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Tag Archives: P.K. Subban

No way, P.K.: Canada leaves Subban off its World Cup of Hockey roster

28 Saturday May 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Seth Jones, Winnipeg Jets

Teams participating in the World Cup of Hockey finalized their rosters Friday, providing plenty of news about who’s in and who’s out of the eight-team tournament.

Three black players will represent their countries in the games to be played Sept. 17-Oct. 1 at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban wasn't among the players picked for Canada's World Cup of Hockey team.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban wasn’t among the players picked for Canada’s World Cup of Hockey team.

Toronto is also the home town of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban. But Subban, the 2013 Norris Trophy winner as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, won’t be there because Team Canada didn’t add him to its roster.

“The decisions weren’t easy, and with the depth of player talent we have in Canada, we knew it would be a difficult process to finalize our roster – but it’s what we signed up for, and we feel we’ve been able to put together the right balance to create a winning team,” Team Canada General Manager Doug Armstrong said.

Canada selected seven blue-liners: Brent Burns  and Marc-Edouard Vlasic of the San Jose Sharks; Drew Doughty  and Jake Muzzin of the Los Angeles Kings; Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks;  Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues; and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators.

Subban was 12th among NHL defensemen in scoring in the 2015-16 regular season with 6 goals and 45 assists in 68 games. Weber finished ninth among D-men with 20 goals and 31 assists and Doughty was tenth with 14 goals and 37 assists.

An article in Canada’s National Post Saturday had a lead that summed up the Subban skip best: “Call him P.K. Snubban.”

“OK, so the nickname needs a little work but that doesn’t excuse the fact the reimagined World Cup of Hockey will be devoid of one of its marquee talents: The marvelous P.K. Subban,” John Matisz wrote.

Subban’s talent is undeniable. Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley, appearing in filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason’s “Soul on Ice, Past, Present and Future” black hockey history documentary, said Subban should simply be known as “Norris” – as in Norris Trophy.

Embed from Getty Images

Subban represented Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics, but Team Canada Head Coach Mike Babcock made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of Subban’s game. He played only 11 minutes – all in one game – during the entire Olympics.

Many Subban fans feel he’s disrespected by the Canadian hockey establishment – be it the Canadiens, Hockey Canada, or old-school hockey heads who think he’s too mouthy, too flashy, too…whatever.

After Montreal endured the hockey season from hell –  a 38-38-6 record, no playoff berth – the Canadian rapper Wasiu had had enough with the Subban bashing.

Earlier this month, Wasiu picked up the mic and dropped “P.K. Subban,” a sometimes-explicit tribute to the player he says is “putting the city on his back.”

“The Canadiens had a bad season and the local media pointed the finger at P.K.,” Wasiu wrote in an essay for Fader. “It’s funny though, because he’s the best player and we all know he isn’t the problem. Same way when there’s violence that occurs at a club or in general, the thinking is to go check on the black people first because they look like they ‘fit the description’ – even if they weren’t the ones to start any problems.”

Wasiu’s is the second rap homage to Subban and his skills. Toronto-based rapper/producer Saukrates contributed “Say I” in 2011 as part of a Nike ad campaign that featured Subban.

If P.K. was P.O.’d about being excluded from the World Cup of Hockey, he didn’t show it over the weekend. Hanging out with the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre Saturday, Subban told Canada’s Sportsnet “I just want to see Canada win gold. So, I’ll be there cheering just like everybody else.”

“It’s a selection process,” he added. “So either you get selected, or you don’t . All I can do is be a model citizen. I’m Canadian so I support my country and I support my team just like everybody else.”

Batter up ⚾️ @BlueJays @JoeyBats19 @BringerOfRain20 @DAVIDprice24 @MichaelRay26 pic.twitter.com/6DiyPU34ph

— P.K. Subban (@PKSubban1) May 28, 2016

Dallas Stars' Johnny Oduya.

Dallas Stars’ Johnny Oduya.

Another notable World Cup omission is Dallas Stars defenseman Johnny Oduya from Team Sweden’s roster.

Oduya, who won Stanley Cups with Chicago in 2013 and 2015, represented his country at the 2014 and 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship.

Despite no Oduya and no Subban, there will still be players of color to watch at the World Cup tournament.

Embed from Getty Images

Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien  will skate for Team USA. The Minneapolis-born big man – 6-foot-5, 260-pounds – with the booming slap shot finished third on the Jets in scoring in 2015-16 with 19 goals and 34 assists in 81 games.

Embed from Getty Images

Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones made the World Cup’s Team North America roster. The Texas-born Jones tallied 2 goals and 18 assists in 41 games for Columbus after being acquired from the Predators.

Embed from Getty Images

Team Europe added Philadelphia Flyers left wing Pierre-Edourard Bellemare to its roster Friday. Bellemare, who is from France, had 7 goals and 7 assists in 74 games for the Flyers.

 

 

 

 

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Washington Capitals to salute Mike Marson, the NHL’s 2nd black player

24 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Bill Riley, Damon Kwame Mason, Karl Subban, Mike Marson, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Soul on Ice, Sudbury Wolves, Washington Capitals

When the Washington Capitals face the St. Louis Blues at the Verizon Center on Fan Appreciation Night Saturday, perhaps no one in the arena will be more appreciative than Mike Marson.

Mike Marson was drafted by the Washington Capitals at age 18 in 1974.

Mike Marson was drafted by the Washington Capitals at age 18 in 1974.

The Capitals are scheduled to honor Marson, who was the National Hockey League’s second black player, with a video salute on the Verizon Center’s giant scoreboard during a TV timeout.

“I’m very pleased that the Capitals made a move to invite me to come down,” Marson, a Toronto resident, told me recently. “It’s an honor and a pleasure.”

Marson and his Capitals teammates endured the indignity of an 8-67-5 record in the team’s inaugural 1974-75 season, one of the worst records in NHL history.

But Marson also endured the indignities of racism  – on and off the ice. Taunts and physical liberties by opposing players on the ice and racist letters delivered to his home and to the Capital Centre, the team’s original suburban Maryland home, were the unsettling norm.

“It was a culture shock,” Marson recalled.”Nobody should have to make a comment that you’re with the team to get on the plane; nobody should have to, when you get to the hotel, hear the staff ask the coach ‘is that gentleman with you?’ Or hear ‘we don’t have people like him stay at our hotel;’ and nobody should then have to go down in the morning for breakfast and have people usher by you non-stop because they won’t feed you. This is before you even get to the rink, before you have to deal with your opposition. It was non-stop.”

