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Suzuki, Saville, Robertson and Warren crack NHL midterm draft rankings

24 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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2019 NHL Draft, Boston College, Dallas Stars, Isaiah Saville, Jason Robertson, Marshall Warren, Montreal Canadiens, Nick Robertson, Nick Suzuki, OHL, Ryan Suzuki, University of Nebraska Omaha, USHL

NHL Central Scouting’s 2019 midterm report is out and players of color once again hold prominent spots on the list.

The list is a measuring stick for some of the top amateur talent in North America and Europe ahead of the 2019 National Hockey League Draft June 21-22 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

NHL Central Scouting lists Ryan Suzuki of the Barrie Colts as the 10th-best North American skater eligible for the 2019 NHL Draft (Photo/Terry Wilson/ OHL Images).

Ryan Suzuki of the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts is listed as the 10th best North American skater eligible for the draft. The 6-foot center is second on the Colts in scoring with 15 goals and 29 assists in 41 games.

Suzuki, an Ontario native whose great-great grandparents immigrated to Canada from Japan in the 1900s, is the younger brother of center Nick Suzuki, a Montreal Canadiens prospect who plays for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack.

Tri-City Storm’s Isaiah Saville is the USHL’s top goaltender and the eighth-ranked netminder on NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings.

Isaiah Saville of the Tri-City Storm of the USHL is NHL Central Scouting’s eighth-best North American goaltender. Saville, an Anchorage, Alaska, native, has a record of 16 wins, 4 loses, and one overtime loss in 26 games.

The 6-foot netminder’s 1.76 goals-against average and .934 save percentage tops all USHL goalies.

Alaska native Isaiah Saville will play for the University Nebraska-Omaha next season.

Saville has committed to play next season for the NCAA Division I University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Nick Robertson, a left wing for the OHL’s Peterborough Petes, is the 30th-best North American skater on Central Scouting’s list. Robertson, who is of Filipino heritage, is the Petes’ second-leading scorer with 17 goals and 16 assists in 31 games.

NHL Central Scouting ranks Peterborough Petes forward Nick Robertson as the 30th-best North American skater eligible for the 2019 NHL Draft in June. (Photo/Kenneth Andersen).

The 5-foot-9 resident of Northville, Michigan, is the younger brother of left wing Jason Robertson, a Dallas Stars 2017 second-round draft pick who skates for the Niagara IceDogs of the OHL.

Defenseman Marshall Warren loves the New York Islanders, admires Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban, and will play for Boston College next season (Photo/USA Hockey’s NTDP/Rena Laverty).

Marshall Warren, a defenseman for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, is the 39th-best North American skater. The 5-foot-11 Long Island, New York native, has 5 goals and 12 assists in 29 games for the NTDP’s Under-18 team. He tallied 8 goals and 22 assists in 60 games last season.

Defenseman Marshall Warren of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program is NHL Central Scouting’s 39th-best North American skater (Photo/USA Hockey’s NTDP/Rena Laverty).

Warren, a life-long New York Islanders fan who lists Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban as his favorite player, has committed to play next season for the NCAA D-I Boston College Eagles of Hockey East.

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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Rod Braceful scores a coveted USA Hockey job. Assist to John Vanbiesbrouck

18 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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John Vanbiesbrouck, National Team Development Program, Rod Braceful, USA Hockey, USHL

Rod Braceful scored a plum job with USA Hockey. Give an assist to John Vanbiesbrouck.

Braceful, a 30-year-old former player from Detroit, Michigan, was named assistant director of player personnel for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program earlier this month.

Rod Braceful, assistant director of player personnel for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

Braceful, who was director of scouting last season for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL, was the top choice from a large applicant pool for the NTDP job that he almost landed last season.

When Rick Comley Jr. left the assistant director of player personnel post to take an amateur scout position with the National Hockey League’s Arizona Coyotes this season, Braceful jumped at the chance to reapply for the job.

“I told them that ‘I’m all in and I’m happy,'” Braceful said of his reaction when USA Hockey offered him the job. “It was a good call to have. There’s a lot of good, qualified people in the game looking for jobs, and there are not a lot of jobs.”

The NTDP position is more than just a job – it’s a launching pad. The last five assistant and chief player personnel directors have moved on to NHL jobs.

“Every person who really loves the game of hockey, of course, see themselves being part of the NHL, whether it’s playing or working,” Braceful said. “My playing career, which was short, I knew there was no way I could play there. But, of course, I’ve had thoughts of working there.”

Rod Braceful worked as director of scouting for John Vanbiesbrouck when he was general manager of the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks (Photo/Michael Caples/MiHockey).

Braceful’s resume spoke volumes to USA Hockey’s brain trust:  a scouting director for a USHL team; Midwest hockey director for Legacy Global Sports, where he organized and led camps for Selects Hockey; a former coach in Michigan’s famed Little Caesars and Compuware youth hockey programs; a former player and coach at NCAA Division III New England College.

“The goal of the job is to identify, evaluate, educate top American players for our program,” Kevin Reiter, the NTDP’s director of player personnel. “He’s done that for numerous years.”

While Braceful’s credentials did a lot of the talking, Vanbiesbrouck, USA Hockey’s assistant executive director for hockey operations, also lobbied on his behalf.

Vanbiesbrouck, a former NHL All-Star goaltender, had first-hand knowledge of Braceful’s abilities because he was general manager of the Lumberjacks before taking the USA Hockey gig in May.

“He worked hand-in-hand with John last year in building that (Muskegon) team, so he had a familiarity with the league and the players and the talent needed in that league,” Reiter said. “Beezer was really an advocate for him, and rightfully so, he did a great job. But there was a lot more to our digging and our homework to make sure we were making the right choice.”

John Vanbiesbrouck, USA Hockey’s assistant executive director, recommended Rod Braceful for the assistant director of player personnel job with the National Team Development Program (Photo/USA Hockey).

Vanbiesbrouck gave Braceful one of the ultimate compliments in the sport, calling him “a good hockey person.”

“I wanted Kevin to keep an open mind, but I definitely recommended him,” Vanbiesbrouck told me. “I wanted Rob to get the job, for sure. He does great work, he’s very personable. People like Rod and that element in recruitment is important to the position.”

