The retired National Hockey League forward isn’t sure how he feels about former NHL goaltender John Vanbeisbrouck becoming USA Hockey’s assistant executive director for hockey operations 15 years after he called a young Trevor Daley the N-word.
He knows Vanbiesbrouck from their days as teammates on the New York Rangers in 1986-87, McKegney’s only season on Broadway.
“John and I were good friends. We spent a lot of time together, we had a lot of fun together,” McKegney told me recently. “We went to concerts together, we golfed together, we must have roomed together at some point. We went to Florida together to my home in Jupiter. He was from near Detroit, I was from near Detroit, and we just got along.”
Former NHLer Tony McKegney was a teammate of John Vanbiesbrouck in New York (Photo/Soul on Ice Movie).
But having been one of the few black hockey players of his era, McKegney also knows the hurt that a then-19-year old Daley must have felt when Vanbiesbrouck – who was Daley’s coach and general manager with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds – used a racial slur in 2003 to define him.
“I just felt for the kid because it just brought back some memories for me,” McKegney said of the episode. “Going forward, I just don’t know how to feel about it now. I don’t know. When I hear that word, it brings up some tough memories.”
USA Hockey tapped Vanbiesbrouck last month to succeed Jim Johannson, who passed away in January. Vanbiesbrouck addressed the Daley controversy in a teleconference with reporters last week, saying he was “absolutely, 100 percent wrong” for using the slur.
“I’m extremely sorry for it,” he told reporters. “It’s not who I am, it doesn’t define me as a person and I have no prejudices in me, and it will never happen again.”
USA Hockey Executive Director Pat Kelleher added that Vanbiesbrouck looks at the incident as “a terrible situation, an awful mistake, something that’s helped change him for the better.”
Vanbiesbrouck’s hiring has been criticized on social media by hockey fans who say it sends the wrong message about a sport that says it promotes diversity and inclusion.
But others online have expressed support for Vanbiesbrouck, acknowledging that he made a terrible mistake, but asserting that 15 years is a long time to hold it against him.
McKegney says he’s not one to judge another person’s actions considering the troubled times he’s had in his life.
He pleaded guilty to impaired driving in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, in 2017 and guilty to operating a water craft in Kingston, Ontario, while intoxicated in 2015 – a case that brought incidents of substance and domestic abuse to light.
“I’ve certainly made some errors in my life, made some bad judgments, made some mistakes I would love to take back,” said McKegney, who attributes some of the problems to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative brain disease that he says stems from concussions he suffered during his playing career. “I’m certainly not defending anything.”
Still, Vanbiesbrouck’s hiring stoked memories of the 2003 incident for McKegney along with unpleasant recollections of the racial abuse that he endured from the time he started playing hockey as a kid through his 13-year NHL career.
McKegney said he heard racial slurs so much that “I thought the N-word was my middle name.”
Though Willie O’Ree was the NHL’s first black player, Val James the league’s first American-born black player, and goalie Grant Fuhr the first black player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, McKegney was the NHL’s first black star.
He was the first black player to score 40 goals in a season and the first to score 20 or more goals in eight seasons.
McKegney tallied 320 goals and 319 assists in 912 NHL season games for the Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Quebec Nordiques, Minnesota North Stars, Hartford Whalers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Detroit Red Wings between 1978-79 to 1990-91. He notched 24 goals and 23 assists in 79 Stanley Cup Playoff contests.
But McKegney’s on-ice accomplishments weren’t enough to shield him from racist taunts from fans and opposing players.
“In certain cities, we’d go to St. Louis, we’d go to Atlanta (Flames), Pittsburgh, for some reason, then Philadelphia,” McKegney said. “It was a small group of people, but you feared the words coming out.”
Occasionally, the racial insensitivity occurred on teams he played for.
“I had an assistant coach come up to me and ask me if I could date a black woman versus a white woman,” said McKegney, who was adopted and raised by white parents. “This happened in the early ’80s, and this (white) woman became my wife. When I heard that, I thought ‘My God.'”
Tony McKegney was a high-scoring forward for Buffalo, St. Louis, Detroit, Quebec, N.Y. Rangers. and Minnesota North Stars (Photo/Buffalo Sabres Archives).
When McKegney heard about the racial incident with Vanbiesbrouck, he said he reached out to Daley and chatted with briefly after a junior hockey game in Ontario.
“It was a one of those subjects where he wanted to focus on how well he was doing and just be positive and not dredge up anything, the past,” McKegney said. “Obviously, he was moving forward.”
McKegney’s trying to do the same thing these days. Instead of dwelling on an ugly moment in 2003, he prefers to think about how well Daley has done in his career.
A 2002 Dallas Stars second round draft pick, Daley, now 34, is a two-time Stanley Cup champions who has helped anchor defenses for the Stars, Chicago Blackhawks,Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.
“Every time I see Trevor Daley, and see he’s still playing and having success, I think about that part,” McKegney said. “And I draw on that positive.”
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Several supporters of diversity and inclusion in hockey are expressing dismay and disappointment over USA Hockey’s decision to make retired NHL goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck its assistant executive director for hockey operations.
Anson Carter, who played in the National Hockey League for 11 seasons and now analyzes NHL and U.S. college hockey for NBC Sports Network, didn’t mince words about USA Hockey’s selection of Vanbiesbrouck, who called Detroit Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley the N-word when he played Canadian major junior hockey 15 years ago.
Former NHLer Anson Carter questions USA Hockey’s hiring of John Vanbiesbrouck.
“I understand people make mistakes and eventually they should be forgiven. However, I find it very hard to believe that USA Hockey couldn’t find anyone else that was a suitable candidate without that kind of baggage who was eligible to hold such an important position,” said Carter, who also hosts “The MSG Hockey Show” in New York.
