Tag Archives: Montreal Canadiens

Hockey honors Willie O’Ree for becoming NHL’s first black player 60 years ago

18 Thursday Jan 2018

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Willie O’Ree remembers the pre-game talk as if it were yesterday.

Boston Bruins Head Coach Milt Schmidt and General Manager Lynn Patrick sat down their rookie forward, a call-up from the Quebec Aces, before his debut against the Montreal Canadiens in the old Forum and told him “Willie O’Ree, we brought you up because we think you can add a spark to the team.”

‘”Don’t worry about anything else,”‘ O’Ree recalled them telling him. ‘”Just go out and play the game, the organization is behind you 100 percent.”‘

O’Ree didn’t realize the gravity of  that January 18, 1958 talk until after the Bruins blanked the Habs 3-0. O’Ree didn’t register a point on the stat sheet that night, but he made a mark in history as the National Hockey League’s first black player.

“I didn’t even know I broke the color barrier until I read it in the newspaper the next day,” O’Ree told me recently.

Hockey honored O’Ree on Wednesday for the 60th anniversary of his feat, a celebration that really began over the weekend in Boston.

But Wednesday was the big day. The Canadiens were in Boston to play the Bruins at TD Garden. Before the game, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh proclaimed January 18 as “Willie O’Ree Day.” The city also announced plans to refurbish a street hockey rink and name it in O’Ree’s honor.

“Willie’s speed, his skill and sheer perseverance earned him a job in a six-team National Hockey League where jobs were, indeed scarce – 60 years ago,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We celebrate not only the NHL games he played but the countless thousands of boys and girls he has inspired since becoming our ‘Hockey is for Everyone’ ambassador in 1998.”

The league pulled out all the stops Wednesday. O’Ree dropped a ceremonial puck before the B’s-Habs game. Players wore Willie O’Ree 60th anniversary patches commemorative patches on their jerseys.

Willie O’Ree made history when he entered the NHL with the Boston Bruins in 1958.

The NHL tapped Canadian filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason, director of the award-winning black history documentary “Soul on Ice, Past, Present and Future,” to help produce an O’Ree tribute video.

NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes sat down with O’Ree for a long interview about his history-making moment and  his legacy.

O’Ree didn’t have a long NHL career. He only played 45 games over the 1957-58 and 1960-61 seasons and tallied 4 goals and 10 assists. He played those games carrying a secret: He was legally blind in his right eye, the result of being hit by a puck.

Still, he enjoyed a lengthy minor league career, mainly in the old Western Hockey League where he scored 328 goals and 311 assists with the Los Angeles Blades and San Diego Gulls from 1961-62 to 1973-74.

Several hockey aficionados are hoping that O’Ree gets more propers beyond the 60th anniversary celebration.

Folks from filmmaker Mason to retired NHL player-turned-TV analyst Anson Carter believe O’Ree should be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builder’s category for his contributions to the game in mentoring many of the NHL’s minority players and for extending hockey’s reach to communities of color

San Jose Sharks forward Joel Ward suggested that the NHL should retire O’Ree’s Number 22 league-wide the same way Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson’s Number 42 in 1997. Robinson broke MLB’s color barrier when he broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

“I would like to be in the Hall of Fame. I mean, who wouldn’t?” O’Ree told me. “I’d be thrilled and honored to be selected and go into the hall.”

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Hispanic players continue blazing trails in hockey at all levels

28 Tuesday Nov 2017

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Peter Negron proudly wears his heritage on the back of his head.

The freshman goaltender for New York’s Hamilton College has the Cuban and American flags painted on the back plate of his mask, a tribute to his mother who came to the United States from the Caribbean island nation.

“It represents my heritage as a whole,” Negron told me recently. “My mom came over when she was three, so that’s where that comes from.”

The back of Hamilton College freshman goaltender Peter Negron’s mask pays tribute to his mother’s Cuban American roots (Photo/Courtesy Nelson Negron).

Hockey has come a long way since Scott Gomez became the National Hockey League’s first Hispanic player when he broke in with the New Jersey Devils in 1999-00.

Gomez, the son of a Mexican-American father and Colombian mother, retired in 2016, but his legacy continues. The four-team Liga Mexicana Elite launched south of the border in early November. Mexico City will host the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Under-18 Women’s World Championship Division I Group B Qualification in January.

And players of Hispanic heritage are thriving in hockey at all levels, helping to shed the notion that it’s an exclusively-white game.

“It’s not only the Hispanic culture, you’re seeing a lot more African-American players, a lot more Asian players,” Negron said. “I think it just shows the sport in itself is growing. It’s an appealing sport to people of all colors. It’s awesome.”

