.

He scored 19 playoff goals in 1976 – 5 of them in one game against the Bruins. Leach is the only non-goaltender to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable playoff performer while skating for a losing team. The Canadiens defeated the Flyers for the Stanley Cup in 1976.

The proud member of the Ojibwe Nation is the only member of the Philadelphia Flyers’ famed LCB Line – Leach, center Bobby Clarke, and left wing Bill Barber –  who isn’t in the Hockey Hall of Fame, which many hockey aficionados regard as an injustice.

Trevor Daley, D, Pittsburgh Penguins

Trevor Daley, defense. A smooth-skating, offensively-talented and defensively-responsible player who began his NHL career with the Dallas Stars in 2003-04. Daley reached the 20-point mark seven times during his tenure with Dallas.

He has 78 goals and 200 assists in 894 regular season games. He has 6 goals and 11 assists in 69 playoff games – and counting.

An ice-time eater, Daley averaged 21 minutes per game for Dallas between 2008 and 2015. Still, the Stars traded Daley to the Blackhawks for forward Patrick Sharp. After 29 games the Hawks dealt Daley to the Penguins in December 2015.

There, Daley became a cog in Pittsburgh’s drive to the Stanley Cup last year, though an ankle injury prevented him from playing in the Final against the San Jose Sharks.

That didn’t stop Daley from being the first Penguins player to be handed the Cup from team captain Sidney Crosby for a skate after winning it. The gesture fulfilled a wish from Daley’s ailing mother to see her son hoist the Stanley Cup.

A week later, Trudy Daley passed away from cancer at age 51.

Alec Martinez, defense. A two-time Stanley Cup winner, Martinez has been a steady puck-moving defenseman since his first full season the  Kings in 2009-10. Los Angeles selected Martinez from Ohio’s Miami University in the fourth round of the 2007 NHL Draft.

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Since then, Martinez has tallied 48 goals and 99 assists in 419 NHL regular season contests. He has 6 goals and 10 assists in 60 career playoff games.

In 2014, Martinez became the first NHL defenseman to score clinching goals in two playoff series in the same season. One goal was the Game 5 overtime winner against the Rangers that clinched the Stanley Cup for the Kings.

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Black players on NHL teams? The list is long

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, Jarome Iginla, Josh Ho-Sang, Kevin Weekes, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Wayne Simmonds

A reader recently asked me if the New York Islanders had any other black players skate for them besides forward Josh Ho-Sang, a late-season call-up from the minor leagues, and former goaltender-turned-broadcaster Kevin Weekes.

The quick answer is yes: forward Kyle Okposo, who was taken by the Isles with the seventh overall pick in the 2006 National Hockey League Draft, played for the team until he joined the Buffalo Sabres for the 2016-17 season.

Christopher Gibson, a black goaltender from Finland, who appeared in four games last season, and three other players also had stints on Long Island  over the years.

The reader’s question made me realize that a lot of hockey fans,  especially newer ones, may not know that their favorite teams have had several black players on their rosters over the decades.

Every NHL team has had at least two black or biracial players on their rosters. The Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, and New York Rangers have had 12 black players don their jerseys.

Few folks remember that  about 25 percent of 2010-11 roster of the Atlanta Thrashers – now the Winnipeg Jets – was black: Forwards Evander Kane, Anthony Stewart and Nigel Dawes and defensemen Dustin Byfuglien and Johnny Oduya.

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Many of the players hail from traditional hockey areas like Toronto  or St. Paul, Minnesota.  But they also were born in non-traditional hockey places like Zaria, Nigeria,  Kingston, Jamaica,  Port-au-Prince, Haiti,  and Los Angeles, California.

The players run the gamut from those who’ve enjoyed long and Hockey Hall of Fame-worthy careers like Los Angeles Kings forward Jarome Iginla, and retired Oilers goaltending great Grant Fuhr to pugilists like forwards Val James and Donald Brashear to relative newbies like Ho-Sang.

Here’s a list of NHL teams and black players. Abbreviations: C=center, D=defense, G=goaltender, LW=left wing, RW=right wing.

ANAHEIM DUCKS: Emerson Etem, RW; Devante Smith-Pelley, RW; Chris Stewart, RW; Ray Emery, G.