“I think he’s got a great knowledge for hockey, he knows the game well. I think that, in a lot of ways, we think of the game very similar,” Vanbiesbrouck added. “For a young to have the knowledge that he has and to be all-in is a good combination, and that’s why I categorize him as a hockey guy.”

Rod Braceful began playing recreation hockey as a kid in Detroit and played NCAA Division III hockey at New England College (Photo/Courtesy Rod Braceful).

USA Hockey’s hiring of Vanbiesbrouck was controversial. In 2003, when he was coach and general manager of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Vanbiesbrouck called his then-19-year-old defenseman Trevor Daley the N-word.

Vanbiesbrouck, discussing the episode with The Athletic’s Scott Burnside in August, said that he’s sorry and regrets using the word. He added that the incident “hasn’t defined my life” and that he’s a “very inclusive person.”

“So you ask the question, what have you done, what have you done?” he told Burnside. “I’ve done a lot of things. No. 1 is I had to repent…and ask God for forgiveness because I live by faith and I violated my own principles. And I know that.”

Braceful said working in Muskegon with Vanbiesbrouck, a fellow Michigander, was “a fine” educational experience.

“He was a good person to work under just because he has so much knowledge of the game from all the different parts of it,” Braceful said. “He had done some work with USA Hockey in the past and present. He knew the ins and the outs in dealing with the USHL as well as what they do with USA Hockey. And he knows a lot of people. You know what? He taught me a lot, as well as a lot of other guys at Muskegon.”

Rod Braceful started playing hockey at a young age, but didn’t get serious about the game until high school (Photo/Courtesy Rod Braceful).

Braceful has also learned from a few hockey coaches of color, particularly Jason Payne, the first-year assistant coach of the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones, Jason McCrimmon, head coach and owner of Detroit’s Motor City Hawks of the U.S. Premier League, and Duante’ Abercrombie, the rookie head coach of the Washington Little Capitals 16U National Team, a youth program with a track record of developing players for junior, college and professional hockey teams.

He also can talk hockey with family. His older cousin, Cameron Burt, was a star player for NCAA Division I Rochester Institute of Technology from 2008-09 to 2011-12 and currently plays professionally in Slovakia.

Former Rochester Institute of Technology hockey star Cameron Burt is the cousin of Rod Braceful, the new assistant director of player personnel for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

“I’ve actually had the pleasure of knowing and learning from some older guys who were able to take me under their wings and be kind of distant mentors,” Braceful said. “There have been guys doing good things around. I think maybe now, they’re starting to be noticed.”

“They’re just trying to make their own way in the game, they just want to make sure they do a good job, they want to be the best,” he added. “And just keep working their way up the ladder.”

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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‘Hockey is for Everyone’ alum Duante’ Abercrombie begins climb up coaching ladder

15 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Duante' Abercrombie, Fort Dupont Ice Arena, Graeme Townshend, Neal Henderson, USHL, Washington Little Capitals

As a kid, Duante’ Abercrombie dreamed of playing for the Washington Little Capitals, a youth hockey program with a track record of developing players for junior, college and professional hockey teams.

Duante’ Abercrombie becomes head coach in a hockey program that helps develop players for collegiate, junior and pro hockey.

Almost after each practice with the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club – North America’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program – Abercrombie would ask his mother if he could join the Little Caps, too.

“We just didn’t have the money,” he recalled. “Coming from a family that knew absolutely nothing about hockey, it was hard to justify paying as much as it cost to play hockey when I was already doing the same thing with Fort Dupont.”

Abercrombie, 31, finally joined the Little Caps last week as the new head coach of the Washington Little Capitals 16U National Team. The appointment fulfills the Washington, D.C., native’s dreams of being affiliated with the program and pursuing a career in coaching that he hopes will lead a National Hockey League job someday.

“It’s just amazing how I’ve come from a time and place when I couldn’t even afford to try out for the team to now being the head coach of arguably the most critical age group they have in the U16’s,” he said. “It’s an opportunity that I don’t take lightly.”

Neal Henderson, founder and head coach of the 41-year-old Fort Dupont hockey program, was all smiles about Abrercrombie joining him in the head coaching fraternity.

Fort Dupont is part of the NHL’s “Hockey is For Everyone” initiative that provides support and unique programming to some 30 nonprofit profit youth hockey organizations across North America, offering kids of all backgrounds the opportunity to play the game.

Duante’ Abercrombie, right, with Neal Henderson, founder and head coach of the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club, the nation’s oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program (Photo/Courtesy Duante’ Abercrombie).

“It’s an honor to have had the opportunity to work with Duante’, and teach him, and put him on his first pair of skates,” Henderson said. “It’s an honor to see him progress the way he has, play hockey the way he has, and climb the ladder the way he has, and to stick with a trade that’s very difficult to maneuver through.

The Little Caps, a member of the Atlantic Youth Hockey League, has a proven record of developing players who go on to NCAA hockey programs, American Collegiate Hockey Association club teams, and junior leagues like the USHL.

Its most notable alum is Jeff Halpern, who had a lengthy NHL career with the Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings.

“It was a no brainer deciding that this was something that I had to be a part of,” Abercrombie said. “My plan is to teach my players how to use their individual skills within a team structure that not only leads to eventual team success on the score sheet, but also prepares them individually for what’s expected at the next levels.”

Hockey took Duante’ Abercrombie from Washington, D.C., to New Zealand and the U.S. minor league hockey towns. Here he’s facing off as a member of the Brewster Bulldogs of the Federal Hockey League (Photo/Courtesy Duante’ Abercrombie).

With his appointment, Abercrombie begins a journey to one of the final frontiers for people of color in hockey – the head coaching ranks.

There were no minority head coaches in the NHL in the 2017-18 season. Calgary Flames Assistant Coach Paul Jerrard was the only black NHL coach working the bench during games.

The NHL’s other minority coaches can be found on the practice ice or in the video room. Fred Brathwaite is the New York Islanders‘ goaltending coach and Sudarshan Maharaj tutors netminders for the Anaheim Ducks. Frantz Jean is the Tampa Bay Lightning’s goalie coach and Nigel Kirwan is a video coach for the ‘Bolts.

Little Capitals management considers Abercrombie “a rising star in the hockey development scene.”

