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Southern comfort: Black Girl Hockey Club attends Predators, NWHL All-Star games

10 Sunday Feb 2019

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Black Girl Hockey Club, Blake Bolden, Nashville Predators, NWHL, P.K. Subban, St. Louis Blues

NASHVILLE  – The Black Girl Hockey Club got a heaping helping of Southern hockey hospitality over the weekend.

The group of female hockey fans of color took in the Nashville Predators-St. Louis Blues matinee Sunday followed by the 2019 National Women’s Hockey League All-Star Game at Bridgestone Arena.

Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban met with the Black Girl Hockey Club, which gathered for the Predators game against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.

The Preds and the NWHL gave BGHC members and supporters the ya’ll come treatment.  The Predators hosted a Saturday morning skating session for the group on Bridgestone Arena ice and showed Canadian filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason’s award-winning “Soul on Ice, Past, Present & Future” black hockey history documentary on the stadium’s Jumbotron.

BGHC members met Predators defenseman P.K. Subban after the Blues 5-4 win over Nashville. The game’s outcome didn’t diminish Subban’s graciousness in posing for pictures and chatting with the group.

The NWHL reserved a prime seating spot for BGHC at the All-Star game’s skills competition which was held Saturday at a packed Ford Ice Center, the Predators’ practice facility.

Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban talks with Black Girl Hockey Club member Eunice Artis while signing the T-shirt of her son, Isaiah Artis.

The women watched Buffalo Beauts defender Blake Bolden win the hardest shot contest by launching an 80-miles-per-hour slap shot. Bolden, the only black woman on the two NWHL All-Star squads, said she was pumped by the BGHC presence.

“It’s so great, I definitely noticed when my name was called you guys were hollering, it made me feel so good,” Bolden, who has 1 goal and 7 assists in 13 games with Buffalo this season, told the group after the competition. “I appreciate you guys so much being there.”

Blake Bolden, a defender with the NWHL’s Buffalo Beauts shares a moment with Black Girl Hockey Club member Rayla Wilkes, 6, at the 2019 NWHL All-Star Game skills competition Saturday in Nashville.

Nearly three dozen women of color, their families and friends, journeyed from California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Washington, D.C., and Georgia to attend the weekend festivities and bask in the soul sisterhood of hockey fandom.

The Black Girl Hockey Club was founded by Renee Hess, a Riverside, California, woman who sought to gather a critical mass of women of color who, like her, are interested in hockey but might be hesitant to attend games in stadiums where minority fans are truly a minority.

A dapper Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban signs autographs and poses for pictures with the Black Girl Hockey Club in Smashville Sunday afternoon.

“The whole reason I wanted to come to Nashville was to see the girls play,” Hess said of the NWHL players. “I’ve seen them on video, but never live, so this is really cool. They’re fast, they’re good, I got to see some (Olympic) gold medalists skate today, I mean that’s really awesome.”

Buffalo Beauts defender Blake Bolden, back, and members of the Black Girl Hockey Club after Bolden won the hardest shot competition at the 2019 NWHL All-Star Game festivities in Nashville.

Lisa Ramos drove nine hours from Biloxi, Mississippi, to join the BGHC meet-up in Nashville. She said the drive was no sweat since she and her husband sometimes drive to Canada see her son,  defenseman Ayodele Adeniye, play for the Carleton Place Canadians, a Junior A team in the Central Canada Hockey League.

Adeniye has committed to play hockey next season for the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, an NCAA Division I team in the  Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

“It’s been great getting together with other black female hockey fans and just enjoy the sport, talk about the sport, find out how they came to the sport of hockey – everybody came through different avenues,” Ramos said.

@CIHockeyClub represented when I met PK. Had an incredible weekend with @BlackGirlHockey! Thank you so much @BlackGirlHockey, @soulonicemovie and @ColorOfHockey for hosting a phenomenal experience!!! pic.twitter.com/LO6LleuXu0

— Lisa Ramos (@hkymom99) February 10, 2019

Eunice Artis and her teenage son, Isaiah Artis, said they “felt at home” attending the NWHL events and the Predators game. They ventured to Nashville from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

“It’s nice to see a lot of people of color enjoying hockey,” Eunice Artis said. “You go to hockey games, whether it’s my son playing or a professional games, and literally you’re the only person there or you’re one of two people there. I just feel there’s unity here and I feel at home. It was great seeing the women play, especially a professional woman of color (Bolden) bringing it home.”

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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Capitals greet black youth hockey player who was racially taunted and the teammates who stood by him

15 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Devante Smith-Pelly, Divyne Apollon, John Carlson, Metro Maple Leafs, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals

After enduring hurtful racist taunts at a Maryland youth hockey game recently, Divyne Apollon II was showered with hockey love at Monday’s Washington Capitals-St. Louis Blues game in D.C.

Divyne and his Maryland Metro Maple Leafs teammates had prime seats for the game a 4-1 Blues win – courtesy of Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly and defenseman John Carlson.