Marson’s story is chronicled in filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason’s black hockey history documentary, “Soul on Ice, Past, Present & Future,” which aired on NHL Network in February as part of Black History Month.

His professional hockey career was brief –  five seasons with the Capitals and three games with the Los Angeles Kings combined with stints with the American Hockey League’s Baltimore Clippers, Springfield Indians,  Binghamton Dusters and Hershey Bears.

The left wing tallied only 24 goals 24 assists in 196 NHL regular season games and never appeared in a Stanley Cup playoff game.

Still, Marson left an imprint on the game. It’s evident in Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and New York Rangers forward Rick Nash, who, as youngsters climbing the hockey ladder, trained off-ice under Marson during his post-hockey career as a martial arts instructor.

“The main thing about Mike was he taught P.K. how to be mentally strong,” Karl Subban, P.K.’s father, told me recently. “If you look at P.K. today, that’s one of the traits he has as a hockey player. It doesn’t matter what’s happening off the ice, it doesn’t matter what’s written about him or what’s said about him. He’s going to go out and play. And I’ve got to give Mike Marson credit for that.”

The elder Subban also credits Marson for igniting his love for hockey – a passion that he passed onto P.K., middle son Malcolm, a goaltender for the AHL Providence Bruins, and youngest son Jordan, a defenseman for the AHL’s Utica Comets.

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Karl Subban grew up in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, where Marson played major junior hockey for the Sudbury Wolves, then of the Ontario Hockey Association.

Marson was the Man in Sudbury: a black skating, scoring, and fighting machine who wore the captain’s “C” on his jersey. He exuded unabashed blackness – sporting an Afro, Fu Manchu mustache and mutton chop sideburns.

Mike Marson, front row center, with the 1973-74 Sudbury Wolves (Photo/Courtesy Sudbury Wolves)

Mike Marson, front row center, with the 1973-74 Sudbury Wolves (Photo/Courtesy Sudbury Wolves).

“Mike Marson gave my community a reason to watch hockey,” Karl Subban told me. “I loved the Sudbury Wolves.But when Mike came onto the scene I took it to another level. They were not just the Sudbury Wolves, they were my team because they had a player who looked like me.”

Between 1972 and 1974 Marson tallied 40 goals, 87 assists and amassed a whopping 263 penalty minutes in 126 regular season games for the Wolves. His hockey resume was strong enough that the expansion Capitals grabbed him with the first pick in the second round of the 1974 NHL Draft.

“I was pretty quick,” said Marson, who works as a bus driver in Toronto.”Having attended so many training camps where I was the only person of color, I had to be able to handle myself. I liked to score, I wasn’t afraid of the rough stuff.”

He was chosen ahead of Hockey Hall of Famers Bryan Trottier, a center who scored 1,425 career points mainly for the New York Islanders, and Mark Howe, who tallied 742 career points as a defenseman playing primarily with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Mike Marson scored 16 goals in his rookie season with the Capitals in 1974-75. (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

Mike Marson scored 16 goals in his rookie season with the Capitals in 1974-75. (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

The Capitals believed they had a solid pick, so did other hockey people. Plus, it didn’t hurt to have a black player as a potential gate attraction in a new hockey city with a sizable black population.

Marson graced the cover of The Hockey News in October 1974. When he made his regular season debut with the Caps at age 19, he became the NHL’s second black player, the first since forward Willie O’Ree played his last game for the Boston Bruins in the 1960-61 season. O’Ree  first joined the Bruins in the 1957-58 season.

Marson showed promise in an otherwise dismal inaugural season for the Capitals. The rookie finished third on the team in scoring with 16 and 12 assists in 76 games.

“He was a great talent – a great skater, great puck skills, tough as they come. He was the complete package,” said right wing Bill Riley, who became the NHL’s third black player when he joined the Capitals for one game in 1974-75 and went on to become a sometimes line mate of Marson’s from 1976 to 1979. “He was strong. I only came across two guys with that kind of strength: Stan Jonathan and Mike Marson. When Mike hit you, you knew you got hit.”

There weren't many NHL players stronger than Mike Marson, according to former Capitals teammate Bill Riley, who was the league's third black player (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

There weren’t many NHL players stronger than Mike Marson, according to former Capitals teammate Bill Riley, who was the league’s third black player (Photo/Washington Capitals archives).

Still, Riley, who went on to become Junior A hockey general manger and a head coach of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Moncton Wildcats in 1996-97, said “I was looking for bigger and better things for Mike.”

So was Marson. But being drafted at 18, becoming a $500,000 bonus baby, and going straight to the NHL without a proper apprenticeship in the minor leagues might have been too much too soon, he said.

And the culture shock of moving from Canada – where he considered himself a hockey player first – to an NHL city south of the U.S. Mason-Dixon line in the racially-tumultuous 1970s also took its toll.

“You can’t really compare my situation back in 1974 to today’s way of thinking,” he told me. “There’s no way to measure that by today’s uplifted society.”

But Marson says he doesn’t dwell on the painful past. Age brings perspective. And healing.

“You don’t get to be 60 and not have some regrets in your life – decisions you made here and there,” he told me. “You react differently than you did at 19 or 16. For me, it’s interesting to have put away all the negative things that transpired so many years ago – we’re talking over 40 years ago – when the world was a totally different place.”

 

 

 

 

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Hockey hair, even players of color go with the flow

08 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Anson Carter, Edmonton Oilers, Grant Fuhr, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban

Hair.

It’s as much a part of hockey as sticks, pucks, and goalie pads. We marvel at Florida Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr’s business-in-the-front-party-in the back mullet, a style so timeless, so awesome, so hockey, that Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban paid homage to it at the NHL All-Star Weekend in January.

Washington Capitals forward Mike Marson had it all - an Afro, mutton chops, and a Fu Manchu.

Washington Capitals forward Mike Marson had it all – an Afro, mutton chops, and a Fu Manchu.

New York Rangers forward Ron Duguay was all about Sassoon jeans, Studio 54, and curly locks in the disco days of the 1970s. And those of us of a certain age can recall catcalling St. Louis Blues sniper Garry Unger as his long red mane flew when he skated up ice in the early 1970s.

Hair is so synonymous with hockey that there’s a term for it: Flow. Hockey players are perfectionists, dedicating countless hours making sure that a move, a shot, a save is just right. They’re apparently just as fussy about their flow.

So much so that an enterprising anonymous filmmaker has been producing High School All Hockey Hair Team videos since 2011.

