Where Field Supremacy Meets Ice

When the Olympics started, I spoke a little about how India dominated the sport of field hockey for fifty years. Field hockey was imported into the country by the British servicemen when the British Commonwealth still held firm in India. Ice hockey, however, is a sport that one wouldn't normally associate with India due to its climate and infrastructure, but the sport of ice hockey does have a devout following there, and there are places where the sport thrives.

Personally, I had no clue that the sport was as popular as it is in India. I knew that field hockey has a huge following and there are many players that play at either the amateur or professional levels, but it seems as though the sport of ice hockey is growing amongst some people in India.

Paul Romanuk filed this report for the IIHF, and I have to say that I'm quite impressed with how the Indian army introduced the sport in Ladakh, India, and now it's grown to be one of the favorite sports in the northern region of India.

Pretty cool, right? A country that seems to be covered in heat due to its location on the globe actually has, literally, a corner of the country devoted to ice hockey!

While some had to wait for the second part of the report, I have the second part below. There are some pretty impressive feats that the Indian team has accomplished, but they still have a long way to go.

Scored their first goal, won their first game... sounds like the Indian team is gaining some steam in their quest to play ice hockey! But Paul Romanuk reported, the shortage of funds in operating the rink as well as securing equipment for players does take its toll on the entire system in India. The rink in Dehradun is a great start, though, especially when you consider that ice hockey is nothing more than a fringe sport in India.

I decided to look into India's ice hockey scene a little more from seat here in Canada, and, lo and behold, there's an icehockeyindia.com website! I clicked through a few of the links and menus on that page, and it struck me as ingenious that the army and locals "used improvised field hockey sticks and converted shoe polish tins to act as pucks". Honestly, the weight and size of the tins of shoe polish would be pretty close to that of a regulation-sized puck! That's some great thinking there!

They have a "Teams" page that features each member of the Indian national team and shows which local team they play for! Sonam Gyaltson, for example, will be 23 in July next year, making him the youngest player on the team, yet he plays for a team in India called the Ex-Servicemen League. He's 22 and an ex-serviceman already? Wow. Good on him for making the team, though, and he's one of two 22 year-olds on the team this year! Perhaps one day an Indian player, born and trained in India, could be called up onto the NHL Entry Draft stage!

The Indian subcontinent that projects into the Indian Ocean may never produce an ice hockey player due to the popularity of both soccer and field hockey in that region. But those towns located in the Himalayan mountain range seem to be enamored with the sport of ice hockey, and it appears that the younger generation may be making inroads in terms of their hockey acumen. If that's the case, maybe we'll one day see India at a World Junior Championship in the future. It won't happen tomorrow, but the India Ice Hockey Federation seems to be on the right track.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Why Toil In Abbotsford?

After having a fairly successful run in the AHL, you'd expect teams to promote their good, young players in an effort to make the franchise stronger as a whole. After all, the next great player may simply be down on the farm, honing his skills while awaiting his big chance to shine. Yesterday, Abbotsford Flame Clay Wilson decided to do something another Flames defenceman has done, and he skipped out of Abbotsford to head to Donetsk, Ukraine for more money, more ice-time, and a shot at honing his skills against somewhat better talent. With nine defencemen on one-way contracts in Calgary, Wilson wouldn't be called upon this season unless something drastic happened, so he'll follow in Mark Giordano's path in making himself better in the KHL.

Wilson signed a two-year deal last year, but his remaining year was terminated by the Flames, making him a free agent to sign with Donbass Donestsk.

"In accordance with NHL rules and regulations the Calgary Flames have terminated the contract of Clay Wilson," said Calgary Flames GM Jay Feaster. "He is no longer on our reserve list. We wish Clay and his family well as he pursues his career."

Wilson had a fantastic season with Abbotsford last year. In 66 games, the blueliner put up 16 goals and 27 assists to finish third in team scoring - 25 points clear of the next best Abbotsford defenceman! Unfortunately, he's only played 36 NHL games between his time in Columbus, Atlanta, and Calgary, so you had to know something had to give. Next season, he'll suit up for the new Ukraine entry in the KHL, Donbass Donestsk.