Divyne Apollon II and his Metro Maple Leafs teammates meet Washington Capitals players John Carlson, left, and Devante Smith-Pelly at Capital One Arena (Photo/Courtesy Washington Capitals Photography)

“It was a good game,” Divyne said with a smile. “It would have been better if they (Capitals) won.”

Divyne, a 13-year-old defenseman, and his team visited the Capitals locker room after the game and met Smith-Pelly, Carlson, forward Alex Ovechkin goaltender Braden Holtby and defenseman Brooks Orpik.

Divyne Apollon II and his the Metro Maple Leafs were thrilled to meet Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin Monday night after the Caps-St. Louis Blues game (Photo/Courtesy Washington Capitals Photography).

Divyne left the room clutching autographed sticks from Ovechkin, Smith-Pelly and Carlson. Being a good teammate, he gifted a stick given to him by Holtby to Maple Leafs goalie Alex Auchincloss.

“I’m overwhelmed from the support I’m seeing,” Metro Maple Leafs Head Coach Brad Howington said, looking around the locker room. “You didn’t think anything was going to come out this.  All the support that has come out of this has been great. The kids are having a blast.”

Divyne Apollon Sr. talks hockey with Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly (Photo/Courtesy Washington Capitals Photography).

Asked about how he felt about the team that taunted him – identified by The Washington Post as the Old York Road Raiders – Divyne said he felt sorry for the suburban Philadelphia team.

“I guess they’re pretty angry at home because they didn’t get to meet Ovie because of their actions,” he said. “It was really cool that they (Capitals) reached out to us and invited us to the game and let us meet them at the end.”

The players of the Metro Maple Leafs shared laughs, photos and words of encouragement with the Caps on Monday night. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/dObTJAPFZH

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 15, 2019

The Capitals players heard about the racist abuse that Divyne has endured on the ice – most recently at a tournament in Maryland a few weeks ago – and appreciated the way that his teammates stood up for him.

“I’ve gone through it when I was younger and at this stage as well,” Smith-Pelly told reporters earlier in the day.

Washington Capitals forward Devente Smith-Pelly meets Maryland’s Metro Maple Leafs (Photo?Courtesy Washington Capitals Photography).

He was referring to the February 2018 incident at Chicago’s United Center where some so-called hockey “fans” “racially taunted him as sat in the penalty box. The Chicago Blackhawks organization reacted swiftly to the episode,  banning the culprits from home games.

Smith-Pelly said he was impressed by how Divyne’s teammates handled their business and rallied around their teammate after he was racially abused at the Maryland tournament.

Meet Maryland’s Metro Maple Leafs (Photo/Courtesy Washington Capitals Photography).

“One thing that kind of stood out is how his teammates had his back as 13-year-old kids fighting for their friends and that brings you back to when stuff happened with me when I was younger and now,” Smith-Pelly added. “Guys on my team always had my back, too. So, I thought it was good to recognize the team as well for standing up for their teammate.”

Carlson told the young players “You guys are the future, and by doing what you did are standing up for each other and standing up for yourselves.”

“That’s what we need to move forward,” he added. “You guys are just kids. You made things right.”

Metro Maple Leafs parents did their part, too. Hockey mom Tammi Lynch designed a sticker with the word “racism” and a red hockey stick slashed across it. She gave copies to players and parents to wear to register their disgust about Divyne’s on ice treatment.

A little button makes a big statement. Members of the Metro Maple Leafs sported anti-racism buttons on their jerseys at Monday’s Capitals-Blues game (Photo/Courtesy Washington Capitals Photography)

The hockey world has embraced the symbol. The team has received scores of request for copies of the stickers for players to put on their helmets or sticks.

John Carlson and Devante Smith-Pelly talk about inviting the Metro Maple Leafs to tonight's game. #ALLCAPS #CapsCare pic.twitter.com/vmEEAIZpgJ

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 14, 2019

And others folks in the hockey community showed their solidarity with Divyne and the Maple Leafs in different ways.

Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban sent a video message encouraging Divyne and Ty Cornett, a 13-year-old hockey player of color from Detroit who also has been subjected to on-ice racist taunts, to keep on keeping on and not let the negativity of others deter them.

Divyne’s father, Divyne Apollon Sr., said he was surprised and touched by the outpouring of support from the Capitals and others in hockey.

“This is like Disney World,” the father said of the outpouring of support. “The message is this game is for everybody. You don’t segregate people by their color, period. You’re brought here to play hockey, it’s a team sport. You play it to build character, not to destroy people.”

Divyne Apollon II, 13, was all smiles after he met Devante Smith-Pelly, John Carlson, Alex Ovechkin and other Washington Capitals players (Photo/Courtesy Washington Capitals Photography).

And the younger Divyne had his own message for other kids of color who may be experiencing the racist hockey hate that he’s suffered through on the ice.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told reporters. “If you want to play the game, play it.”

