Joel Ward's long road to NHL

Nashville Predators’ Joel Ward, centre, celebrates with teammates Martin Erat, left, and Ryan Suter after Suter scored against the Vancouver Canucks during NHL playoff action Saturday night in Vancouver. (Canadian Press photo)

Published on May 3, 2011

Tony Gallagher  

 

 

 

Former UPEI Panther overcomes the loss of his father to make it big in pro hockey

VANCOUVER — There is a tendency during an NHL playoff series for players to come to dislike each other and the fans of their respective teams to follow suit.

But if you are a fan of the Vancouver Canucks, you have to suspend those feelings for at least one guy on the Nashville Predators — forward Joel Ward.

If your heart doesn’t go out to this guy when you learn how he got to the NHL, you’re taking this whole hockey thing far too seriously and should seek help.

Ward was playing in a triple-A bantam game in Toronto when in the middle of it his father, Randall, had a stroke and died a few days later. Rather than put him off the sport entirely, it seemed to make him all the more determined. 

And when you fight your way to the NHL from Canadian university hockey in Prince Edward Island, you need to get there. 

But back to the 14-year-old, whose mother, Cecilia, was a registered nurse who promptly began working two jobs to take care of Joel and his two brothers. To keep them in hockey, his Toronto community got involved as hockey people often do and bought him equipment and often arranged for transportation to games and Ward has never forgotten that help. That’s why he’s mentoring a 13-year-old kid in Nashville through Big Brothers, acting as a father he wished he had when he was the same age, encouraging the boy named Malik to up his grades. 

And Ward can talk because he’s got a sociology degree which was a nice bonus from spending as many years as he did getting his NHL career going.

“The real tough times for me now are during the father and son trips when the other guys have their dads on the road with them,” said Ward of what discussable scars remain from the tragedy he and the rest of his family suffered that day at the rink. “That’s when it really hits me and comes back. Those are the hard times for me. I bring my billet father from Owen Sound (Rodger Minard) because I was with them for four years and he has kind of taken on that role for me as best he could. He encouraged me to stay on in junior that first year when I was homesick. That helps, but you hit the nail on the head. That’s the tough time for me now.”

It’s led Ward to want to help out a kid of his own and that’s where Malik comes in. 

Anyone who advances to the NHL from Canadian university hockey is a pretty special player, or at least one that got some breaks, and Ward is the first to cop to his good fortune.

“It was the invitation to the (Minnesota) Wild camp that helped me get noticed,” says Ward. “Normally, your pro aspirations are finished in Canadian college hockey, but I got noticed somehow and I had a good camp and I was signed to a minor-league contract. Then the following year I got a two-way from Minnesota and spent the year there again then spent part of the year in Minnesota before being sent down again. But over that time I was learning what I need to do and how I have to play to be an asset in this league.”

He’s been a considerable asset to the Predators in these playoffs. Going into tonight's action, his three goals and six points had him tied for the club lead with Mike Fisher. So if this production level were to continue, this would serve as a late coming out for a guy now 30 years old, especially should Nashville upset the Canucks.

“There’s no doubt it’s been a long road to get here at the point where feel you belong in the league,” he says. “I owe a lot of people who helped me get here. All the coaches, all the parents who helped me along the way, my family. It helps motivate me that’s for sure.” 

(Vancouver Province)