ARIZONA COYOTES/WINNIPEG JETS: Anthony Duclair, LW; Jason Doig, D; Nigel Dawes, LW; Steven Fletcher, LW; Georges Laraque,  RW; Craig Martin, RW; Kenndal McArdle, LW; Eldon “Pokey” Reddick, G; Bill Riley, RW.

BOSTON BRUINS: Jarome Iginla,  Willie O’Ree, LW;  Graeme Townshend, RW; Malcolm Subban, G; Darren Banks,  LW; Anson Carter, RW; Ray Neufeld, RW; Nathan Robinson, C; Sean Brown, D;  Sandy McCarthy, RW.

BUFFALO SABRES: Val James, LW; Tony McKegney, LW; Evander Kane, LW; Mike Grier, RW; Justin Bailey, RW; Nick Baptiste, RW; Grant Fuhr, G;  Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, D; Rumun Ndur, D; Sean McMorrow, LW; Kyle Okposo, RW; Chris Stewart, RW.

CALGARY FLAMES: Akim Aliu, RW; Jarome Iginla, RW; Fred Brathwaite, G: Grant Fuhr, G; Nigel Dawes, LW; Olivier Kylington, D; Tyrone Garner, G.

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CAROLINA HURRICANES/HARTFORD WHALERS: Sandy McCarthy, RW; Anson Carter, RW; Kevin Weekes, G, Ray Neufeld, RW; Derek Joslin, D; Anthony Stewart, RW.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: Tony McKegney;  Dirk Graham, RW; Johnny Oduya, D; Dustin Byfuglien, D;  Ray Emery, G; Trevor Daley, D; Jamal Mayers, RW.

COLORADO AVALANCHE/QUEBEC NORDIQUES: Reggie Savage, C; Chris Stewart, RW; Jarome Iginla; Tony McKegney;  Greg Mauldin, C; Bernie Saunders, LW; Peter Worrell, LW; Shawn Belle, D; Andreas Martinsen, LW.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: Fred Brathwaite, Anson Carter, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Seth Jones, D; Greg Mauldin.

DALLAS STARS/MINNESOTA NORTH STARS: Johnny Oduya, Chris Stewart, Trevor Daley, D; Gemel Smith, C; Maxime Fortunus, D.

DETROIT RED WINGS: Tony McKegney, Nathan Robinson,  Brian Johnson, RW.

EDMONTON OILERS:  Anson Carter,Grant Fuhr, Fred Brathwaite, Sean Brown, Mike Grier, Georges Laraque;  Joaquin Gage, G; Theo Peckham, D; Shawn Belle ; Mark Fraser D, Mike; Darnell Nurse, D; Eldon “Pokey” Reddick, G.

FLORIDA PANTHERS: Kevin Weekes, Eldon “Pokey” Reddick,  Peter Worrell, Anthony Stewart, Craig Martin, Kenndal McArdle, Eldon “Pokey” Reddick.

LOS ANGELES KINGS: Grant Fuhr, Jarome Iginla, Anson Carter  Mike Marson, LW; Wayne Simmonds, RW; Nathan LaFayette, C.

MINNESOTA WILD: Chris Stewart, Joel Ward, Shawn Belle; Robbie Earl, LW.

MONTREAL CANADIENS: Georges Laraque, Shawn Belle, Andreas Martinsen P.K Subban, D; Donald Brashear, D; Devante Smith-Pelly, RW;  Steven Fletcher, LW/D; Francis Bouillon, D; Nigel Dawes, LW.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS: Seth Jones, Francis Bouillon, P.K. Subban; Joel Ward, RW.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Devante Smith-Pelly, Kevin Weekes, Sean Brown, Mark Fraser, Johnny Oduya; Bryce Salvador, D; Claude Vilgrain, RW.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS: Josh Ho-Sang, Kyle Okposo, Kevin Weekes, Graeme Townshend, Christopher Gibson, Justin Johnson, Greg Mauldin.

NEW YORK RANGERS: Anthony Duclair, Sandy McCarthy, Nathan LaFayette,  Donald Brashear, Nigel Dawes, Anson Carter, Kevin Weekes, Andre Deveaux, Jason Doig, Emerson Etem, Tony McKegney,  Rumun Ndur.