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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Capitals’ Devante Smith-Pelly and John Carlson invite racially-abused player and teammates to game

09 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Devante Smmith-Pelly, John Carlson, Metro Maple Leafs, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals

Encouraging words and good deeds.

The story of 13-year-old Divyne Apollon II, a Washington, D.C.-area African-American hockey player who has been subjected to racist taunts on the ice, has touched a nerve in the hockey world.

People have responded. Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly and defenseman John Carlson stepped up Wednesday, inviting Apollon and his entire Metro Maple Leafs team to attend the Caps’ January 14  home game against the St. Louis Blues.

“Hey Metro Maple Leafs, we heard about the unfortunate incidents that have been taking place with Divyne, but we were so happy to see your team stand up to defend and support each other,” Smith-Pelly said in the video.

The Capitals are giving the Metro Maple Leafs 60 tickets to the game and the Maryland youth hockey team will get a chance to meet Smith-Pelly, Carlson and other Washington players after the contest.

Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban delivered encouraging words to Apollon and Ty Cornett – another 13-year-old hockey player of color from Detroit, Michigan, who has also been subjected to racial slurs – via Instagram.

Divyne and his father, Divyne Apollon Sr., shared their experiences of playing hockey while black in an eloquent interview with NPR Wednesday morning.

Divyne Apollon II, left, with Divyne Apollon Sr., and the player’s sisters, Devinity and Deja (Photo/Courtesy of Divyne Apollon Sr.).

Father And Son, Who Are African-Americans, Discuss Racism In Youth Hockey https://t.co/RssyIijDjT via NPR. (Morning Edition had a long interview about what the @ColorOfHockey had alerted many of us to.)

— Dave Pendrys (@davependrys) January 9, 2019

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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The Color of Hockey podcast returns with Grant Fuhr talking about ‘Making Coco’

25 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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"Making Coco: The Grant Fuhr Story", Edmonton Oilers, Grant Fuhr, St. Louis Blues, Vezina Trophy

The Color of Hockey podcast is back!

Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Grant Fuhr is our guest. this episode. He discusses the new “Making Coco: The Grant Fuhr Story” documentary, what it was like winning five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers from 1984 to 1990, and who he thinks are the best goalies ever.

Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr (Photo/Derek Heisler)

“We had a lot of fun over the years, good, bad, and otherwise,” Fuhr said of his NHL career. “Most people don’t want their life up on the big movie screen, it took a little sell job on that. It’s fun to live your life, but it’s definitely different seeing up on the big screen.”

Hall of Fame center Wayne Gretzky, Fuhr’s teammate on those Edmonton powerhouse teams, calls Fuhr “the greatest goalie that ever lived.”

Fuhr compiled a 403-295-114 (ties) record and posted 25 shutouts in 868 regular season games with Edmonton, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames from 1981-82 to 1999-2000. He had a 92-50 record in 150 Stanley Cup playoff games, including six shutouts.

In addition to the five Stanley Cups, Fuhr won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame  in 2003, and was named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players.

But his career wasn’t all amazing highlight reel saves and championships. The NHL suspended him for one year in 1990 after he admitted that he abused cocaine between 1983 and 1989. The league reinstated him after he served five months of the penalty. Still, it was a painful experience.

“The hardest part was living through it,” Fuhr says on the podcast. “The getting suspended, having what you love to do taken away from you, at that time, was hard.”

Embed from Getty Images

“Making Coco” will have its world premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival on Saturday, September 29, as part of the festival’s closing gala. It will be televised on Canada’s Sportsnet in December. The film’s producer is still working on when and where it will be shown in the United States.

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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‘Making Coco’ documentary goes behind the mask of Hall of Fame goalie Grant Fuhr

03 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Fred Brathwaite, Glen Sather, Grant Fuhr, Mark Messier, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, Wayne Grettzky

Grant Fuhr was a man of few words during his National Hockey League career.

“Back then, five words was a long conversation for me,” Fuhr told me recently.

Grant Fuhr was Edmonton’s first-round draft pick in 1981.

Fuhr preferred to let his play in goal do the talking, winning five Stanley Cup championships with the Edmonton Oilers from 1984 to 1990, capturing the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender in 1988, being named one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players, and becoming the first black player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003.

“The Great One,” Hall of Fame center Wayne Gretzky,  also vouched for his former Oilers teammate, calling him “the greatest goalie that ever lived.”

Fuhr tells his story with the help of Gretzky and other NHL legends in Making Coco: The Grant Fuhr Story,” a Sportsnet documentary that goes behind the mask of one of the league’s most acrobatic, dominating, and enigmatic goaltenders.

“I think the biggest thing is it’s a chance for people to see what my life was actually like,” said Fuhr, who was nicknamed “Coco” during his playing days. “There has always been speculation, guessing and such, and everybody thinks that the world is glamorous all of the time.”

Audiences will get a first glimpse of the film at a private screening in Toronto during the Toronto Film Festival on Tuesday, September 11. The documentary will have its world premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival on Saturday, September 29, as part of the festival’s closing gala.