It appears he'll be given some major minutes in Donestsk as well. Jaroslav Obsut and Karel Pilar are the most recognizable names on the Donbass roster, but the team will have a solid core in goaltender Erik Ersberg, winger Lukas Kaspar, winger Evgenii Dadonov, and captain and centerman Sergei Varlamov. These players will certainly help fill the net for Donbass, but getting a puck-moving defenceman like Wilson will certainly help the transition game and the special teams.

Wilson consistently produced at the AHL level, amassing 60, 48, and 43 points in the last three seasons split between Rochester and Abbotsford. He made his third AHL All-Star Team last season, so it appeared the blueliner wanted more in asking the Flames to terminate his deal. The KHL is generally viewed as being a level of hockey between the NHL and the AHL, so if Wilson can produce in the KHL, he may be ready for an NHL job. While the Abbotsford Flames will certainly miss his production, the Calgary Flames may be better in the future for letting him skip across to the Ukraine if Wilson decides to return to Calgary.

Of course, when the KHL is offering contracts in the range of a million bucks tax-free for mid-level talent, the one-way deal that Wilson had for $525,000 probably made it easier to leave.

If anything, all he has to do is look at Mark Giordano's path. Giordano was used in much the same way as Wilson was this season before he walked away from the Flames and their AHL affiliate, the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, to play one year with Moscow Dynamo. When he returned to Calgary one year later, he was a much more complete player instead of a one-dimensional offensive defenceman. Since his return, he has been a mainstay on the Calgary blueline, and one of the Flames' best players.

While some critics have said that players jumping over to the KHL are killing their own careers, a few have found their careers revitalized by getting something they weren't receiving in North America: major minutes at the top level of hockey.

Sometimes, all one needs is an opportunity.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

TBC: Fire On Ice

There are about a bazillion things that go into getting to stand on stage beside an NHL general manager, but the opportunity to stand beside a general manager as the top pick in an NHL Entry Draft narrows the field considerably. Great players who go on to have outstanding careers as the top picks are not long forgotten, but neither are those players who do dramatic things. The 1991 NHL Entry Draft saw the Quebec Nordiques hold that opportunity, and the best player as per scouts and critics was that of Eric Lindros of the OHL's Oshawa Generals. How Eric Lindros became that consensus first-overall pick was documented in his own words in Fire On Ice, written by Eric Lindros with Randy Starkman and published by HarperCollins Publishing Limited.

While Eric Lindros is quite well-known to the public, Randy Starkman may not be as famous. As per his biography in the book, "Currently a reporter with The Toronto Star, his work has appeared in Canada's major magazines and newspapers, including MacLean's, The Ottawa Citizen, The Gazette in Montreal, The Globe & Mail, and the Vancouver Sun." Starkman was the man who exposed Ben Johnson's second positive test for steroids in 1993, and had reported from 12 Olympic Games in his career. He was an advocate for amateur athletics, turning down gigs to cover Toronto's mainstream sports repeatedly. After returning from Montreal this past spring where he was covering the Canadian Olympic swimming trials, Starkman became ill. He passed away on April 16, 2012 after battling with pneumonia. He twice won National Newspaper Awards in 1993 and 1994, the second after a scathing report on concussions in hockey, and also received the 2012 Sports Journalist award from the Toronto Sports Council. Starkman is survived by his wife, Mary Hynes, herself a renowned amateur sports reporter, and their teenaged daughter, Ella.

Fire On Ice was written before Eric Lindros had even played in the NHL. The book details his life as well as his life in hockey, and there are several key people who also make large impacts in the book as well as Eric's life. Both Carl and Bonnie Lindros speak about Eric's upbringing and the challenges that the Lindros family faced along the way to seeing Eric being drafted. His agent, Rick Curran, has a few insightful additions to what was happening around the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. And Eric's friends and former teammates talk about Eric Lindros in terms of what he was like on and off the ice.

When I first started reading Fire On Ice, I found the book to be very pedestrian. There is the usual Eric-as-a-child chapters in the book in order to give some background as to the type of person that Eric was, but I'm not sure that those relate to today's reader. The book was published in 1991, so there may have been some curiosity as to how Eric became who he was at that time, but today's readers who are familiar with Eric Lindros' career would probably skip over the stories of Eric's youth.