Ottawa Senators: Ray Emery, Graeme Townshend.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: Wayne Simmonds, Ray Emery, Claude Vilgrain, Donald Brashear, Sandy McCarthy; Pierre Edouard-Bellemare, LW.

Left to right: Philadelphia Flyers forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Wayne Simmonds with Willie O’Ree and former Flyer goalie Ray Emery (Photo/Philadelphia Flyers).

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: Trevor Daley, Georges Laraque, Jarome Iginla, Darren Lowe, RW.

ST. LOUIS BLUES: Ryan Reaves, Grant Fuhr, Chris Stewart, Jamal Mayers, Fred Brathwaite, Nathan LaFayette, Tony McKegney, Bryce Salvador; Ryan Reaves, RW; Chris Beckford-Tseu, G.

SAN JOSE SHARKS: Joel Ward, Mike Grier, Derek Joslin, Jamal Mayers, Mike McHugh, LW;  Dale Craigwell, C.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: J.T. Brown, Kevin Weekes, Mike Grier; RW; Gerald Coleman, G.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Mark Fraser, Grant Fuhr, Val James, Robbie Earl, John Craighead, RW;  Andre Deveaux, C.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Anson Carter, Donald Brashear, Nathan LaFayette, Emerson Etem, Derek Joslin, Claude Vilgrain, Kevin Weekes,  Jordan Subban, D; Darren Archibald,  RW.

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Reaves, Malcolm Subban, Keegan Kolesar.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS: Mike Marson, Bill Riley, Reggie Savage, Anson Carter, Donald Brashear, Jason Doig, Joel Ward.

WINNIPEG JETS/ATLANTA THRASHERS: Dustin Byfuglien, Evander Kane, Johnny Oduya, Rumun Ndur, Nigel Dawes, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Anthony Stewart.

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey.

 

 

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Players of color help NHL teams replenish, reload, through draft and free agency

04 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Anthony Duclair, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Jaden Lindo, Jarome Iginla, Joshua Ho-Sang, Keegan Iverson, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, USHL, Windsor Spitfires

Between the 2014 National Hockey League Draft and the start of the NHL’s free agent signing period, some old faces changed places and the league infused itself with new young blood via the draft.

A lot has transpired from the time NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was robustly booed when he first strode onto the stage at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on June 27 to begin the draft to the last breathless breath of NHL Network, TSN, and NBC Sports Network analysts summing up the hurly-burly of the week’s free agent signing frenzy. Let’s recap:

Hoping for a Rocky Mountain high from a Stanley Cup win, Jarome Iginla signs with Avalanche.

Hoping for a Rocky Mountain high from a Stanley Cup win, Jarome Iginla signs with Avalanche.

Perhaps the biggest free agent catch was landed by the Colorado Avalanche when it inked Jarome Iginla to a three-year, $16 million deal. The former Calgary Flames icon hopes his third NHL team in three seasons – he played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2012-13 and Boston Bruins last season – will be a charm and deliver the Stanley Cup championship he longs for before he takes residence among the greats in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Iginla’s relocation from Beantown to the Rockies wasn’t an issue of the Bruins not wanting to keep him or the player tiring of the team. It was a matter of dollars and cents, or the Bruins’ lack of it. Boston simply didn’t have the salary cap space to fit Iginla into its budget.

Boston’s misfortune becomes Colorado’s fortune, even though it’s costing the team one. In Iginla, the Avalanche get an aging-but-still-productive player who can provide hard-nose leadership to a rising young team that seeks to leapfrog the loaded Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference to get a shot at the Cup. Now 37, Iginla scored 30 goals and 31 assists for the Bruins in 78 games.

“In the NHL it’s hard to pick which team is going to win, but you want to be on a contender and I think at this

Manny Malhotra takes his face-off skills to Montreal.

Manny Malhotra takes his face-off skills to Montreal.

stage of my career that is very important,” Iginla told Sportnet. “I know Boston, they have a great shot, they’re a great team and they work very hard and they’re committed. Unfortunately, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to this year in Boston, but they’ll be right back there and have a great shot again and I realize that. But it wasn’t really a full option and Colorado, to me, is a young, dynamic team and they’re just getting better.”

