Tag Archives: Jujhar Khaira

Calgary Flames-Edmonton Oilers game showcases hockey’s diversity

01 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

The Calgary Flames‘ 3-2 win Saturday over the Edmonton Oilers had little impact on the standings – neither National Hockey League Western Conference team is within Stanley CupPlayoffs range.

However, the game at Calgary’s Saddledome was meaningful in terms of the diversity that was on display, further showing that the face of hockey is steadily changing.

The game featured the NHL debut of Flames forward Spencer Foo, a high-scoring former star at NCAA Division I Union College. An Edmonton native, Foo played 12:45 minutes, including 1:20 minutes on the power play, and registered a shot on goal.

Embed from Getty Images

Giving instructions to Foo and other Flames players was assistant coach Paul Jerrard, currently the only black NHL coach who stands the bench during games. He traded a stick for a clipboard after a minor league hockey career that spanned from 1987-88 to 1996-97. He did appear in five games for the Minnesota North Stars in 1988-89.

“There isn’t anybody of color I emulated in coaching, I just wanted to push hard and work and see where it would take me,” Jerrard told Canada’s Sportsnet in February. “It would be interesting to see what would happen if there was a black coach in the league. There might be one someday, I don’t know.”

Embed from Getty Images

Trying to keep Foo and the youthful Flames at bay on the Oilers back end Saturday night were defensemen Darnell Nurse and Ethan Bear and goaltender Al Montoya.

Nurse was the seventh overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft, one of two black blue-liners chosen in the first round. The other was Columbus Blue Jackets defender Seth Jones (chosen fourth overall by the Nashville Predators). Nurse has 6 goals and 19 assists in 79 games for the Oilers.

Embed from Getty Images

Bear, who is from the Ochapowace First Nation in southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada, was an Edmonton 2015 fifth-round draft pick. The NHL rookie has a goal and 3 assists in 15 games with the Oilers.

Embed from Getty Images

Montoya, who was traded to the Oilers by the Montreal Canadiens, became the NHL’s first Cuban-American player when the New York Rangers chose him with the sixth overall pick in the 2004 NHL Draft.

Embed from Getty Images

Oilers left wing Jujhar Khaira, a Canadian of South Asian heritage, logged 11:02 minutes of ice time Saturday night, including 59 seconds on the power play and 1:15 minutes killing penalties.

Khaira, an Oilers 2013 third-round pick, has 11 goals and 10 assists in 66 games for Edmonton.

Embed from Getty Images

Diversity in Saturday’s game wasn’t limited to players and coaches. Shandor Alphonso, a black Canadian, was one of the two linesmen working the game.

Embed from Getty Images

And, of course,  David Amber manned the broadcast studio as host of Hockey Night in Canada’s late game.

Hockey Night in Canada hosts David Amber (L) and Ron MacLean (Photo/CNW Group/Sportsnet).

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey. And download the Color of Hockey podcast from iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and Google Play

Edmonton Oilers’ Jujhar Khaira scores 1st goal, makes hockey history

18 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Congratulations to Edmonton Oilers center Jujhar Khaira for scoring his first National Hockey League goal on Monday and making history by becoming  only the third  Indo-Canadian player to pot a goal in the league.

Edmonton Oilers center Jujhar Khaira.

Edmonton Oilers center Jujhar Khaira.

Khaira, Edmonton’s 2012 third-round draft pick, took a pass from teammate Mark Letestu and fired the puck by Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith in the second period, giving the Oilers a 2-0 lead on the way to a 3-1 win at Edmonton’s Rogers Place.

We introduced Khaira to Color of Hockey readers in 2014 when he was a member of the Western Hockey League’s  Everett Silvertips, which had two other players of Punjabi descent on the roster at the time.

With his goal Monday, the Surrey, British Columbia-born Khaira joins Robin Bawa  and Manny Malhotra in the record books. Bawa, a right wing, scored 6 goals and 1 assist in 61 games for the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Mighty Ducks and San Jose Sharks in the late 1980s and mid-1990s.

Malhotra, who was chosen by the New York Rangers with the seventh overall pick in the 1998 NHL Draft, tallied 116 goals and 179 assists in 991 games for the Rangers, the Sharks, Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens, and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Khaira, who is Sikh, told Canada’s Sportnet that his first NHL goal was a dream come true.

“You think about it, at the back of your mind, always,” he told reporters after the game. “Growing up as a kid, playing street hockey, you always picture it in your head as you’re playing. It’s a reality now, and it feels good.”

And it felt great for Canada’s South Asian community, which has grown so much in size and hockey interest that Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts in Punjabi.
“Because this community has had to endure and sacrifice, our parents and grandparents, it’s really rewarding when you see young people achieve success in new areas,” Bhupinder Hundal, a member of Hockey Night in Canada’s Punjabi broadcast team, told CBC. “A hundred years ago people would come here and they couldn’t bring their families. They didn’t have the right to vote and they couldn’t own property. Now Jujhar Khaira can play hockey for the Edmonton Oilers.”