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Hockey players lace up for a shot at Team Jamaica
Talent identification camp this weekend in Toronto is the first step to the Olympics for a country with no rinks.
Jamaica is planning its own miracle on ice.
While the island of sun-splashed beaches has as many hockey rinks as it does bobsled runs — exactly none — the goal is for Team Jamaica to compete with the world’s hockey powers at a Winter Games in the next eight to 20 years.
“If we can pull this off, you’re looking at an inspiring story and the idea that anything is accomplishable if you put your mind to it,” says head coach Graeme Townshend, 48, the first Jamaican-born player in the NHL.
“If Jamaica can get a team in the world championships or the Olympics, that’s like a miracle. It’s something that’s so outlandish that I think it actually might work.”
And the first step, at least when it comes to assembling the players, will take place at an arena here in Toronto on Saturday and Sunday.
Townshend, a former skating coach with the Maple Leafs, will be putting prospects through their paces at a talent identification camp at Westwood Arena. At least 30 players, from as far away as Sweden, Alberta and Virginia, are expected at the tryouts.
The criterion for players, at this point, has been broadened to include anyone who can trace his heritage to the Caribbean. Townshend said the immediate goal is to put together a team that will tour next summer, playing exhibition games, to both increase awareness of Jamaica’s plan to enter the Olympics and to shake out sponsorship money to help fund the program. The eventual Olympic team must be composed of Jamaican citizens.
David Southwells, who made the trek from southern Sweden where he attends a school that specializes in hockey, said the formation of a Jamaican team is a great opportunity for the country and himself.
“It’s good for the whole hockey world as well,” said the 17-year-old who has a Jamaican mother. “If a team like Jamaica can make it to the Olympics then it really shows how diverse the hockey world is.”
Jamaica became the first Caribbean nation to join the International Ice Hockey Federation when it was granted associate member status in 2012. To get full status, and be eligible to play in the Olympics, a country must have a rink and a development program in place. Jamaica has neither.
Next month Townshend, who runs hockey camps in the Northeast U.S., will be part of a delegation travelling to Jamaica to look at facilities that can be converted to an arena. The technology exists, he notes, to use a rollout ice pad so a playing surface can be installed without an ice plant.
Townshend, who is volunteering his time, says once a rink is in place, the plan is to introduce minor hockey to the island. In the meantime, the Jamaican Olympic Ice Hockey Federation (JOIHF) plans street- and roller-hockey-programs.
In order to qualify for the Olympics, Jamaica would also have to work its way up the world rankings, so the coach said it is “unrealistic” to think the team could be ready for the 2018 Games.
Eventually, projects Townshend, that team will consist mostly of expatriates in European pro leagues, major junior and Division 1 colleges with a few NHL stars, if available, sprinkled in. He draws comparisons to countries such as Latvia and Slovenia, which are competitive on the world stage despite having few big-name players.
Jamaica’s most famous frolic at the Winter Olympics came at the Calgary Games in 1988 when its bobsled team captured hearts and headlines with its infectious enthusiasm, despite being out of its element and overmatched. The determined Jamaican sled team, inspiration for the movie Cool Runnings, returned for several subsequent Olympics.
While it makes for an obviously similar achieving-the-impossible storyline that JOIHF uses in promotional material, the country’s connection to hockey is not as far-fetched as it was to sliding.
There are several excellent players in the NHL of Jamaican heritage, including Montreal’s P.K. Subban, Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds, Anaheim’s Devante Smith-Pelly and Chris Stewart of Buffalo. Since all of those players have suited up for Canada, it severely restricts their ability to play for another country, but Townshend said there are many other Jamaicans scattered through the European pro leagues and the minors.
“It’s not like they have to be trained to slide down a hill from scratch,” said Townshend. “Our guys will already be well-trained, seasoned professionals.”
Toronto native Stewart said he believes Jamaica could put together a competitive team immediately and that potential will only grow if the game gets more exposure on the island where his father was born.
“It’s obviously not going to come natural. The concept is a little different, being from Jamaica and playing ice hockey,” he said. “But I know everybody from my family that is Jamaican and who has been over here in Canada, once they see the game live, they fall in love with it.”
Townshend says there may be great players of Jamaican heritage who never get a chance to play for their country of birth and may seek citizenship to join his team.
So does that mean, one day, we may see a scenario where P.K. Subban plays for Canada against his brother Jordan or Malcolm on Team Jamaica?
“I’m born in Canada and my dream is to play for Canada and Canada only,” says Jordan, a Vancouver Canucks prospect. “But my parents are from Jamaica and that opportunity would certainly be interesting. It would be pretty cool if one day we actually saw a Jamaican team playing in the Olympics.”
Townshend, who moved to Toronto when he was 3, remembers that when he played for the Boston Bruins in the early ’90s, he used to joke that the only way he’d ever get into the Olympics is if Jamaica got a team.
“So when (JOIHF) approached me with this three years ago, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this. This is actually possible,’ ” he said. “It was no longer just a joke.”