The Montreal Canadiens made a lesser but no less important free agent signing that the team is banking will help them get beyond the Conference Final next season. The Habs inked 34-year-old center Manny Malhotra to a one-year, $850,000 contract.

The Indo-Canadian Malhothra  is a role player, but a very good one. He’s one of the NHL’s best face-off men and provides locker room leadership to a team that saw its captain, Brian Gionta, move on to the Buffalo Sabres. Malhotra is also one of the league’s best feel-good stories. He suffered a horrific left eye injury when he played for the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 that many thought would be career-ending.

With reduced vision, he made the American Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers on a tryout and was later promoted to the parent club, the NHL’s Carolinia Hurricanes. He had seven goals and six assists for the ‘Canes in the 2013-14 season.

Brandon Montour, left, jumped from 18th-round USHL pick to 2nd-round NHL pick (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Brandon Montour, left, jumped from 18th-round USHL pick to 2nd-round NHL pick (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Feel-good stories were also abundant at the draft. Brandon Montour was all smiles when the Anaheim Ducks selected the defenseman from the United States Hockey League’s Waterloo Black Hawks in the second round with the 55th overall pick.

Montour, who’s Canadian First Nation, was beaming because little more than a year ago he selected by Waterloo in the 18th round of the USHL draft, the league’s 276th overall pick. What happened between the USHL and NHL drafts?  Montour was awarded both the USHL Player of the Year and Defenseman of the Year in 2014.

He tallied 14 goals and 48 assists in 60 games for the Black Hawks, tops among USHL defensemen and ninth overall in the league in scoring. He was sixth among USHL players with a plus-35 rating.

Montour attended the Ducks’ prospects camp last week, but it will be a while before fans see

Mark Friedman hopes to join Montour in NHL after college (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Mark Friedman hopes to join Montour in NHL after college (Photo/Britta Lewis)

him performing in Anaheim. He’s committed to play college hockey at the University of Massachusetts. The USHL is the nation’s top junior league and a prime hockey feeder to American colleges and universities.

“Brandon is truly a special player,” Waterloo Head Coach P.K. O’Handley said on the team’s website. “Even more than his tremendous natural abilities and instincts, our coaching staff, Brandon’s teammates, and certainly Black Hawks fans appreciate the tremendous effort that was evident anytime he was on the ice.”

Montour had company from Waterloo at the draft. Teammate Mark Friedman, a defenseman, was chosen by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 3rd round with the 86th overall pick. He scored 10 goals and 30 assists in 51 games last season for the Black Hawks. Friedman has signed a letter of intent to play hockey for Bowling Green State University, the school that produced former Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma.

Should Friedman reach the NHL after college he’ll be part of a small but growing contingent of Jewish players in the league. Calgary Flames forward Mike Cammalleri, Phoenix Coyotes forward Jeff Halpern, Nashville Predators forward Eric Nystrom, and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Trevor Smith were among the NHL’s Jewish players last season.

Armada's Daniel Walcott hopes to make leap from college club hockey to NHL.

Armada’s Daniel Walcott hopes to make leap from college club hockey to NHL.

The New York Rangers feel they got a diamond in the rough in defenseman Daniel Walcott, a defenseman selected in the fifth round with the 140th overall pick. Like Montour, Walcott, who played last season for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, was an under-the-radar player who took an unusual route to the draft.

Prior to joining Armada, Walcott,  a 19-year-old Ile Perrot, Quebec, native, was playing U.S. college hockey – but not NCAA Division I, II or III. He was playing for Lindenwood University near St. Louis, Mo., a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association – club hockey.

Founded in 1991, the ACHA has 431 men’s and women’s teams spanning five competition divisions in 49 states. Teams like Navy, Arizona State University, New York University,  Florida Gulf Coast University, and San Jose State University are ACHA members.

Walcott, played organized travel team hockey in Canada when he was younger but stopped to play football and hockey at school. When his parents divorced, Walcott moved to Chicago where he attended high school for a year before accepting a scholarship at Lindenwood.