The 2015 YouTube video went viral with more than 2.5 million views. And this year’s

Anson Carter stuffed dreadlocks into his helmet during his NHL career.

Anson Carter stuffed dreadlocks into his helmet during his NHL career.

edition is quickly racking up the clicks and views. Flow is such a serious business that

hockey equipment manufacturer Warrior sponsored the video in 2015, giving the filmmaker $15,000 if the video surpassed 100,000 views.

There aren’t many players of color in this year’s video, but that doesn’t mean minority

hockey players haven’t let it flow.

Mike Marson became the NHL’s second black player when he joined the Washington Capitals in 1974. But he was the first to sport a killer Afro, mutton chops, and a Fu Manchu.

Goalie Eldon "Pokey" Reddick - need we say more?

Goalie Eldon “Pokey” Reddick – need we say more?

Edmonton Oilers goaltending great Grant Fuhr  rocked an Afro early in his playing days that would’ve made the Ohio Players proud.

And who could forget goalie Eldon “Pokey” Reddick?

He appeared to be as active with the hair activator as he was in net for the Winnipeg Jets,  Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

High-scoring forward Anson Carter and enforcer Georges Laraque packed dreadlocks under their helmets during their NHL careers. Hockey tough guy Chris Simon wore  his dark hair at Rapunzel-length during most of his NHL career to show  Ojibwa First Nation pride.

Like their teammates, they just went with the flow.

 

 

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Why no World Cup of Hockey love for P.K. Subban from Hockey Canada?

03 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

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Chicago Blackhaws, Los Angeles Kings, Mike Babcock, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban

Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban wasn't among the players picked for Canada's World Cup of Hockey team.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban wasn’t among the players picked for Canada’s World Cup of Hockey team.

Again? Really?

Once again, Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban received the back of the hand from Hockey Canada. Subban, Montreal’s leading scorer this season, wasn’t among the initial 16 players named to Canada’s roster for the World Cup of Hockey tournament in September.

Defensemen Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators, Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Marc Edouard-Vlasic of the San Jose Sharks were selected to the team.

Subban? Crickets. It’s a sound he’s heard before.

Subban, a former Norris Trophy-winner as the National Hockey League’s best defenseman, was named to Team Canada for the 2014 Winter Olympics,  but only after much hand-wringing by Hockey Canada’s brain trust and an outcry from hockey fans.

Team Canada’s Head Coach Mike Babcock made clear back then that he didn’t trust Subban’s game. He responded to Subban’s placement on the team by playing him for just 11 minutes – in one game – on Canada’s march to Olympic Gold. Babcock is Canada’s coach for the World Cup.

So what does a Norris Trophy-winning, NHL All-Star, Gold Medal-owning  brotha have to do to get some hockey love from his country?

Team Canada General Manager Doug Armstrong gave The Toronto Star some insight into the mind of Babcock, the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs

“What I know Mike likes, working two Olympics, he likes predictability…He likes to know that he can play a player in every situation. What we have here at the World Cup, and in the Olympics, is you’re not going to be able to hide anyone. There’s no real good matchup when you’re playing the Russians, there’s no real good matchup when you’re playing any team at this level. So we want players out there who can play in any situation, against anyone, 5-on-5.”

Subban seemed to offer a pre-buttal to Armstrong/Babcock when he told Canada’s Sportsnet ahead of the Team Canada roster announcement that “I play close to 30 minutes a game, I kill penalties, play on the power play; I play in all situations against the league’s best players…I think those are the kind of players Team Canada is looking for, but there’s plenty of competition there.”

There’s no doubt that the Montreal Canadiens are enduring the hockey season from hell. All-world goaltender Carey Price has been injured for much of the 2015-16  season, but that didn’t stop Hockey Canada from naming him to the World Cup roster.

Off-ice issues regarding forward Alex Galchenyuk and recently-traded forward Devante Smith-Pelly raised questions about discipline on the team.

Through it all, Subban has been a mainstay on the team. As a defenseman, he leads the Canadiens in scoring with 5 goals and 43 assists. He’s second on the team in plus/minus – an indicator of defensive responsibility – with a plus-7.

He’s sixth among NHL defensemen in scoring. He’s fourth among all NHL players in time on ice averaging 26:14 minutes per game, just behind Doughty.

Subban averages 19:16 minutes of ice time per game when the Canadiens play at even strength, 5-on-5 hockey; 2:19 minutes when the Habs are shorthanded because of penalties; 4:38 minutes when Montreal has the power play man advantage.

So the numbers make the case for Subban playing for Team Canada. But there are other intangibles that Subban brings the game that some of his defensive brethren don’t. Subban is electric on the ice and an electrifying personality off it. He’s become a charitable force in Montreal, his adopted city.

The dog pound @SnoopDogg pic.twitter.com/iywE6MwHqe

— P.K. Subban (@PKSubban1) March 2, 2016

He isn’t the cookie-cutter, stoic, player who says “we’re taking this one game at a time” when a microphone is stuck in front of him. He’s a refreshingly candid presence who draws attention on and off the ice.

He and his family  – brother Malcolm is a goaltender for the American Hockey League Providence Bruins and youngest brother Jordan is a defenseman for the AHL Utica Comets – have been ambassadors for the game, helping to draw kids of color to hockey.

So with seven Team Canada roster slots still up for grabs, picking P.K. for the World Cup of Hockey wouldn’t be a PC or an affirmative action move by Hockey Canada. It would be the right move.

 

 

 

 

 

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The diverse defensive class of 2013 is working its way up professional hockey’s ladder

12 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers, Madison Bowey, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, P.K. Subban, Seth Jones, Washington Capitals

The 2013 National Hockey League Draft was as deep in talented defensemen as it was steeped in diversity.

And some defensemen from diverse backgrounds selected in that draft at New Jersey’s Prudential Center are beginning to make their mark in the professional game.

The Columbus Blue Jackets expect big things from defenseman Seth Jones.

The Columbus Blue Jackets expect big things from defenseman Seth Jones.

NHL scouts viewed Seth Jones, Darnell Nurse, Madison Bowey, Jordan Subban and Jonathan-Ismael Diaby as potential impact players in the pros.

Each player is chasing his dream for National Hockey League stardom, climbing professional hockey’s ladder at his own pace – or that dictated by the team that drafted him.

Jones, taken by the Nashville Predators with the fourth overall pick of the draft, hasn’t spent a day in the minor leagues. But after he spent more than two seasons in Music City, the Predators traded him last week to the Columbus Blue Jackets for talented but enigmatic center Ryan Johansen.