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Players of Hispanic descent are leading scorers on their teams, like Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, a Mexican-American who’s arguably already the best National Hockey League player from Arizona (sorry, Sean Couturier) in only his second season in the league.

They are team leaders, like Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty, a Connecticut-born left wing of American, French-Canadian, and Mexican Heritage.

They are Stanley Cup heroes, like Los Angeles Kings’ Alec Martinez, a defenseman from Michigan who traces his family history to Spain.

They are puck-stoppers, like Canadiens goaltender Al Montoya, who became the NHL’s first Cuban-American player when he was chosen sixth overall in the 2004 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers.

Claudia Tellez is one of Mexico’s best women’s hockey players and was drafted by the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Calgary Inferno in 2016 (Photo/Courtesy RAAG Agency).

They are women, like Claudia Tellez, a Guadalajara born and raised member of Mexico’s national women’s hockey team and a 2016 eighth-round draft pick of the Calgary Inferno of the professional Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

And there are more players behind them, making their way up hockey’s ladder.

New York Rangers Cristoval “Boo” Nieves.

When Rangers fans serenade rookie center Cristoval Nieves  with boos, they’re not critiquing his on-ice performance – they’re calling him by his name.

“Boo” is shorthand for “Bugaboo,” a nickname Nieves’ parents game him. It’s now an affectionate cheer from the Rangers faithful to the 23-year-old, 6-foot-3, 212-pound forward who was a 2012 second-round draft pick.

Nieves, an Upstate New York native of Puerto Rican heritage, has no goals and 3 assists for the Rangers in 10 games this season. He had 6 goals and 12 assists in 40 games in 2016-17 for the Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers’ American Hockey League farm team.

He was a star at the University of Michigan from 2012-13 to 2015-16, winning a Big 10 championship with the Wolverines in a senior year in which he had 10 goals and 21 assists in 35 regular season games.

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After two seasons with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Michigan, Florida-born forward Randy Hernandez has taken his talents to an even colder climate – Sioux City, South Dakota.

Randy Hernandez, Sioux City Musketeers.

The 6-foot, 176-pound 18-year-old right wing from Miami is skating this season for the Sioux City Musketeers in the United States Hockey League, the top junior league in the U.S.. He has 2 goals and 3 assists in 14 games for the Musketeers.

Hernandez is the son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in the U.S. little more than 20 years ago.

Hockey has taken forward Randy Hernandez from hometown Miami, Florida, to Plymouth, Michigan to the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL.

His grandfather, a psychiatrist who arrived in Miami from Cuba via Spain in 1972, ignited Randy’s interest in hockey when he took him to a birthday party at Miami’s Kendall Ice Arena when he was six years old.

University of Maine forward Daniel Perez

Daniel Perez also went to a chillier place when he left balmy Jersey City, New Jersey for wintry Orono, Maine, to play hockey for the University of Maine Black Bears.

A 6-foot-4, 23-year-old junior forward, Perez has a goal and 1 assist in nine games for the NCAA Division I Black Bears this season.

He was a high school and junior hockey star, scoring 48 goals and 41 assists in 86 games over two seasons for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights of the Eastern Hockey League and  39 goals and 27 assists in 65 games for St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City.

University of Maine junior forward Daniel Perez takes charge of the puck in traffic (Photo/Mark Tutuny).

Hockey runs in the Perez family. Daniel’s 16-year-old brother, Stephen Perez, played for St. Peter’s Prep, the Jersey Hitmen of the United States Premier Hockey League, and the Jersey Wildcats of the North American 3 Atlantic Hockey League.

Peter Negron is getting his first taste of collegiate hockey tending goal for Hamilton’s Continentals, an NCAA Division III team that was ranked 10th in the nation in early November.

The 19-year-old joined the team after playing at the Kent School, a Connecticut prep hockey power whose graduates include Boo Nieves, former New York Islanders Head Coach Jack Capuano,  and Boston University hockey Head Coach David Quinn.

Hamilton College goalie Peter Negron.

Negron, who shares Cuban and Puerto Rican roots, caught the hockey bug from Andrew Margolin, a cousin who lived nearby in Mahwah, New Jersey.

Margolin was a goaltender on Boston College’s 2007-08 NCAA Frozen Four championship team before finishing his collegiate career at Division III Connecticut College.

“I remember vividly me always hanging out in his room and him putting me in the net to shoot the mini-hockey ball,” Negron said. “I remember always going in his basement, seeing all the goalie gear and really being into it. It always intrigued me.”

Peter Negron played high school hockey at the Kent School in Connecticut. So did New York Rangers center “Boo” Nieves.

Just as the game intrigued Scott Gomez, the NHL’s first Hispanic star. Gomez isn’t a player anymore, but he’s still in the game as an assistant coach this season with the New York Islanders.