“Making Coco” will be televised in December on Sportsnet in Canada. The film’s producer says he’s still working on when and where it will be shown in the United States and elsewhere.

“Grant’s often forgotten on those great Oliers team because there were so many great players,” said Adam Scorgie, producer of the documentary directed by Don Metz. “You had arguably one of the greatest players to ever play (Gretzky), one of the greatest leaders in Mark Messier and you forget how good Grant Fuhr was backstopping that team and all the boundaries he broke within the NHL.  He was the first black superstar, the first to win the Stanley Cup and the first black to be inducted in the Hall of Fame.”

The Oilers teams of Fuhr’s era were known for their offensive prowess, not their defensive skill. Yes, they had a Hall of Famer in smooth-skating offensive-minded defensman Paul Coffey, who states flatly in “Making Coco” that “I don’t block shots.”

The Oilers’ defense was its offense, which often left Fuhr to fend for himself at the other end of the rink.

“I licked my chops every time we were going to play them ’cause I knew I was going to get three or four two-on-ones guaranteed,” Tony McKegney, the NHL’s first black player to score 40 goals in a season, told me recently. “Well, we did and we would lose out there 7 to 4 or something like that. During those games, Grant would make five or seven spectacular saves. Obviously, Wayne and Messier and Glenn Anderson were the story, but if you asked them today they would admit they had four guys up the ice all the time to score knowing Grant was back there.”

Grant Fuhr won five Stanley Cups during 10 seasons with the offensively-gifted Edmonton Oilers. On many nights, the netminder nicknamed “Coco” had little help defensively.

Because of Edmonton’s go-go offense and gone-gone defense, Fuhr has a career goals-against average of 3.38 – the highest among all Hall of Fame goaltenders.

Other Hall inductees with regular season GAA’s over 3.00? Georges Vezina (3.28) – yeah, the trophy guy- and the New York Islanders’ Billy Smith (3.17), who has four Stanley Cup rings to Fuhr’s five.

Fuhr compiled a 403-295-114 (ties) record and posted 25 shutouts in 868 regular season games with Edmonton, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames from 1981-82 to 1999-2000. He had a 92-50 record in 150 Stanley Cup playoff games, including six shutouts.

And Fuhr wouldn’t be a true Oiler if he didn’t provide some offense. His 46 points – all assists – that places him third among NHL goalies behind Tom Barrasso’s 48 points and soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee Martin Brodeur’s 47 points. Three of Brodeur’s points are goals that he actually scored or was given credit for.

Fuhr’s accomplishments aren’t bad for a player who many hockey experts thought was overweight, broken-down, and washed up when the Blues signed him in 1995-96.

He revived his career in St. Louis, thanks in large part to training with Bob Kersee, a world-class African-American track coach and husband of U.S. Olympic track Gold Medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

After appearing in only 49 games for three different teams in 1993-94 and 1994-95, Fuhr played in a whopping 79 games in 1995-96 and 73 contests in 1996-97 for the Blues and posted a 63-55-27 record in those two seasons.

Grant Fuhr shows off the bling from five Stanley Cup championship rings won with the Edmonton Oilers (Photo/Derek Heisler/www.derekheisler.com).

“It saved my body, it got my body through a lot,” Fuhr said of the training. “The body was good, but it became so much better. And I got a better understanding of it, what I was capable of, and how I could play around certain injuries.”

Fuhr’s legacy and longevity captivated another goaltender of color, Fred Brathwaite, who became a teammate in Fuhr’s final NHL season in Calgary.

Growing up in Ottawa, Brathwaite so idolized Fuhr that he put up a poster of the veteran goaltender in his bedroom at his mother’s house, where it still hangs today.

“Just the way he could raise his game to the level it could be,” said Brathwaite, a Hockey Canada goalie coach who was the New York Islanders’ goalie coach last season. “He might let in a goal or two, but when it came down the final thing, he’d raise his game up to help his team win Stanley Cups, or Canada Cups, and all those other things. I was very fortunate, very lucky, to play with him in his last year of hockey.”

Former NHL goalie Fred Brathwaite is such a Grant Fuhr fan that he keeps a poster of the five-time Stanley Cup winner in the bedroom of his boyhood home in Ottawa. The two became teammates on the Calgary Flames in Fuhr’s final NHL season in 1999-2000 (Photo/Fred Brathwaite).

Fuhr considers considers himself lucky, despite the ups and downs he experienced in his life and career.

The child of black and white biological parents, he was adopted by a white family in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada, and was lured to the net by all the neat gear that goaltenders wear.

Small town Spruce Grove and Western Canada served as an incubator of sorts for Fuhr in the early stages of his career.

He said he never really experienced racial hostility on or off the ice the way players like forwards Devante Smith-Pelly of the Washington Capitals,  Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers and Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban have endured in recent seasons.