The swap from Nashville, currently sixth in the NHL’s Western Conference, to Columbus, dwelling in the NHL Eastern Conference cellar, wasn’t a knock on Jones’ play.

The Blue Jackets expect big things from the Texas-born son of former National Basketball Association forward Popeye Jones. In Nashville, Seth Jones was the student to defensive master Shea Weber.

In 40 games with the Predators, Jones tallied 1 goal and 10 assists and averaged 19:42 minutes on ice per game.

With Columbus, he’ll play more minutes and see more power play time and penalty-killing action under demanding Head Coach John Tortorella. He’ll go from being one of the guys on Nashville’s blue line to being The Man on the Blue Jackets back end.

“He’s going to get a lot bigger role with our team,”Blue Jackets General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen told reporters last week. “He’s 21 years old and he’s got the future ahead of him and a lot of room for growth and development. We believe he’s a good two-way defenseman that can add some offense to our game.”

Ironically, one of the last things Jones saw in Nashville was the player he was traded for as he and Johansen passed each other at the airport. Jones  expressed excitement about the new opportunity in Columbus.

Ryan Johansen & Seth Jones ran into each other at the airport after yesterday's trade! https://t.co/R6BGbwHuAI pic.twitter.com/3mQ70os5Ny

— theScore (@theScore) January 7, 2016

“They made it pretty clear that they’re going to throw a little bit more at me than I’ve been used to getting,” Jones told reporters in Columbus. “I’m excited and ready to take on the challenge.”

Nurse believed he was NHL-ready from the moment he slipped on an Oilers jersey on draft day.  But the team’s brain trust thought otherwise and sent him back to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, his junior team in the Ontario Hockey League, for the 2013-14 season. He went back to the Soo again in 2014-15.

He was assigned to the Bakersfield Condors, the Olilers’ AHL affiliate, after this season’s

After being promoted from the AHL, Darnell Nurse is averaging 21 minutes per game.

After being promoted from the AHL, Darnell Nurse is averaging 21 minutes per game.

training camp and was called up to the parent club after some of its defensemen suffered injuries.

Since then, Nurse has tallied 2 goals and 5 assists while averaging 21 minutes of ice time per game in 34 games. He’s also added a little toughness to an offensively-talented but grit-challenged Oilers lineup. He’s amassed 19 penalty minutes, five of them coming from a fight against Milan Lucic, the Los Angeles Kings’ physically-imposing and feared veteran forward.

Some thought the bout was too much too soon for the rookie Nurse. He didn’t.

“My mum was like, ‘What are you doing?’ My dad said he was proud of me,” Nurse told  The Edmonton Journal. “This (fighting) is something I’m going to have to do the way I play.”

Madison Bowey is only a two-hour drive from where he hopes to eventually be: With the Washington Capitals.  The team took Bowey in the second round with the 53rd pick of the 2013 draft.

After he captained his Western Hockey League Kelowna Rockets to the MasterCard Memorial Cup Final  last season and teamed up with Nurse on the blue line to help a diverse Team Canada win the Gold Medal at the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, the Capitals sent Bowey to the AHL’s  Hershey Bears.

He has 2 goals, 11 assists, and 24 penalty minutes in 33 games with the Bears.

“I think it’s been going pretty well,” Bowey told PennLive last month. “It’s a learning process and I’m learning a lot every day.”

Madison Bowey hopes to be an impact player with the AHL Hershey Bears - and eventually with the Washington Capitals (Photo/Courtesy JustSports Photography).

Madison Bowey hopes to be an impact player with the AHL Hershey Bears – and eventually with the Washington Capitals (Photo/Courtesy JustSports Photography).

Bears Head Coach Troy Mann agrees.

“From the bench as you watch him play, when he’s moving the puck and limiting his turnovers, he’s having a good game,” Mann told PennLive. “Like any young defenseman, there are nights where his gap control might not be as good as we need it to be, or his defensive-zone coverage. But I think he’s progressing the way we all thought he would. He’s a second-round pick that’s going to need some nurturing in the AHL for a couple seasons.”

Jordan Subban was chosen in the fourth-round of the 2013 draft by the Vancouver Canucks with the 115th pick. His older brother, Montreal Canadiens superstar defenseman P.K. Subban, declared before the draft that Jordan was a better, more cerebral blueliner than he is.

Like his big brother, Jordan is about offense from the back end. The 5-foot-9 defenseman notched 25 goals and 27 assists for the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls last season.

Utica Comets defenseman Jordan Subban (left) doing what he does best - shooting (Photo/Lindsay A. Mogle/Utica Comets).

Utica Comets defenseman Jordan Subban (left) doing what he does best – shooting (Photo/Lindsay A. Mogle/Utica Comets).

He’s continuing his offensive ways in his first season with for the Utica Comets, the Canucks’ AHL farm team, where he has 5 goals and 14 assists in 29 games.

“The (AHL) is a little more skilled than I thought it was going to be,” Subban told Utica’s Observer-Dispatch in November.  “It was a bit of an adjustment. There are a lot of good players…I think I’ve taken a big step in my zone, but I still have work to do.”

Jonathan-Ismael Diaby will be the first to admit that he’s still very much a work in progress. At 6-foot-5 and 223 pounds, he’s described himself as “bigger, taller and slower” compared to other hockey players.

Nashville Predators 2013 draft pick Jonathan Diaby (left) working on improving his game with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals (Photo/Milwaukee Admirals).

Nashville Predators 2013 draft pick Jonathan Diaby (left) working on improving his game with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals (Photo/Milwaukee Admirals).

But the Predators love his size – a “monster,” one scout called him – and his ruggedness. Nashville took him in the third round with the 64th pick in the 2013 draft.

Since then,  the former Victoriaville Tigres defenseman has bounced between the Milwaukee Admirals, the Preds’ AHL affiliate, and Cincinnati Cyclones, Nashville’s ECHL farm team.

The son of a soccer player from the Ivory Coast, Diaby is scoreless in five AHL games this season but has 21 penalty minutes. He has 1 assist and 11 penalty minutes in 17 ECHL games.

“I just want to show more consistency and show that I’m more poised and more in control of the game,” Diaby told The Tennessean during the Predators’ training camp in September. “As a hockey player, you come to training camp, you want to make the team, but it’s a learning experience. I’ve still got a lot to learn and a lot to improve on. The AHL’s a great league.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Behind the camera, on the mic, Mason and Fitzhugh achieve their hockey dreams

23 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Damon Kawme Mason, Everett Fitzhugh, Grant Fuhr, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Philadelphia Flyers, Val James, Wayne Simmonds, Willie O'Ree

They did it!