“Talk to him for five minutes and you can feel his excitement and energy for this job,” said Little Capitals Hockey Director Matt Thomas. “His ability to develop players is a great asset to our organization, and particularly for our 16U team during this critical stage. I look forward to working with Duante’ to help our talented group of 16U players advance in their careers.”

A graduate of Gonzaga High School, Abercrombia had a brief professional career playing for the West Auckland Admirals in New Zealand, the Steel City Warriors of the Federal Hockey League, and the FHL’s Brewster Bulldogs.

He’s even skated for the Jamaican ice hockey Olympic team effort coached by

Graeme Townshend, the NHL’s first Jamaican-born player, and Cyril Bollers, director of player development for Canada’s Skillz Black Aces program.

He developed an appreciation for hockey training and coaching through participation in rigorous conditioning programs like BTNL and Twist in Ontario and serving as an instructor for three years in a hockey school in Maine run by Townshend.

For the last two seasons, Abercrombie served as a hockey coach for Georgetown Preparatory School.

“Having scouted and been a skills consultant at the ACHA and NCAA levels, I will spend time developing the skills and habits that junior programs and colleges look for, and my ultimate goal is to teach (players) how to play the game with a ‘Winning Attitude’ all the time,” he said.

Abercrombie said he stands on the shoulders of other black coaches who’ve mentored him – Townshend and Henderson – and credit them for his progress.

“Duante’ is one of the best instructors I had,” Townshend said. “He comes from a background where there wasn’t a lot of hockey. He’s come a long way just because of that (Fort Dupont) program there. He’s always studying the game, he’s always learning and improving his craft. All those reasons make him a good coach.”

Thompson believes that the sky’s the limit for Abercrombie now that he has his foot in the coaching door.

“He’s now definitely in that realm where he’s going to start meeting people and start working his way up the ladder,” he said.

Henderson predicts that other Fort Dupont pupils will follow in Abercrombie’s  path and become bench bosses for teams.

“Coming out of our group, for as old as it is, you’re going to find more doing it, such as Ralph Featherstone, and other men who have gone on in hockey to reach certain pinnacles in it,” Henderson said.

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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Andong Song, first Chinese-born player drafted by NHL, commits to Cornell U

05 Sunday Mar 2017

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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2015 NHL Draft, Andong Song, New York Islanders, USHL

Andong “Misha” Song, the first Chinese-born player drafted by a National Hockey League team and one of the faces of China’s 2022 Winter Olympics ice hockey effort, will play for Cornell University for the 2018-19 season.

China's Andong Song at 2015 NHL Draft (Photo/William Douglas/Color of Hockey).

China’s Andong Song at 2015 NHL Draft (Photo/William Douglas/Color of Hockey).

Song, a defenseman for Wisconsin’s Madison Capitols of the United States Hockey League, committed to the Ithica, New York, Ivy League university late last week. The Big Red skate in the ECAC which includes hockey powerhouses like Union College, Quinnipiac University, Harvard University.

“I’m so happy to commit to Cornell,” Song said in a Madison Capitols statement. “It’s a great academic school and they have a great hockey program that will help me in the future so I couldn’t be more excited to go there.”

Song made history in 2015 when the New York Islanders chose the Beijing-born player in the sixth round of the NHL Draft with the 172nd overall pick.

Capitols Head Coach and General Manager Garrett Suter said Song has “done a lot of hard work on and off the ice this season to get where he’s at.”

“He’ll do great at Cornell, and I’m glad he’ll have one more year here (in Madison),” Suter said. “(We) still have a few things to work on, but still couldn’t be happier for the kid.”

Embed from Getty Images

Song has appeared in exhibition games for the Islanders and he hopes to crack the NHL team’s regular season roster someday. But but right now his focus is on getting better in the USHL, his upcoming collegiate career, and leading China’s national team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

China isn’t an international hockey power and is quickly building its men’s and women’s hockey program in preparation of hosting the Winter Games. The impact of the Islanders drafting Song has been compared to the effect that former National Basketball Association center  Yao Ming had in making basketball popular in the world’s most populous country.

A number of young hockey players have ventured from China to the United States and Canada to play high school or junior hockey since Song was drafted.

Song captained China’s 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 World Junior Championship Division II B team. He’s played 39 games for Madison this season and hasn’t registered a point. He played for Massachusetts’ Phillips Andover in 2015-16 and tallied 1 goal and 7 assists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Globetrotting Yushiro Hirano hopes long hockey road trip leads to NHL career

27 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Alex Ovechkin, Chicago Blackhawks, Jonathan Toews, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, USHL, Washington Capitals

Yushiro Hirano has taken the term “road trip” to a new level.

The 20-year-old right wing left Hokkaido, Japan, last year to play hockey in Tingsryds, Sweden, some 4,683 miles away from his island home.

This year, Hirano’s pursuit of a National Hockey League career has taken him nearly 5,960 miles from home to Ohio, where he made history over the weekend as a member of the Youngstown Phantoms. Skating in the Phantoms’ season-opening 6-4 loss to Team USA Saturday, Hirano became the United States Hockey League’s first player born in Japan.

Ohio is Japan's Yushiro Hirano's new hockey home (Photo/Bill Paterson).

Ohio is Japan’s Yushiro Hirano’s new hockey home (Photo/Bill Paterson).

“I’m happy because I feel there is a responsibility for me to represent Japan well,”  Hirano said when asked in an e-mail exchange about making the Phantoms roster. “I hope to grow the game in Japan and make everybody proud. I also want to play well enough to get to the professional ranks here in the United States.”

Joining the Phantoms capped an excellent hockey summer for Hirano. Before he tried out for the USHL team, he attended the Chicago Blackhawks development camp in July as a free agent invitee.

Hirano attended the Chicago Blackhawks development camp before joining the Phantoms (Photo/Bill Paterson).

Hirano attended the Chicago Blackhawks development camp before joining the Phantoms (Photo/Bill Paterson).

The Hawks learned about Hirano through Andrew Allen, who was a developmental goaltending coach in the Chicago organization before becoming the Buffalo Sabres’ goalie coach this season. Allen knew of Hirano because he served as goaltending coach and developmental coach for Japan’s national team.

The son of a former Team Japan player, Hirano compiled an impressive numbers in Japan and Sweden. He tallied 12 goals and 14 assists in 26 games for Tingsryds’ junior team last season.

