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New Jersey Devils hire former NHLer Mike Grier as an assistant coach

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Buffalo Sabres, Frantz Jean, Leo Thomas, Mike Grier, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Paul Brathwaite, Paul Jerrard, Peter Worrell, Scott Gomez

The New Jersey Devils hired former National Hockey League forward Mike Grier as an assistant coach Monday, adding to professional hockey’s minority coaching ranks.

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

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

Rugged forward Mike Grier had two stints with the Buffalo Sabres during his 14-season NHL career (Photo/Bill Wippert)

He collected 14 goals, 14 assists and 72 penalty minutes in 101 Stanley Cup Playoff contests.

“We are looking forward to having Mike join our organization,” said Devils Head Coach John Hynes. “Having played 14 years and over 1,000 NHL games as a forward, Mike will lean on his experience in leadership roles to work with our players. He was a highly-respected teammate and had the ability to relate to all players with his personality, demeanor and experience. These attributes will be valuable in communicating and developing our players, as we continue to build a strong culture.”

Football is the Grier family business. Mike’s brother, Chris Grier, is general manager of the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins. Their father, Bobby Grier, served as director of player personnel for the New England Patriots and was a personnel advisor for the Houston Texans.

But Mike, despite having a football-esque 6-foot-1, 224-pound frame during his playing days, opted for the ice rink over the gridiron.

He became the NHL’s fourth U.S.-born black player. He followed Indiana native Donald Brashear, Maine’s Mike McHugh, and Ocala, Florida’s Valmore James who became the NHL’s first African-American player when he debuted with Sabres in the 1981-82 season.

James and Brashear were tough guys, on-ice enforcers known more for their fists than their scoring hands. McHugh played only 20 NHL games for the Sharks and Minnesota North Stars and scored only one goal.

Grier combined toughness with a scoring touch. He was the NHL’s first African-American player to score more than 20 goals in a season.

At Boston University, Grier notched 29 goals and 26 assists in 37 games in 1994-95 and helped power the Terriers to an NCAA Frozen Four championship. He was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the NCAA’s top men’s hockey player.

Grier played for Team USA at the 1995 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship and won a bronze medal skating for the U.S. at the 2004 IIHF Men’s World Championship.

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“It’s really something that I’m proud of, being one of the first to break through,” Grier told the Color of Hockey in 2014.  “The (minority) players who are coming up now are skill players who are contributing to their teams. It’s only natural to get more kids of color in the game.”

Barring any moves, Grier will be one of six NHL coaches of color when the 2018-19 season begins in October.

The others are goalie coaches Sudarshan Maharaj of the Anaheim Ducks, Frantz Jean, of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Fred Brathwaite of the New York Islanders.

Scott Gomez is on the Islanders coaching staff and Nigel Kirwan serves as a video coach for the Lightning.

Paul Jerrard was the only NHL coach of color to work behind the bench during games last season. The Calgary Flames fired Jerrard in April  and the NCAA Division I University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks hired him in May to be the team’s assistant coach.

Former NHL pugilist Peter Worrell was hired earlier this month as an assistant coach for the Fayetteville Marksmen of the South Professional Hockey League.

In May, the SPHL’s Macon Mayhem named Leo Thomas its head coach, making him the only black professional hockey head coach in North America.

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

 

 

 

 

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Calgary Flames-Edmonton Oilers game showcases hockey’s diversity

01 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Al Montoya, Calgary Flames, Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers, Ethan Bear, Jujhar Khaira, Paul Jerrard, Spencer Foo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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More “Cool Runnings”? Jamaica seeks to build 2018 Winter Olympics hockey team

05 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, Graeme Townshend, Los Angeles Kings Anze Kopitar, Montreal Canadiens, P.K. Subban, Paul Jerrard

The country that gave us Bob Marley, Usain Bolt, Red Stripe beer, and the world’s funkiest bobsled team wants to add one more thing to its “famous-for” list: ice hockey.

The Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation is ramping up its efforts to build a national team that it hopes will follow in the legendary footsteps of the Jamaican Bobsled Team and compete in the Winter Olympics, as early as the 2018 games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Jamaica took the first step in its seemingly improbable quest in May 2012 when it joined the International Ice

Former Bruins forward Graeme Townshend hopes to coach Jamaica in the Winter Olympics.

Former Bruins forward Graeme Townshend hopes to coach Jamaica in the Winter Olympics.

 Hockey Federation as an associate member. Step Two occurred last May when JOIHF announced the program’s management and coaching staff. The staff includes Head Coach Graeme Townshend, who was the NHL’s first Jamaican-born player when he debuted with the Boston Bruins in 1989-90; Paul Jerrard, who briefly played for the Minnesota North Stars, served as an assistant coach for the Dallas Stars, and is currently an assistant coach for the Utica Comets, the Vancouver Canucks’ American Hockey League farm team; and Cosmo Clarke, a former college player and minor leaguer who now specializes in strength training.