When last we checked in with Damon Kwame Mason and Everett Fitzhugh they were busy chasing separate hockey dreams. Mason was attempting to make a documentary chronicling the history and growth of blacks in hockey and Fitzhugh was trying to land a gig as a professional hockey play-by-play announcer.

These days, Fitzhugh is proudly calling goals and hockey’s rough-and-tumble action at home and road games for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, his latest stop on a journey that he hopes will lead to a National Hockey League broadcasting career.

And after nearly four years, spending about $200,000 of mostly his own money, and shooting more than 50 hours of footage, Mason can finally call himself a filmmaker – and a pretty good one. His “Soul on Ice: Past, Present & Future” won a People’s Choice Award at the Edmonton International Film Festival earlier this month.

“I knew I was going to finish. Did I know when? No.” Mason told me recently. “There were times I was frustrated – the lack of money, sometimes the lack of support – but I knew, eventually, I’d get it done only because I started out on that mission and I don’t like giving up.”

Damon Kwame Mason (right) interviews Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Trevor Daley for black hockey history documentary.

Damon Kwame Mason (right) interviews Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Trevor Daley for black hockey history documentary.

Making the doc was business and personal for Mason, who hopes the movie will help him make the transition from working in radio to a career in film. As a Canadian, he felt a duty to tell the stories of black players from back in the day and today who sometimes faced racial cruelty and even death threats just for trying to pursue their passion.

“Especially the guys in the 70s and the 80s who were the only ones in the dressing room or the ones that would go to an arena and everyone is yelling ‘nigger’ or ‘spook’ at them,” said Mason, a Toronto native. “They had a choice: Do you want to give up or do you want to continue to do something that you love. And that’s what they did, they continued doing something that they loved. And that’s what I did in making this film.”

The film features chilling footage of a CBS News profile of Val James, the NHL’s first U.S.-born black player, enduring chants of “Spook! Spook! Spook!” as he’s playing a minor league game south of the Mason-Dixon line in Salem, Va., in 1981. One proud “fan” carried a watermelon to the game in James’ honor.

Mason covers the waterfront of black hockey history in his documentary, from the all-black league that played in the Canadian Maritimes from the 1890s to the 1920s, to the great Herb Carnegie’s heartbreak from being unable reach the NHL because of his race, to Willie O’Ree finally cracking that color barrier, to the Subban family having three boys drafted by NHL teams.

He crisscrossed North America to interview a bevy of current and former NHL players of color and their families including James, who played for the Buffalo Sabres, O’Ree, who broke into the NHL with the Boston Bruins in 1958, Mike Marson, who became the league’s second black player when he joined the Washington Capitals in 1974-75, and Grant Fuhr, the all-world goaltender who won five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers.

Joel Ward of the San Jose Sharks, Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers,  P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Blackhawks’ Trevor Daley are among the current black NHLers who appear in the film.

James says he’s no film critic but he gave Mason’s effort five stars are seeing it at a private screening in Toronto earlier this month.

Vancouver Canucks defensive prospect Jordan Subban prepares parents Karl and Maria for their close-ups in

Vancouver Canucks defensive prospect Jordan Subban prepares parents Karl and Maria for their close-ups in “Soul on Ice: Past, Present & Future.”

“Kwame has put together a piece of history,” he said. “It was very enlightening and filled in that gap that most people ask: why, when, and where did (these players) come from. Anyone who’s interested in this type of thing, it’s like candy.”

Mason’s finished work on the film but the work of getting “Soul on Ice: Past, Present & Future” to a theater or television network near you has only just begun. He’s searching Canada and the U.S. for a buyer that will show his product. If one doesn’t materialize, Mason says he’ll still be at peace.

“There were a lot of sacrifices,” he told me. “I’m in the hole – all my money is going out. I hope that some money will come back in. If it doesn’t, I can rest my head and say I accomplished something for my nation and for black Canadians as a celebration.”

Former Washington Capitals forward Mike Marson shares his experience as the NHL's second black hockey player in the documentary.

Former Washington Capitals forward Mike Marson shares his experience as the NHL’s second black hockey player in the documentary.

It seems fitting that Fitzhugh is living his hockey broadcast dream in the city associated with the television classic “WKRP in Cincinnati.” 

“It’s awesome, I still can’t believe it,” Fitzhugh told me. “Everything has happened so fast. I’ve been fortunate to move up the ladder so quickly.”

When we visited with Fitzhugh in March 2014 he was working public relations in the Chicago headquarters of the United States Hockey League, a Tier I junior league that sends many of its players on to NCAA Division I college hockey careers.

He was thrilled to be working in organized hockey but yearned to be behind the microphone calling games like his heroes, Detroit Red Wings broadcaster Ken Kal and NBC’s Mike “Doc” Emrick.

A Detroit native, Fitzhugh called 120 hockey games while he was a student at Bowling Green State University and thirsted to do more. He got his chance last season broadcasting for the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms.

At 26, Everett Ftizhugh rocks the mic as play-by-play announcer for the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones.

At 26, Everett Ftizhugh rocks the mic as play-by-play announcer for the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones.

“If I had to name one person who I may take some tips from or take a little bit from is Jim Hughson who does the “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcast and did the NHL video game series for quite a while,” Fitzhugh said. “Very, very deep voice, very technical, which I love. He’s fun to listen to.”

When the Cyclones came calling with an offer to work the team’s home and away games online, he jumped at the chance to move one rung closer to an NHL broadcasting career.

“I thought I was going to be in Youngstown for three, four, five years, have to struggle, scrap and all that other stuff,” he said. “To be able to make it to the ECHL at 26 and get back on the path I thought I would be on when I left college – the two previous radio guys at Bowling Green before me, they all went straight to the ECHL from Bowling Green. I couldn’t even get a radio job out of college. So to be on this path is a really good feeling.”

But there are still dues to be paid. Fitzhugh’s official title with the Cyclones is Director of Public Relations and Broadcasting, a lofty handle that means he does everything. He writes the press release, tweets the tweets, works with Cincinnati sportscasters in arranging interviews with players, handles web content, and maybe even helps load and unload the team bus – all before and after putting on the headset and calling the game.

And, like Cyclone players whose action he describes on air, Fitzhugh travels to road games minor league-style on the team bus.

