Alumni Corner: Steve Webb

During his time as an Islander, Steve Webb was known for his gritty, but selfless, style of play on the ice. His punishing hits and character plays garnered much admiration from the fans, who have continued to adore him after his eight seasons (1996-2003, 2004) on the Island.

It's not just that Long Island liked Webb, he liked it as well. Following his eight-year career in the NHL, the Peterborough, Ontario native maintained his residency year-round out on the Island with his wife Teresa and children Chloe (10), Oliver (8) and Sam (6). He's become an active member of the community and a divisional player rep in the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA).
"The biggest value that I learned about Long Island is what it has to offer," Webb said. "As well as the people that surround the team, the people that work there, the people that come to games on a nightly basis and the people that watch or follow. There's so many Islander fans out there. Being on the Island and living on the Island and really getting to meet them all over the last 20 years."
For Webb, who was originally drafted by Buffalo in the seventh round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, he's always had to solidify his roster spot through demonstrating his willingness and commitment to work hard as opposed to boasting flashy skills. In turn, the former winger has continued to abide by that blue-collar mindset and tries to instill some of those lessons towards youth athletics with his W20 Foundation and Team Up 4 Community project.

READ: COMMUNITY STAR OF THE WEEK: TEAM UP 4 COMMUNITY
"All the time throughout my career] I don't think I ever had a guaranteed spot on a team," Webb explained. "Every year there were new prospects, new players and new people to look at it. It was easy to overlook the kind of role I played. So, I always had a slow start to the season, but as the season got underway you'd see the value of your role and what you bring to the team. You're always earning your stripes, you're always earning your time, you're always earning your opportunity."
Since retirement, Webb has embraced becoming more intertwined with the Long Island community and specifically how warmly welcomed and guided he was by the alumni community who also resides on the Island. Webb credits players like Clark Gillies, Pat LaFontaine, Bobby Nystrom, Gerry Hart and Benoit Hogue for showing him 'the ropes' and helping him jumpstart his own post-career charitable efforts.
"During those years coming out of the game, to have a group like that to help lead you and bring you into the family of the Alumni really helped," Webb said. "When you look at Pat LaFontaine, Clark Gillies and Bobby Nystrom - all of those guys - the amount of impact that they make on other people's lives, not for the product of what they were on the ice and what they accomplished on the ice, but actually for the amount of work they've done off the ice. These are the guys that are year round. You're listening to their stories and you want to get involved, you want to participate."
**[ALUMNI CORNER**
So, like his fellow Isles alums, Webb identified a cause that resonated with him.
"I stated my position, I stated my lane," Webb said. "I wanted to get involved in the youth sports environment. I love the energy, I love the people and I think there's a lot of opportunities to hone in on the existing structure of youth sports. How can we leverage that structure into helping build stronger communities."
With the W20 Foundation and
Team Up 4 Community
, Webb helps provide local youth teams, across all sports, foster social responsibility and create meaningful impacts in their communities through the use of elements that coincide with teamwork.
"There's so many values of a team concept in delivering impacts back to your local communities that really resonate with people for the rest of their lives," Webb said. "So, to start that at a young age, to be able to see it expand and then to showcase it. Sports isn't just shooting a puck, throwing a ball or whatever the sport may be - sports have so many great attributes that you carry with you throughout your life. Our goal is] to be able to tap into that at an earlier age; the value of building empathy and caring about others, thinking about others with your actions and true community service."
[Instagram from @teamup4community: Steve speaking at our annual TU4C Golf Outing Dinner! Make sure you check out our story to keep up with the day! ⛳️
Team Up 4 Community has become an international giveback project that has helped provide athletes across North America with the resources and opportunities to spark an initiative within their communities. Webb and his wife Teresa only hope to continue expanding those efforts.
Despite retiring, Webb has still remained heavily involved with the league through his efforts with the NHLPA. After making the transition from player representative to division representative, Webb has continued to have a pulse on the initiatives of the league and the players' association. He's also taken on a new role including being hands on with evolution of the digital athlete around wearable tech along with Athlete Development, where he sits on a steering committee for athlete development at the World Players Association.
"When I got out of the game, I got involved with grass roots development here on Long Island and player development," Webb said. "This opportunity arose, where I got to see the bigger scale of the business side of hockey. The opportunity exposed itself as something I wanted to help grow the business accruements around our sports as far as the corporate licensing, sponsorship deals to how things are negotiated from the CBA.
Webb commended the impacts that his fellow Isles alums have towards growing the game of hockey on the Island and noted how they all can continue to explore those endeavors and expand the game further east. The goal is to create more access to the sport, with efforts like adding more sheets of ice to the east end of the Island to provide more opportunities.
"As far as ice availability on the Island, it's nowhere near what I grew up with in Canada," Webb said. "We had north of 15 sheets of ice in our surrounding area rinks in my town. Witnessing the efforts of Benoit Hogue, Gerry Hart, Bobby Nystrom, Pat LaFontaine contributed to growing our game here locally...With UBS Arena on the horizon, living on the Island, that's the talk right now. The Islanders are definitely in the forefront around the conversation."
While Webb is known for the - often physical - impact he had on the ice with the Islanders, he's continued to positively affect the Long Island community with his generous initiatives.