Leafs Links
Wheeler’s Final Top 60 Prospects for the 2015 NHL Draft by League | McKeen's
Kyle Dubas speaks following Marlies playoffs | PPP
James van Riemsdyk's Power Play Penne | PPP
Patience, Perseverance, Percy | Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs Have Had A Unique Drafting Skill | The Hockey Writers
An Open Letter to the Toronto Maple Leafs | The Huffington Post
Wings coach Babcock takes in Marlies-Griffins series finale | Toronto Sun
Making sense of all the team movement in minor league hockey this 2015 offseason | Travis Hughes, BSH
Game recap: Japer's Rink / Blueshirt Banter
A Few Famous Hispanic Players
Scott Gomez
Two-time NHL All-Star and member of 2006 U.S. Olympic Team. Two-time Stanley Cup winner with the New Jersey Devils.
Re-signed by the NJ Devils this past season.
Wrote an article about his goal drought for the Player's Tribune:
Growing up in Alaska, my mom was a hairdresser and my dad was a construction worker. My parents came from a poor upbringing, but I didn’t grow up poor. They always provided me with everything I needed. I promised my Mom when I was 8 years old that I would buy her a house one day. That was certainly one of the motivating factors in wanting to make it to the NHL, but it wasn’t the only one. During my childhood, I wasn’t surrounded by money, so it was never really glamorized.More about his writing process for that article here.
Raffi Torres
Is A Latino That Shines in the National Hockey League.
The NHL’s Latino viewership make up about 10 percent of its total audience.
Torres’ heritage has come in handy with the Phoenix market. He told Fox News Latino that he’s done some local media that is specific to the Latino community — but when it comes to the NHL, he said, there hasn’t been much Latino outreach.
"I’m always willing to do stuff for the community," Torres said. "I let them know that, but I’m just going to go about my business."
The NHL said it has worked closely with Torres to make hockey a sport for everyone.
Works with the Hockey is for Everyone NHL outreach program.
Notably showed up in a Daily Show skit in 2007 that lampooned Canadian fear of Mexicans.
Alec Martinez
His name is on the Stanley Cup with the LA Kings.
Scored two goals on one play back in April.
Has a "Jazz Hands" bobblehead commemorating his team's Stanley Cup victory.
Signed a six-year contract extension with the LA Kings at the beginning of the season.
Al Montoya
Nicknamed "The Big Cubano," he is currently backing up Roberto Luongo with the Florida Panthers.
The hope from the Panthers' brain trust is not only that Montoya — who's coming off the best statistical season of his five-year NHL career — will provide better insurance in the net than Dan Ellis behind the 35-year-old Luongo, but also that his arrival will help attract some of the approximately 850,000 Cuban-Americans in the area to the BB&T Center.
"This is a very cool experience, not only on a hockey level, but a bigger level than that," Montoya said via phone from Chicago. "[The Cubans] should come out to see a hockey game. It's an unbelievable sport, and we're a team that's going to give its all. Once you taste a piece of it, you'll keep coming back."
Was part of the the infamous dual-goalie-injury game of March vs. the Leafs, where the goalie coach had to dress to play.
Most recently won the last game of the Panthers' season against the Devils.
Bill Guerin
(From Wikipedia:) Guerin played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), winning two Stanley Cup championships with the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins. Guerin was the first player of Hispanic descent to play in the NHL.
After spending 18 seasons playing hockey, Guerin retired in 2010 and became an assistant GM with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He had a crazy career and was renown as an agitator, but also won the Stanley Cup playing on Sidney Crosby's line.
