First Shift 🏒
When new players come to your team, it takes a while to get to know them, and sometimes special games help the process.
Colin Blackwell had one of those moments this week.
The 31-year-old forward grew up in the Boston area and attended Harvard, so going back to play the Bruins was a fun experience.
“It shows you the journey he’s taken, and I have a huge amount of respect for that,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said.
Blackwell played at St. John’s Prep in high school and was named the Boston area Mr. Hockey. He was drafted in the seventh round by San Jose in 2011, but instead went to Harvard for four years. He battled injuries at Harvard, but helped them win the ECAC Tournament Championship in 2015.
He headed off to San Jose to try to make it in their organization, while DeBoer was actually the Sharks coach at the time. He said his training camp memories of Blackwell are a little foggy, but that he exchanged texts recently with Roy Sommer, the longtime AHL coach for the Sharks about Blackwell.
“I worked with him for years, and Roy was commenting that [Blackwell] is one of his favorite players because of the path he’s taken to get here,” DeBoer said. “He’s got a lot of respect by people, their opinion of him is very high.”
Blackwell was let go by the Sharks and signed with Rochester in the AHL. From there, he caught on with Milwaukee and played some NHL games for Nashville. That led to a successful stint with the Rangers (22 points in 47 games) and then to appearances with the Kraken, the Maple Leafs and the Blackhawks.
He signed as a free agent with the Stars in the summer to help fill in for the departure of Radek Faksa, Ty Dellandrea and Craig Smith. In eight games, Blackwell has a goal and two assists while averaging 11:23 in time on ice.
“He’s been great,” DeBoer said.
Blackwell has played mostly with Sam Steel and Oskar Bäck, and Bäck said he likes the chemistry.
“I like playing with both guys,” Bäck said. “They’re both fast skaters. They have sneaky skills, as well, really good hands and shots. We play the same style of hockey for the most part, get our chances from down low, strong on pucks and protect the puck. That’s what I try to contribute. It’s been good so far.”
Blackwell has learned a great deal about understanding his role in 243 NHL games. He said he enjoys the compete level of the fourth line and said that having a hard practice Wednesday in Boston was a reminder of what they can do to contribute. Buffalo scored on a hard-working goal on Tuesday, and that changed the game in a Stars loss. Blackwell said the Stars fourth line has to be able to add moments like that to help the Stars win.
“That can happen for us if you just throw pucks to the net and go to the right areas, you can get rewarded for it,” Blackwell said. “Little things like that can be momentum swingers, especially for the fourth line like us.”
He’s worked very hard to get to this place, and now a couple of days in Boston was a good reminder of that.
“I grew up watching the Beanpot [college hockey tournament], so I always knew I wanted to go to those schools, so it was a really good experience,” he said of playing at Harvard. “I got to meet some really cool people along the way and play some good hockey, so I’m definitely grateful for my time there. It set me up for 10 years down the road.”
