Sharks Hockey Jersey

Mike Grier, First American Born Black NHL Player

It is well known that Willie O'Ree of 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 in 1981, it wasn't until Mike Grier played for Edmonton, Washington and San Jose from 1996 through today that an African American player was able to have a meaningful career in the NHL.

Grier came from a football family. His father, Bobby Grier is a former NFL running back coach and current Associate Director of Pro Scouting for the Houston Texans. His brother Chris scouts for the Miami Dolphins and his uncle is Rosie Grier, a star defensive tackle for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams in the 1950s and 1960s.

Mike Grier was born in Detroit, but it was a move to Boston at age three that he told Puck Prospectus set his hockey career in motion.

"My family was right in the inner city there (Detroit), so I don't know if I would have been playing hockey. I might have been playing basketball or football, or trying to do something like that," Mike Grier said. "I don't know if I ever would have gotten into hockey. Hockey was something when we moved into Boston - my older brother, Chris, and his friends started playing, so I kind of tagged along to the rink. And when we visited my cousins in Detroit, none of them played hockey, or had any interest in it at all, so I would probably be doing something else for a living. I'm glad that isn't the case."

Mike Grier is a third-line forward for the San Jose Sharks, the team with the best regular season record in the NHL this year. On a team with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, Grier isn't expected to score (he had just 10 goals and 13 assists last season), but he is an important cog in the Sharks' penalty kill.

"On the ice, I'm more of a defensive player, a third line guy who plays physical," he said. "I'm responsible defensively and provide some leadership for the team. Maybe I'll chip in some goals every now and then."

"There's charisma in Mike Grier's character," former Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Guys feed off of the intensity he brings." The charisma, leadership and intensity that Grier brings to 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 in his hockey career. While skating for the Oilers against the Washington Capitols in 1997, Grier allegedly made derogatory comments about Native American Chris Simon's Ojibwa heritage, and Simon allegedly responded with a racial slur directed at Grier. Although the spoken words were never confirmed, Simon was suspended three games as a result of the incident.

Despite that incident, Mike Grier sees a brightening future for African Americans interested in pursuing hockey careers. "The game has changed a lot since I started. There are more African American kids, and more minorities, playing hockey at all levels now than there were before. I don't know if it is just the evolution of the culture in general, but it's nice to see," he told Puck Prospectus. "It's helped that we've had guys like Jerome Iginla (a Canadian of African descent) who has been the captain of Team Canada and had a lot of success, winning scoring titles and things like that.

"So, the more success that we have as a group, it just helps spread the word that if you're a young African American kid and you want to play hockey, you can play. I guess it's all just part of the way life is going."

Besides the Oilers and the Sharks, Mike Grier has spent time with the Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres. He just finished his third season in San Jose.

About the Author

Paul Hirsch is a writer for
; Regal Black Mens Magazine
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Edmonton Oilers : Ixs

The Edmonton Oilers is a a professional ice hockey team located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They enjoy playing in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Oilers efficiently supervised the 2006-07 NHL (http://events.ixs.net/NHL.aspx) season as the defending Western Conference Champions.

Alberta Oilers was the founding Member who united the World Hockey Association in 1972 and Bill Hunter was the real Owner of the Team. Hunter was also the Owner of Edmonton Oil Kings. He endeavoured in getting professional Hockey to Edmonton but all his efforts ended in smoke after the rejection by NHL.

Edmonton Oilers was named Albera Oilers in the beginning. The reason of this naming was their plan to split their home games between Edmonton and Calgary after the Calgary Broncos folded. However, For diverse reasons, most probably financial or maybe the possibility of letting easier expansion of either the NHL or WHA to Calgary, Edmonton Oilers played all of its games in Edmonton, thus changed their name to imitate this the following year.

The Team could not produce the high performances in their early games. Even though, the team players starting getting popularity and were much welcomed by their fans. Amongst the early star players were defenseman and team captain Al Hamilton, star goaltender Dave Dryden, and forwards Blair McDonald and Bill Flett. There was a great improvement observed in 1978, when the new owner Peter Pocklington decided and carried out one of the greatest trades in hockey history, getting an already-aspiring superstar Wayne Gretzky plus goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll, from the Indianapolis Racers for a token sum. Gretzky's first and only WHA season, 1978-79, saw the Oilers accelerated to the top of the WHA standings, stamping a league-best 48-30-2 record. It is important to mention here that that Edmonton's regular season victory did not interpret into a championship, as they fell to the rival Winnipeg Jets in the Avco World Trophy Final. Young Oilers enforcer Dave Semenko gained the last goal in WHA history late in the third period of the final game.

The team moved on its progress and it joined the NHL for the 1979-80 seasons along with fellow WHA teams Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and the Jets. Out of all these four teams, Edmonton continued with its name and location whereas the Nordiques changed their name to the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, the Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996, and the Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997.

The Edmonton Oilers enjoyed the peak of their performances as a mighty team when the great players like Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson, Grant Fuhr, and Kevin Lowe were the part of the team. This team is believed to be the strongest team in the hockey history and they successfully showed their domination of the NHL towards the mid-to-late 1980s. In the light of the great strength and the unbeatable performances of the Oilers during this period, The Experts concluded the Oilers as one of the best Sports Team both in the history of NHL and in the history of other Sports. This statement is witnessed by a Sporting News poll recently in February 2006 when the 1987-88 Oilers were listed as one of the top-five teams from the last 120 years.

Regarding the Uniform of Edmonton Oilers, The design consisted on the conventional colors of blue and orange in 1972. Later on, the change in the design of the Uniform was observed. However, The Orange remained the dominant color and blue used for the trimming. In the season of 1972 season for at least first few games, the word 'ALBERTA' was written on the uniform instead of player names. When it was evident that the team would play exclusively in Edmonton, the player names replaced the word "ALBERTA" Whereas the jerseys featured the player numbers high on the shoulders instead of on the upper sleeve.

In 1975-1976 , the change in the jersey's design was also observed. The bluer base was replaced with orange trim with some minor differences. The logo that presented on programs and promotional material continued to be the same; but the logo that featured on the home jersey had a white oil drop, on a dark orange field, along with the team name written in deep blue. The jersey design which had the orange printed logo led to the misconception of attributing it to the entire history of the WHA Oilers. In almost all other sides, the jerseys were similar to the dynasty-era form that it is known throughout the hockey world.

The most popular look of Jersey was seen in 1979 when Edmonton Oilers rushed to the NHL. In the new Look of Jersey,the substitute logos were removed. The basic design stayed untouched till 1996, when the blue and orange were replaced by midnight blue and copper. Besides this other changes done to the jersey at that time were the deletion of the orange shoulder bar and cuffs from the away jersey, plus the addition of the "rigger" alternate logo to the end of the shoulder bar on the home jersey, and also the equivalent position on the road jersey. After a year, the shoulder bars were discarded from the home jersey too, making the Oilers' sweater a modern look.

There was a controversy over the introduction of the third jersey containing a logo designed by Spawn creator and Oilers co-owner, Todd McFarlane. This move created negative reactions to other teams' designs in 2001. Both the "rigger" logo and McFarlane's "Blades" logo were always seen with contempt because it seemed to meant to symbolize elements of the Oilers' past, whereas the navy, silver, and white design is usually considered a success, there are no inclinations for it to become the basis for the team's primary jerseys, as it has been done formally by the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks.

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About the Author

Heidi Grumm hosts http://events.ixs.net and expresses her passion for events through writing and discussion. She works for Less Corporation at http://www.hrlady.com Copyright Heidi Grumm