Talent identification camp this weekend in Toronto is the first step to the Olympics for a country with no rinks.
Jamaica is planning its own miracle on ice.
While the island of sun-splashed beaches has as many hockey rinks as it does bobsled runs — exactly none — the goal is for Team Jamaica to compete with the world’s hockey powers at a Winter Games in the next eight to 20 years.
“If we can pull this off, you’re looking at an inspiring story and the idea that anything is accomplishable if you put your mind to it,” says head coach Graeme Townshend, 48, the first Jamaican-born player in the NHL.
“If Jamaica can get a team in the world championships or the Olympics, that’s like a miracle. It’s something that’s so outlandish that I think it actually might work.”
And the first step, at least when it comes to assembling the players, will take place at an arena here in Toronto on Saturday and Sunday.
Townshend, a former skating coach with the Maple Leafs, will be putting prospects through their paces at a talent identification camp at Westwood Arena. At least 30 players, from as far away as Sweden, Alberta and Virginia, are expected at the tryouts.
The criterion for players, at this point, has been broadened to include anyone who can trace his heritage to the Caribbean. Townshend said the immediate goal is to put together a team that will tour next summer, playing exhibition games, to both increase awareness of Jamaica’s plan to enter the Olympics and to shake out sponsorship money to help fund the program. The eventual Olympic team must be composed of Jamaican citizens.
David Southwells, who made the trek from southern Sweden where he attends a school that specializes in hockey, said the formation of a Jamaican team is a great opportunity for the country and himself.
“It’s good for the whole hockey world as well,” said the 17-year-old who has a Jamaican mother. “If a team like Jamaica can make it to the Olympics then it really shows how diverse the hockey world is.”
Jamaica became the first Caribbean nation to join the International Ice Hockey Federation when it was granted associate member status in 2012. To get full status, and be eligible to play in the Olympics, a country must have a rink and a development program in place. Jamaica has neither.
Next month Townshend, who runs hockey camps in the Northeast U.S., will be part of a delegation travelling to Jamaica to look at facilities that can be converted to an arena. The technology exists, he notes, to use a rollout ice pad so a playing surface can be installed without an ice plant.
Townshend, who is volunteering his time, says once a rink is in place, the plan is to introduce minor hockey to the island. In the meantime, the Jamaican Olympic Ice Hockey Federation (JOIHF) plans street- and roller-hockey-programs.
In order to qualify for the Olympics, Jamaica would also have to work its way up the world rankings, so the coach said it is “unrealistic” to think the team could be ready for the 2018 Games.
Eventually, projects Townshend, that team will consist mostly of expatriates in European pro leagues, major junior and Division 1 colleges with a few NHL stars, if available, sprinkled in. He draws comparisons to countries such as Latvia and Slovenia, which are competitive on the world stage despite having few big-name players.
Jamaica’s most famous frolic at the Winter Olympics came at the Calgary Games in 1988 when its bobsled team captured hearts and headlines with its infectious enthusiasm, despite being out of its element and overmatched. The determined Jamaican sled team, inspiration for the movie Cool Runnings, returned for several subsequent Olympics.
While it makes for an obviously similar achieving-the-impossible storyline that JOIHF uses in promotional material, the country’s connection to hockey is not as far-fetched as it was to sliding.
There are several excellent players in the NHL of Jamaican heritage, including Montreal’s P.K. Subban, Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds, Anaheim’s Devante Smith-Pelly and Chris Stewart of Buffalo. Since all of those players have suited up for Canada, it severely restricts their ability to play for another country, but Townshend said there are many other Jamaicans scattered through the European pro leagues and the minors.
“It’s not like they have to be trained to slide down a hill from scratch,” said Townshend. “Our guys will already be well-trained, seasoned professionals.”
Toronto native Stewart said he believes Jamaica could put together a competitive team immediately and that potential will only grow if the game gets more exposure on the island where his father was born.
“It’s obviously not going to come natural. The concept is a little different, being from Jamaica and playing ice hockey,” he said. “But I know everybody from my family that is Jamaican and who has been over here in Canada, once they see the game live, they fall in love with it.”
Townshend says there may be great players of Jamaican heritage who never get a chance to play for their country of birth and may seek citizenship to join his team.
So does that mean, one day, we may see a scenario where P.K. Subban plays for Canada against his brother Jordan or Malcolm on Team Jamaica?
“I’m born in Canada and my dream is to play for Canada and Canada only,” says Jordan, a Vancouver Canucks prospect. “But my parents are from Jamaica and that opportunity would certainly be interesting. It would be pretty cool if one day we actually saw a Jamaican team playing in the Olympics.”
Townshend, who moved to Toronto when he was 3, remembers that when he played for the Boston Bruins in the early ’90s, he used to joke that the only way he’d ever get into the Olympics is if Jamaica got a team.
“So when (JOIHF) approached me with this three years ago, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this. This is actually possible,’ ” he said. “It was no longer just a joke.”
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