“This is what I know and this is what I want to be a part of,” Gomez told NHL.com in May. “To be able to give back and work with guys and see it on the ice…I’m definitely excited about that.”

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P.K. Subban’s dad talks hockey, life and catfish on new Color of Hockey podcast

03 Tuesday Oct 2017

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Karl Subban thought he was done.

The proud papa of three black professional hockey players thought he was finished writing his first book, “How We Did It, The Subban Family Plan For Success In Hockey, School And Life.”

Then The Trade happened.

Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban.

The Montreal Canadiens swapped All-Star defenseman P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators straight-up for All-Star defenseman Shea Weber.

The move shocked the hockey world, helped guide the Predators to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance, and sent Karl Subban scrambling to his computer to write another chapter for his book.

“Yeah, I had to write it,” Karl told me. “It was unbelievable. It was an unbelievable run to the Stanley Cup Final. I’ve never been through that before. It took me a long time to believe that we were there.”

The elder Subban  talks about his book, The Trade, the Predators’ Stanley Cup run, racism, and what it’s like raising three very talented hockey players in the first episode of the Color of Hockey podcast.

Our new podcast, like this blog, will tell the story of the history and growing impact of people of color in ice hockey at all levels and all aspects of the game – on the ice, off the ice, behind the bench, in the broadcast booth, and in the front office, wherever.

And what better lead-off guest than Karl, father of Pernell Karl (P.K.);  Malcolm, a goaltender and Boston Bruins 2012 first round draft pick who was waived by the B’s this week and claimed by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights; and Jordan, a 2013 Vancouver Canucks fourth-round draft pick who’s a defenseman for the Utica Comets, the Canucks’ American Hockey League franchise in Upstate New York.

P.K. tallied 10 goals and 30 assists in 66 games in his first season in Nashville. He had 2 goals and 10 assists in 22 playoff games.

Malcolm compiled an 11-14-5 record in 32 games for the Providence Bruins and posted a 2.41 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. He was winless in the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs with a 2.12 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage.

Jordan notched 16 goals and 20 assists in 65 regular season games last season for Utica. He had 2 goals and an assist in four AHL playoff contests.

Providence Bruins goaltender Malcolm Subban looks to work his way to the NHL (Photo/Alan Sullivan).

True to its title, “How We Did It” gives insight to how Karl and Maria Subban guided their boys through various levels of hockey – from lacing on their first pair of skates skates to hearing their names called at National Hockey League drafts.

“The African proverb, I use it in the book, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,'” Karl told me. “It also takes a village to raise an NHLer…to grow their potential. Maria and I can’t stand there and say ‘Look at us, we did it all by ourselves.'”

At 5-foot-9, defenseman Jordan Subban is out to prove that he belongs with big brother P.K. in the NHL (Photo/Lindsay A. Mogul/Utica Comets).

But the book is also deals with immigration – Karl’s family moved to Canada from Jamaica and Maria’s from Montserrat – education, and the ugly realities of racism, an issue that P.K. first confronted when he was an 8 year old playing minor hockey in Toronto.

It’s a lesson that Karl, a semi-retired Toronto public school principal, was sadden that his son learned so early.

“He came out of the dressing room crying. He said a boy on the ice called him the N-word,” Karl writes in the book. “We said there was no need to cry because it was only a word. We probably said something about ‘sticks and stones.’ There weren’t too many kids playing who looked like P.K., but now someone had communicated it to him in a way he didn’t like.”

He’s endured racist taunts and attitudes as a pro, most notably during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs when so-called Bruins unleashed a torrent of hateful emails and social media posts after he scored two goals, including the double-overtime winner.

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When confronted with racist ugliness, Karl says P.K. follows a bit of advice that he gave him: Don’t let them win.

“I’ve told P.K. it’s vital to change the channel, because if you ruminate over it, you can’t free yourself from it,” the elder Subban writes. “It does take practice, though – and P.K. has had a lot of practice.”

Karl had to change the channel when the Canadiens traded P.K.. Montreal was Karl’s team ever since he was a boy growing up in Sudbury, Ontario, watching the Canadiens’ French broadcast on TV, and dreaming of being Habs goaltender Ken Dryden.

As an adult, he thought there was nothing like seeing a game in hockey-mad Montreal. Then came Nashville.

“I didn’t think there was anything better until I got to Nashville, and then I said ‘Wow!'” he told me. “It’s so different and a great experience. It’s the music there, the environment. After the game, the honky tonks, the bars, the food, I love country music. And then we went on that (Stanley Cup) run, and the city, which is alive anyway 24/7, it was taken to another level.”