“They offered me a spot. I decided to take it because it’s university (hockey) and I always wanted to play there. Unfortunately, it’s not high quality. It’s not NCAA hockey, it was just club hockey,” Walcott told Yahoo Sports’ “Buzzing the Net.” “My assistant coach and (Armada coaches) were in contact, and my name came up. They invited to camp. I decided to come here because I live at home, basically. It was one of the major keys to the decision. Also, I wanted to get seen by scouts and here is a much bigger opportunity for that.”

Indeed. The Rangers looked at Walcott’s single season body of work in the QMJHL and decided he was worth drafting. In 67 games, Walcott scored 10 goals and 29 assists.

“I’m a two-way defenseman,” Walcott told “Buzzing the Net.” “I bring a lot of offense and I can play defense, too, and shutdown top lines. I can be in-your-face and physical. I give my heart out every game – a lot of character.”

Rick Zombo, Lindenwood’s hockey head coach and a former St. Louis Blues defenseman, said all Walcott needed was an opportunity to showcase his ability.

“He put all the work in and he got his opportunity, he was prepared and made the most of it,” Zombo said on the university’s website. “I’m very proud of Daniel and I fully expect him to make the most of his new opportunities.”

Walcott attended the Rangers prospects camp this week with fellow 2014 draftee Keegan Iverson, a forward for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks who was chosen in the 3rd round with the 85th pick by the Blueshirts. Also at camp was Anthony Duclair, a high-scoring forward with the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts. The Rangers chose Duclair in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft with the overall 80th pick. The speedy forward registered 50 goals and 49 assists in 59 games for Quebec in 2013-14.

Rounding out the 2014 draftees are Joshua Ho-Sang, a forward for the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires, who was taken in the first round with the 28th pick by the New York Islanders, and Jaden Lindo, forward for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack who was taken in the fourth round with the 173rd overall pick by the Penguins.

 

 

 

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The Beauty of P.K. Subban

02 Friday May 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

2014 Winter Olympics, Boston Bruins, Jarome Iginla, Malcolm Subban, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban

The beauty of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban isn’t just his brown skin, but the thickness of it.

Montreal's P.K. Subban

Montreal’s P.K. Subban

It allows him to not only play in the intense hockey fishbowl that is Montreal but to thrive in the environment. It lets him deflect criticism in some media and National Hockey League circles that he’s nothing more than a flashy, mouthy, high risk-high, high reward defenseman who can’t be trusted with a game on the line.

It allowed the indignity of being the reigning Norris Trophy winner – the prize awarded the NHL’s best defenseman – but only playing 11 minutes for Team Canada Head Coach Mike Babcock during the entire 2014 Winter Olympics roll off his back and not prevent him from enjoying his experience in Sochi, Russia.

It allowed him to ignore the torrent of boos from Boston Bruins fans at TD Bank Garden Thursday night to score two goals, including the double overtime blast from the blue line that gave the Canadiens a 4-3 victory in the first game of their second-round their Stanley Cup Playoffs series against Boston.

The thickness of Subban’s hide is probably also allowing him to tune out what’s hopefully a sub-section of hockey fans who, infused with keyboard courage and maybe a beer or five, took to their electronic devices after Thursday’s game and let loose some racist emails and tweets aimed at Subban. The N-word, porch monkey, and other outdated racial epithets flashed onto social media no sooner did Subban’s goal hit the back of the Boston net.

The ugly episode had the same modus operandi as when Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward scored a playoff series-ending goal against the Bruins in 2012. That deluge of hate prompted Bruins management and National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman to issue statements condemning those so-called fans.

Friday, the Bruins oranization once again found itself admonishing the less-enlightened element of the team’s fan base.

“The racist, classless views expressed by an ignorant group of individuals following Thursday’s game via digital media are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization,” team President Cam Neely said in a statement issued by the team.

Political leaders in Boston, a city that has had its struggles with race in the past, also voiced disdain about the racial hate directed at Subban.

“This is a disgrace. These racist comments are not reflective of Boston, and are not reflective of Bruins fans,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said. “I’ve said before that the best hockey in the world happens when the Bruins and Canadiens play each other, and there is no room for this kind of ignorance here.”