“I think this year our longest bus ride in terms of mileage is going to be down to Allen, Texas, that’s got to be about 17-18 hours from here,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be taking planes until I get to the NHL.”

 

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Hockey season’s coming! Wait, it’s already here news-wise!

19 Saturday Sep 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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Josh Ho-Sang, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, P.K. Subban, Ray Emery, Tampa Bay Lightning, Willie O'Ree

The puck hasn’t dropped for the 2015-16 hockey season yet and there’s already tons of news – most of it good, some of it worrisome.

First, three cheers for Willie O’Ree. The American Hockey League’s new San Diego Gulls franchise is hosting “Willie O’Ree Night” on Oct. 16 and will honor the National Hockey League’s first black player before the Gulls take on the Bakersfield Condors.

O’Ree skated into the NHL and history on Jan. 18, 1958 as a Boston Bruins forward playing against the Montreal Canadiens at the old Montreal Forum. He appeared in 45 games over two seasons for the Bruins – 1957-58 and 1960-61 – and tallied 4 goals, 10 assists and 26 penalty minutes.

Willie O'Ree, the NHL's first black player, will be honored by the AHL's San Diego Gulls next month.

Willie O’Ree, the NHL’s first black player, will be honored by the AHL’s San Diego Gulls next month.

The bulk of his professional hockey career was spent with the San Diego Gulls and the Los Angeles Blades of the old Western Hockey League. In 13 WHL seasons, O’Ree played 785 games, scored 328 goals and 311 assists and amassed 669 penalty minutes. Not bad for a guy who’s blind in his right eye.

“Willie’s a trailblazer and international sports icon,” said Ari Segal,  president of

Willie O'Ree, back in the day.

Willie O’Ree, back in the day.

business operations for the Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks farm team. “He’s worked tirelessly throughout his life to promote diversity in our sport, and increase access to hockey for people of all races, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to honor him and celebrate his life and historic career on the day after his 80th birthday.”

O’Ree, the NHL’s director for Youth Development and ambassador for NHL Diversity, said he’s thrilled to be honored by his hometown team.

“I’m proud and thankful that the club has chosen to honor me during its inaugural AHL season,” he said. “This organization has proven time and again its commitment to becoming deeply ingrained in this community, including and beyond the 34 home game dates.”

Shameless plug: I profile O’Ree  along with Larry Kwong and Fred Sasakamoose – the NHL’s first Asian and Indian players – in the upcoming issue of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Legends program guide. It should be available after the 2015 Hall of Fame induction festivities in November.

P.K. Subban is paying it forward, donating $10 million to the Montreal Children's Hospital.

P.K. Subban is paying it forward, donating $10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban hasn’t played a game yet this season but he already scored a huge goal when pledged $10 million to the  Montreal Children’s Hospital.

Subban’s gesture is the largest philanthropic commitment ever by a professional athlete in Canada. For his generous donation, the hospital renamed its atrium “Atrium P.K. Subban.”

The flamboyant and sometimes controversial defenseman, a Toronto native, sent a message with his contribution: Hockey-insane Montreal is his town.

“The P.K. Subban Atrium is not only my footprint to the city but, more importantly, it is my sole promise to give back to those who have given me so much.”

Subban’s been on a roll in recent years. The 26-year-old won an Olympic Gold Medal at the 2014 Winter Games with Team Canada, he’s a two-time All-Star, and a 2013 Norris Trophy recipient as the NHL’s best defenseman. And he’s rich. He signed an eight-year contract with the Canadiens reportedly worth $72 million in 2014.

“P.K. is a person of character, who strives for success, always working at new ways to stay on top of his game and he understands the value of teamwork,” said Martine Alfonso, the Montreal Children’s Hospital’s associate executive director. “He is an outstanding role model for our patients and personifies the excellence for which the Children’s is world-renowned.”

Ray Emery isn’t trying to catch lightning in a bottle. He’s trying catch on with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The unemployed goaltender signed a professional tryout offer with the Lightning after the team saw most of its goaltending depth get wheeled into the emergency room.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, starting goalie Ben Bishop’s primary backup, is out for 2-3 months following surgery earlier this month to remove a blood clot from under his left collar bone. Kristers Gudlevskis suffered an injury while playing in a prospects tournament recently.

That leaves an open lane for Emery. The 32-year-old, 11-season NHL vet had a 10-11-7 record with the Philadelphia Flyers last season. He had a 3.06 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage for a team that failed to make the playoffs.

Emery appeared to struggle with explosive lateral movements last season, raising

Ray Emery wants to prove he's still got game at the Lightning's training camp.

Ray Emery wants to prove he’s still got game at the Lightning’s training camp.

questions about whether his right hip, surgically-repaired in 2010, was giving him trouble. The injury was devastating enough back then that many hockey people thought his career was over.

The Flyers opted not to re-sign Emery as Steve Mason’s backup. Philly signed former Washington Capitals-Buffalo Sabres-New York Islanders netminder Michal Neuvirth to a two-year deal reportedly worth $3.25 million.

Emery told the Tampa Bay Times that he’s “not done,” his hip his fine, and it wasn’t the problem last season. He chalked his 2014-15 pedestrian numbers to playing on a bad Flyers team.

“It was a frustrating year on that team,” Emery told The Times. “My season definitely reflected that as well. When you don’t make the playoffs, that’s normally how your season is. You’ve got some good parts, but they don’t outweigh the bad parts.”

Emery is auditioning for the Lightning under the watchful eye of goalie coach Frantz Jean, one of the few coaches of color in the NHL.

It was over before it began for Josh Ho-Sang. The Islanders 2014 first-round draft pick, the 28th overall selection, arrived late for the first day of the team’s training camp. Quicker than a New York minute, the Isles cut the controversial but talented forward and shipped him back to the Niagara IceDogs, his Ontario Hockey League major junior team.

Not even one, but done. Ho-Sang was reportedly late for Day 1 of Islanders camp and sent back to his junior team.

Not even one, but done. Ho-Sang was reportedly late for Day 1 of Islanders camp and sent back to his junior team.

Arthur Staple, the Islanders beat  writer for Long Island’s Newsday, wrote that Head Coach Jack Capuano had planned to have Ho-Sang working on a training camp line with team captain John Tavares and Anders Lee.

“Enough with the bull,” Snow told Newsday Saturday. “It’s time to grow up.”

Snow told the newspaper that Ho-Sang is “obviously talented, but talent isn’t the issue.”

