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More black coaches begin their climb up pro hockey’s ladder in the 2018-19 season

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Akil Thomas, Cincinnati Cyclones, ECHL, Fayetteville Marksmen, Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Jason Payne, Kahlil Thomas, Leo Thomas, Los Angeles Kings, Macon Mayhem, Mike Grier, Peter Worrell, SPHL

The minority coaching tree in professional hockey is growing more branches.

Nearly half a dozen teams, from the minor leagues to the National Hockey League, have hired coaches of color ahead of the 2018-19 season.

“There’s always been a growth of people of color in hockey,”  former minor league player Jason Payne told me recently. “It was just a matter of time that guys who were playing elevated into coaching.”

Former minor league pro hockey player Jason Payne is a new assistant coach for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.

The Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL named Payne its newest assistant coach earlier this week. The job is a homecoming of sorts for Payne, who was a forward for the American Hockey League’s Cincinnati Mighty Ducks and the ECHL’s Dayton Bombers in the 1999-2000 season.

“I had the privilege of playing in Cincinnati, and I know how much this city and these fans don’t just love – but live sports,” said Payne, 43. “Along with (Head Coach) Matt Thomas, we look forward to being a hard-working, skilled team, and helping shape these young prospects into the best players and people they can be in pursuit of their NHL dreams.”

And Payne hopes to join those prospects in the NHL someday as a coach.

“I’d love to coach in the NHL, it would be a great achievement,” he said. “To get there, you’ve got to pay your dues, earn your way there, show that you can work and grind it out. And that’s my goal: Work as hard as I can, the same thing I did as a player.”

Payne brings a hefty resume to the Cyclones, the farm team for the Buffalo Sabres and AHL Rochester Americans.

Cincinnati Cyclones Assistant Coach Jason Payne during his playing days with the ECHL Reading Royals (Photo/Courtesy Jason Payne).

He played professionally for 14 years in six different leagues, including 71 games in the AHL with the Mighty Ducks, Carolina Monarchs, Worcester IceCats, and St. John Flames. He also appeared in 132 ECHL games and 140 contests in the old United Hockey League.

A Toronto native, Payne served as player development coach for the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League and general manager of the Georgetown Raiders of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

He coached the Toronto Patriots of the Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Mississauga Sens AAA program. Payne also owns the Precision Skating School in Toronto.

“Jason will make an immediate impact with the Cyclones,” Thomas said. “He comes recommended by the Buffalo Sabres organization, and his energy, knowledge, and passion for the game will benefit our organization as a whole.”

Kahlil Thomas, a boyhood friend of Payne’s, was hired as an assistant coach for the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits earlier this month.

Kahlil Thomas is an assistant coach of the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbitts and father of Niagara IceDogs forward Akil Thomas, a 2018 Los Angeles King second-round draft pick.

Thomas was a right wing who played nearly 700 games in nine pro leagues in three  countries. His U.S. stops included the old Central Hockey League’s Memphis RiverKings and Oklahoma City Blazers, the United Hockey League’s Flint Generals, and the Southern Professional Hockey League’s  Jacksonville Barracudas.

The 42-year-old Toronto native got into player development after retiring in 2008. He transitioned into a coach and general manager when he and his wife, Akilah, became part owners of the Oshawa RiverKings of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League.

The couple’s son, Akil Thomas, is a forward who was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the second round with the 51st overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

“Kahlil is a proven guy who has played pro, he has a winning pedigree, he has played on organizations that have won championships, and we decided from day one when we were building our organization that we wanted character people within our organization,” Swamp Rabbits Head Coach Kevin Kerr said. “Kahlil bleeds character. He loves to win. He’s all about development. He can help balance me out and make me a better coach, and I wanted to surround myself with good people who could push me.”

Kerr begins his first season in Greenville, South Carolina, after he coached the SPHL’s Macon Mayhem in Georgia in 2017-18.

The Mayhem replaced Kerr in May by promoting Assistant Coach Leo Thomas – Kahlil’s younger brother and Akil’s uncle – to head coach.

Leo Thomas is new head coach of the Macon Mayhem of the SPHL.

Leo Thomas is currently the only black head coach in professional hockey in North America. He played 13 seasons of professional hockey – including four seasons in the SPHL between the Pensacola Ice Flyers and Mississippi RiverKings.