“Hockey is moving forward not going backwards.”
John Paris Jr., the first black head coach to win a professional ice hockey championship, wrote on the sports website Boxscore that “John Vanbiesbrouck should not be branded a die-hard racist” for uttering a racial slur at Daley in 2003.
Daley was captain of the Sault. Ste. MarieGreyhounds and Vanbiesbrouck was coach and general manager of the Ontario Hockey League team at the time.
“However, his nomination by USA Hockey as an assistant director of hockey operations has created some confusion which has multiple ethnic groups questioning the why,” Paris wrote. “Could this be privilege or a poorly handled situation?”
— Muskegon Lumberjacks (@MuskegonJacks) May 23, 2018
Lexi LaFleur Brown, wife of forward J.T.Brown, who played for the Anaheim Ducks and Tampa Bay Lightning last season, tweeted “I buy @usahockey membership every year to play. I hope one day our kids will play.”
“But right now I am extremely disappointed,” she wrote in the May 25 tweet. “Does this new hire promote growth and the best experience? Shouldn’t growth include taking steps to assure no one is ever called a racial slur again?”
USA Hockey officials formally introduced Vanbiesbrouck as its new assistant executive director for hockey operations on Friday. He succeeds Jim Johannson, who passed away in January at the age of 53.
Detroit Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley.
Vanbiesbrouck addressed the Daley incident in a teleconference with reporters on Friday, saying “I was absolutely, 100 percent wrong” for using the slur against a then-19-year-old Daley.
“There’s not a lot of days that go by that I don’t feel remorse for that,” he added. “I’m extremely sorry for it. It’s not who I am, it doesn’t define me as a person and I have no prejudices in me, and it will never happen again.”
Vanbiesbrouck and USA Hockey officials said they’re committed to making hockey more diverse and inclusive in the United States.
“I’m proud to say that USA Hockey has a long-standing way forward and a really great slogan… and that is hockey is for everybody and for everyone,” Vanbiesbrouck told reporters Friday. “And we’re going to continue to build on that work and further diversity and inclusion, and I look forward to being a big part of those efforts.”
I buy a @usahockey membership every year to play. I hope one day our kids will play. But right now I am extremely disappointed. Does this new hire promote growth and the best experience? Shouldn’t growth include taking steps to assure no one is ever called a racial slur again?
Still, Vanbiesbrouck’s appointment has received heavy criticism on social media. The 20-season NHL veteran has also received support from people who believe in the power of forgiveness and point out that the incident occurred 15 years ago.
Since then, Vanbiesbrouck and Daley have climbed hockey’s ladder. Vanbiesbrouck was general manager of the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL before taking the USA Hockey job.
Daley has developed into a solid NHL defenseman, playing for the Dallas Stars,Chicago Blackhawks, PittsburghPenguins and Red Wings. He won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins before signing with the Red Wings last season.
Val James, the NHL’s first U.S.-born black player, thinks it’s fine for John Vanbiesbrouck to hold a high-level position with USA Hockey – if he’s personally apologized to Trevor Daley for calling him the N-word in 2003.
Val James, who became the NHL’s first American-born black player when he joined the Buffalo Sabres in 1981-82 believes that Vanbiesbrouck needs to personally apologize to Daley and his family for the slur – if he hasn’t already – as he assumes the USA Hockey post.
“I think John should personally apologize to Trevor for calling him that demeaning word,” James told me. “John now being in that position should wipe the slate clean.”
Vanbiesbrouck said he’s “a big fan” of Daley’s but added that their “paths have not crossed” over the years.
“I’m not in a lot of the big buildings where he’s been at the pro level,” Vanbiesbrouck told me. “I’ve been mostly in minor hockey buildings…he’s been far removed from that.”
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USA Hockey formally introduced its new assistant executive director for hockey operations Friday, former NHL All-Star goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, who wasted little time in addressing the elephant in the room: His use of the N-word against then-19-year-old defenseman TrevorDaley in 2003.
“I wanted to touch on a topic from my past that has resurfaced from my announcing and my hiring,” Vanbiesbrouck told a teleconference of reporters. “And that is an incident that happened 15 years ago when I was coach and general manager at Sault Ste. Marie and it was a racial slur and I was absolutely, 100 percent wrong.
“There’s not a lot of days that go by that I don’t feel remorse for that,” he added. “I’m extremely sorry for it. It’s not who I am, it doesn’t define me as a person and I have no prejudices in me, and it will never happen again.”
Shortly after that, the hockey writers on the call proceeded ask Vanbiesbrouck questions, some of them deftly avoiding the elephant.
For the most part, the questions ranged from how Vanbiesbrouck views the future of U.S. hockey to who he’d like to coach the 2019 U.S. world junior championship team after Boston University Head Coach David Quinn – who was tapped to be the American bench boss at the worlds – signed to coach the New York Rangers in 2018-19.
Only one reporter – Craig Custance from The Athletic – directly broached the Daley racial incident, asking USA Hockey Executive Director Pat Kelleher how much he looked into the March 2003 incident that led to Vanbiesbrouck quitting as coach and GM of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and prompting the OHL to level its stiffest penalty ever – a $50,000 fine – against the team.
Detroit Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley.
He asked Kelleher what he learned that made him comfortable enough to give Vanbiesbrouck a job in which he’ll focus on international men’s, women’s and sled hockey and bolster junior hockey within the United States.
“We certainly looked into it, we were aware of the situation, it’s something we had knowledge of,” Kelleher said of the N-word episode. “As John alluded to, it’s something that’s very difficult for him, it’s something he deals with all the time. He looks at it as a terrible situation, an awful mistake, something that’s helped change him for the better.”
