It is usually reputable that Willie O'Ree with the 1958 Boston Bruins was the first National Hockey League player of African descent. But, except for seven games that Val James played for Buffalo almost 30 years ago, it wasn't until Mike Grier played for Edmonton, Washington and San Jose from 1996 through today make fish an Dark colored player could have a very good meaningful career with the NHL. Grier came from a football family. His father, Bobby Grier is usually a former NFL running back coach and current Associate Director of Pro Scouting to your Houston Texans. His brother Chris scouts for those Miami Dolphins and the uncle is Rosie Grier, a star defensive tackle for the Gambling and Idaho Rams around the 1950s and 1960s. Mike Grier appeared in Detroit, nevertheless it is a turn to Boston at three he told Puck Prospectus set his hockey career in motion. "My family was in the actual inner city there (Detroit), well, i do not know merely could have been playing hockey. I'd happen to be playing basketball or football, or attempting to take steps such as that," Mike Grier said. "I are not aware of a lot more ever might gotten into hockey. Hockey was something whenever we moved into Boston - my older brother, Chris, and his friends started playing, outside form of tagged along for the rink. And once we visited my cousins in Detroit, none of them played hockey, or had any interest in it in the slightest degree, so I may possibly be doing something diffrent as a living. I'm glad that's not the outcome."
Mike Grier is mostly a third-line forward for any San Jose Sharks, they in the best regular season record during the NHL this year. Over a team with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, Grier isn't anticipated to score (he had just 10 goals and 13 assists last season), but he can be a significant cog inside Sharks' penalty kill. "On the ice, I'm the rest of a defensive player, a 3rd line guy who plays physical," he explained. "I'm responsible defensively and present some leadership for the team. Maybe I'll chip utilizing some goals regularly." "There's charisma in Mike Grier's character," former Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren told the San fran Chronicle. "Guys feed off the intensity he brings." The charisma, leadership and intensity that Grier gives the Sharks are reflected in the "A" he wears on his jersey as one of San Jose's alternate captains. Grier has had one well publicized race-related incident with his hockey career. While skating with the Oilers around the Washington Capitols in 1997, Grier allegedly made derogatory comments about Native American Chris Simon's Ojibwa heritage, and Simon allegedly responded that has a racial slur inclined to Grier. Even so the spoken words were never confirmed, Simon was suspended three games thanks to the incident. Despite that incident, Mike Grier sees a brightening future for African Americans keen on pursuing hockey careers. "The game has changed significantly since I started. Increasingly more African American kids, and even more minorities, playing hockey at all levels now than there had been before. I am not sure when it is precisely the evolution with the culture overall, however it's nice to check out," he told Puck Prospectus. "It's helped that we've had guys like Jerome Iginla (a Canadian of African descent) who's got been the captain of Team Canada together with many success, winning scoring titles and such thinggs as that. "So, greater success that any of us have as being a group, it really helps spread the word that in case you are young Dark-colored kid and also you just want to play hockey, you possibly can play. I'm guessing to make sure just perhaps the way our life is going." Besides the Oilers and the Sharks, Mike Grier has stayed while using the Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres. He just finished his third season in San Jose.