He collected 6 goals and 2 assists in 5 games as captain for Japan’s Under-20 team playing in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championship in the D1B Division in 2014-15. He also notched 3 goals in 5 games for Team Japan’s men’s squad in the IIHF world championship D1A Division last season.

But Hirano – whose first name is sometimes spelled Yushiroh –  wasn’t widely known in North America because Japan isn’t a hockey power. Its men’s team is 21st in IIHF rankings. The women’s team is ranked eighth internationally and competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The squad played hard in Russia, but didn’t win a game.

With a baseball and soccer-obsessed population of 127,103,388, Japan has 19,260 hockey players – 9,641 men, 6,996 juniors, and 2,623 women – playing on 120 outdoor rinks and 110 indoor ice sheets.

“It is still a minor sport in Japan, but more people have been watching and following hockey in the United States, which will only help the game,” Hirano told me.

So how did Hirano wind up in Youngstown?  Tingsryds team management emailed Phantoms CEO and Co-Owner Troy Loney that Hirano might be worth a look.

“He received an email this summer and passed it along to our general manager about a young Japanese player who was looking to pay his own way to come over and try out,” Phantoms Head Coach John Wroblewski told me recently. “I guess there was a little bit of intrigue because he attended Chicago Blackhawks rookie camp as well this summer, but we knew nothing about him when the emails started coming around.”

It didn’t take long for the 6-foot, 200-pound Hirano to impress Wroblewski.

“He’s a big kid, very strong and sturdy,” he said. “He looks a lot like some of the pro players I dealt with the last few years. This leads into him being able to shoot the puck extremely hard. Tremendous accurate shot, very, very heavy shot. Those are the things that stuck out right away.”

Hirano is one of the Phantoms' top forwards and skates on the power play (Photo/Bill Paterson).

Hirano is one of the Phantoms’ top forwards and skates on the power play (Photo/Bill Paterson).

But Wroblewski saw something more in Hirano than a big body and a shot. “His work ethic was the next thing, and the ability to make plays,” he said. “He has quite a bit of vision and the ability to make deft, subtle plays. He works extremely hard away from the puck. If he’s the last guy on a back-check he’s working as hard as if he has it (the puck) going forward.”

Hirano says he’s adjusting to life in North America on and off the ice just fine, though he cites “the language barrier” as the biggest challenge. His coach isn’t so sure about that.

“He’s sneaky, I think he might know a little more than he’s letting on,” Wroblewski said with a laugh. “He understands it very well, he does have to concentrate a little more than the next guy on it, but he does understand it quite nicely. I say that because he picks up on subtlties within drills that really aren’t explained very well. Either he’s really smart, knows a little bit more English than we think, or a combination of both. I think it’s the third scenario.”

The United States Hockey League is the nation’s only Tier 1 junior league and prides itself on being a pathway to college hockey for its players. More than 95 percent of USHL players receive an opportunity to play NCAA Division I hockey.

Hirano, however, is viewing his USHL stint in Youngstown as a stepping stone to the NHL. He hopes to someday play alongside or against his favorite players – Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, Tampa Bay Lightning sniper Steven Stamkos, or Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin.

“I’m nowhere close to the (NHL) level yet,” he told The Chicago Tribune in July. “I’d like to keep improving, but if I do get there, it’d be a huge impact for kids in Japan. They’d have a legitimate dream they could look up to and strive for.”

Wroblewski believes that Hirano’s dream isn’t an impossible one.

“In this short time, if his learning curve continues on this pace, on the degree it has thus far, there’s no telling how much he can get done here,” he said. “His straight ahead speed has to improve, there’s definitely a skating factor that the NHL desires, but his ability to play with others and put the puck in the net is pretty special.”

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Players of color help NHL teams replenish, reload, through draft and free agency

04 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

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Anthony Duclair, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Jaden Lindo, Jarome Iginla, Joshua Ho-Sang, Keegan Iverson, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, USHL, Windsor Spitfires

Between the 2014 National Hockey League Draft and the start of the NHL’s free agent signing period, some old faces changed places and the league infused itself with new young blood via the draft.

A lot has transpired from the time NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was robustly booed when he first strode onto the stage at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on June 27 to begin the draft to the last breathless breath of NHL Network, TSN, and NBC Sports Network analysts summing up the hurly-burly of the week’s free agent signing frenzy. Let’s recap:

Hoping for a Rocky Mountain high from a Stanley Cup win, Jarome Iginla signs with Avalanche.

Hoping for a Rocky Mountain high from a Stanley Cup win, Jarome Iginla signs with Avalanche.

Perhaps the biggest free agent catch was landed by the Colorado Avalanche when it inked Jarome Iginla to a three-year, $16 million deal. The former Calgary Flames icon hopes his third NHL team in three seasons – he played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2012-13 and Boston Bruins last season – will be a charm and deliver the Stanley Cup championship he longs for before he takes residence among the greats in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Iginla’s relocation from Beantown to the Rockies wasn’t an issue of the Bruins not wanting to keep him or the player tiring of the team. It was a matter of dollars and cents, or the Bruins’ lack of it. Boston simply didn’t have the salary cap space to fit Iginla into its budget.

Boston’s misfortune becomes Colorado’s fortune, even though it’s costing the team one. In Iginla, the Avalanche get an aging-but-still-productive player who can provide hard-nose leadership to a rising young team that seeks to leapfrog the loaded Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference to get a shot at the Cup. Now 37, Iginla scored 30 goals and 31 assists for the Bruins in 78 games.

“In the NHL it’s hard to pick which team is going to win, but you want to be on a contender and I think at this

Manny Malhotra takes his face-off skills to Montreal.

Manny Malhotra takes his face-off skills to Montreal.

stage of my career that is very important,” Iginla told Sportnet. “I know Boston, they have a great shot, they’re a great team and they work very hard and they’re committed. Unfortunately, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to this year in Boston, but they’ll be right back there and have a great shot again and I realize that. But it wasn’t really a full option and Colorado, to me, is a young, dynamic team and they’re just getting better.”

The Montreal Canadiens made a lesser but no less important free agent signing that the team is banking will help them get beyond the Conference Final next season. The Habs inked 34-year-old center Manny Malhotra to a one-year, $850,000 contract.

