Sports

The Kraken aims to reflect Seattle’s multicultural community

Published

4 years ago

February 20, 2021

The 2021 NHL expansion team Seattle Kraken employees, left to right: Kyle Boyd, Kendall Boyd-Tyson, Everett Fitzhugh, Zack Peggins and De’Aira Anderson – at the Kraken preview centre in Seattle, Feb. 18, 2021.

Jane Gershovich/The Globe and Mail

Everett Fitzhugh grew up in Detroit. Unlike other kids in his neighbourhood, he fell in love with hockey at a young age. “When I wheeled my net out, [other kids] looked at me like I had two heads,” he says.

Kyle Boyd’s father was the first Black team physician in the NHL. Kyle grew up wearing No. 12 – the same as Jarome Iginla. “The thing that stands out for me is that, as a player of colour, there were not many heroes to look up to,” he says.

When she was a senior in high school in Pennsylvania, De’Aira Anderson told a guidance counsellor that her dream was to work in communications for a pro hockey team. “We joke that I kind of manifested my job,” Anderson says.

All three have converged as co-workers with the Seattle Kraken – and it is not by accident. The NHL’s newest team has gone out of the way to fill its staff with employees who reflect the multicultural makeup of its community. In doing so, it stands out as the most diverse franchise in the league.

“We are building a little different organization, and it has led to a better culture, self-esteem and pride,” says Tod Leiweke, the club’s part-owner, president and chief executive officer. “This is about doing the right thing, and doing the right thing for the game we love. We are better for it, no question.”

When the Kraken begins play next season, Fitzhugh will be the NHL’s first Black full-time play-by-play announcer. Boyd was hired as youth and community development director, and his sister, Kendall Boyd-Tyson, was brought in as vice-president of strategy and analytics. Anderson is corporate communications manager and the lone Black woman serving in that capacity in the league.

Along with them, the Kraken hired Hewan Teshome as senior vice-president and general counsel, former state representative Eric Pettigrew as vice-president of government relations and outreach, Princess Lawrence as manager of investor relations and special projects, Zack Peggins as a social-media specialist, Lamont Buford as vice-president of game presentation and Flora Taylor to manage the executive office. All are Black.

“I don’t see it as an issue to beat our chest on, but I am proud of it and emotional about it,” Leiweke said. “I love the game so much, and I don’t think of diversity as a challenge.

“This is an incredible privilege, and with every privilege comes obligation, and with obligation comes doing things right. You might have to look a little harder, but candidates are out there.”

De’Aira Anderson, corporate communications manager for the Seattle Kraken, is the lone Black woman serving in that capacity in the National Hockey League.

Jane Gershovich/The Globe and Mail

Anderson was chosen for her position from a field of 550 applicants. “De’Aira’s hiring was interesting to me,” says Katie Townsend, the Kraken’s senior vice-president of marketing and communications. “There were a lot of people I knew and a lot who were recommended to me that I thought would be good at it.”

From the interview process on, she was everyone’s favourite.

Fitzhugh says he was in third grade in the late 1990s when he watched a game between the Edmonton Oilers and Detroit Red Wings on television. He remembers that Georges Laraque, Mike Grier and Sean Brown were all playing for the Oilers at the time. All are Black.

“Hockey was dominated by white men,” Fitzhugh says. “When I saw that, I knew I could have a place in the game. I knew I belonged.”

Fitzhugh attended Bowling Green University and did play-by-play for its men’s hockey team. He also worked for one season in the USHL, and for the Cincinnati Cyclones, the Buffalo Sabres’ affiliate in the ECHL.

After a story about him appeared in The Athletic, he was contacted by the Kraken, which was searching for the voice of its team.

“I never expected to hear from someone in the NHL,” Fitzhugh says. “I thought some of my Cyclone friends were playing a joke on me.”

They weren’t.

“It’s an honour and a dream to work for an NHL organization when you see the strides that have been made,” Fitzhugh says. “When I was hired, it was the best day of my life.”

Boyd was skating at a rink in the Seattle suburbs the year before last when he nearly bumped into Leiweke, who was also out for a public skate.

“He was flying around the rink and I made a point to catch up to him,” Leiweke says.

Leiweke chatted him up, handed over a business card and invited him for a coffee at – of course – a Starbucks.

“It’s not me you want to hire,” Boyd said then. “It’s my sister.”

A couple of weeks later, all three met for coffee and Leiweke was impressed.

“My immediate reaction was, ‘Wow!’” he says.

Kendall has a master’s degree from the Yale School of Management and a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech. Her brother has a bachelor’s degree in history from Dartmouth and a master’s in education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Their dad, Joel Boyd, is the physician for the NHL’s Wild. In 1998, he became the first Black physician for the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team at the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. That was the first year NHL players participated.

When the Seattle Kraken begin play next season, Everett Fitzhugh will be the NHL’s first Black full-time play-by-play announcer

Jane Gershovich/Jane Gershovich/The Globe and Mail

Kendall played one year of organized hockey as she grew up, and was the captain of a club team at Yale. Kyle played minor hockey in his youth and also played for a club team at Dartmouth.

“I was genuinely aware at a young age that it was rare to find people like me in this game,” he says. “I would look at the other major sports and yearn for that same culture. Usually, I was the only Black player on the team.

“The reality is that for those that do play, it won’t be in a critical mass. When that is the case, you feel different from everyone else.”

To reach the most diverse group of people possible, Kyle says the Kraken is building its practice facility in the densest part of Seattle in an area where there are no other rinks.

“It wouldn’t be of benefit to have a building with three sheets of ice in the suburbs,” he says. “It is important that we go to places where we can interface with the community, with neighbourhoods, schools and Boys and Girls Clubs.

“We want to get balls and sticks out to those groups and then think about the pathways for them to get to our facilities. We are in an exciting and amazing space to grow our own programs.”

Leiweke has a long history in pro sports. He is the former CEO of the Seattle Seahawks, was the president of the expansion Minnesota Wild, served as the acting president of the Portland Trail Blazers, was the CEO and minority owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the chief operating officer of the NFL. His older brother Tim used to run Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

“Seattle is a little different from other places,” he says. “You go back 100 years and it was kind of the last stop on the road. People here are definitely pioneers at heart.

“I understand the fans’ sensibility and the social conscience here.”

Source: – The Globe and Mail

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

Published

12 hours ago

October 18, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

Published

22 hours ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

Published

22 hours ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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