“The Great One,” former Edmonton Oilers center Wayne Gretzky, calls Grant Fuhr the greatest goalie ever in “Making Coco: The Grant Fuhr Story.”

Fuhr thinks that the NHL’s first generation of black players – forwards Willie O’Ree, Mike Marson, Bill Riley, Val James, and McKegney ran that gauntlet for him.

“Some of the (minority) guys that played in the minors in the states, they did all the heavy lifting,” Fuhr said. “Guys like Val James, Bill Riley, Mike Marson, they did the heavy lifting, they went through all the abuse.”

He said he didn’t feel or sense racism’s sting until he was traded to the Sabres in 1992-93 and after a suburban country club where other Sabres players and team officials were members initially denied him membership.

Retired Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla being interviewed about what it was like being an opponent and later a teammate of Grant Fuhr in “Making Coco: The Grant Fuhr Story).

“The more you traveled in the states, the more you could see it (racism). You live in an element where race matters a little bit and people have some pointed views on it,” he said.  “You would think that as time progresses and as history progresses that it would get better. And, if anything, in the last for or five years, it has taken steps backwards.”

Fuhr doesn’t shy away in the film from discussing perhaps the lowest point in his career – a one-year suspension by the NHL in 1990 after he admitted that he abused cocaine from 1983 to 1989. The league reinstated him after he served five months of the penalty.

Embed from Getty Images

“I went to the school of life and, unfortunately, not everything runs as smoothly as it’s supposed to. You make mistakes along the way, and there’s a great price to pay,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is that I lived life – good, bad and otherwise.

“I wasn’t sheltered from anything. I didn’t protect myself from anything. So, yeah, you can make mistakes and still have a positive life out of it,” he added. “There are things in school that they don’t teach you. The only way to learn ’em is by falling on your own. Yeah, I tripped and fell on my face a few times.”

But from the falls, Fuhr said he’s now able to teach others on how to avoid stumbling.

“Kids that I help out now, talk to and such, I get a little bit of credibility because of having been through it instead of someone telling them ‘Hey, this is how it has to be’ having never been through it.  Having been though it, and been through it in a public way, I get a little more credibility from them.”

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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Flyers’ Tyrell Goulbourne a big hit in NHL debut

07 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Dave Hakstrol, Philadelphia Flyers, Ron Hextall, St. Louis Blues, Tyrell Goulbourne

Philadelphia Flyers left wing Tyrell Goulbourne made his National Hockey League debut with a bang on Saturday. Just ask St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.

Flyers forward Tyrell Goulbourne

On his very first shift, Goulbourne delivered a crushing hit on Pietrangelo that set up a goal by Flyers forward Scott Laughton.

In the words of  NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes, “Welcome to the National, Tyrell Goulbourne!”

Goulbourne didn’t register a goal or an assist in his first NHL game, but he earned plaudits from his Flyers teammates and applause from fans inside Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center for his energizing physicality.

“I was scared before the game,” Goulbourne told reporters after the Flyer’ 6-3 win over the Blues. “My legs were shaking. It felt really good after that first shift. I just wanted to get a hit in there. ‘Laughts’ kind of teed him up nice. I just wanted to finish my check.”

Goulbourne played only 5:08 minutes of the game but still manged to dole out four eye-catching hits and blocked one shot.

Tyrell Goulbourne lays out Alex Pietrangelo and Scott Laughton capitalizes with a snipe! pic.twitter.com/ZLTic1fod2

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) January 6, 2018

That’s just what Flyers Head Coach Dave Hakstol and General Manager Ron Hextall were looking for when they decided to call up the 23-year-old rookie from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms over more skilled players on the Flyers’ American Hockey League farm team.

“Everybody’s excited for a player to go out and have success on his first shift,” Hakstol told reporters. “It empowers him and for sure it’s a shot in the arm for the entire bench. Obviously, he had a big impact on that first shift to go out and play the way he plays.”

Tyrell Goulbourne.. pic.twitter.com/3tg1nCyDx3

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) January 7, 2018

Goulbourne has 6 goals and 4 assists in 34 games with Lehigh Valley this season. He’s  had an up-and-down career since the Flyers’ took him in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft.

Before that, he was a star player for the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. He notched 22 goals and 23 assists in 62 games in 2014-15, the season the Rockets won the WHL championship.

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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Charles and Devin Williams share a goaltending bond and ECHL success

01 Friday Dec 2017

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Canisius College, Charles Williams, Devin Williams, Los Angeles Kings, Manchester Monarchs, St. Louis Blues, Tulsa Oilers

Charles and Devin Williams aren’t brothers, but they do belong to hockey’s goaltending brotherhood and have a lot in common.

Both are African-American Michiganders  – Charles from Canton and Devin from Saginaw.

Manchester Monarchs goaltender Charles Williams.

Both were go-to goalies: Charles led tiny Canisius College to its first Atlantic Hockey regular season championship last season and Devin backstopped formidable  Erie Otters teams in the Ontario Hockey League that featured a young phenom named Connor McDavid .