But Karl still can’t quite get used to what’s becoming a tradition in Nashville: fans tossing catfish onto the Bridgestone Arena ice.

“I just want to eat those catfish,” he told me. “There’s a restaurant where I go, they have this catfish thing and I love it. Like, I’m saying ‘please don’t throw them on the ice. Can you just give them to that restaurant I go to and have them prepare it the way they prepare it there.”

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey. Download the Color of Hockey podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.

 

Meet the 2016-17 Color of Hockey All-Star team

07 Wednesday Jun 2017

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A friend recently presented me with a challenge: pick a 2016-17 Color of Hockey All-Star team.

Challenge accepted! But it wasn’t easy. Several players of color had really good 2016-17 seasons, enough to spark lively bar debates over who’s worthy of being a first-team all-star and who’s not.

Toronto Maple Leafs’ center Auston Matthews.

So here are my picks. Weigh in with your choices via the Color of Hockey Facebook page or Twitter @ColorOfHockey. Without further ado:

Auston Matthews, center, Toronto Maple Leafs. The 19-year-old Mexican-American from Arizona terrorized NHL goalies in his rookie year and returned the Leafs to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Matthews led the team in scoring with 40 goals and 29 assists while playing in all 82 regular season games. His 40 goals tied him for second in the NHL with Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov. Matthews’ 69 points were tops among NHL rookies and 20th among all NHL players.

He would be a top player for the United States on its 2018 Winter Olympics hockey team. But the National Hockey League insists that its not sending it’s  players to PyeongChang, South Korea.

 

Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds.

Wayne Simmonds, right wing, Philadelphia Flyers. Simmonds won the Most Valuable Player award at the NHL All-Star Game in Los Angeles in January. He also played for Silver Medal-winning  Team Canada at the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship in Paris and Cologne in May.

The Wayne Train led the Flyers in goals with 31. He was fourth on the team in scoring with 54 points – the combination of 31 goals and 23 assists. He also was the Flyers’ toughest customer, leading the team with 122 penalty minutes.

 

Brandon Saad, F, Columbus Blue Jackets

Brandon Saad, left wing, Columbus Blue Jackets. The U.S.-born son of a Syrian immigrant, Saad was the Blue Jackets’ third-leading scorer with 24 goals and 29 assists in 82 games He was the 18th-leading scorer among the league’s left wings, a group that includes Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, Artemi Panarin of the Chicago Blackhawks, and the Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand.

Dustin Byfuglien, defense, Winnipeg Jets. Big shot. Big hits. Big man. Big Buff, at 6-foot-5, 260-pounds, was fifth among NHL defensemen in scoring with 13 goals and 39 assists in 80 games. He was fifth on the Jets in scoring with 52 points.

USA Hockey’s brain trust left him off the 2014 U.S. Olympic team and his use by Blue Jackets Head Coach John Tortorella as bench of the U.S. team in September’s World Cup of Hockey was curious. But Byfuglien probably  would have gotten a hard look for the 2018 Winter Games

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Seth Jones, D, Columbus Blue Jackets

Seth Jones, D, Columbus Blue Jackets. What? No P.K. Subban? Let the arguments begin. Jones, the son of former National Basketball Association player Popeye Jones, was Columbus’ seventh-leading scorer with 12 goals and 30 assists in 75 regular season games.

He was 19th among NHL defensemen in scoring. Subban, the Nashville Predators’ D-man, was 22nd among the league’s blue-liners with 10 goals and 30 assists in 66 games.

Jones would be a lock for Team USA at the 2018 Winter Games in February if NHLers were going.

 

 

 

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Carey Price, goaltender, Montreal Canadiens. Price rebounded from an injury-shortened 2015-16 season to finish fifth among NHL goalies with a 30-20-5 record and a 2.23 goals-against average. Price, whose mother is a former Ulkatcho First Nation chief, had three shutouts during the 2016-17 season.

Price was an Olympian in 2014 and would be in the mix to be Canada’s top netminder for the 2018 Winter Games if the NHL were sending its players.

SECOND TEAM

Nazem Kadri, F, Toronto Maple Leafs

Nazem Kadri, center, Toronto Maple Leafs. Kadri had a breakout year with Toronto, scoring 32 goals and 29 assists in 82 games. The son of a Lebanese Muslim father,  the London, Ontario-born Kadri finished 15th in scoring among centers, an elite group that includes the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid and the Capitals’ Nicklas Backstrom.

Evander Kane, left wing, Buffalo Sabres. Talented on the ice and sometimes trying off it, Kane tallied 28 goals and 15 assists in 70 games for Buffalo. He was sixth on the Sabres in scoring and 35th among the NHL’s left wings.