“It’s about becoming a professional and acting like one,” he told the newspaper. “Hopefully he takes this lesson and learns from it. It’s really up to him now – we can’t do anything else for him in this area.”

Team management was so miffed by Ho-Sang’s tardiness that they made the 19-year-old run the stairs of the Nassau Coliseum for three hours, Newsday reported.

Ho-Sang is one of the most talented hockey players to come out of Canada in years. He has scary scoring hands and speed to burn on the ice. But he also scares hockey establishment people because of his outspokenness and what they perceive as his immaturity.

He’s spoken bluntly about race and hockey and he’s blasted Hockey Canada for not inviting him to its summer camp for the world juniors team two years ago after he notched 85 points in 67 games.

Marty Williamson, the IceDogs’ general manager, told the Bullet News of Niagara that the Islanders told him that Ho-Sang was late for training camp because he overslept. He said Ho-Sang is “very upset and humbled by the whole thing.”

The IceDogs GM called Ho-Sang “a good kid” who’s “made a lot of strides in the right direction.” But he also called Ho-Sang out, saying he still has much to do before becoming the elite player that some in the hockey world believe he can be.

“He has some habits he needs to work on,” Williamson told the Bullet News. “He stays up too late playing video games and stuff like that. He sleeps through things and gets himself exhausted.”

Here’s hoping that Ho-Sang takes this oversleeping episode, and the Islanders tough-love approach to it, as a wake-up call.

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When Greatness Collides – Subban vs. Ovechkin Round Two

04 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Alex Ovechkin, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Washington Capitals

A couple of things about pro hockey players: They never forget and they seldom forgive. They may not get mad immediately, but they almost always get even – no matter how long it takes.

Such appeared to be the case in Montreal last Thursday when Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban lined up Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin with a solid check that sent him airborne.

Ovechkin wasn’t hurt by the collision. As the Great 8 used to say, “Russian machine never breaks.”

The highlight-reel hit was payback by P.K. On Feb. 1, 2011, Ovechkin posterized Subban, sending sent him skyward with an open-ice hip check that many considered the hit of the season.

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Subban vs. Subban? Oh, brother, it could happen on Sunday

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

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Anthony Stewart, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Chris Stewart, Malcolm Subban, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, St. Louis Blues

Goalie Malcolm Subban awaits first NHL start.

Goalie Malcolm Subban awaits first NHL start.

There’s something special about brothers playing against each other in hockey.

Former Boston Bruins sniper Phil Esposito had an intense rivalry with his younger brother and fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Tony Esposito, a stingy goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Carolina Hurricanes forward Eric Staal once knocked brother Marc, a member of the New York Rangers, silly with a questionable hit against the boards. And Keith and Wayne Primeau actually dropped the gloves and duked it out when Keith played for the Hartford Whalers and Wayne for the Buffalo Sabres.

Hockey fans could be in for a treat Sunday when the Montreal Canadiens play the Boston Bruins, a game scheduled to air nationally on NBCSN. If Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien decides to start rookie goaltender Malcolm Subban against defenseman P.K. Subban’s Habs, it will be one of the rare times when players of color who are related square off in an NHL regular season game.

There are no guarantees that it happens. Malcolm Subban hasn’t played a regular

Montreal's P.K. Subban.

Montreal’s P.K. Subban.

season minute in the NHL. He’s up from the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins because Boston sent backup goalie Niklas Svedberg to its Rhode Island affiliate for a conditioning stint.

Boston has been slow and deliberate in grooming Malcolm Subban, their 2012 first-round draft pick. When asked if the rookie goaltender would get a start this weekend, Julien only told reporters “We’ll see, guys.”

Julien could give Subban his first NHL start Saturday when the Canadiens play the New York Islanders.

Malcolm Subban told reporters that he’s up for whatever, even facing P.K. and his Howitzer slapshot from the point.  “It would be pretty cool, but I’m not thinking into it too much,” he told WEEI.com Thursday. “Just trying to stay focused. Whenever the opportunity comes, hopefully I’ll be ready.”

Netminder Subban and defenseman Subban have faced each other before in a 2013 preseason game that Boston won 6-3.

“He had one (shot), it was probably the slowest shot I had all night,” Malcolm told NHL.com after that game. “A little knucklepuck on net.”

Sounds like blackboard material to me.

Minority hockey-playing brothers have skated against each other before.  Chris Stewart, then a forward for the St. Louis Blues,  and Anthony Stewart, a forward for the Hurricanes at the time, faced each other in 2011.

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Val James, the NHL’s first African-American player, tells story in new book

30 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Joel Ward, Lindy Ruff, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Toronto Maple Leafs, Val James, Willie O'Ree

Hockey wasn’t easy for Val James – from picking up the game as a young Long Island rink rat, to literally fighting his way through the minor leagues, to trading punches with some of the toughest enforcers in the National Hockey League.

But for James, the NHL’s first American-born black player, the roughest opponents often weren’t on the ice. They were in the stands.

“Think about going on the ice, 40 games a year on the road, and every three seconds of a 60-minute game, you’re getting a racial slur thrown at you over a 10-year period,” he told me recently.

Val James writes about the bitter and the sweet in his hockey career (Photo/Kwame Damon Mason)

Val James writes about the bitter and the sweet in his hockey career (Photo/Kwame Damon Mason)

James and co-author John Gallagher recount the hostility he endured and the good times the left wing experienced in hockey during the 1970s and 80s in his book, “Black Ice: The Val James Story,” which goes on sale Feb. 1.

He writes honestly about his career as an enforcer – not a goon – whose punching power instilled fear in opponents. He unflinchingly describes the racial abuse he endured during a professional career that spanned from 1978-79 with the Erie Blades of the old North Eastern Hockey League to 1987-88 with the Flint Spirits of the International Hockey League.

“You’d  get  depressed every now and then over it, thinking ‘why are these people doing this, they don’t know me.’ I’m just out to entertain them, to give them a night out with their families, their girlfriends, whoever,” he told  me. “It can  work on your psyche if you let it. I was lucky enough to have a lot of good people around me. My teammates supported me totally.”

James, the NHL's first African-American player, appropriately played for the AHL's Rochester Americans (Photo/Rochester Americans).

James, the NHL’s first African-American player, appropriately played for the AHL’s Rochester Americans (Photo/Rochester Americans).

Canadian-born Willie O’Ree became the NHL’s first black player when he debuted with the Boston Bruins in 1958. James, 57, was the league’s first U.S.-born black player and probably the only NHLer born in Ocala, Florida.