Another hockey scribe, Chris Peters from ESPN, did ask what led USA Hockey to choose Vanbiesbrouck over other candidates.
“John’s experience in hockey, his background with us, will allow him to make the most of all the people we have because he really understands our organization and how everyone from volunteers to staff contributes to putting elite teams on ice for our men, the women, and our sled program,” Kelleher said.
Vanbiesbrouck’s hiring has been met with criticism on social media.
15 years ago John Vanbiesbrouck called 19-year-old prospect Trevor Daley the n-word multiple times and used the slur openly while other players were present.
How was there not a better candidate for this position? What kind of message does this send? https://t.co/bQuI9QzTff
@usahockey Very confused about the decision to hire John Vanbiesbrouck given his history. How can we promote the game in this country with that kind of cloud hanging over? That language isn't an accident. Please reconsider.
But the former goalie who played parts of 20 NHL seasons with the New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders and NewJersey Devils also received words of encouragement online from people who say that 15 years is a long time and people can change.
I had some questions for Vanbiesbrouck, but I wasn’t called on during the teleconference. I contacted USA Hockey, which put Vanbiesbrouck on the phone with me.
I asked him how he applies the lessons that he learned from the Daley incident to the way he conducts hockey business, and how he’ll apply the lessons to his USA Hockey job. Prior to landing his new post, Vanbiesbrouck served as general manager of the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL.
“First of all, I know that I’ve been forgiven and I’m strong in my faith,” Vanbiesbrouck told me. “I apply that every day because there’s a direction that comes from faith that guides you. Some people have an opinion, but I have (leaned) on that faith to know that I am forgiven, and I forgive others. So that’s important to me, and that’s probably the Number One, strongest way that I can tell you about it.”
He also told me that he applies the lessons learned through volunteerism, largely through USA Hockey. He pointed to giving speeches for Hockey Ministries Internationaland raising funds for the Alan T. Brown Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis.
“People who are disabled are in a minority group,” he said.
I asked Vanbiesbrouck if he’s spoken with Daley in the years since the N-word episode. Both are in Michigan. Vanbiesbrouck is a native of the state and Daley finished his first season as a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
“Our paths have not crossed,” he told me. “I’m a big fan of Trevor’s – we live on the other side of the state. I’m not in a lot of the big buildings where he’s been at the pro level. I’ve been mostly in minor hockey buildings…he’s been far removed from that.”
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USA Hockey hired NHL goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck as its assistant director for hockey operations Wednesday, prompting outrage from some hockey fans who remember that he called Detroit Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley the N-word in 2003.
Pat Kelleher, USA Hockey’s executive director said in a written statement that “We are beyond thrilled to have John join our staff.”
“Through his exceptional playing career, what he has done since retiring and his history with USA Hockey, John is well positioned to lead a very important part of our organization and I know he is excited to get started.”
Vanbiesbrouck, who had been serving as general manager of the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL, said on the team’s website that he’s “humbled and honored” about taking a top position at the nation’s hockey governing body.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity USA Hockey has given me and the future of hockey in our country.”
He was hired to succeed Assistant Executive Director Jim Johannson, who passed away on Jan. 21 at the age of 53.
USA Hockey told me that the Daley incident “definitely was a topic of conversation in the interview process.” An official said that the incident “was a mistake which John acknowledged, apologized for and in the end has been an isolated incident.”
The official said Vanbeisbrouck is “in lock step with USA Hockey’s way forward that hockey is for everyone.”
But many hockey fans blasted Vanbiesbrouck’s hiring on social media.
So did y'all just expect us to pretend he didn't say the racial slur to Trevor Daley? Because if you couldn't tell, no one is doing that.
John Vanbiesbrouck joins USA Hockey in executive role the same day the NFL attempts to stop the silent protests of NFL players. The Beezer is most recently known for dropping the “N” word at a player. Banner day 4 African Americans @C_Layts@robinthe403https://t.co/s1v6wZf1JD
But the former goalie known as “Beezer” also had his supporters.
For something that happened 15 years ago that he apologized and resigned for? If you actually knew anything about him you would know that he’s a great person and that he’ll do a fantastic job in his new role and that something said 15 years ago doesn’t define who he is.
Vanbiesbrouck called Daley the N-word in 2003 in front of teammates when Daley was captain of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Vanbiesbrouck was the team’s coach and general manager.
The incident prompted the Ontario Hockey League to level its harshest fineever – $50,000 – against the Greyhounds. Vanbiesbrouck resigned from his positions and sold his shares in the team.
“I think there was an understanding on our part that what occurred was damaging to us in terms of a league and what we try to be,” OHL Commissioner David Branch said in 2003. “We had to respond in a strong, clear fashion to make sure everyone understands we do not stand for this and this is not part of our value system.”
Vanbiesbrouck confirmed to The Toronto Star in 2003 that he used the slur against Daley and acknowledged he had used the N-word “more than once.”
“My comments were inappropriate and out of character, and I deeply regret my actions,” Vanbiesbrouck said in 2003.
Detroit Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley.
The episode prompted Daley to temporarily quit the Greyhounds. He returned to the major junior team, saying “While I am deeply disturbed by the hurtful and careless comments that were directed at me, I am proud and honored to be a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.”
The incident didn’t hinder Daley’s hockey career. The Dallas Stars selected him in the second round of the 2002 NHL Draft – a year before the N-word incident. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion who has seen action for the Stars, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Red Wings.
Ironically, the Greyhounds and the OHL found themselves dealing with another racial incident last month after Kitchener Rangers forward Givani Smith, who is black, received a death threat and was subjected to racial slurs via social media following the Rangers 4-3 win against the Soo.