As Eric hit adolescence, the stories become more relevant to hockey fans, especially hockey parents. The stories of abuse from other players and parents is all too familiar, and I have to say that Carl and Bonnie were very good at keeping everything in perspective for Eric. While there have been stories in the media of Eric's parents being very involved in his career aspirations, especially early on in his career, I can say that they admittedly explain in this book that they are always concerned for what is best for their children.

There are a few chapters in Fire On Ice on the saga with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, and how Eric Lindros refused to play for them due to their education situation. Honestly, I had only heard that Lindros refused to play for a team so far from his Toronto home, but the reality is that the Lindroses wanted Eric to have a chance to finish high school and start university courses before he left major junior hockey. Sault Ste. Marie doesn't have a university and the Greyhounds' education counselor was less than optimistic about Eric's education goals, so the Lindroses told Sault Ste. Marie that he wouldn't report. Because of this problem, the OHL actually changed their rules whereby teams can now trade their first-round draft picks in the OHL Amateur Draft!

It's funny, but as I was reading Fire On Ice, the image of Scott Stevens laying out Eric Lindros continuously popped into my head. I remember Lindros being a dominant force in the 1991 World Junior Championships in Saskatoon, but there was one paragraph in the book that jumped out at me. Eric Lindros always played the game like there was nothing to fear, and this next passage explains why Lindros played the way he did.

"The tone of a game can be changed with a devastating hit. If I try to crunch someone and I get knocked out, that's a big lift for the other team, so I've got to make sure the other guy goes down. And if I go down with him, that's fine, I've just got to make sure that I get up quicker than he does. That's what it's all about. Deck or be decked. There's a moment when you see someone charging up the ice, and he sees you. You make eye-contact with him and you both know that neither one of you is going to move out of the way. I'm thinking 'All right, you're in for a ride, you're going down. I might get hurt, but you're going to be hurt worse than I am.' You've got to think you're invincible."

I have to say that my interest in Fire On Ice waned in the early going, but there were some pearls of information later in the book. For example, did you know that Eric Lindros wore the same patch that NHL officials wore while as a member of the Oshawa Generals after John McCauley passed away? Or that Lindros was invited to take batting practice with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990? The deeper that I got into Fire On Ice, the better the reading became as Lindros' battles in and outside of hockey were the reason I picked up this book.

The last chapter on the 1991 NHL Entry Draft alone actually makes this book worth checking out. Agent Rick Curran's explanation on why Lindros didn't want to go to Quebec actually makes a lot of sense, and it may sway a few people to consider that Lindros wasn't just taking swipes at Quebec. The chapters regarding the World Junior Championships, his fight with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, and his eventual landing in Oshawa are excellent reads as well. Overall, the start of the book is a little dull, but Fire On Ice makes up for it in the end. Fire On Ice won't blow you away, but it's an interesting read and deserves the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

Because the book is out of publication, you'll probably want to head down to your local library to see if you can find Fire On Ice. Otherwise, see if you can pick it up through the link provided!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Teebz, Where Are The Pics?

I have received a few emails from readers and media outlets regarding the latest Paulina Gretzky photo shoot. Some want to know why I haven't posted the pictures of hockey's most famous daughter while others want to know what my stance is regarding Paulina's pictures. In much the same way that I took a stance against showing any pictures of the young Vancouver lady who bared her chest to Ben Eager, I will also not be posting any pictures of Paulina Gretzky. While I understand that everyone wants another opinion on this, Miss Gretzky's photo shoots have nothing to do with hockey outside of her last name making her related to some hockey player. That's not a hockey story at all.

Again, I find myself baffled that the testosterone-driven hockey world has turned into a bunch of adolescent boys over seeing some scantily-clad images of a woman. Paulina Gretzky is an adult and can do whatever she pleases in terms of living her life, but I'm not here to post her Twitter pictures or her latest magazine spread. You want tabloids and trash? This isn't the place.

And from the sounds of it, Paulina is getting a little tired of people scrutinizing her because of her last name. "The only reason people are paying attention to [the racy photos] is because of my father," she tells Complex magazine. "I don't think they'd care if I was anybody else. I'm a normal 23-year-old. I know attention is part of the career I've chosen, but I wish I was presented in a different light."