The Indo-Canadian Malhothra  is a role player, but a very good one. He’s one of the NHL’s best face-off men and provides locker room leadership to a team that saw its captain, Brian Gionta, move on to the Buffalo Sabres. Malhotra is also one of the league’s best feel-good stories. He suffered a horrific left eye injury when he played for the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 that many thought would be career-ending.

With reduced vision, he made the American Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers on a tryout and was later promoted to the parent club, the NHL’s Carolinia Hurricanes. He had seven goals and six assists for the ‘Canes in the 2013-14 season.

Brandon Montour, left, jumped from 18th-round USHL pick to 2nd-round NHL pick (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Brandon Montour, left, jumped from 18th-round USHL pick to 2nd-round NHL pick (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Feel-good stories were also abundant at the draft. Brandon Montour was all smiles when the Anaheim Ducks selected the defenseman from the United States Hockey League’s Waterloo Black Hawks in the second round with the 55th overall pick.

Montour, who’s Canadian First Nation, was beaming because little more than a year ago he selected by Waterloo in the 18th round of the USHL draft, the league’s 276th overall pick. What happened between the USHL and NHL drafts?  Montour was awarded both the USHL Player of the Year and Defenseman of the Year in 2014.

He tallied 14 goals and 48 assists in 60 games for the Black Hawks, tops among USHL defensemen and ninth overall in the league in scoring. He was sixth among USHL players with a plus-35 rating.

Montour attended the Ducks’ prospects camp last week, but it will be a while before fans see

Mark Friedman hopes to join Montour in NHL after college (Photo/Britta Lewis)

Mark Friedman hopes to join Montour in NHL after college (Photo/Britta Lewis)

him performing in Anaheim. He’s committed to play college hockey at the University of Massachusetts. The USHL is the nation’s top junior league and a prime hockey feeder to American colleges and universities.

“Brandon is truly a special player,” Waterloo Head Coach P.K. O’Handley said on the team’s website. “Even more than his tremendous natural abilities and instincts, our coaching staff, Brandon’s teammates, and certainly Black Hawks fans appreciate the tremendous effort that was evident anytime he was on the ice.”

Montour had company from Waterloo at the draft. Teammate Mark Friedman, a defenseman, was chosen by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 3rd round with the 86th overall pick. He scored 10 goals and 30 assists in 51 games last season for the Black Hawks. Friedman has signed a letter of intent to play hockey for Bowling Green State University, the school that produced former Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma.

Should Friedman reach the NHL after college he’ll be part of a small but growing contingent of Jewish players in the league. Calgary Flames forward Mike Cammalleri, Phoenix Coyotes forward Jeff Halpern, Nashville Predators forward Eric Nystrom, and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Trevor Smith were among the NHL’s Jewish players last season.

Armada's Daniel Walcott hopes to make leap from college club hockey to NHL.

Armada’s Daniel Walcott hopes to make leap from college club hockey to NHL.

The New York Rangers feel they got a diamond in the rough in defenseman Daniel Walcott, a defenseman selected in the fifth round with the 140th overall pick. Like Montour, Walcott, who played last season for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, was an under-the-radar player who took an unusual route to the draft.

Prior to joining Armada, Walcott,  a 19-year-old Ile Perrot, Quebec, native, was playing U.S. college hockey – but not NCAA Division I, II or III. He was playing for Lindenwood University near St. Louis, Mo., a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association – club hockey.

Founded in 1991, the ACHA has 431 men’s and women’s teams spanning five competition divisions in 49 states. Teams like Navy, Arizona State University, New York University,  Florida Gulf Coast University, and San Jose State University are ACHA members.

Walcott, played organized travel team hockey in Canada when he was younger but stopped to play football and hockey at school. When his parents divorced, Walcott moved to Chicago where he attended high school for a year before accepting a scholarship at Lindenwood.

“They offered me a spot. I decided to take it because it’s university (hockey) and I always wanted to play there. Unfortunately, it’s not high quality. It’s not NCAA hockey, it was just club hockey,” Walcott told Yahoo Sports’ “Buzzing the Net.” “My assistant coach and (Armada coaches) were in contact, and my name came up. They invited to camp. I decided to come here because I live at home, basically. It was one of the major keys to the decision. Also, I wanted to get seen by scouts and here is a much bigger opportunity for that.”

Indeed. The Rangers looked at Walcott’s single season body of work in the QMJHL and decided he was worth drafting. In 67 games, Walcott scored 10 goals and 29 assists.

“I’m a two-way defenseman,” Walcott told “Buzzing the Net.” “I bring a lot of offense and I can play defense, too, and shutdown top lines. I can be in-your-face and physical. I give my heart out every game – a lot of character.”

Rick Zombo, Lindenwood’s hockey head coach and a former St. Louis Blues defenseman, said all Walcott needed was an opportunity to showcase his ability.

“He put all the work in and he got his opportunity, he was prepared and made the most of it,” Zombo said on the university’s website. “I’m very proud of Daniel and I fully expect him to make the most of his new opportunities.”

Walcott attended the Rangers prospects camp this week with fellow 2014 draftee Keegan Iverson, a forward for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks who was chosen in the 3rd round with the 85th pick by the Blueshirts. Also at camp was Anthony Duclair, a high-scoring forward with the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts. The Rangers chose Duclair in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft with the overall 80th pick. The speedy forward registered 50 goals and 49 assists in 59 games for Quebec in 2013-14.

Rounding out the 2014 draftees are Joshua Ho-Sang, a forward for the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires, who was taken in the first round with the 28th pick by the New York Islanders, and Jaden Lindo, forward for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack who was taken in the fourth round with the 173rd overall pick by the Penguins.

 

 

 

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From Larry Kwong to Brad Kwong, celebrating hockey’s rich Asian legacy

04 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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Atlanta Flames, Boston Bruins, Brad Kwong, Calgary Flames, Canadian Football League, Dubuque Fighting Saints, Harvard University, Larry Kwong, Minnesota Wild, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Norman "Normie" Kwong, USHL

Brad Kwong has gone from the Ivy League to corn country for the love of hockey, adding to the game’s rich Asian history along the way.

Kwong, a defenseman who captained Harvard University’s hockey team in 1984-85, is part of the group that owns the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League, the top junior league in the country. When Northern Lights, LLC purchased the team in 2009, Kwong became part of a growing number of people of color – many of them Asian – in hockey’s ownership ranks, from the junior leagues to the National Hockey League.