A Michigan native, Vaniesbrouck played parts of 20 NHL seasons backstopping the NewYork Rangers, Florida Panthers, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders and NewJersey Devils.
He’s a five-time NHL All-Star who won 374 games, the most by an American-born NHL goaltender. He won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender in 1986 as a member of the Rangers.
Vanbiesbrouck led the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final against the Colorado Avalanche in 1996. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.
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“Soul on Ice, Past, Present and Future,” the award-winning black hockey history documentary, is heading to London in October as part of the United Kingdom’s Black History Month celebration.
Canadian filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason’s hockey labor of love is scheduled to be screened at London’s Picturehouse Central on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 10:30 a.m., and Sunday, Oct. 22, at 9 p.m. The screenings will be followed by question and answer sessions with Mason.
As part of the Ourscreen program, advance tickets are sold for the two events. Tickets can be purchased online through the Ourscreen website linked here.
“Soul on Ice Past, Present and Future” chronicles the joy and the pain experienced by black players, from members of the ground-breaking Colored Hockey League in the Canadian Maritimes from 1895 to 1925 to the stars skating on National Hockey League’s 31 teams.
Some familiar faces – past and present – share their hockey stories: Philadelphia Flyers All-Star forward Wayne Simmonds, Detroit Red Wingsdefenseman Trevor Daley, San JoseSharks forward Joel Ward, Edmonton Oilers goaltending great Grant Fuhr, BuffaloSabres/Quebec Nordiques/New York Rangers sniper Tony McKegney, and former Sabres/Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Val James, the NHL’s first black player born in the United States.
Filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason (right) talks hockey with Detroit Red Wings defenseman Trevor Daley in “Soul on Ice: Past, Present & Future.”
Mason devoted nearly four years and spent about $200,000 of mostly his own money to make the film. It won a People’s Choice Award at the Edmonton International Film Festival in October 2015.
The NHL was so impressed by “Soul on Ice’s” educational and uplifting message that it hosted the film’s U.S. premiere in Washington in January 2016 and aired it on the NHLNetwork in February 2016 to commemorate U.S. Black History Month.
Vancouver Canucks defensive prospect Jordan Subban, left, prepares parents Karl and Maria for their close-ups in “Soul on Ice: Past, Present & Future.” Karl and Maria are also the parents of Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban and Boston Bruins goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban.
Charles Dacres, a director for the English Ice Hockey Association, and a board member for Ice Hockey UK, said Mason’s film is perfect viewing for the U.K.’s Black History Month.
“It’s about doing some myth-breaking. You look at other sports where black athletes are underrepresented, and it’s a struggle to try to encourage young black people to get into them,” Dacres told me recently. “The parents will say ‘Why are you bothering the kids.’ And the kid’s mates will say ‘Hockey’s not the sport for you, black guys don’t skate.’ It’s about showing that we have some pioneers and some very strong role models that actually give people and young children something to work toward and aspire to.”
Charles Dacres, left, a director for the English Ice Hockey Association, says showing “Soul on Ice, Past, Present and Future” in London will help shatter the myth that black people don’t participate in certain sports (Phtoto/Courtesy Charles Dacres).
The movie is also deeply personal for Dacres, who endured racial slurs in his younger days when he played with the Bradford Bulldogs.
“They just kind of said ‘Just get on with it, mate, just play the game and get on with it,'” Dacres recalled the reaction to the slurs. “Today, we don’t need to do that. We can challenge that poor negative behavior but we can do that by showing some positive role models.”
Although there are few hockey players of color in the United Kingdom, they have made their presence felt.
Hilton Ruggles was one of the most prolific scorers in British hockey history in a career that spanned from the late 1980s to the mid-2000s.
Hilton Ruggles, a Montreal-born left wing, tallied 1,096 goals, 929 assists and 2,200 penalty minutes in 946 games in the British Hockey League, British Ice HockeySuperleague, and the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League. Ruggles was inducted into the UK Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.
He’s one of the United Kingdom’s most-decorated players, having won an EIHL championship, an International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship Gold Medal in Division D1B in 2016-17, and scoring more goals than any other British-born player in the EIHL in 2006-07, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14.
Clarke, a member of Great Britain’s national team, has notched 289 goals and 238 assists in 553 EIHL games.
Nottingham Panthers forward David Clarke is also a mainstay for Great Britain’s national hockey team (Photo/Dean Woolley).
And several talented black NHL players have found their way across the pond to play. Rumun Ndur, a Nigerian-born defenseman, played for the Sabres and AtlantaThrashers (now the Winnipeg Jets) before skating for the EIHL’s Coventry Blaze and Clarke’s Panthers in Nottingham.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs right wing John Craighead, an American, played for the Panthers from 2003 to 2005. Anthony Stewart, a Canadian right wing who played for the Thrashers, Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes, suited up for the Panthers in 2012-13 during the NHL’s player lockout that season.
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Trevor Daley didn’t want to go para-sailing, mountain-climbing or club hopping with the Stanley Cup.
Trevor Daley wanted low-key family time with the Stanley Cup the second time around.
Instead of going buck-wild with the Cup, as some players who win it do on their designated day with Lord Stanley, the former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman arranged a decidedly buck-mild 24 hours with the championship trophy.
“Not too crazy this year with it, try to stay a little bit more low-key than last year,” said Daley, who dashed around to show the Cup off to as many friends, family and well-wishers as possible in his hometown Toronto area after the Penguins won it in the 2015-16 season. “I was, like, ‘Man, I shared it with everybody else, I never got a chance to sit down and just stare at it’ and be, like, wow this is what you accomplished.’ My family, my kids never got a chance to sit down and hang out with it.”
Back-to-back Stanley Cup victories allowed Daley the opportunity to rectify that situation.