Matt Larkin, an associate editor of The Hockey News tweeted: To the people tweeting racist crap about P.K. Subban: you are human garbage, living in the wrong millennium.”

Other tweets and emails raised interesting questions. What do these alleged Bruins fans say or do when black Boston forward Jarome Iginla scores a goal? What will they do if and when top Bruins goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban, P.K.’s younger brother who recently completed his rookie season with the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins, plays for the big club?

When Willie O’Ree made history in 1958 as the NHL’s first black player, he did it wearing a Boston Bruins jersey. Ironically, O’Ree did it playing against the Canadiens in Montreal. Hockey has come a long way since then. But the racist messages hurled at Subban shows how much farther the game has to go.

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L.A. Clippers’ Donald Sterling could escape blacks by owning a hockey team. Really?

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Anaheim Ducks, Devante Smith-Pelly, Donald Sterling, Emerson Etem, Jarome Iginla, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Flyers, Ray Emery, Wayne Simmonds

She had to drag hockey into this mess.

In a weekend column in The Los Angeles Times, Sandy Banks wrote that it’s time for Los Angeles Clippers’ Donald Sterling to give up ownership of his National Basketball Association team in the wake of recordings on which he purportedly makes racist comments about black people. Banks offers a novel solution for Sterling if he wants to stay in the sports business.

Boston's Jarome Iginla, a superstar likely Hall of Fame-bound when he retires.

Boston’s Jarome Iginla, a superstar likely Hall of Fame-bound when he retires.

“Let the real estate magnate and Clippers owner take his millions and buy a hockey team,” she wrote. “Then he won’t have to worry about black superstars showing up for games on his girlfriend’s arm.”

Nice.

Reading that line saddened me, angered me, and made me think that maybe I haven’t been doing my job with this blog. Her suggestion that Sterling “buy a hockey team” is a zinger, a real humdinger, perhaps designed to add a little levity to a serious problem. The only problem is that if Banks paid a little more attention to hockey maybe she’d know that the zinger has lost its zing – that hockey isn’t exclusively white anymore on the ice, in the stands, in the broadcast booth, or in the owner’s box.

With one paragraph, Banks bought into a stereotype. Hockey has the hat trick – a feat in which one player scores three goals in a single game. Banks scored a double negative by suggesting that Sterling and his alleged racist ways could find a safe haven in the overwhelming whiteness of hockey.

It’s a false image and its wrong.

Blacks and other people of color have a rich hockey history and are a growing presence in today’s game. If Banks watched Sunday’s Anaheim Ducks–Dallas Stars game Sunday she would have seen Anaheim forward Devante Smith-Pelly, who is black, score two goals, including the tying goal in the closing seconds in the third period that sent the game to overtime.

She would have seen Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley, who is also black, score two goals for the Stars. It was stellar game for Daley, even though the Stars lost the game 5-4 in overtime and were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As a teenager, Daley overcame his then-coach and general manager of his major junior hockey team – former National Hockey League goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck – calling him the N-word in the 2002-03 season to not only survive, but to thrive.  The ‘Beezer was canned from his position with the Ontario Hockey League’s  Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for using the slur and Daley has gone on to play more nearly 690 NHL games, all with Dallas. If she watched the entire Anaheim-Dallas series, she might have noticed forward Emerson Etem, an African-American born in Long Beach, California, playing for the Ducks.

If she caught any of the other Stanley Cup Playoffs games on television she might have gotten glimpses of other black players: Philadelphia

Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley.

Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley.

Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds (a former Los Angeles Kings player) and his teammate, goaltender Ray Emery; Tampa Bay Lightning forward J.T. Brown, who was brought up from the American Hockey League when Lightning sniper Steven Stamkos was injured but was so good that he remained with the team when Stamkos returned; Boston Bruins forward Jarome Iginla, who’ll likely be the third black player enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame whenever he retires; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya, who played for his native Sweden in the 2014 Winter Olympics; St. Louis Blues rugged forward Ryan Reaves; and Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban, who was awarded the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman last season.

