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NHL, NHLPA launch Player Inclusion Coalition

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NASHVILLE — The National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players’ Association today announced, the launch of the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition, a group of current and former NHL Players and women’s professional hockey Players who work to advance equality and inclusion in the sport of hockey on and off the ice. As part of the launch, the NHLPA and NHL have earmarked more than $1 million USD to support the coalition’s programs through contributions to grassroots organizations, Player-perspective storytelling, and other special projects.

The NHL Player Inclusion Coalition is co-chaired by NHL Alumni Anson Carter and P.K. Subban and now has 20 members with a range of perspectives across Players of color, LGBTQ+ Players, and allies. The group was first formed in 2020 as the NHL Player Inclusion Committee, where members met regularly to inform and develop recommendations to the NHL’s Executive Inclusion Council on how to improve experiences for diverse Players in elite hockey.

Ongoing work together has sparked the group’s evolution to a coalition, representing its transformation from a recommendations-based body to a group now focused on action. Coalition members have led and contributed to initiatives that accelerate social change through and within hockey. These initiatives include conducting inclusion experiences and educational sessions for NHL on-ice officials, NHL rookies and minor professional hockey; bringing voice to diversity and inclusion issues impacting hockey on personal platforms and networks; and leading and supporting hockey events to connect with and inspire underrepresented youth. A new website, NHL.com/Player-Inclusion-Coalition, is now live with more information about the group’s members and efforts to date.

“Every member of the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition shares a passion to bring diversity and inclusion to the forefront of the hockey community. It has been incredible to work together to amplify the role of Players as advisors, ambassadors, and catalysts for real change, which benefits underrepresented groups in the game,” said Anson Carter, who played in 674 NHL games. “As we enter the coalition’s next phase, we are excited to grow our impact by sharing more of our work with fans to invite everyone who loves hockey to join the movement with us.”

As part of the $1 million commitment, through support from the NHL/NHLPA Industry Growth Fund, a $750,000 NHL Player Inclusion Coalition Action Fund has been established to further the group’s mission by directing resources toward grassroots programs that welcome and celebrate diverse hockey audiences.

“The Industry Growth Fund is committed to building the future of hockey by engaging a new generation of diverse hockey participants and fans,” said Rob Knesaurek, NHL Senior Vice President, Youth Development and Industry Growth. “We are proud to support the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition as they collaborate with local community leaders who champion diversity, equity, and inclusion in everyday hockey programming.”

“Current Players, NHL alumni, and women’s professional hockey Players in the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition are strengthening the game through new activations focused on inclusive outcomes,” said Chris Campoli, NHLPA Divisional Player Representative and former NHL Player who played in 440 NHL games. “The NHLPA looks forward to working with the coalition to facilitate continued progress and growth throughout hockey.”

Coalition members will celebrate today’s announcement with an on-ice clinic and panel for the Nashville Predators Creating Opportunities for Racial Equality (CORE) program, which introduces the game of hockey to new players ages 4 to 9 at no cost. The CORE program will receive a $10,000 USD grant from the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition Action Fund.

Additionally, throughout the 2022-23 season, each coalition member selected an organization that supports diversity and inclusion in hockey to receive a $5,000 USD grant from the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition Action Fund. An alphabetical list of current members and their grant selections is included below:

•   Cam Atkinson: Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education, a non-profit that uses the sport of hockey to educate and empower underresourced youth of Philadelphia to prosper in the game of life.
•   Ethan Bear: Little Native Hockey League, an annual hockey tournament that brings together First Nation youth in Ontario for community-building and empowerment.
•   J.T. Brown: Seattle Pride Hockey Association, an organization committed to promoting and advocating for diversity and inclusiveness in the Pacific Northwest ice hockey community, with specific attention to LGBTQ+ inclusivity.
•   Blake Bolden: The Empowerment Effect, a mentorship program supporting young females in ice hockey, ages 7-16, from underserved communities in the Los Angeles area.
•   Madison Bowey: Detroit Ice Dreams Hockey Association, a youth hockey organization that minimizes the barriers that prevent underrepresented communities from access to ice hockey.
•   Anson Carter: The Atlanta Jr. Thrashers, a program that offers girls in the South opportunities to play hockey and develop into strong female leaders; and the Atlanta Sparks, a program that provides a fun and safe environment for athletes with special needs to play hockey.
•   Julie Chu: Caroline Ouellette Girls Hockey Celebration, an organization that aims to promote and develop female hockey via an all-girls hockey tournament with fun and competitive games.
•   Meghan Duggan: Hockey in New Jersey, an organization that inspires diverse youth to develop life skills, succeed academically, and create positive relationships through the sport of hockey; and Madison Gay Hockey Association, an all-gender hockey league for the LGBTQIA community in Madison, Wisconsin.
•   Mark Fraser: Seaside Hockey, a program that provides assistance to visible minority youths in the Greater Toronto Area to help more diverse children play hockey and gain life skills.
•   Chris Kreider: Ice Hockey in Harlem, an organization that offers ice hockey and off-ice programming that exposes young people in Harlem to experiences that prepare them for their future.
•   Brigette Lacquette: Siksika SN7, a group of youth and young adults who provide hockey programming alongside peer-to-peer support for young people in Siksika Nation.
•   Georges Laraque: Hockey 4 Youth, an organization that provides new Canadian youth with an opportunity to play ice hockey at no cost. Laraque’s grant helped launch a new program for girls in grade 5-6 in the Saint-Laurent area of Montreal.
•   Jamal Mayers: North City Blues, a program for St. Louis students enrolled in KIPP schools and/or Friendly Temple that provides free instruction to learn ice hockey.
•   Al Montoya: The University of Texas at Arlington’s University Crossroads. Montoya’s grant will support a scholarship for students interested in a career in sports management, to inspire students from more backgrounds to consider careers in hockey.
•   Sarah Nurse: Seaside Hockey, a program that provides assistance to visible minority youths in the Greater Toronto Area to help more diverse children play hockey and gain life skills.
•   Ryan Reaves: Ice Hockey in Harlem, an organization that offers ice hockey and off-ice programming that exposes young people in Harlem to experiences that prepare them for their future.
•   Abby Roque: Clark Park Coalition Hockey, a program that offers recreational, educational, social, and mentoring programs for southwest Detroit families to help youth grow into responsible, self-confident adults.
•   Kevin Shattenkirk: Anaheim Family YMCA Youth Street Hockey League. Shattenkirk’s grant is being used to cover the registration fees for participants to help the program grow.
•   P.K. Subban: HEROS Hockey, an organization that uses the game of ice hockey to teach life-skills and empower marginalized youth by providing free hockey programming to youth across Canada.
•   Zach Whitecloud: Dakota Nation Winterfest Minor Hockey Tournament, an annual tournament that coincides with celebration of Indigenous culture. Whitecloud’s grant will be used to subsidize entry fees to reduce the cost for participating youth teams.

NHL Player Inclusion Coalition Resources

Website: www.NHL.com/Player-Inclusion-Coalition

NHL Player Inclusion Coalition Event Videos:
•    Shattenkirk hosts street hockey clinic in Anaheim with Carter and Montoya
•    Laraque hosts on-ice clinic for girl’s hockey program in Montreal
•    Montoya and Laraque join Hurricanes youth event in Raleigh

Member Reflection Videos:
•    P.K. Subban
•    Anson Carter
•    Al Montoya

Third period outburst sends Rangers over Dallas, 6-3

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In Dallas, the New York angers’ Zac Jones, Julien Gauthier, and Vincent Trocheck scored within a 2:7 on Saturday in the third period to break open a tight, 3-3, affair with the Stars.“Good road game. Two good points,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “There was some sloppy play in the second, back and forth wide-open. But I thought in the third we played really good, obviously got some great goals.”

Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves for the Rangers in the win.

Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson scored in the middle frame for the Stars as two clubs skated a 3-3 tie after 40 minutes of play.

“Our [defensive] zone kind of got away from us in the third,” Robertson said. “All our wins were tight, nothing really blew the game wide open. We’ve never dealt with that this season. We have a big leadership group, lot of people that have been in this situation. We’re all waiting to respond on Tuesday (against the Los Angeles Kings).”

Trocheck, who had a pair of strikes, and Mika Zibanejad hit off power lay goals in the second period.

Robertson had a second waved off in the early third period that would have put Dallas up, 4-3; the wave off was for offside on a coach’s challenge.

“I think he obviously left so there’s an injury there,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “The doctors are seeing him now, I’m sure there will be some tests. I’m sure we’ll have some updates tomorrow. It looked like he caught his skate foot on the post. … Fluky thing.”

The win helped erase some of the stick of the previous three games for the Rangers, including a 2-0 loss to the New York Islanders earlier in the week.

Mason Marchment staked Dallas to an early 1-0 lead in the first period.

Gauthier’s goal came 19 seconds after Jones’ game-winner. Sammy Balis tossed the puck out to a streaking Gauthier who split the Dallas defense and took the puck of the goalie’s stick went right, and writed home the goal as he was falling to the ice.

“Pretty sure I had him,” Gauthier said about beating Wedgewood to the puck on the play. “I was pretty much full speed and I was like, ‘This might be a tough timing for him.’ I had pretty good odds that it was going in.”