“I have the benefit of having some really good partners that helped me get along in this profession,” Kwong told me recently. “I don’t ever recall an encounter where I was compromised or biased because of my ethnicity. And that might be me just having the blinders on or being naïve to it. But I think this sport in particular, because I lived through it, and in business in general, if you prove that you have a certain acumen, drive, and initiative you can succeed in anything.”

Brad Kwong, center, congratulates on of his team's players (Photo/Dubuque Fighting Saints).

Brad Kwong, center, congratulates on of his team’s players (Photo/Dubuque Fighting Saints).

Harvard crimson and business ties run deep through the Fighting Saints ownership: Kwong,  Phillip Falcone, Northern Lights’s principal owner and part owner of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, and Peter Chiarelli, general manager of the Boston Bruins, played hockey together at Harvard in the 1980s. Mark Falcone, another Northern Lights managing partner and a Minnesota Wild board member, played hockey for the University of Denver hockey player. Phillip Falcone is chief investment officer of Harbinger Capital Partners, a Wall Street private hedge fund, and Kwong is a managing partner in the firm.

“Our experience at Harvard actually changed the courses of our lives,” Kwong said. “We all believed that hockey, most notably college hockey, changed the trajectory  of our lives. So we wanted to give back to the sport and college hockey and obviously the USHL being the primary feeder of players to NCCA Division I hockey was a great platform to do that.”

The 50-year-old Kwong may have good partners assisting him in the hockey business, but he also learned a lesson or two from his dad. Norman “Normie” Kwong was a star running back Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders and the Edmonton Eskimos in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. But he was also part of the ownership group that bought the NHL’s Atlanta Flames and moved the team to Calgary in 1980.

When the Flames won the Stanley Cup in 1989, the elder Kwong became one of the few people whose names are etched on both the CFL’s Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup.

“He, of course, back in the 40s and 50s, experienced the racial stuff,” the younger Kwong said of his father, who also served as lieutenant governor of Alberta from 2005 to 2010. “He always just fought through it, never saw himself as different, and just kind of worked hard and achieved a lot, regardless of his race. He always instilled in my brothers and I to just do your best, work hard, and you’ll achieve the goals you set out for yourself.”

 Kwong, front row, center, was captain of Harvard's 1984-85 hockey team (Photo/Harvard University).

Kwong, front row, center, was captain of Harvard’s 1984-85 hockey team (Photo/Harvard University).

Brad and Norman Kwong aren’t the only family members with hockey ties. Graham Lee, Brad Kwong’s cousin, is owner and governor of the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League. Lee’s company, RG Properties, built and operates the 7,000-seat Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, the arena where the Royals play.

Lee and the Kwongs are part of a history of Asian ownership in hockey. The Tampa Bay Lightning began its NHL life under a Japanese ownership group. Shanghai-born and New York-raised Charles Wang, owns the New York Islanders, an NHL franchise that’s currently up for sale. Chicago-based businessman Horn Chen is a minority owner of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets.

The media-shy Chen once told The Chicago Sun-Times that he became interested in hockey when his son played in a youth tournament in Indianapolis. That interest launched Chen on a team-buying binge: He founded the Central Hockey League and owned the CHL’s Wichita Thunder, Topeka Tarantulas, Oklahoma City Blazers and Mississippi RiverKings. He also owned the International Hockey League’s Indianapolis Ice, the East Coast Hockey League’s Columbus Chill, the CFL’s Ottawa Rough Riders (briefly) and several minor league football, baseball, and basketball teams.

Winnipeg Jets forward Devin Setoguchi.

Winnipeg Jets forward Devin Setoguchi.

Asian-American and Asian-Canadians have had an impact on the ice as well. Forward Paul Kayria, who’s of Japanese descent, was the first hockey player of Asian descent to captain an NHL team when he was awarded the “C’ by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.  Defenseman Jim Paek, who’s of Korean heritage,won two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1990s. Seoul-born right wing Richard Park enjoyed a long NHL career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild, Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks and the Islanders.

Asian players currently in the NHL include Winnipeg Jets forward Devin Setoguchi, who’s Japanese-Canadian, and Carolina Hurricanes forward Manny Malhotra, who’s Indo-Canadian.

Hockey has come a long way since Larry Kwong became the first Chinese-Canadian – and some historians argue the first person of color – to play in the NHL when he skated a single one-minute shift for the New York Rangers  in a game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum during the 1947-48 season. A decade later, in 1958, Willie O’Ree became the NHL’s first black player when he skated for the Bruins, ironically, against the Canadiens.

Hockey has come a long way from the days when Larry Kwong, center,  played (Photo/Chad Soon).

Hockey has come a long way from the days when Larry Kwong, center, played (Photo/Chad Soon).

Larry Kwong, who was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame last September at age 90, isn’t related to Brad Kwong, the two men share a sort of six degrees of separation that causes Brad to chuckle when recalling an episode that happened while he was playing professional hockey in Europe post-Harvard undergrad.

“There was a time in San Moritz, a group of fans came down, said hello, and said they knew my father,” he said. “My father had a reasonable amount of fame in Canada, but I didn’t think it extended to Switzerland. Obviously, it didn’t. They meant Larry, who played hockey in Switzerland at one point in his career. When I was 8-9 years old, he had moved back to Calgary and given that my parents knew him, he offered to teach my older brother and I tennis.”

Brad Kwong believes he’ll have company in the owner’s club in the not-too-distant future as minority players currently in professional hockey get older and transition into the next phase of their careers.

“As the numbers increase you’re going to have more people like me who played the game, who want to stay part of the game, which is my primary motivation, and I would imagine they’d stay involve in some way whether it be coach, general manager, owner, business president, whatever,” he said. “The sport is a fascinating sport. And I think once you’ve been exposed to it, you’re going to get more and more people, regardless of their color, wanting to be a part of it.”

 

 

 

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Powerade commercial’s black hockey player powers through tough times

23 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Des Moines Buccaneers, Frozen Four, Harlem Nights, Jonathon Robinson, March Madness, Saskatoon Blades, Swift Current Broncos, USHL, Washington Capitals, WHL

Jonathon Robinson has been religiously tuning into the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament on television looking for ice hockey.