If she kept watching between periods she might have witnessed the new normal: former NHLers Kevin Weekes, Jamal Mayers, and Anson Carter and broadcaster David Amber – all black men – imparting hockey knowledge and analysis to viewers in the United States and Canada. If Banks attended a Kings or Ducks game, she might run into Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr.,  rap artist Snoop Dogg, or Isaiah Mustafa, the original Old Spice Guy who’s a hockey player and Kings season ticket holder. Say, wasn’t that director Spike Lee wearing a New York Rangers jersey at Game 5 against the Flyers Sunday in Madison Square Garden?

If Banks glanced at the organization chart of the St. Louis Blues, she’d find David L. Steward, an African-American who’s chairman and co-founder of World Technology, Inc., is a part owner of the team.

And hockey isn’t just for the black rich and famous. Pamela Merritt – Twitter handle @SharkFu – is a black, life-long Blues fan who’s had her heart broken in the playoffs once again by an early St. Louis exit. Twitter’s @Kia1 is a black hockey mom who knows the price of goalie equipment and the art of negotiating the parental politics of organized youth hockey. Then there’s @IceHockeyDanceMom, a Southern California woman who’s raising a dancer-niece and hockey-playing nephew solo. You could almost feel the tears rise from the keyboards from a tweet she wrote last December that said “a coach just told me; I’m not rich, kid is black & So-Cal. #NHLDream unrealistic.”

Her nephew still plays hockey and he still dreams.

Lord knows hockey isn’t nirvana for players and fans of color, as Adam Proteau of The Hockey News chronicled in a recent column. But to suggest that a Donald Sterling would be at home in hockey isn’t a pithy zinger.

It’s just wrong.

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USHL’s Everett Fitzhugh wants to rock the mic as an NHL play-by-play radio voice

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

David Amber, Detroit Red Wings, Evander Kane, Everett Fitzhurgh, Hockey Night in Canada, Jarome Iginla, Kevin Weekes, NHL Network, Wayne Simmonds

Everett Fitzhugh wants to be The Voice – the guy who shouts “goal!” when the home team puts the biscuit in the basket, the person who vocally paints a Picasso of what’s happening on the ice during a hockey game for those who can’t catch it at the arena or watch it on TV.

Fitzhugh aspires to be a National Hockey League radio play-by-play announcer, a career path not normally associated with 25-year-old African-American men. But Fitzhugh, a Detroit native who grew up spending cold winter nights listening to Ken Kal broadcast Detroit Red Wings games and lazy summer evenings hearing Ernie Harwell do Detroit Tigers baseball, is on a mission to join the small but growing club of NHL broadcasters of color.

Calling Bowling Green hockey games while a student stoked USHL's Everett Fitzhugh's interest in being an NHL radio announcer.

Calling Bowling Green hockey games while a student stoked USHL’s Everett Fitzhugh’s interest in being an NHL radio announcer.

He watches David Amber and Kevin Weekes on CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada,” and former NHLers Anson Carter and Jamal Mayers on NBC Sports Network and NHL Network’s nightly “NHL on The Fly” highlights show and thinks to himself “See you soon, dudes.”

“I think that’s going to be me in 15, 20-plus years, however long it takes,” Fitzhugh told me recently.  “This has been a dream of mine to work in sports, to work in media, since I was seven years old. I didn’t know I wanted to strictly work in hockey until I was in college. But I see those guys on TV and it gives me hope that what I’m doing will eventually pay off. It gives me hope that I can be on ESPN one day and I can become an NHL radio play-by-play man, which is my ultimate goal.”

In the meantime, Fitzhugh is busy paying his dues. He attended Bowling Green State University – alma mater of Pittsburgh Penguins and U.S. Olympics men’s hockey team Head Coach Dan Bylsma – and did radio play-by-play for 120 games for the NCAA Division I Falcons men’s hockey team.

He joined the United States Hockey League in 2012 and is manger of communications for the nation’s top junior hockey league that serves as a stepping-stone to college hockey or the NHL for many players.

Working out of Chicago, Fitzhugh handles the USHL’s social media entries, press releases, YouTube posts and video highlights. The job often gets him out of the office and into the lock rooms of USHL teams. But more than anything, Fitzhugh wants to get back behind the microphone and call hockey games on the radio.