“My son’s birthday party just passed, but we told him that part of his birthday party would be hanging out with the Cup with a couple of his buddies in Toronto,” the veteran defenseman told me.
Trevor Daley and his family spend some quality time with the Stanley Cup (Photo/Phil Pritchard/Hockey Hall of Fame).
Daley still managed to make time for a couple of public stops with the Cup Wednesday to show appreciation to the local folks who appreciate him. The kids at Toronto Professional Hockey School, a camp Daley attended as a minor hockey player, got a glimpse of the trophy many of the camp’s current attendees hope to some day hoist.
Unlike other major league sports, each player on a Stanley Cup-winning team gets to have the trophy for a day to do whatever. Phil Pritchard, the Hockey Hall of Fame’s white-gloved Keeper of the Cup, accompanies it on a summer-long journey.
The well-polished silver Cup and the gloved-one will travel thousands of miles through seven countries – the United States, Canada, Russia,Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Switzerland – in 100 days for players, coaches, and key staff from 2016-17 Penguins to savor for a day.
The team’s 2015-16 Cup win has a special place in Daley’s heart. He was the first player Penguins captain Sidney Crosby handed the Cup to after the team defeated the San JoseSharks, even though Daley missed the Stanley Cup Final because of a broken ankle.
Crosby knew that it was a dream of Daley’s ailing mother, Trudy, to see her son hoist the Cup. Trudy Daley passed away a week later at age 51.
“Last year was obviously tough – the timing of the injury,” he told me. “But it did allow me to spend some more time with my mom. If I was playing, I wouldn’t been allowed to spend that much time with her. Looking back, having won the Cup, it was kind of a blessing that I got to spend some time with her last year.”
Daley, 33, said this year’s Cup is a little more special because he was able to play in the Final.
“Having gone through it twice now, back-to-back, I definitely felt more a part of it this year,” he told me. “Last year was very unfortunate, getting hurt and missing it. I remember after last year, I always thought about getting back to this point, and I was fortunate to get back to it so soon. I always thought about playing in the Final to see what it was like on that stage.”
Daley will perform on a different stage in the 2017-18 season. A free agent, he signed a three-year, $9.53 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings in early July. He moves to a new team, a new town and will play in a brand new arena.
“I’m excited for the new challenge and new opportunity,” he told me. “I had never been through the process of free agency before and didn’t know what to expect. When Detroit came calling, I was pretty excited about – just the history of the franchise. They were one of the first teams to come to me and show interest in me.”
Daley stressed that he’s joining a team that’s retooling, not rebuilding. The Red Wings finished the 2016-17 season with a 33-36-13 record and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in 25 years.
Red Wings management and fans don’t expect that to happen again. Neither does Daley. He believes the Wings are “a team that wants to win, has a little chip on its shoulder, and is ready to make some noise next year.”
“I want to come in and be a guy who makes an impact right away, helps out in multiple areas” he told me. “I’m a guy that can add a little bit of offense and help push the pace a little bit – that’s what the league is about. I want to be able to bring all the right things that takes to help the team win each night and do it consistently.”
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound defenseman tallied 5 goals and 14 assists in 56 regular season games last season. He had a goal and 4 assists in 21 playoff games.
The 14-season vet has 78 goals and 200 assists in 894 career regular season games with the Penguins, Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks and 6 goals and 12 assists in 71 career playoff contests.
Daley is one of only seven black players to have their names inscribed on the Stanley Cup. The others are goaltender Grant Fuhr, Edmonton Oilers, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990; goalie Eldon “Pokey” Reddick, Oilers, 1990; goalie Ray Emery, Blackhawks, 2013; defenseman Johnny Oduya, Blackhawks, 2013, 2015; right wing Jamal Mayers, Blackhawks, 2013; defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, Blackhawks, 2010.
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My choices span eras – from a time when goalies stood up and sticks were actually made of all wood – to today’s fast-paced, high-tech game. You’ll recognize some of the players chosen for the team while others named may not be familiar to new hockey fans.
Let’s be clear, this isn’t affirmative action on ice. These current and former players have distinguished themselves at hockey’s highest levels – their Stanley Cup rings, NHL awards, Olympic medals or Hockey Hall of Fame inductions prove that.
So who would you choose for your all-time team? Share your picks via the Color of Hockey Facebook page or Twitter @ColorOfHockey.
In the meantime, let the debate begin!
Grant Fuhr,goaltender. Owner of five Stanley Cup rings, a seven-time National HockeyLeague All-Star, the first black player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003, and one of the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players, Fuhr is a no-brainer to be the All-Time team’s starting netminder.
Fuhr won all five Cups with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s and early 1990s. But he also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, CalgaryFlames, and Los Angeles Kings in an NHL career that spanned from 1981-82 to 1999-00.
A 1988 Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s best goaltender, Fuhr is only one of six NHL goalies with over 400 wins.
His stats: 403 wins, 295 losses, 114 ties and a 3.38 goals-against average in 867 NHL games. Not bad for a player who many thought was washed up after a season with the Kings in 1994-95. His career was resurrected by a trade to the Blues and hooking up with fitness guru Bob Kersee, husband and trainer of Olympic Gold Medal sprinter Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Fuhr gave a special shout-out in his Hall of Fame induction speech to another person who influenced his life and career – Willie O’Ree, the NHL’s first black player.
“It just shows that hockey is such a diverse sport that anybody can be successful in it,” Fuhr said in 2003. “I’m proud of that, and I thank Willie for that.”
Jarome Iginla become the NHL’s second black captain as a member of the Calgary Flames.
Jarome Iginla, right wing. Iggy will be the second black NHL player in the Hall of Fame after he retires. He should be a first-ballot inductee just for the length of his full name: Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tij Junior Elvis Iginla.