Both were skipped over by National Hockey League teams in recent drafts. Now both are enjoying impressive rookie seasons in the ECHL.

Charles, 25, has continued his winning ways from Canisius to the ECHL’s Manchester Monarchs, a Los Angeles Kings farm team that signed him to a contract in March.

He has a 7-3-1 record in 11 games and a 2.15 goals-against average, third-best in the ECHL. He has a .932 save percentage.

Charles Williams doing for the Manchester Monarchs what he did for Canisius College – locking down the net.

Devin, 22, has been hot for the Tulsa Oilers, a St. Louis Blues ECHL affiliate. He has a 4-2-2 record, 2.80 goals-against average, and a .912 save percentage in 11 games.

Tulsa Oilers goalie Devin Williams.

He was named the CCM/ECHL Goalie of the Month for October after going 4-0 with a 1.83 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage in five games.

Devin signed with Tulsa in September after playing a season of Canadian college hockey at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he posted an 8-4-0 record with a 2.80 goalst-against average and .896 save percentage.

“The game is quicker, but the big difference is how smart the guys are,” he told The Tulsa World of the adjustment from college to the pro game. “The higher you move up, I think, the smarter the guys are…I have been putting in a lot of work in practice to make sure I am ready for the game.”

Tulsa Oilers’ rookie Devin Williams earned ECHL Goalie of the Month honors for October (Photo/TeeJay Crawford Photography).

He enrolled at Acadia after he watched Erie teammates like McDavid, Nick Baptiste, Alex DeBrincat, and Dylan Strome get snatched up in NHL drafts.Teams took a pass on Devin despite his being a top OHL goalie, winning the Dave Pinkney Trophy in 2013-14 for having the league’s lowest goals-against average, being a second-team OHL all-star in 2015-16, and posting 73 wins in 102 games between 2014 and 2016.

Devin Williams played for the OHL’s Erie Otters from 2012-13 to 2015-16 (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

While going to college helped keep Devin’s pro dreams alive, switching colleges helped re-ignite Charles’ pro ambitions.Charles had a decent career at NCAA Division I Ferris State University, posting a  22-15 record, 3.00 goals-against average, and a .899 save percentage over three seasons.

He missed the entire 2014-15 season at Ferris State because of injury. He was granted a fifth year of NCAA eligibility and transferred to Canisius, a D-I school in Buffalo, New York.

Goaltender Charles Williams was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to NCAA Division I’s best college hockey player, for his 2016-17 season at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York (Photo/Canisius College).

There, he compiled a 15-6-4 record in 34 regular season appearances last season and helped lead the Golden Griffins on a 17-game unbeaten string.A 2017 Hobey Baker Award finalist, Charles led all NCAA D-I goalies with a .946 save percentage, tied for second with 6 shutouts, and his 1.83 goals-against average was second-best in the nation .

No wonder that Canisius named Charles its Male Athlete of the Year for 2017.

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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N.Y. Islanders are ready for Freddy, name Brathwaite as new goalie coach

11 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Calgary Flames, Frantz Jean, Fred Brathwaite, Hockey Canada, New York Islanders, St. Louis Blues, Sudashan Maharaj, Tampa Bay Lightning

Brooklyn is ready for Freddy.

Fred Brathwaite is the New York Islanders’ new goalie coach (Photo/ Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images)

The New York Islanders Monday named retired National Hockey League goaltender Fred Brathwaite as the team’s new goalie coach.

“He’s ready for this next step and we look forward to him working with our organization’s goalies,” Islanders Head Coach Doug Weight said.

Brathwaite, 44, was goalie coach for Hockey Canada’s Under-18 team for the last three seasons. Before that, he coached goalies for Canada’s Under-20 program and for Adler Mannheim in the German Professional League during the 2013-14 season.

His former Hockey Canada students include NHL draftees Carter Hart, a 2016 Philadelphia Flyers second-round draft pick, Zach Fucale, a 2013 Montreal Canadiens third-round selection, and Eric Comrie, taken in the second-round in 2013 by the Winnipeg Jets.

“Fred’s experiences at just about every level of hockey make him a tremendous addition to our hockey club,” Weight said. “Not only has he has a solid NHL career, but he’s also worked with some of the top net-minders coming out of Hockey Canada.”

Embed from Getty Images

Brathwaite spent nine seasons in the NHL, occupying the net for the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets. He posted an NHL career record of 81 wins, 99 losses and 37 ties with a 2.73 goals-against average and .901 save percentage in 254 regular seasons games. He had 15 shutouts.

The well-traveled goalie also played for the Syracuse Crunch and Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, Ak Bars Kazan and Avangard Omsk of the Russian Superleague (now the Kontenental Hockey League) and Adler Mannheim of  Germany’s DEL. Brathwaite won Goaltender of the Year in the RSL in 2005-06 and Player of the Year in 2008-09 in the DEL with Adler.