He played 777 games between in seven pro leagues, tallying 260 goals, 299 assists.

Leo Thomas, 36, had hoped that his brother would join him on the Mayhem coaching staff, but Kerr grabbed him for Greenville instead.

Kerr also convinced Shawn Thorns, a Charleston, South Carolina, native who is one of the few black head equipment managers in professional hockey,  to leave the Mayhem for the Swamp Rabbits.

New Macon Mayhem Head Coach Leo Thomas enjoyed a long and high-scoring minor league hockey career.

“Kahlil and Kevin also played together back in the day and it just happened to work out,” Leo Thomas told me in an email. “I told Kahlil he should take the job for sure.  Haha actually equipment guy also left for Greenville, too.”

July saw two former NHL players join the pro coaching fraternity. The New Jersey Devils tapped retired right wing Mike Grier to be an assistant head coach.

A Detroit native, Grier played 1,060 NHL games as a right wing from 1996-97 to 2008-09 for the Edmonton Oilers, Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, and San Jose Sharks.

Former NHL forward Mike Grier returns to the league as an assistant coach of the New Jersey Devils for the 2018-19 season (Photo/Courtesy Washington Capitals).

A 1993 St. Louis Blues ninth-round draft pick out of Boston University, Grier went on to score 162 goals, 221 assists and accumulate 510 penalty minutes in 1,060 NHL regular season games.

“He was a highly-respected teammate and had the ability to relate to all players with his personality, demeanor and experience,” Devils Head Coach John Hynes said in July. “These attributes will be valuable in communicating and developing our players, as we continue to build a strong culture.”

Grier joins a small group of coaches of color in the NHL that includes Scott Gomez of the New York Islanders, goalie coaches Sudarshan Maharaj of the Anaheim Ducks, and  Frantz Jean, of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Lightning video coach Nigel Kirwan.

Embed from Getty Images

Former NHL tough guy forward Peter Worrell  hopes to make his way back to the NHL some day as a coach. He begins his trek this season as an assistant coach for the SPHL’s Fayetteville Marksmen.

Worrell accumulated more than 1,500 penalty minutes with the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche from 1997-98 to 2003-04.

“I contacted a lot of teams, in many leagues,” Worrell said. “When I first contacted the Marksmen and I talked to (Head Coach Jesse) Kallechy, it just felt right.”

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With OHL draft ahead, Akil Thomas looks to continue family’s hockey tradtion

08 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Akil Thomas, Fort Wayne Komets, Kahlil Thomas, Mississippi RiverKings, Ontario Hockey League, Toronto Marlies

Akil Thomas attended a different type of day care when he was little.

“At 2-3 years old, Akil used to come with me to every practice almost every day,” Kahlil Thomas, a retired minor league hockey player told me recently. “He was too young to go to a day care center. Our trainer didn’t mind when he came because he would just sit there for the whole hour and a half, except to go to the wash room, and watch practice up and down. That was his day care.”

When the Memphis RiverKings practices were over, young Akil would get on the ice and have practice sessions with his dad.

“I really don’t get enough of hockey,” Akil, now 16, told me. “You’ll see me after practice in my driveway, stick handling or something. My mind shifts to hockey 24/7.”

Saturday, Akil’s attention will shift to the Ontario Hockey League’s Priority Selection draft, where the high-scoring forward is projected to be a top pick.

Leagues like the 20-team OHL, Western Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League are where young players with NHL aspirations want to go to hone their skills and be seen by pro scouts.

Then there’s also the NCAA Division I college route, taken by NHLers like Jack Eichel, the Buffalo Sabres rookie forward, and Toronto Maple Leafs wing James van Riemsdyk. Several schools, including Arizona State University, the University of New Hampshire, Boston University, Penn State University, University of Michigan, and the University of Maine have inquired about Akil, his family said.

 

Akil Thomas of the Toronto Marlies hopes to make his way up the hockey ladder and be drafted by an Ontario Hockey League team. (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

Akil Thomas of the Toronto Marlies hopes to make his way up the hockey ladder and be drafted by an Ontario Hockey League team. (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

His stock has risen since his performance in last month’s OHL Cup Showcase tournament. He helped lead the minor midget hockey Toronto Marlboros to the finals against the York-Simcoe Express.