Iginla, whose father is Nigerian, is one of Canada’s most-decorated and loved players. He scored two goals that helped power Canada to a 5-2 win over the U.S. at the2002Winter Olympicsin Salt Lake City that gave the True North its first Olympic hockey Gold Medal in 50 years.
He scored 5 goals at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, but he’s best known for his assist on Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal that clinched another Gold Medal for Canada over the U.S.
Iginla has 625 goals, 675 assists in 1,554 NHL games, most of them with the Flames from 1996-97 to 2012-13. He has 37 goals and 31 assists in 81 playoff games.
But it’s the big trophy, the Stanley Cup, that Iginla covets most to cap his career. That Cup quest has taken him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, BostonBruins, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings.
An aside: With all his accomplishments, why was Iginla left off the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players list? Just asking.
Bryan Trottier, center. A seven-time Stanley Cup winner – four straight with the New YorkIslanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach for the Avalanche – an eight-time NHL All-Star, and winner of both the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP and the Art Ross Trophy as its top scorer in 1979.
Of Metis, Chippewa, and Cree heritage, Trottier was the glue of the Islanders’ Cup dynasty. He won the Calder Cup as the NHL’s best rookie in 1975-76, a season in which he scored 32 goals and 63 assists.
He played 1,279 NHL regular season games between 1975-76 to 1993-94 and tallied 524 goals and 901 assists. He notched 71 goals and 113 assists in 221 playoff games for the Islanders and Penguins. He also performed a rare feat by representing the United Statesand Canada in international competition.
Trottier entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997 and is on the NHL’s 100 Greatest Players list.
Paul Kariya, left wing. One of the mightiest of the then-named Mighty Ducks of Anaheim when it came to goal scoring.
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound wing played 15 seasons NHL with Anaheim, Colorado, St. Louis and the Nashville Predators. He scored 402 goals and 587 assists in 989 regular season games and 16 goals, 23 assists in 46 playoff contests.
He led the University of MaineBlack Bears to the 1993 NCAA Division I championship and won the Hobey Baker Award that year as U.S. college hockey’s best player. The Mighty Ducks chose him with the fourth overall pick in the 1993 NHL Draft.
Kariya was named to the NHL’s All-Rookie team in 1995 and was an NHL All-Star in 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2002-03.
Kariya, whose Japanese-Canadian father was born in an internment camp during World War II, played on Canada’s 1994 Silver Medal-winning Winter Olympics squad and on the 2002 Olympic team.
Jim Neilson, defense. Nicknamed “Chief,” Neilson played at the dawn of the era of rushing defensemen like Bobby Orr and Brad Park. Part Cree, part Dane, Neilsonwas a 6-foot-2, 205-pound defenseman who was agile enough to occasionally play left wing.
N.Y. Rangers defenseman Jim Neilson zeroes in on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Loren “Gump” Worsley (Photo/Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame).
But D was where Neilson’s heart and mindset were and he helped solidify the Rangers’ blue line from 1962-63 to 1973-74. He finished his career playing for the old CaliforniaGolden Seals, Cleveland Barons and the WHA’s Edmonton Oilers.
“I don’t go out of my way to score goals,” Neilson once told Inside Hockey. “I get a much better feeling when I break up a scoring play or block a shot.”
Neilson scored 69 goals and 299 assists in 1,023 NHL games and 2 goals and 16 assists in 65 post-season contests.
His numbers aren’t as eye-popping as offensive-minded Hall of Famers Orr, Park, Paul Coffey, and Ray Bourque. But his talent level can’t be disputed. He was an NHL All-Star in 1966-67, 1969-70, and 1970-71.
Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban.
P.K. Subban, defense. Subban is currently in his playing prime, yet he’s already accomplished enough to earn a spot on this list.
He won the James Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman in 2013. He was a member of the Canadian team that won the Gold Medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi – although he only played 11 minutes during the entire tournament. He helped Canada capture gold at the International Ice Hockey Federation World JuniorChampionship tournaments in 2008 and 2009.
He has 73 goals and 245 assists in in 500 NHL regular season games and 13 goals and 36 assists in 74 career playoff games. Most of his career points came as a member of the Canadiens, the team that selected him in the second round with the 43rd overall pick of the 2007 NHL Draft.
Subban anticipated being a Canadien for life, establishing roots in Montreal and pledging $10 million to Montreal Children’s Hospital – the largest philanthropic commitment by any athlete in Canadian history.
But Subban was sent to the Predators in June 2016 in a controversial trade for defenseman Shea Weber.
SECOND TEAM
Ray Emery, goaltender. A netminder known for dropping the gloves as well as using them to make dramatic saves, Emery’s career is a tale of two goalies. He was the brash youngster who led the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006-07.
Goaltender Ray Emery played for four NHL teams in his career.
After suffering a career-threatening hip injury, he morphed into a steady, mature veteran who served as a backup goalie on the 2013 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. But even as an aging vet, Sugar Ray enjoyed fisticuffs.
Still, Emery, a 2001 Ottawa fourth-round draft pick, was one of the best puck-stoppers in the business. He compiled a 145-86-28 win/loss/overtime loss record in 287 regular season games from 2002-03 to 2014-15.
He appeared in 39 playoff games for Ottawa, Philadelphia and Anaheim and had a 21-17 record.
Tony McKegney, left wing. McKegney was the NHL’s first high-scoring black player, the first to score more than 20 goals in a season.
He scored 20 or more goals for five straight seasons from 1979-80 to 1983-84. His best season: 40 goals and 38 assists in 80 games for the Blues in 1987-88.