He appeared in only one Stanley Cup Playoffs game, for the Blues in 2001-02, and was on the ice for only a minute. But Brathwaite did earn championship hardware during his North American playing days, winning a Memorial Cup with the Ontario Hockey League’s  Oshawa Generals in 1990 with a bruising young teammate named Eric Lindros.

Embed from Getty Images

Getting the Islanders job fulfills Brathwaite’s goal of returning to the big leagues as a coach.

“I would love to be an NHL goalie coach,” he told the Color of Hockey in June 2015 “And having this opportunity with Hockey Canada is helping me prepare for that. And it’s really not that bad paying dues when you end up getting the best kids in the country to work with.”

Brathwaite becomes the third goalie coach of color working for an NHL team. Sudarshan Maharaj runs the goalies for the Anaheim Ducks and Frantz Jean coaches for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Former NHLer Fred Brathwaite has been hired by the #Isles as head goaltending coach. https://t.co/bg4stmMYR1

— InGoal Magazine (@InGoalMedia) July 10, 2017

Brathwaite replaces former NHL goalie Mike Dunham as the Isles’ netminder boss. The Brooklyn-based team ranked 23rd among the NHL’s 30 teams with a 2.90 goals-against average last season under Dunham.

Goalies Thomas Greiss, Jaroslav Halak, and Jean-Francois Berube surrendered 231 of the 238 goals that opposing teams scored in 2016-17.

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook or Twitter @ColorOfHockey.

 

 

 

 

 

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Ready for Freddy? Fred Brathwaite works toward becoming an NHL goalie coach

09 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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Braden Holtby, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, Fred Brathwaite, Henrik Lundqvist, Hockey Canada, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals

Like many other retired National Hockey League players who want to remain part of the game, Fred Brathwaite is patiently paying his dues in hopes of getting back in the league as a coach.

But instead of the endless back-road bus rides that fledgling major junior and minor league hockey coaches usually endure, Brathwaite is doing his apprenticeship in the pressure-packed spotlight as goaltender consultant for Hockey Canada. And he’s doing it well.

Hockey Canada goalie coach Fred Brathwaite (Photo/ Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images)

Hockey Canada goalie coach Fred Brathwaite (Photo/ Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images)

Under his guidance, Canada’s goaltenders backstopped the country’s Under-20 team to a Gold Medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation Junior World Championship in Toronto/Montreal in January and a Bronze Medal at the IIHF’s Under-18 championship in Zug, Switzerland, last month.

“I would love to be an NHL goalie coach,” said Brathwaite, who played 254 games for the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, and Columbus Blue Jackets over nine NHL seasons. “And having this opportunity with Hockey Canada is helping me prepare for that. And it’s really not that bad paying dues when you end up getting the best kids in the country to work with.”

Indeed. Zach Fucale, a Montreal Canadiens 2013 second-round draft pick who played for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s  Quebec Remparts in 2014-15, and Eric Comrie, the Winnipeg Jets 2013 second-round pick who skated for the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans, provided serious goaltending for Canada at the worlds.

Fucale appeared in five games at the world juniors, posting a 1.20 goals against average and .939 save percentage. Comrie played in two games and had a 1.50 goals-against average and 933 save percentage.

“I’m very fortunate and very proud to be working with Hockey Canada,” Brathwaite told me recently. “Anytime you get a chance to wear your country’s flag, it’s an honor. “There’s still a little bit more I can learn about being an NHL goalie coach. And having this opportunity with Hockey Canada is helping me prepare for that.”

Goalies Zach Fucale (left) and Eric Comrie (right) with goalie coach Fred  Brathwaite at 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship (Photo/ Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada)

Goalies Zach Fucale (left) and Eric Comrie (right) with goalie coach Fred Brathwaite at 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship (Photo/ Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada)

Brathwaite began preparing for a career transition in 2010-11 while he was playing for the Adler Mannheim Eagles of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.  At 39, he wanted to play one more season. But when no good offers came along, the man who shares the same real name as legendary rapper Fab Five Freddy became Mannheim’s goalie coach.

He quickly learned that the change from player to coach isn’t an easy one. “It’s a little more difficult then I thought,” he said. “Before I could control what’s happening in a game by playing and now, sitting up in the stands, you have no control. You just hope the kids play well, the team plays well, and, hopefully, you’ve prepared them as well as you could.”

While in Germany, Brathwaite stayed in touch with Hockey Canada. As a goaltender for the Canadian national team in 1998-99 and member of Canada’s world championship squads in 1998-99 and 2000-01, he was familiar with the organization’s brain trust and had no problems in being a pest about employment.

“Every time I would see those guys I’d keep bugging them, asking them when are they going to give me an opportunity,” he told me.

Opportunity knocked when Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s vice president for hockey operations, national teams, called  in 2013 and “kind of offered me a job,” Brathwaite recalled

“I wouldn’t say it fell in my lap by any means because I kept bugging them and bugging them until they kind of gave in,” he said.