“There are quite a few players of Jamaican descent,” Lester Griffin, the Jamaica program’s assistant general manager, told me. “You have them playing in the NHL, you have them playing in the ECHL, college and juniors. It’s just a matter of letting them know about this and getting the message out there.”

Which brings us to Step Three. JOIHF is scheduled to hold its first-ever player tryout for Jamaican expatriates and other players of Caribbean heritage on August 23 at the Westwood Arena in Etobicoke, Ontario. Players from this and later tryouts will be considered for a 2015 exhibition touring team. That team will serve as an audition, of sorts, for a Jamaican squad that would play in IIHF tournaments and eventually attempt to qualify for the Winter Olympics.

“When the word first got out about this a couple of years ago I got a lot of calls from all over Canada, the United States, and parts of Europe from kids that want to be involved,” Townshend told me. “Now that the word is out officially that we’re having a tryout, I can just imagine there should be quite a turnout.”

With the clock rapidly ticking towards  2018, Townshend, 48, already envisions the type of team that he’d command in Pyeongchang. When he thinks Jamaica, he sees Slovenia. That country’s plucky seventh-place Olympic team had only one NHL star on its roster, Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar. The rest of the squad was a mix of younger and older international players, most of whom were bypassed by NHL teams.

“So I think our team would look something similar to that one,” Townshend said. “We wouldn’t have a big superstar, most likely, but we’d have a collection of players that I think could definitely compete. “We’d be relying on some former NHLers. Guys like (Montreal Canadiens defenseman) P.K. Subban (dad Karl Subban is from Jamaica and mom, Maria, hails from Montserrat) and the like wouldn’t be available to us because they’ve played for Canada, but players of that background. Then a collection of high-end juniors/college players who could fill the rest of the roster.”

Jamaica hopes hockey-playing cool runners will accompany its bobsled team to the 2018 Winter Games.

Jamaica hopes hockey-playing cool runners will accompany its bobsled team to the 2018 Winter Games.

Townshend, who runs youth hockey clinics and camps and served as a skills coach for the San Jose Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs, was approached by JOIHF officials in late 2011 about becoming Jamaica’s bench boss. Coaching a team from a warm-weather country without an indoor ice rink and has potential players spread around the globe? Sign me up, Townshend said.

“I’m on the ground floor of something that I think could be special. We’ll see what happens,” he told me. “For me, I think it’s a celebration of the heritage of the island. I’m proud that I came from the island, that my parents came to Canada with nothing and built a good life for ourselves, and hockey was a huge part of it. Jamaicans are great athletes and they’re passionate, and that’s everything that hockey’s all about.”

Jamaica still has quite a few hurdles – pardon the track and field metaphor – to overcome before playing its first official international game. IIHF rules require full member nations to have ice hockey facilities and grassroots hockey programs in place to grow the sport in-country. JOIHF officials say they’re starting street and roller hockey programs. As for the ice hockey facility, that’s going to take more planning and much more fundraising by the non-profit group.

“We’re going down there next month with a delegation and taking a rink person with us,” said Griffin, a long-time youth hockey organizer and official in South Carolina and Michigan. “We’ve reviewed a few places where we could put ice in or maybe a couple of locations where we can build a rink.”

Like Townshend, former Penguins defenseman Jim Paek is tasked with quickly building an Olympic hockey team(Photo/Pittsburgh Penguins).

Like Townshend, former Penguins defenseman Jim Paek is tasked with quickly building an Olympic hockey team(Photo/Pittsburgh Penguins).

Jamaica may be at a standing start in its drive for the Winter Games, but its not the only country trying to build a competitive hockey team in a hurry. South Korea, the 2018 Winter Games’ host nation, recently tapped former defenseman Jim Paek, who won Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992, to coach its struggling national team.

Paek’s mission is to improve a team that was relegated to the IIHF’s Division I, Group B after it went 0-5 at the world championship which South Korea hosted last April. The nation is ranked 23rd in the world, wedged between Great Britain and Poland.

“Hockey’s a funny sport,” Paek, 48, told The Toronto Star recently.  “Look at the 1980 U.S. team (when collegians won Olympic gold). Not saying we’ll do that, but you never want to set your goals low. You might as well shoot for the stars if you can.”

Townshend says never say never when it comes to South Korea and Jamaica chances on ice.

“I’d say 20 years ago, I was one of those ignorant people that laughed at the notion that Californians and Texans would play in the NHL,” he told me. “Now you’ve got Texans and Californians making the NHL. It’s not too far out of the realm of possibility that you’ll have a Jamaican born and trained player in 20 years.”

The Jamaican Olympic Ice Hockey Federation’s first player tryout is scheduled for August 23 at Westwood Arena, 90 Woodbine Downs Blvd., Etobicoke, Ont., Canada. For sign-up information, visit http://www.JOIHT.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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