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T.J. Oshie, F, Washington Capitals

T.J. Oshie, right wing, Washington Capitals. Of Ojibwe heritage, Oshie enjoyed a stellar second season with the Capitals. He finished fifth on the team in scoring with 33 goals and 23 assists in 68 games. Four of those goals were game-winners.

A shootist remembered for his stunning display of moves during a dramatic U.S.-Russia shootout at the 2014 Olympics, Oshie would surely be under consideration for the 2018 U.S. Olympic squad.

P.K. Subban, defense, Nashville Predators. Adjusting to a new team, new town, and coping with injuries, Subban’s still manged to score 40 points on 10 goals and 30 assists. He’ll forever be linked to defenseman Shea Weber for whom he was swapped in the stunning trade last summer between Nashville and the Canadiens.

 

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So how did Weber do in 2016-17? He had 17 goals and 25 assists – 42 points – in 78 games. Weber’s Canadiens were ousted from the playoffs in the first round by the New York Rangers. Subban and the Predators are playing in the Cup Final against the defending champion Penguins.

Matt Dumba, D, Minnesota Wild

Matt Dumba, defense, Minnesota Wild. The fourth-year NHLer 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.

Charles Williams, goaltender, Canisius College. Sure, he’s not in the NHL but that doesn’t diminish the amazing 2016-17 season Williams had. He helped guide Canisius’ Golden Griffins to an Atlantic Hockey regular season title and was named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, presented to the top NCAA Division I men’s hockey player.

Canisius College goalie Charles Williams signed a contact with the ECHL’s Manchester Monarchs in March ( (Photo/Canisius College).

Williams posted a 15-6-4 record and helped backstop Canisius to a 17-game unbeaten streak. He led all Division I goalies with a .946 save percentage during the regular season. He was tied for first with 5 shutouts and second in the nation with a 1.83 goals-against average.

Williams, who was a fifth-year transfer student, signed a standard player contract in March with the Manchester Monarchs, the Los Angeles Kings’ ECHL farm team.

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Windsor Spitfires win Mastercard Memorial Cup

29 Monday May 2017

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“Addy” and “Chatty” carried the Cup.

Forward Jeremiah Addison and defenseman Jalen Chatfield, black co-captains of the Windsor Spitfires, together lifted the Memorial Cup after Windsor defeated the Erie Otters 4-3 Sunday to win the Canadian Hockey League major junior championship.

Windsor Spitfires co-captains Jeremiah Addison, left, and Jalen Chatfield, right, accept Memorial Cup from CHL Commissioner David Branch ( Photo/ Aaron Bell/CHL Images).

The Spitfires, in the tournament because Windsor, Ontario, was the host city, overcame a 44-day layoff  – they lost to the London Knights in the first round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs – to beat OHL Erie.

“We’ve battled with the most adversity between injuries, suspensions, and all kinds of stuff,” Addison told The Windsor Star after the game. “We battled through all kinds of adversity.”

Windsor became the first host team to win the Cup since the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Shawinigan Cataractes did it in 2012 and the 10th since the tournament went to a round-robin format in 1972.

“We just focused on what we could do,” Chatfield told the Star. “Get bigger, stronger, and come together as a team. Building more chemistry around the (locker) room and we’ve done that.”

Addison and Chatfield were held scoreless in Sunday’s game, but the two overage players were pivotal to Spitfires’ championship drive. Addison, a Brampton, Ontario, native, scored 3 goals to power Windsor past the Otters 4-2 on May 24 to earn a spot in the final.

Windsor Spitfires co-captains Jalen Chatfield, foreground, and Jeremiah Addison take the Memorial Cup for a skate after winning CHL championship (Photo/Aaron Bell/CHL Images).

Chatfield contributed by playing near shutdown defense against snipers like QMJHL Saint John Sea Dogs Mathieu Joseph and Bokondji Imama and Erie’s Alex DeBrincat, Taylor Raddysh and Dylan Strome.

Sunday’s game was the last major junior contest for Addison and Chatfield. Addison, 20, a 2015 seventh-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, will look to land a playing spot in the organization in 2017-18. Chatfield, 21-year old native of Ypsilanti, Michigan, signed a three-year entry level contract with the Vancouver Canucks in March.

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‘How You Like Me Now?’ P.K. Subban plays on while Montreal is out of playoffs

23 Sunday Apr 2017

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Let us turn to the hockey sage Kool Moe Dee for the right words while discussing Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban,  the Montreal Canadiens, and the Habs’ first-round exit from the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban.

A song by Dee – or is it Mr. Moe Dee? –  probably best sums up how Subban must have felt after watching the Canadiens – his former employer – burp up a two-game-to-one series lead and suffer a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers Saturday that ousted the Habs from the playoffs:

“How You Like Me Now?”