His path to hockey started when his family moved to New York and his jack-of-all-trades father took a job at the Long Island Arena.

“He started out being a night watchman there, fixing things when they needed to be fixed,” James told me. “Then he ended up getting into the operations of it all.”

With dad working in the arena, young Val James got freebies for every major 1970s rock & roll act when they played the Island – the Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Burton Cummings.

He also regularly watched the EHL Long Island Ducks play and practice at the arena, fascinated by the speed and aggressiveness of the game. When James got his first pair of ice skates at 13, and with his dad owning a key to the stadium, the Long Island Arena became his practice facility.

“I’d grown up watching the Canadian men play hockey for the Long Island Ducks skate on this same ice,” James and Gallagher wrote. “I imagined myself as one of them.”

James developed into a good enough hockey player to be a 16th-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 1977, though he never played for the team. He cracked the Buffalo Sabres’ roster in 1981-82 after signing as an unrestricted free agent.

He appeared in seven games for Buffalo that season and found it hard getting a lot of ice time with a Sabres lineup that featured tough guys like defensemen Lindy Ruff and Larry Playfair.

“The top guy was Larry Playfair. He was a heavyweight, I was a heavyweight. So that spot was already filled,” James said. “The second line was Lindy Ruff. They all had multi-year contracts at the time because they never expected a guy like me to come along.”

After five seasons in the American Hockey League with the Rochester Americans

James enjoyed NHL tours with Buffalo and the Toronto Maple Leafs (Photo/Graig Abel).

James enjoyed NHL tours with Buffalo and the Toronto Maple Leafs (Photo/Graig Abel).

and the St. Catharines Saints, James returned to the NHL for four games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1986-87.

His NHL career stat line:  No goals, no assists and 30 penalty minutes. But it’s the minor leagues where James had his greatest impact. He played in 630 games, tallied  45 goals, 77 assists and accumulated more than 1,175 penalty minutes – most of them with the AHL Americans.

A lot of those minutes were fives for fighting.

“It was something I was really good at,” James said.

Mike Stothers, head coach of the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs, can attest to that. He and James fought 13 times during a seven-game playoff series when Stothers was a defenseman  for the Hershey Bears and James a winger for the St. Catharines.

“He was  very good, probably one of the toughest at the time in the American Hockey League. He might have been the toughest ever in the American Hockey League,” Stothers told me. “He was a big man, very strong.”

Stothers paid James the highest compliment one enforcer can give another: “He was an honest fighter.”

Mike Stothers fought James 13 times in one AHL playoff series (Photo/Philadelphia Flyers)

Mike Stothers fought James 13 times in one AHL playoff series (Photo/Philadelphia Flyers)

“There was never any extra stuff: no cheap shots or stick work involved,” he  added. “He never took liberties on skilled players.”

But that never stopped  so-called “fans” from taking liberties on James. Objects and racist taunts were routinely thrown his way.

“At that point in time when I was coming up, it was always bananas, pictures of people from Africa with the bone in their nose, spear in their hands, the shields,” James told me. “People would make 8-foot, 9-foot signs like that and display them. At that time, there was no governing of behavior, players or fans, by the leagues.”

It was so bad that when CBS followed James  in 1981 for a segment for “CBS News Sunday Morning,” the public address announcer at the Salem-Roanoke County Civic Center felt compelled to remind game attendees that use of offensive language was prohibited – something he’d never done before.

“Either way, neither the announcement nor the presence of the news cameras could stop the slurs and, as usual, not a single soul got tossed out for playing the racist fool,” James and co-author Gallagher wrote.

But there were times when people took stands against the abuse aimed at James. When two Richmond Rifles fans cast a fishing line with a toy monkey tied to it into the penalty box where James was sitting, referee Patrick Meehan stopped the EHL game and demanded the ejection of the offending fans.

“He did something that could have possibly at that point got him killed or lynched after the game,” James said. “But, nonetheless, he stood up for something, and that means a lot to me.”

Meehan, now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, said he wasn’t trying to make a statement. He just trying to stop something that was “fundamentally wrong.”

“That’s not something that’s ‘fans just being fans.’ That can’t be tolerated,” Meehan

Former hockey referee-turned U.S. Congressman Patrick Meehan threatened to  stop an EHL game to halt abuse aimed at James.

Former hockey referee-turned U.S. Congressman Patrick Meehan threatened to stop an EHL game to halt abuse aimed at James.

told me recently. “I did blow the whistle and skated over to the penalty box and I told (Richmond Rifles officials) that if those fans weren’t ejected from the game, I wouldn’t continue officiating that game and that game would be done.”

“I remember the owner came down and he was like ‘What are you doing?'” Meehan added. “I looked at him and said ‘That’s wrong.’ He said ‘You can’t do it.’ I said ‘Whether I can or can’t, I am because I will not skate in a game that condones that activity, so you make a choice.'”

The fans were ejected and the game went on.

On most nights, James took racial justice in his own hands – taking out his anger at the crowd on an opposing player.

“Since I couldn’t act on my fantasy of shoving a hockey puck down the throat of every big-mouthed racist, one acceptable way for me to respond to these attacks was to turn up my physical play,” James and Gallagher wrote. “If I could knock one of their hometown players into next week, then some of my anger might fade.”

James said he’s pleased to see the growth of players of color in hockey, from youth leagues to the pros.

He thought the sport had put its racial woes behind it until some Boston Bruins “fans” unleashed online racist tirades against Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward for scoring a game-winning overtime goal that eliminated the Bruins from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2012 and Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban for scoring a double-overtime game-winning goal against Boston in last season’s  playoffs.

“It  tells me that the state of hockey has advanced but hasn’t advanced, all in the same breath,” he said. “Those Boston incidents, they might be the same relatives of the people that  tried to get me back in the 80s, right?”

Since hanging up his skates, James has traded hard ice for soft water. He works as a water park mechanic in Niagara Falls, Ontario, a short drive from Rochester and Buffalo – homes of his hockey glory days.

Rochester fans remember James not only for his fisticuffs but also for scoring the game-winning goal for the Americans in the deciding game of the 1983 Calder Cup championship against the Maine Mariners.

The Americans are holding a “Val James Legends Night” on Feb. 13 – the day before his birthday – at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena. In Buffalo, he’s been invited to speak to the kids of Hasek’s Heroes, an inner-city hockey program founded by former Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek.

James hopes the attention from the book will lead to opportunities to get back into organized hockey, perhaps in the coaching ranks.

“I think I can help the sport out more than I have,” he said.

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