Growing up in Canada, most kids from Canada dream of playing in the NHL, and they also hope one day to be on a Stanley Cup team. That was a big goal.
I grew up trying to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, not Team Canada. Didn't even know it existed.
I'm in the NHL and I'll take whatever reputation I can to get here and to stay here.
Look at my nine-year career: I've always been close to a point a minute. I've always been a walking bucket.
I hope one day I will be able to play in a game in the NHL, not just practice.
I was always a decent hockey player, but I'd have never made the NHL.
It's been a good hockey life for me anyway.
I remember starting hockey at age 7 and going to my first tryout and dreaming about how great it would be, and it's been even better. These 20 years in the NHL, it's been better.
I dreamed of being an NHLer the first day I played. Sometimes the other kids would say there are not many black players in the N.H.L. So I really followed as many black players as I could.
None of the boys from my town made it in the N.H.L.
