#DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES SPIRAL KNIGHTS PRO#

He begged his parents to let him join a local house league in Toronto’s Parkdale community. He tied them tight at an outdoor rink in a nearby park alone in the cold moonlight and shovelled off the snow with his heavy wooden stick. They played it at his school, where a new friend named Brandon invited him to play.Īliu had found a pair of used skates for $8 at a garage sale down the street. They played it with sticks and balls in his church basement. He had learned the game only a year earlier. It was an hour-and-a-half ride in rush hour - two buses and a subway ride - to the office building where his father worked security. (Courtesy Akim Aliu)Īs a 10-year-old, Akim Aliu would carry his hockey bag several blocks through the snow, from his family’s rented single-room apartment to a bus stop. There’s been a lot of dark days, and a lot of tears shed - but being patient in those times when things are really rough, that’s where character is built.”Īliu and his older brother Edward, as boys on a farm in Russia. Being joyful in hope - believing in something I can’t see,” he says. And on his right forearm a verse, from Romans 12:12: “ Joyful in hope, patient in tribulation…” The forearm of his left arm has his parent’s signatures, connected by an infinity logo. In the gym, Aliu lays out his arms flat to show the words tattooed across his wrists - “family” on one, “faith” on the other. On a recent day spent with Aliu, he reflected on what brought him to this point, viewed as both a hero and a pariah. More coaches have faced accusations that their behaviour crossed the line. Other players have spoken out, too, about cultural issues in hockey dressing rooms.

#DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES SPIRAL KNIGHTS PRO#

Since his meeting with the league, Aliu has opened up about further racism he faced as a pro hockey player - incidents he carried in silence for years. The NHL met with Aliu and implemented changes it says will combat bullying and systemic racism in the game. His account of a racist incident involving then-Calgary Flames coach Bill Peters sparked an investigation. Last month, he sent a tweet that shook a hockey world already grappling with hard questions. Nearly 15 years ago, Aliu stood up to bullying when he was a rookie in the OHL - forcing drastic changes in the practice of hazing on junior hockey teams. But he’s arguably done more to change the culture of the game than any other player in his generation. He doesn’t have millions of dollars or kids clamouring for his autograph. It’s a relationship filled with ups and downs - from a kid who viewed ice time as a way to find acceptance in a new community, to a young man who was shaken violently from the comfort zone he’d built at the rink, to now: the somewhat reluctant heart of a movement that could change the game forever.Īt 30 years old, Aliu is the most famous man in hockey still trying to prove that he can play. That’s my happy place.”īut for all the peace the game has given him, it’s tormented him plenty, too. “When I’m on the ice, it’s the only time I’m at peace,” he says. His NHL career has spanned a total of seven games. Sometimes he takes over one end of the rink at public shinny and runs through drills himself. But Aliu hasn’t played a hockey game since a brief stint in the ECHL last year. It’s the kind of regime a pro athlete might run through during the offseason. After a morning on the ice, he’s at this gym north of Toronto for a couple of hours every day. It seems like some form of medieval torture, but for Aliu it’s routine. He holds his body up on a parallel bar and twists his torso to the side.

His right leg extends in front of him and his left reaches behind - suspended by straps in the splits several feet off the ground. Akim Aliu is contorted in directions most humans aren’t capable of stretching.

Dreams and nightmares spiral knights