The Marlies lost the championship game 2-1 in double-overtime. But Akil led the tournament in scoring with 6 goals and 7 assists in seven games and was named  to the Gatorade OHL Cup All-Star Team.

He posted 33 goals and 39 assists in 56 games last season for the Marlies.

 

Congrats to 2016 #Gatorade #OHLCup All-Star Team:
F: Antropov, Holmes, Thomas
D: MacPherson, Chisholm
G: Berezinskiy pic.twitter.com/cn3oS8RIrd

— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) March 22, 2016

“Akil, at his age, is a much better player than I was at his age,” said  Kahlil, a right wing who played 828 games for 13 teams in nine leagues in three countries from 1996 to 2008. “He’s definitely going to go far. He definitely had more skill than I ever had.”

Akil says he’s patterned his game after his father’s, except that dad helped “make me a bit better than him.”

“I gave him pointers here and there, but I stress hard work more than anything,” Kahlil  said. “Hard work can trump any politics in front of you any day – whether it’s the color of your skin, the politics with who knows who, who’s the sons of this or that.”

Akil Thomas' family moved from Florida to Toronto to expose him to tougher competition (Photo/ Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

Akil Thomas’ family moved from Florida to Toronto to expose him to tougher competition (Photo/ Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

Akil began playing organized hockey in the United States. Scouts began noticing him after he helped lead a Florida AAA youth hockey team to a championship in Philadelphia in 2008 when he was eight years old.

As his game improved, Akil and his family faced a dilemma that most talented hockey players in Florida confront – whether to stay in the Sunshine State and be a big fish in a small frozen pond or relocate to where there’s a larger pool of competitive players to push you.

Hockey is the Thomas family passion - and business. Bottom left to right, Kahlia Rae, 19; Akyn Zion, 8; Kayah Sol, 10; Akil, 16. Top row, mother Akliah; Kayjah, 5; father Kahlil.

Hockey is the Thomas family passion – and business. Bottom left to right, Kahlia Rae, 19; Akyn Zion, 8; Kayah Sol, 10; Akil, 16. Top row, mother Akliah; Kayjah, 5; father Kahlil.

In 2011, the family packed their bags for Toronto – where Kahlil  grew up – so Akil could play prep school hockey at Upper Canada College. This season, he skated for St. Michael’s College School and the Marlies.

“The toughest decision of my life,”  recalled mother Akilah Thomas, who grew up in Silver Spring, Md.,and accompanied her husband on his hockey sojourn. “I’m such an American and we lived in the South. We moved from the sunshine to the snow.”

“The first year was extremely hard, but everything fell into place,” she continued. “I finally gave up thinking ‘Florida, Florida, Florida’ and just gave it my all and adjusted my mindset. This is where we need to be now – so suck it up, mamma!”

Kahlil  doesn’t remember the decision to move being that difficult because “we were coming home to family, to a city that we knew.”

However, he confesses that “now I want to go back.”

“I miss Florida,” he said.

But Florida will have to wait. There’s just too much hockey going on. To say the Thomas household is a hockey household is an understatement. In addition to Kahlil’s hockey exploits and Akil’s budding career, Leo Thomas – Kahlil’s brother and Akil’s uncle – is wrapping up his playing career, splitting time this season between the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Mississippi RiverKings and the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets.

Forward Leo Thomas, Akil Thomas' uncle, split the 2015-16 hockey season between the SPHL's Mississippi RiverKings and...

Forward Leo Thomas, Akil Thomas’ uncle, split the 2015-16 hockey season between the SPHL’s Mississippi RiverKings and…

the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL. This is Thomas' 14th, and possibly, final season.

the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL. This is Thomas’ 14th, and possibly, final season.

“To go out on top, to win a championship would be the ultimate goal,” Leo told me. “Afterward, I would love to get into some coaching, definitely do something in hockey. I’ve been playing this game since I was four years old. All us Thomas guys are lifers.”

Maybe he can work with his brother. Kahlil and Akilah became hockey team owners last year when they purchased the Oshawa RiverKings of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League with close friend and former hockey player Dave Nicholls.

Kahlil is general manager and head coach for the franchise. Akilah is the team’s sales and marketing manager.

“I just want to help kids who are late-developers or are overlooked” by major junior teams and college hockey programs, he told me.

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