Last summer, Subban was the poster boy for Montreal’s dysfunction – the Habs’ failure to make the playoffs (seeming to forget that All-World goaltender Carey Price only appeared in 12 games in 2015-16 season due to injury), rumored unrest in the locker room, and the inability of the coach to execute his master plan to lead the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup.

Subban was deemed by the Canadiens’ organ-i-zation to be too flamboyant, too selfish, too headstrong, too irresponsible defensively to be trusted.

So they shipped him to Nashville in June for defenseman Shea Weber in a move that then-Head Coach Michel Therrien proclaimed made the Canadiens “a better team now.”

So how’d it work out?  The Habs fired Therrien in February after the team faded following a 13-1-1 start to the 2016-17 season. Montreal finished atop the National Hockey League’s  Atlantic Conference with a 47-26-9 record and Cup expectations were high, particularly after the trade and Therrien’s dismissal. Then came the Rangers.

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As for the trade participants, Weber had a good year in Montreal, scoring 17 goals and 25 assists in 78 games. Subban had an injury-plagued regular season that limited him to 10 goals and 30 assists in 66 games. Subban played 12 fewer games than Weber but scored 40 points to Weber’s 42.

But the bottom line stat for most fans is that Subban and the Predators are still in the playoffs. Weber and the Canadiens aren’t after making what was sold as a “win now” trade.

While Montreal players head to the golf course, Subban and the Predators face the St. Louis Blues in Round Two of the playoffs.

Nashville’s four-game sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks was so defensively dominant that Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne tallied as many points – 2 – as All-Star snipers Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews , who were the Chicago’s top scorers in the series.

Revenge is as sweet as the ice tea served cold south of the Mason-Dixon line, and Subban fans are basking in Montreal’s playoff misfortune. Cue Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing.”

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From “40/40” to full-time, Shandor Alphonso earns his NHL zebra stripes

12 Wednesday Oct 2016

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Shandor Alphonso won’t be a “40/40” man anymore.

Alphonso’s hockey dual existence ends when he steps onto the ice of Buffalo’s recently-renamed KeyBank Center Thursday as part of the officiating crew for the Sabres home opener against the Montreal Canadiens.

Linesman Shandor Alphonso (Photo/Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)

Linesman Shandor Alphonso (Photo/Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)

The NHL promoted the 32-year-old Orangeville, Ont., native to full-time linesman this season, ending a two-year apprenticeship that had him officiating 40 National Hockey League games and 40 American Hockey League contests.

His days of officiating a game at Madison Square Garden one night and at the Syracuse War Memorial the next are over. Now he’s looking forward to visiting NHL cities he’s never seen before – Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose and Denver.

“It feels great,” Alphonso told me recently. “A lot of guys at (referee’s camp) said ‘You can get on the 40/40 by accident or anyone can get on the 40/40 but to get promoted full-time, that’s pretty special.’ It means a ton to me, I’m really excited about getting the season going.”

Alphonso was among three referees and three linesmen to get bumped up to the big league full time this season.

“All of the additions to our officiating team, including Shandor, bring a great skating skill set, athletic mindset and hockey IQ that is absolutely vital to be successful in today’s NHL,” said Stephen Walkom, the NHL’s senior vice president and director of officiating.

Now that he’s a full time NHL zebra, Alphonso is doing what the league’s players do and setting his sights on the post season. Stanley Cup Playoffs assignments are rewards to referees and linesmen who excel during the regular season.

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“In the player world, you’re battling for ice time each game,” he told me. “In our world, you’re battling to get the big games; you’re battling to get into the playoffs; your’re battling, once you’re in the playoffs, to get to the next round. And once you get to the next round, you’re battling to get into the Stanley Cup Final. You’re battling with yourself to get better every game you do…because at the end of the day, every guy wants to work the Stanley Cup Final.”

Alphonso hopes to achieve another goal this season: to work a game with veteran Jay Sharrers, his role model and the NHL’s only other black on-ice official.

“It would be pretty cool to work with Jay,” he said. “You don’t usually notice referees, but I noticed Jay when I  was growing up – it would be pretty special to work with him.”

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As a boy, Alphonso dreamed of making it to the NHL – as a player. A rugged left wing , he played 183 games for the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves from 2001-02 to 2003-04, notching 25 goals, 48 assists and collecting 143 penalty minutes.

He went on play for Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, from 2005-06 to 2009-10. He tallied 18 goals, 22 assists, and accumulated 121 penalty minutes in 111 games for the Thunderwolves.