McKegney tallied 320 goals and 319 assists in 912 games from 1978-79 to 1990-91 for Buffalo, St. Louis, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.
McKegney’s route to the NHL was rooted in racism. He initially signed a contract with the Birmingham Bulls of the defunct World Hockey Association, but the team’s owner had second thoughts after fans in Alabama complained about the prospect of having a black player on the team’s roster. So McKegney, the 32nd player chosen in the 1978 NHL Draft, joined Buffalo instead.
Tony McKegney was a high-scoring forward for Buffalo, St. Louis, Detroit, Quebec, N.Y. Rangers. and Minnesota North Stars (Photo/Buffalo Sabres Archives).
Angela James, center. The first woman of color inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010, James was a trailblazer regarded as the Wayne Gretzkyof women’s hockey. She was a dominant player in the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association in the late 1970s and a fixture on Canada’s international women’s teams.
She led Canada to a Gold Medal at the first International Ice Hockey FederationWomen’s World Championship in 1990, scoring 11 goals in five games. She powered Canada to gold medals in 1992 in Finland, 1994 in Lake Placid, and 1997 in Kitchener, Ontario.
James was also a force for Canada on gold medal teams in 1996 and 1999 at the Three Nations Cup tournament.
Despite those impressive credentials, Canada left James off its roster for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan- the first Winter Games that women’s hockey was featured.
Canada’s Angela James is one of two black players in the Hockey Hall of Fame (Photo/Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame).
The snub didn’t stop the accolades from rolling in. James was inducted into the Black Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
She was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2008 along with fellow Canadian Geraldine Heaney and the United States’ Cammi Granato. James entered Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
The Canadian Women’s Hockey League introduced the Angela James Bowl, a trophy awarded to the league’s leading scorer, in 2008. An indoor ice rink in Toronto’s Flemingdon Park was renamed the Angela James Arena in 2009, making it one of the few skating facilities in North America named after a black person.
Forward Reggie Leach, Number 27, scored 19 goals in 16 playoff games in 1975-76.
Reggie Leach, right wing. Nicknamed the “Riverton Rifle” for his Manitoba hometown and his lethal shot, Leach scored 381 goals and 285 assists in 934 NHL regular season games with the Flyers, Bruins, Red Wings, and California Golden Seals from 1970-71 to 1982-83.
He was a prime-time Stanley Cup Playoffs performer with 47 goals and 22 assists in 94 career post-season games.
He scored 19 playoff goals in 1976 – 5 of them in one game against the Bruins. Leach is the only non-goaltender to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable playoff performer while skating for a losing team. The Canadiens defeated the Flyers for the Stanley Cup in 1976.
The proud member of the Ojibwe Nation is the only member of the Philadelphia Flyers’ famed LCB Line – Leach, center Bobby Clarke, and left wing Bill Barber – who isn’t in the Hockey Hall of Fame, which many hockey aficionados regard as an injustice.
Trevor Daley, D, Pittsburgh Penguins
Trevor Daley, defense. A smooth-skating, offensively-talented and defensively-responsible player who began his NHL career with the Dallas Stars in 2003-04. Daley reached the 20-point mark seven times during his tenure with Dallas.
He has 78 goals and 200 assists in 894 regular season games. He has 6 goals and 11 assists in 69 playoff games – and counting.
An ice-time eater, Daley averaged 21 minutes per game for Dallas between 2008 and 2015. Still, the Stars traded Daley to the Blackhawks for forward Patrick Sharp. After 29 games the Hawks dealt Daley to the Penguins in December 2015.
There, Daley became a cog in Pittsburgh’s drive to the Stanley Cup last year, though an ankle injury prevented him from playing in the Final against the San Jose Sharks.
That didn’t stop Daley from being the first Penguins player to be handed the Cup from team captain Sidney Crosby for a skate after winning it. The gesture fulfilled a wish from Daley’s ailing mother to see her son hoist the Stanley Cup.
A week later, Trudy Daley passed away from cancer at age 51.
Alec Martinez, defense. A two-time Stanley Cup winner, Martinez has been a steady puck-moving defenseman since his first full season the Kings in 2009-10. Los Angeles selected Martinez from Ohio’s Miami University in the fourth round of the 2007 NHL Draft.
Since then, Martinez has tallied 48 goals and 99 assists in 419 NHL regular season contests. He has 6 goals and 10 assists in 60 career playoff games.
In 2014, Martinez became the first NHL defenseman to score clinching goals in two playoff series in the same season. One goal was the Game 5 overtime winner against the Rangers that clinched the Stanley Cup for the Kings.
Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey.
They hail from different places and backgrounds. They’re of different races, ethnic groups, and faiths. But put a stick in their hands and skates on their feet, they’re all the same: hockey players.
It’s fun writing about the history and growing impact of people of color in hockey, but frustrating at the same time. A lot of people still don’t realize how diverse the sport is becoming, how the face of hockey is changing.
Seeing is believing, so here are some of the players of color who were on the rosters of National Hockey League teams when the 2016-17 season opened last week. If you have any questions about the players, take a deeper dive into this blog for some of their stories.
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley devised the plan years ago. All he needed was the Stanley Cup to hatch it.
Daley accomplished that last month when the Penguins defeated the San JoseSharks in the Stanley Cup Final, meaning that his plan for what he’d do on his day with the Cup would finally come to fruition.
Unlike other major league sports, each player on a Stanley Cup-winning team gets to have the championship trophy for a day to do whatever. Phil Pritchard, the Hockey Hall of Fame’s white-gloved Keeper of the Cup, accompanies the trophy on a summer-long journey through Canada, the United States, Russia, wherever a championship player resides.