No, the 20-year-old San Diego native isn’t confusing this month’s basketball fest with next month’s NCAA Frozen Four hockey tournament.

He’s been checking out the basketball games to see if a television commercial that debuted during last year’s March Madness and featured him playing hockey is airing again during this year’s tournament.

Jonathon Robinson calls TV commercial one of the best moments in hockey career.

Jonathon Robinson calls TV commercial one of the best moments in hockey career.

Robinson was the black hockey player in an ad for Powerade, a Coca-Cola brand sport drink, that generated a lot of buzz last year for challenging athletic and societal stereotypes. The 31-second spot featured quick cuts of athletes seemingly against type: a smallish basketball player going strong to the hoop; a slow defensive football player attacking a quarterback; and a female wrestler preparing to do battle against a male opponent.

Then there was Robinson, who skated towards the camera with his white teammates and asked whether he was “Not in the right sport?”

A year after the commercial premiered, Robinson remains thrilled that he had the opportunity to be in it and proud of the message – beyond selling a product – that the ad tried to convey.

“By saying those few lines and just the whole message of the commercial, it really  meant a lot more special to me than the normal guy would actually understand,” Robinson told me recently. “It was one of the best things that ever happened to me mainly because of all of the things I’ve been through with hockey.”

Robinson’s pursuit of a hockey career has taken him from California to Washington, Saskatoon, Swift Current, Atlanta, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Des Moines and back. He’s been through an alphabet of leagues – the British Columbia Hockey League, the North American Prospects Hockey League, the Western States Hockey League, the Tier 1 Elite Minor Midget Hockey League and tryouts with Western Hockey League and United States Hockey League teams.

At 14, Robinson was an 11th-round draft pick of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades in 2008. Doug Molleken, head scout for the Blades, told Canwest that he liked how Robinson skated and marveled how strong he was in with the puck in the corners of the rink.

“The had a hard time taking the puck away from him,” Molleken told the Canadian news service. “He’s gotta learn the game a little bit, but I think he’s going to be OK.”

But an injury kept him from competing in training camp, which helped launch his search for a hockey home. He had a 2011 tryout with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos.  At 20, he finished the 2013-14 season playing for the WSHL’s Lake Tahoe Blue and now finds himself at the crossroad of his hockey career.

Robinson, skating for Lake Tahoe Blue, has been on a multi-city, multi-league hockey journey.

Robinson, skating for Lake Tahoe Blue, has been on a multi-city, multi-league hockey journey.

Robinson put his hockey dreams on hold in 2012 after he father, Rick, suffered a series of stokes. He moved from California to Arlington, Va., to help provide for his family while his father recovered.

“I had two jobs, I was a lifeguard and I was also cleaning grocery stores,” he said. “The stores were in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. I would leave the house around 5 a.m., start working around 6 a.m. and get home around 7:30 at night.”

Whenever he had time, Robinson tried to stay in hockey shape by attending stick and puck sessions at Virginia’s Kettler Capitals Iceplex, the practice facility of the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals.

Robinson temporarily halted his hockey career when dad suffered series of strokes.

Robinson temporarily halted his hockey career when dad suffered series of strokes.

And it was a good thing that he did. In January 2013, Robinson received a phone call from a friend in California who told him about auditions for the Powerade commercial.

“The timing could not have been better,” he said. “The year before, I was playing in the BCHL, that was my draft year, and I had separated my shoulder and my dad had three strokes and five brain surgeries.”

When he arrived at the casting call, Robinson said he found about 25 other black hockey players and actors vying for the role.

“The audition was throughout the day,” he recalled.  “I got there first, I was the first person to audition, and I stayed a good hour after that just watching the other guys.”

But Robinson had a leg-up on the competition because of his family background in show business. His dad was a cinematographer and his mother, Dawn, was an assistant on the set of the 1989 Eddie Murphy movie “Harlem Nights.”

The early exposure to the film business helped Jonathon land a cameo role in an episode of the old NBC hit series “Friends” in which he kicked Ross – played by actor David Schwimmer – in the face.

About a week-and-a half after the Powerade audition, Robinson headed to Iowa for a

Robinson in Powerade ad.

Robinson in Powerade ad.

tryout with the USHL Des Moines Buccaneers. He received a callback for the commercial during the tryout with instructions to scurry back to Hollywood ASAP.

Elated, Robinson caught the next flight to California – leaving his hockey equipment behind in Des Moines.

“I left all my gear in the locker room of the USHL team,” he said. “I had to  borrow some gear from some owners of teams I knew.”

Robinson recalls spending 12 hours on the ice shooting the commercial at the Pickwick Ice Center in Burbank and doing about 40 takes on just one scene that required him to check an opposing player hard into the boards.

“I remember at the end of it the kid was dead, he was begging not to be hit anymore,” Robinson said. “We had a couple of takes where I was laughing because of something the director yelled out while we were filming.”

These days, Robinson is working on the Phase Two of his young life. He plans to enroll in college this summer to study cinematography. But hockey still isn’t out of his system. He hopes to coach or teach at hockey camps.

“I want to coach kids, youth hockey players, be able to bring them up, and help them chase their dreams,” he said.

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Thomas, Wade take long and winding road to Notre Dame University

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amherst College, Buffalo Sabres, Des Moines Buccaneers, Fargo Force, Fighting Irish, Harvard University, Julie Chu, Mike Grier, Tarasai Karega, University of Notre Dame, University of Toronto, USHL

It’s fascinating to discover where hockey can take a player both geographically and academically.

For Ali Thomas the love of the game has taken him from the bustling Bronx, N.Y., to the corn fields of Iowa to the shadow of the “Touchdown Jesus” mural in South Bend, Indiana. Justin Wade’s hockey sojourn began in scenic Aurora, Illinois, with stops in Fargo, North Dakota and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before reaching the place known for Knute Rockne, winning one for “The Gipper,” and the football movie “Rudy.”

Ali Thomas goes from NYC to Des Moines to Notre Dame in hopes of NHL career.

Ali Thomas goes from NYC to Des Moines to Notre Dame in hopes of NHL career.

Thomas and Wade are freshmen on the University of Notre Dame’s hockey team, the first black players to skate for the Fighting Irish. Both hope their journey to South Bend leads them to another destination – the National Hockey League.