In Brathwaite, Hockey Canada tapped a former goaltender who won a Memorial Cup with the Oshawa Generals in 1990 with a bruising young teammate named Eric Lindros; posted a 81-91-37 NHL record with 15 shutouts and a 2.73 goals-against average; and became a standout goalie in Russia and Germany. He was the German league’s Most Valuable Player in 2009. Not bad for a player who wasn’t drafted by an NHL team.

As Hockey Canada’s goaltending consultant, Brathwaite scouts and evaluates goalies for all of Canada’s world teams and provides on-ice coaching during international tournaments.

Fred Brathwaite at work at Canada's World Junior Selection Camp (Photo/Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images).

Fred Brathwaite at work at Canada’s World Junior Selection Camp (Photo/Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images).

“At tournaments like that my job is keeping them (goalies) sharp, keeping them focused, and try to keep them as relaxed as possible – not to let the highs get too high and the lows get too low,” he said.

Sounds simple enough, but goalies at almost every hockey level will tell you that the position – once dismissively considered the place to stick the kid who couldn’t skate – has become one of the most complex and most scrutinized in the game.

Back in the day when Braithwaite first strapped on the pads, it was “Goalie, heal thyself” in terms of development and fixing flaws in a goaltender’s game. Most NHL head coaches either didn’t have sufficient knowledge about the position or lacked the temperament to deal with sometimes-temperamental netminders.

“When I played in Edmonton, Billy Ranford and I, we were our own goalie coach,” Brathwaite said. “Goalie coaching just wasn’t a big thing back then.”

Full-time goalie coaches in the NHL were unheard of until Warren Strelow joined the Washington Capitals’ coaching staff in 1983. Today, nearly every NHL team employs a full-time goalie coach or consultant.

Heck, even a pee wee hockey team might have a goalie coach these days.  “A lot of these junior kids that we get on the worlds teams, they probably have a guy they use in the summer, a guy on their junior team,” Brathwaite said. “And now, they’re drafted in the NHL, so they have an NHL guy as well. And then they have me. It’s a big focus now.”

Fred Brathwaite played an NHL career-high 61 games for the Calgary Flames in 1999-00. (Photo courtesy of Calgary Flames Hockey Club).

Fred Brathwaite played an NHL career-high 61 games for the Calgary Flames in 1999-00. (Photo courtesy of Calgary Flames Hockey Club).

With nearly 20 years of professional hockey experience in North America and Europe under his skates, Brathwaite is uniquely qualified to share knowledge about playing in the NHL and overseas with young goalies.

“A lot of things are very similar, especially now,” he said. “Back in the day, the NHL was more crashing the net. The goalies were a little more aggressive back then. But now you’re seeing guys like (Braden) Holtby in Washington and (New York Rangers’ Henrik) Lundqvist playing a little deeper in the net. That’s kind of more of a European style, sitting back and not being so aggressive.”

Brathwaite summed up his playing style back in the day with one word: “Messy.”

“Kind of like Martin Brodeur where you didn’t know what I’d do,” he said. “Sometimes I might stand up, sometimes I might go down. The way I played, I pretty much competed, battled. I had to be able to read the game, and that was something I was able to do.”

With Hockey Canada, Brathwaite is trying to get a bead on how other countries are developing their goalies. He and former NHL goalies Corey Hirsch and Rick Wamsley traveled to Sweden and Finland Sweden last fall to see what those countries are doing to produce talents like Lundqvist and Renne.

“What we noticed is they’re just more organized as a group in the way they’re doing the goalie structure,” Brathwaite said. “In North America, there are just some many different goalie coaches all over the place. Something that we would like to try is to get everybody on the same page: the kids learn how to skate and catch, do all the basics and fundamentals first before they start to get into different styles.”

While some in the hockey community fret that Europe is producing better goaltenders, Brathwaite isn’t worried. He noted that two North American goalies – Canadian-born Corey Crawford with the Chicago Blackhawks and Denver native Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning – are playing for the Stanley Cup.

“I believe Canadian goaltending is doing very good,” he said. “But at the end of the day, people are talking about Lundqvist or Pekka Renne. But we have Carey Price. And Braden Holtby had an excellent year.”

’

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St. Louis Blues’ Ryan Reaves has a present for the tooth fairy

06 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Ryan Reaves, St. Louis Blues

St. Louis Blues Headshots

Who needs dental school? Apparently not St. Louis Blues right wing Ryan Reaves.

After taking a bone-rattling check Sunday in the Blues’ 2-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, the rugged forward returned to the St. Louis bench and performed oral surgery – calmly yanking a loose tooth bare-handed. No Novocaine, no pliers, no missed shift, no problem.

Last night after a big collision, @rreaves75 pulled out his tooth on the bench. #NHLonNBC #HockeyTough pic.twitter.com/AnUaeAUFGj

— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) April 6, 2015

But did he put it under his pillow after the game?

To better understand what makes Reaves tick, give this great ESPN.com story a read.

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