“I’m going to bring the cup back home to where I grew up and around my neighborhoods that I grew up around playing hockey,” Toronto native Daley told Texas’ SportsDay earlier this month. “I can’t wait. Like I said, I’ve been thinking about that day for a really long time. Now that it’s come true it’s amazing.”
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley, center, brought a friend with him to a local ice rink – the Stanley Cup (Photo/Phil Pritchard/Hockey Hall of Fame).
Daley took Stanley on a mini whistle-stop tour of sorts during his Cup time that stretched Friday into Saturday. First stop: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where he played major junior hockey for the Sault Ste. MarieGreyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League before the Dallas Stars made him their second round pick in the 2002 NHL Draft.
Then it was on to home town Toronto for some public and private quality time with Lord Stanley’s trophy.
The Penguins’ Stanley Cup victory capped a bittersweet 2015-16 season for Daley. He was traded from the Stars to the Chicago Blackhawks before the season began, then dealt by the Hawks after 29 games to the Penguins.
Sitting on the dock of the bay, Trevor Daley and the Stanley Cup watch the tide roll away (Photo/Phil Pritchard/Hockey Hall of Fame).
He skated with a heavy heart as his mother, Trudy Daley, battled cancer. Her dying wish was to see her son hoist the Cup. Penguins team captain Sidney Crosby made sure that happened, handing Daley the Cup first even though Daley missed the San Jose series because of a broken ankle.
He was all smiles as he skated briefly and gingerly with the 123-year-old, 35-pound trophy that has the names of 2,000 Cup-winning players and coaches inscribed on it.
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley and son with the Stanley Cup in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. (Photo/Phil Pritchard/Hockey Hall of Fame).
“She was pumped, she was excited,” Daley told SportsDay. “She got to see my son out there on the ice with me too so she was really excited about the whole situation. She said before the game …’It’d be nice if they win this for you tonight so you can come home and see me soon.'”
Trevor Daley and Lord Stanley hanging out at the firehouse on Daley’s day with the Stanley Cup (Photo/Phil Pritchard/Hockey Hall of Fame).
She didn’t live to see her son’s day with the Stanley Cup. But, as part of a plan he devised so long ago, Trevor Daley’s family, friends, and others he encountered along his hockey journey had a chance to bask in Lord Stanley’s silvery glow.
“The day after he won the Stanley Cup, he called me and said ‘the Cup is coming home,’” Ryan Land, who organized a Cup-viewing for Daley at The Spice Route bar in Toronto, told The Toronto Sun. “Two weeks later, he called me with a date and said ‘plan me a Stanley Cup party and here’s what I want to do.”
Trevor Daley introduced the Stanley Cup to his old neighborhood playground (Photo/Phil Pritchard/Hockey Hall of Fame).
When the names of the 2015-16 Penguins players are added to the Cup, Daley will join the small fraternity of black players with their names immortalized on the trophy: goaltender Grant Fuhr (Edmonton Oilers – 1985, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990), goalie Ray Emery (Chicago Blackhawks – 2013), defenseman Johnny Oduya (Blackhawks – 2013, 2015), wing Dustin Byfuglien (Blackhawks – 2010), and netminder Eldon “Pokey” Reddick(Oilers – 1990).
Trudy Daley got to experience every hockey mom’s dream.
She saw her son, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley, hoist the Stanley Cup triumphantly over his head after the Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-1 and won the championship series in six games.
Trevor Daley’s team won the Cup earlier this month. Trudy Daley lost her life last Tuesday at the age of 51, succumbing to cancer.
“Everyone who knew Trudy, knew her big personality and great love for life. She had a sense of humor which was a little warped at times but kept people laughing,” read her obituary posted on Toronto’s McDougall & Brown Funeral Homewebsite. “She was a fierce friend, that always had your back no matter what. She was there when you needed her.”
Trudy Daley (right) holds a photo of her son, defenseman Trevor Daley, from his playing days with the Dallas Stars (Photo/Damon Kwame Mason).
She passed with her dying wish fulfilled, seeing her son carrying the Cup. He didn’t play in the Stanley Cup Final because of an ankle injury.
But he was on the ice in full gear following the Pens’ Game 6 win and was the first playerteam captain Sidney Crosby handed the Cup to after he received it from National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman .
“He had told me that he went and seen his mom in between series and stuff, she wasn’t doing well, she wanted to see him with the Cup. That was important to her,” Crosby said. “I think that kind of stuck with me after he told me that.”
"One of my mom's last images of me being on the ice. It's something Ill never forget." –@Penguins' Trevor Daley on winning last year's Cup. pic.twitter.com/hCwUfzHP5M
The Cup-hoisting moment was as much Trudy’s as it was Trevor’s.
There’s no mom like a hockey mom – a woman who helps tie a young pee wee player’s skates; freezes herself to the bone watching her bantam player practice at midnight; logs hundreds of thousands of miles in the beat-up family car transporting her travel team player; and is a non-judgmental listening post and crying shoulder for the major junior player who aspires to play in the NHL.
Trudy Daley did that and more. She and her son had to navigate issues of race in what’s still a predominantly white sport. She didn’t sugar-coat the evils of racism to her son nor would she allow bigotry to be used as a crutch or obstacle that could prevent him from achieving his career goals.
“What his father and I stressed to him was that we know who your are,” she told author Cecil Harris in his seminal book “Breaking The Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey.” “But when you go out on that street you’re just another black kid. That’s how you’ll be treated. They’ll stereotype you. But think less about what certain people think about you and think more about who you really are.”
She is survived by her husband, Trevor Daley Sr., and their three children, Trevor, Tereen, Nicholas; six grand children, Deja, Trevor, Dekye, Malaya, Emery and Nicky along with her brother and sisters and countless friends.
Hockey has lost a great mom. Rest in peace, Trudy Daley.