Chris Kreider responded with a tap-in off a pass from Kaapo Kakko for a 1-1 tie in the first.

For Jones, it was his first career NHL goal, it sneaked through a screen by Joe Pavelski and past the netminder for the game-winner.

“Once you get the first one out of the way, then the ball starts to roll,” Jones said. “To help the team get a win tonight, that was huge. Means more than the first goal for sure.”

New York was 2-for-5 on the power play.

Trocheck’s second goal was on a delayed penalty against the Stars.

“First (goal), on the power play, it was just a great seam pass from Mika,” Trocheck said. “[Panarin] wasn’t out there, so I just tried to find some open ice on the other side.”

The Stars were scoreless in four chances, including two late in the match.

“We didn’t do enough to dictate the game for sure, and you want to dictate here at home,” DeBoer said. “They should have to adjust to us, and I didn’t think that was the case.”

Jake Oettinger made eight saves before leaving the game early in the middle frame, he yielded two goals. His departure was due to an apparent lower body injury.

Scott Wedgewood made 13 saves on 17 shots he faced through the rest of the match.

“Next man up mentality,” Wedgewood said. “Obviously, he’s a big part of us. He’s proved it early, he’s been on an elite level. Just do what I can to help the team win and fill those shoes.”

Dubnyk retires from NHL after 12 seasons

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Devan Dubnyk announced his retirement from the NHL on Saturday after 12 seasons.

Mathew Barzal (13) opens the scoring in the championship game with a goal past goalie Devan Dubnyk

Mathew Barzal (13) opens the scoring in the championship game with a goal past goalie Devan Dubnyk – Photo by Jack Lima

The 36-year-old goalie, who last played in 2020-21 with the Colorado Avalanche, had 253 wins.

Selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round (No. 14) of the 2004 NHL Draft, Dubnyk was 253-206-54 with a 2.61 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and 33 shutouts in 542 games (514) starts with the Oilers, Nashville Predators, Arizona Coyotes, Minnesota Wild, San Jose sharks and Colorado Avalanche. He was 8-18 in 26 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Dubnyk had his most success during his six seasons with the Wild from 2015-20 when he won at least 31 games four times, including an NHL career-high 40 in 2016-17. His 177 wins and 23 shutouts rank second in Wild history to Nicklas Backstrom (194 wins, 28 shutouts).

Dubnyk was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy and won the Masterton Trophy for perseverance in 2014-15 after he was traded to the Wild on Jan. 15, 2015, and went 27-9-2 with a 1.78 GAA, .936 save percentage and five shutouts in 39 games (including a Wild record 38 straight starts) for them to help them qualify for the playoffs.

The previous season in 2013-14, Dubnyk had played for three teams, the Oilers, Predators and Hamilton of the American Hockey League.

Dubnyk is currently an analyst for NHL Network.

Bear, Pederson traded to Canucks by Hurricanes

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Ethan Bear and Lane Pederson were traded to the Vancouver Canucks by the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Carolina received a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Bear, a defenseman, has not played an NHL game this season. He had 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 58 games for Carolina last season and did not play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 25-year-old signed a one-year, $2.2 million contract with the Hurricanes on July 28 and can become a restricted free agent after the season.

“Obviously, we’ve watched him through the Western Hockey League starting in Seattle and had an early start in Edmonton and got traded to Carolina, and hopefully he’s excited to come back to Canada and be part of the Vancouver Canucks and hopefully this will give the coaching staff more options on the back end,” general manager Patrik Allvin said. “He’s a very smart defenseman and he showed early in his career in Edmonton that he is a really good puck mover and transition defenseman.”

Selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the fifth round (No. 124) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Bear has 47 points (13 goals, 34 assists) in 190 regular-season games for the Oilers and Hurricanes and no points in eight playoff games.

“Everything we can do to improve our team, I’m good [with it],” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I haven’t seen Ethan play in a long time, but I remember him in Edmonton as a very good puck-moving defenseman and very aggressive offensively, so we’re looking forward to having him here.”

Pederson, a forward, was acquired by Carolina on July 13 from the San Jose Sharks, along with defenseman Brent Burns. He has not played in the NHL this season and has no points in four games with Chicago of the American Hockey League.

The 25-year-old is in the final season of a two-year contract he signed with San Jose on July 28, 2021, and can become an RFA after the season.

Signed by the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 13, 2016, Pederson has five points (one goal, four assists) in 44 regular-season games with the Coyotes and Sharks.