HBIC agrees with that stance, and I will not post her images here unless she takes to the ice. I appreciate that Wayne Gretzky has a beautiful daughter, but it's not a hockey story that she's chosen a life as a musician and model. Rachel Hunter dated Jarret Stoll. Olivia Munn dated Brad Richards. Neither of their images made it onto HBIC because of who they were. Why? Because it's not a hockey story. In fact, Hunter only made it onto HBIC because Stoll called off their engagement.

As I said in the 2011 article, I'm not trying to be more pious or righteous compared to anyone else. I have spent many nights after softball games at our team-sponsored gentleman's club, and I have seen my fair share of women without tops. Personally, the female form is quite appealing and I happen to like curves on a female much more than I like seeing a woman's ribs as if she were a supermodel or waif. Miss Gretzky is certainly nice to look at, but her last name does not make her a hockey story.

You can ask or request my thoughts on Miss Gretzky's photo shoots all you like. You just won't get a response. And I will not exploit Miss Gretzky by posting her photos on HBIC because someone wants to see them. It has nothing to do with hockey, and that's why you stopped by this blog.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Invite Tim Thomas To Walk

I really want to commend the work of a few individuals today who have taken an active approach in the You Can Play initiative started by Brian and Patrick Burke. As you may be aware, Brendan Burke was Brian's son who tragically lost his life in an automobile accident. Brendan had told his family, his college teammates on the Miami-Ohio RedHawks, and the world that he was gay in 2009. Brendan's bravery and courage in announcing to the world and, in particular, the macho scene in hockey was celebrated across the spectrum. After he lost his life, Brian and his son, Patrick, honored Brendan's bravery by starting You Can Play, an initiative that not only encouraged gay individuals to participate in sports like hockey, but where they would find teammates who respected them and would support them regardless of sexual orientation.

Manny Malhotra and Fin the Orca of the Vancouver Canucks announced today that they will walk in the Vancouver 2012 Pride Parade on Sunday along with Patrick Burke and the Vancouver Cutting Edges, an all-gay men's hockey team. Not only do I applaud Malhotra for stepping forward in being an advocate for You Can Play, but I also applaud him for doing so as a member of the community.

"I am excited to be a part of it," Malhotra said in a conference call Wednesday afternoon. "I don’t feel race, religion, creed, age, sexual orientation should be the deciding factor on how you judge somebody. And especially in sports. Personally, sports for me is designed to be all-inclusive, to incorporate people, to form unity, to form a team. I don’t think any of those factors should segregate people from being a part of it."

Malhotra actually becomes the third player to walk in a pride parade this season after San Jose's Tommy Wingels and Vincent LoVerde of the ECHL's Ontario Reign both walked in the Chicago parade on June 24. Patrick Burke, a scout for the Flyers, also participated in last month's Toronto parade, and this will be the second parade for him this season.

"Having a well-respected warrior in Manny stand up along with Henrik, Daniel, Ryan, and dozens of other NHLers around the League gives hope to young LGBT hockey players everywhere," Burke said to The Canadian Press.

I, for one, would encourage any and all Canuck fans to head out on Sunday and walk with Malhotra, Fin, and Burke to show solidarity for the You Can Play cause. Honestly, does it really matter if someone is gay any longer? Aren't we past these walls yet in this day and age? If you're in Vancouver, put on your best walking shoes, and get out there and be a Canucks fan without prejudice.

And if Boston ever holds a pride parade, perhaps one of the Bruins could invite Tim Thomas to walk to show him that he's no different or better than anyone else when it comes to walking. In fact, I'll bet a lot of people would change their tune about Thomas if he showed up to walk and offered an honest apology. It's the little things that could make the biggest difference.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't hold my breath that Thomas would even consider going. His stance has been pretty clearly laid out. However, as long as players like Manny Malhotra, Tommy Wingels, Vincent LoVerde, Dustin Brown, Alec Martinez, Dustin Byfuglien, Tanner Glass, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler, and many others continue to knock down the walls for all athletes regardless of sexual orientation, players like Tim Thomas will become the minority.

And that's good for everyone.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!