During his fourth year at Lakehead, the NHL invited him to participate in the NHL Amateur Exposure Combine, an officiating camp designed to entice major junior, U.S., and Canadian college hockey players to consider becoming linesmen or referees.

The experience convinced him to drop his stick and pick up a whistle. He officiated in various leagues, including the OHL, before landing the 40/40 opportunity with the NHL/AHL two seasons ago.

He performed well enough to be assigned to work the AHL’s Calder Cup Final in his rookie season and again in 2015-16. Even though he’s logged some NHL officiating time, Alphonso will be the junior guy on officiating crews most nights.

“I’ll be in charge of the rookie duties – little stuff like renting the car, doing the report after the game,” he said with a laugh. “Nothing too crazy.”

 

 

Minority players having big impact in World Cup of Hockey, from scoring to sitting

18 Sunday Sep 2016

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The World Cup of Hockey is only a few days old and already players of color are having a huge impact in the best-on-best international tournament – from a brother from France scoring to Big Buff sitting.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, a Philadelphia Flyers forward and Team Europe’s only French member, put a dagger in Team USA in the World Cup opener Saturday, scoring on a neat second-period tip-in in Europe’s 3-0 shocker over the United States.

On a Europe squad stacked with firepower the likes of Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa, Bellemare made the most of his 15 minutes-plus of ice time, registering a goal, one shot, and one hit. He won 36 percent of his face-offs.

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While Team Europe basked in its upset victory, Team USA Head Coach John Tortorella faced questions about his decision not to dress Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfgulien for Saturday’s game.

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Byfuglien is one of the National Hockey League’s best offensive blue-liners, blessed with one of the league’s hardest and most-accurate shots. He was eighth in scoring among NHL defensemen last season with 19 goals and 34 assists.

Dustin Byfuglien

Dustin Byfuglien

He’s the highest-scoring defenseman on a Team USA roster that includes John Carlson and Matt Niskanen of the Washington Capitals, Jack Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Erik Johnson of the Colorado Avalanche, Ryan Suter of the Minnesota Wild, and the New York Rangers’ Ryan McDonagh.

“Well, I have to take someone out, and Buff has been used on defense and forward, along with Kyle Palmieri as a right winger, too, and we made the decision for this game, this was our best lineup,” Tortorella explained after the game. “It’s certainly not a negative thought on Buff, but we decided to go with this lineup tonight.”

 

Don’t know about you, but I think Tortorella might pencil Byfuglien into the lineup when Team USA faces Canada Tuesday night.

Byfuglien and Bellemare are among five players of color participating in the eight-team World Cup of Hockey tourney. Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, whose mother is a former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation, Toronto Maple Leafs rookie forward Auston Matthews, and Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones are the other three.

P.K. Subban talks the Habs, the trade, Montreal and Nashville

14 Thursday Jul 2016

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Montreal Canadiens Headshots

Canada’s Sportsnet spent some quality time  this week talking with defenseman P.K. Subban,  who was surprisingly traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Nashville Predators last month.

Subban gave the sports network his first extensive comments about the trade, and addresses some of the questions and rumors swirling about why he was abruptly dealt. Give the two-part interview a look.

P.K. Subban moves from Montreal to the Music City in shocking trade

30 Thursday Jun 2016

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Two summers ago, the Montreal Canadiens showed defenseman P.K. Subban the money, signing him to an eight-year $72 million deal. Wednesday, the Habs showed him the door.

Damn, what happened?

A Hab no more. Defenseman P.K. Subban heads to the Nashville Predators in a surprising trade.

A Hab no more. Defenseman P.K. Subban heads to the Nashville Predators in a surprising trade.

Either the Canadiens front office lost its mind or lost its patience and dealt fan-favorite Subban, the 2013 Norris Trophy winner as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, straight-up for All-Star D-man Shea Weber.

Montreal General Manager Marc Bergevin maintained that the swap of the 27-year-old Subban for the 30-year-old Weber will help the Canadiens move from a non-playoff-appearing 38-38-6 team to an eventual Stanley Cup contender.

“We completed today an important transaction which I am convinced will make the Canadiens a better team,” the general manager said.”In Shea Weber, we get a top rated NHL defenseman with tremendous leadership, and a player who will improve our defensive group as well as our power play for many years to come. Shea Weber led all NHL defensemen last season with 14 power play goals. He is a complete rearguard with impressive size and a powerful shot. P.K. Subban is a special and very talented player. He provided the Canadiens organization with strong performances on the ice and generous commitment in the community. I wish him the best of luck with the Predators.”

Hmmm, so much to decode here. But you don’t need to

D-man Shea Weber goes to Montreal from Nashville for Subban.