Vancouver is currently without defensemen Quinn Hughes, who is week to week with a lower-body injury, Travis Dermott (upper-body injury), Tucker Poolman (undisclosed) and Riley Stillman (undisclosed). The Canucks have played 10 defensemen this season.

“We have been a little bit depleted here early on our back end,” Allvin said. “As we said all the way along, we wanted to add younger players. We got a right-shot defenseman that’s been playing in the League for a couple of years and been part of some playoffs and hopefully we could get him back on track here with our group.”

On Thursday, Vancouver acquired forward Jack Studnicka from the Boston Bruins for goalie Michael Dipietro and defenseman prospect Jonathan Myrenberg.

Studnicka, 23, has played one game with the Bruins this season. He has seven points (one goal, six assists) in 38 regular-season games since he was selected in the second round (No. 53) of the 2017 NHL Draft. Studnicka has no points in five postseason games.

The Canucks (2-5-2) won their second straight game Friday, 5-1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They got their first win of the season with a 5-4 victory against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Canucks win second straight, down Pens, 5-1

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In Vancouver, the Canucks won their second straight game, 5-1 over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.

Bo Horvat hit for a pair of goals in the win.

Spencer Martin made 34 saves in the Canucks win.

“[Tonight] was obviously one of our more complete games we’ve played all season, against a good hockey team that was well rested, and we were coming off a back to back,” Horvat said. “So, I’m proud of our guys. I’m proud of the way we came out and played tonight, despite the adversity.”

Rickard Rakell was the lone striker for the Pens.

“We just got to stop the bleeding, figure it out,” Rakell said. “Probably a good thing that we have a game tomorrow again. We’ve just got to go after it.”

Vancouver was winless in their first seven games of the season.

“It’s two games, but you could tell it was like the weight of the world was lifted off our shoulders, quite frankly,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Because every other third period has been like ‘Oh, what’s going to happen that’s negative?’ And I think once we got through the first three minutes, it was like, ‘OK, let’s go.’ And everybody just played and I thought it was really good.”

Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the first period off a strike from Tanner Pearson .

“Obviously there’s a lot more energy, obviously the smiles on our faces,” Horvat said of the feeling in the locker room. “But we’ve got to dig ourselves out of the hole here. Obviously, we put ourselves in this situation. Just because we won two games, you can’t be satisfied. We’ve got to keep going here.”

Horvat’s first goal came in the second period, off the power play, for a 2-0 lead. Rakell scored to make it 2-1.

“Confidence is an amazing thing,” Boudreau said, “And it looks like we’re gaining a little bit right now.”

Andrei Kuzmenko scored for Vancouver to give them a 3-1 lead.

“I think at some points, maybe some urgency, execution,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said when asked what’s missing. “We had some looks maybe to get back in the game, a few of them, and we didn’t, especially tonight. I don’t think it’s the same thing necessarily, but if anything’s been consistent, it’s been our starts that we’ve struggled with, so we’ve got to establish that.”

J.T. Miller added an empty-net goal on the power play for the 5-1 final.

Tristan Jarry made 24 saves in the Pittsburgh loss.

Coyotes drop first home game, 3-2, in OT

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In Tempe, the Arizona Coyotes took a 2-0 lead in their first home game on Friday night, and ended up losing to the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2, in extra time.

Christian Fischer hit for a pair of goals in the Mullett Arena debut for the Coyotes.

“It was a tough way to end it,” Fischer said. “I thought we deserved better and [Vejmelka] deserved better. There was great energy from the crowd, you could feel it and we fed off it. But we had some penalties … their top guys started getting their touches and they started feeling good.”

It was another lost 2-0 lead in the NHL this season.

“At some point, we were squeezing the stick and we stopped making plays,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “We were making plays at the beginning and then when we got the lead, we stopped making plays with the puck. We [made] a few turnovers and it put us on our heels.”

Blake Wheeler scored the game winner in the extra session off a breakaway with 32 seconds gone in the session.

“`Dubie’ made a great play at the blue line and they were caught with a few guys [back]. I just tried to catch him,” Wheeler said.

David Rittich made 19 saves in the Jets win.

“We again [got] down a couple of goals and just [kept] battling back and staying with it,” Jets associate coach Scott Arniel said. “We really took over that game in that second period and our whole bench felt good that we were going to pull that one off.”

Mark Scheifele and Cole Perfetti scored for the Jets to rally them back and force extra time.

“We stuck with it,” Wheeler said. “We played last night in L.A. and we knew those first periods [of a back to back] are always tough. `Ritter’ made some big saves back there for us to keep us in it, and if those games on a back to back are close or [you’re] down a goal, you have a chance to win. That was mission accomplished.”

Karel Vejmelka made 32 saves in the Coyotes loss.