“My dream is to play in the NHL,” Thomas told me recently. “Here, right now, I’m at Notre Dame, I want to get a degree here and be able to play college hockey and hopefully fulfill my dream of playing in the National Hockey League.”

Wade seconded Thomas’ thought. “I definitely have NHL aspirations, but I look at it as taking it one step at a time,” he told me. “I’m looking at college right now, making the stepping stones to being as successful as possible in the hockey and in college.”

Notre Dame Hockey Coach Jeff Jackson believes that Thomas, a 6-foot-2, 211-pound left wing, and Wade, a 6-foot-2, 203-pound defenseman, have the tools to succeed in NCAA Division I hockey.

Thomas arrived in South Bend from The United States Hockey League’s Des Moines Buccaneers where he scored 6 goals and 9 assists in 43 games last season. The rugged winger also collected 118 penalty minutes.

Justin Wade played in Fargo, N.D., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before landing at Notre Dame. Is NHL next?

Justin Wade played in Fargo, N.D., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before landing at Notre Dame. Is NHL next?

“Ali is a big left winger with the size to be an excellent power forward,” Jackson said shortly after Thomas and Wade signed early letters of intent last November to attend Notre Dame. “When he plays within himself, playing physical and going to the net he’s a very effective player. He will be a power guy, a net drive player and a physical force for us in the future.”

Wade collected 2 goals, 6 assists, and 87 penalty minutes in 43 games for the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders after being traded from the Fargo Force. He scored 1 goal, 1 assist and registered 34 penalty minutes in 17 games for Fargo.

Wade “is a good stay-at-home defenseman with excellent leadership skills,” Jackson said. “I expect him to give us more of an edge physically in our zone and in front of the net.”

Notre Dame plays in the tough Hockey East conference with Boston College, Boston University, University of Maine, University of Massachusetts, UMass Lowell, Merrimack College, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire, Northeastern University, and Providence College.

The Fighting Irish are ranked seventh in the nation in a recent USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine preseason poll. Hockey East’s UMass Lowell was ranked first, Boston College fourth, New Hampshire, 13th and Providence 15th.

Thomas and Wade chose to hone their skills in the USHL, a high-level junior league comprised of 16 teams located throughout the Midwest. That meant leaving home as teenagers to head to unfamiliar surroundings.

“Hockey in New York City is very scarce,” Thomas,  now 21, told me. “In my youth, I played in Connecticut and New Jersey. When I was a senior in high school I moved to Chicago and lived with a billet family. Then I played in Chicago my senior year, then I got drafted by the USHL the following year by the Chicago Steel. I played a season and a little bit in Chicago, then get traded to Des Moines about a month and a half into the season.”

He admitted to suffering “a huge culture shock” from being a big-city kid living in Iowa.

Notre Dame expects Ali Thomas to blossom into a power forward.

Notre Dame expects Ali Thomas to blossom into a power forward.

“Going from seeing building, after building, after building in New York City to seeing farmland and open spaces everywhere was quite a change,” he told me. “I actually liked Iowa because there’s less traffic there. A mile takes three minutes compared to 45 (minutes) in New York City.”

Wade left home at 16 for Fargo, about a 632-mile, 10-hour drive from Aurora.

“Obviously, it was a big move for me,” said Wade, 19. “It was really exciting but at the same time I was nervous about it. But I enjoyed the experience, I got to be in a different environment, and I feel I matured.”

Wade found Fargo to “be really nice. The town was really accepting, I really liked the town.” But he only stayed two-and-a-half seasons there before being traded to Cedar Rapids.

“Going to Fargo…I had a family I lived with, I felt like I had another family there in a way, people I got to know really well,” Wade said. “It was over less than 24 hours I had to leave and go start with a new family. That was a really different experience for me. But in hockey, it’s something that you know happens and happens often. So you just have to accept it, go forward and continue moving on.”

The decision by both players to take the college hockey route rather chasing their NHL dreams by joining major junior hockey teams in the United States or Canada was the right way to go, according to Brett Peterson, a former Boston College hockey player who’s one of two black sports agents in the world with hockey clients.

All eight of players of color chosen in the 2013 NHL Draft came from the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League or other major junior conferences. Of the eight, only defenseman Seth Jones, the fourth overall pick by the Nashville Predators, remains in an NHL training camp.

“The way the NHL is structured today, you don’t want to get there too fast,” Peterson told me. “If you go major junior, that means that you have to be ready to play professional hockey at 20 because that’s when you age out (of juniors). If you go college, you’re adding another three years to your shelf life before you have to be ready to play NHL hockey because you don’t enter college until you’re 18 or 19.”

Peterson said college also gives players “time to grow both physically and mentally.”

“College allows kids to have, in my opinion, just more life experiences than the major junior route because there’s more time,” he added. “Major juniors, they play 70 games, they travel, they have bus trips. In college, you don’t play the first month-and-a-half that you’re on campus and you don’t play the last month-and-a-half to two months on campus. You’re allowed to be a young man and grow.”

Justin Wade is expected to bring size and leadership on Notre Dame's defense.

Justin Wade is expected to bring size and leadership on Notre Dame’s defense.

Wade and Thomas are among a growing number of players of color who are playing college hockey at all levels – from NCAA Division I to American Collegiate Association club hockey teams.

They’re following in the skates of players like retired Buffalo Sabres forward Mike Grier, who starred at Boston University; New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo, a University of Minnesota alum; Darren Lowe, a University of Toronto forward who in 1984 became the first black player on a Canadian Winter Olympics team. He’s now the head hockey coach of his alma mater;  Chris Nelson, defenseman for the University of Wisconsin in the late 1980s; Robbie Earl, a University of Wisconsin forward who helped the Badgers win the NCAA hockey championship in 2006; Julie Chu, a former Harvard University forward who’ll play for the U.S. in her fourth Winter Olympics this February; and Tarasai Karega, an Amherst College graduate who’s the first black woman to win an NCAA hockey championship.

“There’s a big wave of us coming through and it makes me happy to see that,” Thomas told me. “Why not have the diversity in the sport? It’s not hurting the sport, if anything it’s being promoted on the NHL level more than it has ever been promoted before. Hockey is getting a new face, and I think it’s a good thing for the sport.”

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