D-man Shea Weber goes to Montreal from Nashville for Subban.

be Luther, President Barack Obama’s fictional anger translator from “Key & Peele,” to know that Bergevin’s statement was a stinging Gordie Howe backhand aimed right at Subban.

In praising Weber, Bergevin took not-so-veiled digs at Subban’s leadership qualities,

his ability to play well with others, and his overall game on the blue line.

It’s no secret that Subban’s flamboyant, high-risk playing style drove Canadiens Head Coach Michel Therrien nuts at times. And there were rumblings of discontent among some Habs players with Subban this season.

And, of course, the trade is the latest chapter in the Great P.K. Subban Debate. Several members of the hockey establishment argue that his game is more style than substance and some old school hockey heads complain that he’s too colorful a personality.

Subban supporters say his swashbuckling playing style and larger-than-life personality have been good for the game. They argue that he’s been disrespected by the hockey intelligentsia for not fitting the cookie-cutter mold of what an NHLer should be. Some question whether race is a factor.

Subban’s been on the receiving end of several high-profile snubs. Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock, when he coached the Gold Medal-winning Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, played Subban for only 11 minutes – all in one game.

This year, Hockey Canada didn’t include him om the roster for the Canadian squad that will compete in the World Cup of Hockey in September.

Subban’s Canadiens teammates passed him over last season to be the team’s nominee for the NHL’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy – presented to the player who exhibits leadership on and off the ice and has contributed to the community – despite the fact that he pledged $10 million to Montreal’s Children’s Hospital, the biggest philanthropic commitment by any athlete in Canadian history.

Subban seemed to take Wednesday’s trade in the same fluid stride he’s taken the previous slights. He told Nashville reporters via conference call Wednesday that “Right now, I’m going to a team that wants me” He added that he felt “a whole lot closer” to winning a Stanley Cup with Nashville than he did in Montreal.

“On the business side of things, the Montreal Canadiens paid me a lot of money two years ago to do what I do for a living,” he said. “At the end of the day I just wanted to come in and do my job. But obviously right now I’m going to a team that wants me and the Montreal Canadiens felt that they had to take it down a different path.”

Some key 2015-16 statistics don’t show much space between Weber and Subban. Weber was ninth among NHL defensemen in scoring with 20 goals and 31 assists for 51 points in 78 games. He was third on the Predators in scoring.

Subban  was 12th among  the league’s defensemen, matching Weber’s 51 points on 6 goals and 45 assists in an injury-plagued 68 games. He was Montreal’s fourth-leading scorer last season.

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Weber, touted as the more defensively responsible blue liner, had a plus-minus rating of minus-7. Subban was a plus-4.

Weber averaged 25:12 minutes per game and 29.9 shifts per game. Subban logged an average of 26:21 minutes per game and 28.3 shifts per game.

Weber was the more effective power play scorer – Bergevin’s main point – with 14 goals compared to Subban’s 2 in 2015-16. Neither player had a game-winning goal last season.

Subban and Weber have one other thing in common. Neither has been able in recent seasons to get their teams over the hump to the Stanley Cup Final.

Needless to say, the trade hasn’t gone down well with hockey fans in and out of Montreal. A New York Post headline read “P.K. Subban Trade is Canadiens Purging NHL’s Biggest Persona.”

The Montreal Gazette quotes fans calling the trade “Ridiculous,” “insane,” “a disgrace.” Welcome to Montreal, Shea Weber.

With Subban in the fold,  the Predators are taking a different approach that the team hopes will lead to a Stanley Cup. Nashville historically was a defense-first team under Head Coach Barry Trotz.

Trotz was replaced two seasons ago by Peter Laviolette, who likes his defenseman to be able to move the puck quickly out of their zone and initiate offense – either through pinpoint passes or skating.

Though Laviolette is a no-nonsense coach in the Therrien mold, Subban should thrive in Laviolette’s system.

“In P.K., when people might talk about him, it’ll be his skating, the fact that he can transport the puck himself, the fact that he can distribute the puck, he’s constantly in motion,” Laviolette said. “He has worn a letter in the National Hockey League, was being considered for captain of the Montreal Canadiens, so there’s leadership quality there as well.”

In addition to his skating ability and 100-mph-plus slap shot from the point, Subban brings something to the Predators that the franchise has never had – star power, someone who can put butts in seats.

Though Subban was enormously  popular among fans in Montreal he was never the face of the franchise, not with all-world goaltender Carey Price and U.S.-born team captain Max Pacioretty there.

He’s poised to be The Man in Nashville.

“P.K. Subban is an elite offensive defenseman with tremendous skill and contagious energy that makes the Nashville Predators a better team now and into the future,” said Nashville GM David Poile. “Superstar defensemen of his caliber are a rare commodity, and we are thrilled to add him to the organization.”