Color of Hockey: Former Devils prospect Nelson owner of startup company

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog for the past nine years. Douglas joined NHL.com in March 2019 and writes about people of color in the game. Today, he profiles Chris Nelson, a 1988 New Jersey Devils draft pick who has started a unique hockey equipment storage and cleaning company and worked as a technical adviser on several hockey themed movies.

Chris Nelson said he was pampered when he played minor league and college hockey by equipment managers who dutifully cleaned and transported team gear.
"I didn't have to worry about my sticks, my skates, laundry or any of that stuff," Nelson said. "When you get out of the game, all that stuff disappears, and you're left to fend for yourself. I didn't like that."
Now the 52-year-old former defenseman is delivering the treatment he received through LockerRoom13, a hockey, storage and hospitality company he created in 2019 for Los Angeles area players who don't have time to haul and care for their equipment.
"I realized that if I treat these players the way I was treated in college and pro ... they might find a new love for the game," Nelson said.
LockerRoom13 picks up a player's gear and takes it to its El Segundo warehouse, where it's cleaned and stored before being delivered at the rink before the next game. Most of LockerRoom13's clients skate out of the Toyota Performance Center, the practice facility of the Los Angeles Kings.
"You walk into the locker room, your gear is there, your stick is there, your laundry is done, your foot towel is there, your shower towel is there," Nelson said. "All you need to worry about is just getting to the game on time."

LockerRoom13 collects the gear from the locker room after the game to clean, disinfect and store until the next game. The concierge-style service might seem hoity-toity to hardcore players accustomed to lugging equipment bags over their shoulders to games, but Nelson said it's almost becoming a necessity because the notoriously bad traffic in Los Angeles makes getting home to pick up gear after school or work before heading to the rink a challenge.
"I saw a guy on a motorcycle one day with a hockey bag on his back with sticks sticking out and I go, 'That's ridiculous,'" Nelson said. "I thought 'There's something there if you can make it easier, more accessible for players to handle their gear.'"
LockerRoom13 has about 50 clients who pay a monthly fee for the service, Nelson said. The Kings are considering using the company to handle equipment for a new grassroots hockey program in the planning stages, said senior director of hockey development Chris Crotty.
"Chris is a hockey guy, he knows equipment, knows how to take care of it, sanitize it," Crotty said.

Nelson began playing hockey at age 3 after his parents moved from Philadelphia to teach at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He continued playing when he moved to take teaching jobs at the University of California, Los Angeles.
After a season with Rochester of the USHL in 1987-88, Nelson played for the University of Wisconsin and was a member of its 1990 NCAA championship team. He scored 42 points (11 goals, 31 assists) in 143 games from 1988-92.
The New Jersey Devils selected Nelson in the fifth round (No. 96) of the 1988 NHL Draft, but he knew his chances of making the team were slim.
"When you're a rookie and the defensemen are Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, (Viacheslav) Fetisov, Tommy Albelin, there are a couple of guys who got a little pedigree there that you're not going to break into that lineup," he said.
Nelson bounced around the minor leagues for seven seasons before moving back to California in 1996 to explore opportunities working in the entertainment business. He played professional roller hockey while appearing in shows like "Baywatch," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Bones." He put his hockey skills to use behind the camera as a technical adviser for "Miracle," "Batman & Robin," "The Tooth Fairy" and "The Love Guru."

He also worked for 25 years in guest services with Morgans Hotel Group, Starwood Hotels and Resorts and W Hollywood Hotel, an experience that helped inspire Nelson to develop the LockerRoom13 concept.
"Yeah, I didn't play 985 games in the NHL, but the NHL wasn't my goal," Nelson said. "Going to college was my goal, and anything after college was just a bonus. So here I am, 52 years old, still actively involved in hockey more than I could imagine."
Nelson was recently named director of diversity and inclusion for the American Sports Entertainment Company, which owns and operates 19 ice rinks nationwide, including the Toyota Performance Center.
He's a longtime regular in Seattle Kraken co-majority owner and television and film producer Jerry Bruckheimer's weekly celebrity pickup hockey games, skating with Kings president Luc Robitaille, actor Cuba Gooding Jr. and agent Pat Brisson.
Nelson also coaches a team in the LA Kings High School Hockey League along with 16 AAA and 18 AAA elite teams.
"To me, this shows that anything is possible in hockey," he said. "The fact that you're a person of color doesn't mean the game's not for you."