“People call me weird. We used to joke when I was in school that TV guys do half the work but get twice the money,” he said. “But I love radio. I just love painting the picture. I love being able to describe what’s going on and the art of being on the radio. It’s a difficult job, but when you’re able to master hockey radio play-by-play, for me, that’s the ultimate position in sports.”

Amber knows how Fitzhugh feels. He grew up in Toronto listening Toronto Maple Leafs broadcasts and thought that he, too, might be a play-by-play guy some day.

"Hockey Night's" David Amber sees diversity gains on the ice and in the media.

“Hockey Night’s” David Amber sees diversity gains on the ice and in the media.

But he gravitated to sports reporting instead. Now, he’s the pre-game, between-periods, and post-game presence on Canada’s equivalent of “Monday Night Football.” He’s pleased to see more minorities are on the air talking hockey and more people like Fitzhugh in the pipeline waiting for their break.

“The exposure from ‘Hockey Night,’ I’ve certainly had a significant amount of minority faces – mostly black, but even Indian and Asian – say they’re happy to see it’s (hockey) not so homogeneous the way it was maybe 10 years ago; that there are people of color coming in and being able to lend a voice and face to the sport,” Amber told me recently. “It has been a slow transition, absolutely, but there are going to be a lot of new young guys coming up now.”

And the interest of people like Fitzhugh to work in hockey reflects the increasing number hockey players of color and the growing impact they’re are having on the game from the USHL all the way up to the NHL, Amber said.

“There are more black faces in the NHL than there’s ever been,” he told me. “When you look at the guys who’ve made it now, these are impact players whether it’s (Philadelphia Flyers’ Wayne) Simmonds, we know what (Boston Bruins’ Jarome) Iginla’s been able to do over his career, (Winnipeg Jets’) Evander Kane, (Dallas Stars’) Trevor Daley. But because the position of the players have increased and the position of some of the media members has increased from a minority standpoint, I think success breeds success and visibility breeds more visibility and I think that’s a good thing.”

But old stereotypes still die hard. Fitzhugh says people – both minorities and whites – occasionally do double-takes when he tells them what he does for a living and what his dream job is.

“I’ve gotten snide comments, off the cuff comments “Oh, you’re black, you can’t be in hockey, you can’t do this, that and the other,'” he said. “And I’m like ‘No, you look on TV, we’re growing.’ You look at some of the best players in the NHL – up and coming Evander Kane, if he can ever stay healthy; Jarome Iginla fed (Pittsburgh Penguins’)Sidney Crosby to lead Canada to the Gold Medal four years ago; (Winnipeg Jets’) Dustin Byfuglien was barely left off our U.S. Olympic team this year.”

“Black people, we’re not barely surviving in hockey,” he added. “I think we are staples. We’re contributing  day in, day out to the hockey world on the ice, off the ice, in the media.”

Amber said he rarely gets negative comments about his presence on hockey telecasts. But he recalls getting the odd tweet during his NHL Network days from viewers filled with keyboard courage who’d urge him “to stick with basketball.”

“Nothing crazy, certainly nothing like what (Washington Capitals forward) Joel Ward received after he scored the Game 7 OT winner against Boston (in April 2012),” he said. “But a couple of snide remarks, inappropriate remarks. By and large it hasn’t been a big issue. Living in Canada, it hasn’t been a prevalent issue. In the States, I think it’s still by and large viewed as a white guy’s sport.”

Even among minorities. Fitzhugh says striking up a hockey conversation at his local barbershop can be a challenge.

“They look at me a little weird,” he said with a laugh. “My barbers knows that I work in hockey. When I first told them, they kind of looked at me like I was a science experiment like ‘Oh, you work in hockey?’ I enlighten them a little bit, but hockey’s not a regular topic of conversation when I go to the barbershop.”

But Fitzhugh believes that will change in time because “more and more minorities and people of color are becoming aware of the game.”

“Think if anyone goes to a hockey game, they will be hooked,” he said. “If could have a mission, it would be to take everybody, everyone in this country to a hockey game.”

Or to have folks listen to his play-by-play account on the radio.

Special thanks: to Color of Hockey follower and ChicagoSide Senior Writer Evan F. Moore who first reported on Fitzhugh.

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