Subban turning strangers into Buddies at Predators games

NASHVILLE -- They started out as strangers.
Mitch Kornberg, a sergeant in the Metro Nashville Police Department, was participating in Blueline Buddies, a program started by Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban that pairs a police officer with a child from a local youth organization at each home game.

Thinking he was going to meet an 8- or 9-year-old kid at Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 14, Kornberg, 53, brought a police T-shirt as a gift. He ended up meeting Chance Williams, a 16-year-old football player bigger than he was.
"I had this little, tiny T-shirt," Kornberg said with a laugh. "I'm like, 'Sorry.'"
\[RELATED: Subban goes undercover to surprise local family, strangers for holidays\]
Kornberg came with another officer, Sgt. Mike Thomas; Williams with one of his coaches, Terry Liggin. They met Subban outside the Predators' locker room and went to the Patron Platinum Club for a buffet dinner.
They got to know each other. Kornberg does community outreach in the North Precinct. Williams is from a rough neighborhood there and was selected for Blueline Buddies by AMEND Together, which "seeks to end the epidemic of violence against women and girls by empowering young men and boys to become the catalyst for cultural change."
They spoke about the relationship between the police and the black community, and how it is covered in the media.

"We were able to have a nice dialogue about that stuff," Kornberg said. "We were able to look at each other's perceptions and maybe get another side, and it was cool. Chance goes, 'You have to sometimes hear the other side.' I said, 'Anything you see, it could be very one-sided. There's always another side to the story.'"
Then they went to the game, and the conversation turned to hockey.
Kornberg grew up in New York as a New York Islanders fan and has Predators season tickets; Williams had never been to a hockey game. They sat together in the lower bowl, Section 114, Row K.
Williams marveled at the crowd, the speed, the physicality, the nonstop action; Kornberg explained icing and penalties, and that shifts were so short because they were so taxing. Through Williams' eyes, Kornberg felt like he was watching hockey for the first time again.
The Predators took a 2-0 lead. The Washington Capitals tied it 2-2. The Predators made it 4-2. The Capitals cut the lead to 4-3. All the while, Kornberg and Williams kept an eye on Subban.
"Every time P.K. had the puck, that was something special to him, because now he's a P.K. fan," Kornberg said.
The Predators won 6-3. Kornberg and Williams met Subban and other players outside the locker room after the game, taking pictures, getting autographs.

The next day, Williams wore his Blueline Buddies T-shirt to school and wrote a note, staying he had an "unforgettable experience" with "two of the coolest officers" he knew. He said the highlight was meeting Subban and watching him play.
"I am so thankful for the experience and would do anything to get another," he wrote.
When the Predators play the Edmonton Oilers at Bridgestone Arena on Jan. 9, Kornberg and Williams will go to a game together again, this time on their own.
"We hit it off," Kornberg said. "So I said, 'You know, I have season tickets. I'm always looking to go with somebody.'"
Kornberg and Williams aren't strangers anymore. They're buddies.
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Subban, 28, has made a huge impact on and off the ice.
Most famously, he won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman in 2013 and pledged $10 million over seven years to Montreal Children's Hospital in 2015. Part of the pledge was for "P.K.'s Helping Hands," which assists families of sick children financially so they can focus on caring for them.
After the Montreal Canadiens traded him to the Predators for defenseman Shea Weber on June 29, 2016, he said he had every intention of honoring his commitment.
"For me this isn't just about how much money we raise, but more so how many lives we can touch," Subban said in a speech in the P.K. Subban Atrium at the hospital on Aug. 31, 2016.
Subban came up with a new way to touch lives in Nashville. He approached Brandon Walker, the Predators' manager of hockey operations, with the vision of pairing a police officer and a local child at home games. Subban and the Predators worked out the details from there.

The Metro Nashville Police Department would select officers from a pool of volunteers. Each month, the Predators would partner with a local youth organization, which would select children. A police officer and a child, each with a guest, would have dinner, go to a game and meet Subban together.
Subban was uncompromising, according to Rebecca King, the Predators' senior director of community relations. Did he want to do this once a month? No, he said. Each home game. Did he want to meet with them before or after the game? No, he said. Both.
Levy Restaurants donated the dinners. Subban donated the tickets and his time. The Predators donated T-shirts -- Predators gold, with "BLUELINE BUDDIES" on the front and "SUBBAN 76" on the back.
"It's not a divisive thing at all," Subban said. "I think it's about building bridges and trying to continue to build bridges and be a positive influence. I think everybody has their own views of how they feel they want to respond to social issues within our country, but I've chosen that the best way to do it is by bringing everybody together."
The program could be a model. After the first four home games, Subban sent a letter not just to other NHL teams, but to teams in MLB, MLS, the NBA and the NFL. He said he was reaching out to "anybody who really wants to get involved and make a difference in a child's life and also to give law enforcement, the people that do great things for us every day, the opportunity to feel special coming to a game."
In the letter, Subban wrote he hoped the other teams would "share, discuss and consider this program" with their players.
"It is our hope that, through an evening of hockey and interaction, we can, on a very personal level, enhance the relationship between law enforcement and area youth," Subban wrote. "The early feedback on this program has been overwhelming and heartwarming. …
"I am inviting and encouraging other athletes to join me in this initiative. In just a few games I can see the impact of this program on the youth and police officer with just a few hours of spending time together."
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The impact was easy to see when the Predators played the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 8.
Conner Harris, an officer in a crime prevention unit, was paired with Jamal Wicker, 12, selected by Backfield in Motion, an organization that seeks to "educate, engage and empower at-risk young men to reach their maximum potential."
"You can come to a sporting event like this and have a great time with everyone, and there is nobody saying anything about nothing in between," said Willie Bohannon, Wicker's mentor. "That's one of the things I wanted him to get out of it, and that police officers are great people also."

Harris and Wicker didn't talk much about the police over dinner. They just talked.
"Everything was normal for us," Bohannon said. "That was one of the greatest things."
During the game, they were wearing the same colors, rooting for the same team, celebrating the same goals. After the game, they took a picture with P.K. and his younger brother
Malcolm Subban
, the Golden Knights' goaltender.
"I don't think I've ever seen any sort of program like this," Harris said. "I think it's a good effort to just bring law enforcement and then people from the community together just to have a good time and kind of get to know each other and bridge those gaps that there may be."
The only problem? The Predators lost 4-3 after a six-round shootout.
"I just don't like that the first hockey game that I actually went to was a loss," Wicker said. "The end of it was exciting. The shootout, it left me in suspense!"
* * * * *
Kornberg ran into Subban in a parking lot one day.
"Hey, Mr. Subban," Kornberg said. "How are you?"
"Hey, you stay safe today," Subban said.
"Thanks," Kornberg said. "And thank you for that Blueline Buddies program. That's a really good thing."
Subban gave him a thumbs-up as he ducked into his car.
"I did appreciate that," Kornberg said. "I really do appreciate that. Just the fact that he thought to do that was awesome. I hated to see Shea Weber go, but I'm really becoming a P.K. Subban fan."
Kornberg laughed.
"It's bonding us together," he said, "and it's making hockey fans at the same time."