Devil Rookie Gomez Adds Another Dimension: Talent

With the NHL just into the post-Wayne Gretzky era, desperately seeking players to fill his incomparable skates as an icon, ambassador and marketing tool, along comes New Jersey Devil rookie Scott Gomez, offering hope that the future may not be all that bleak.

The NHL needs Scott Gomez.

It needs this grandson of Mexican immigrants and son of a Colombian mother not because his heritage might attract Latino fans and viewers, although it must reach a more diversified audience in order to thrive. Its fans are overwhelmingly white, as are its teams. The NHL has about a dozen black players--the most in its history--and probably half a dozen of native North American ancestry, a statistical blip in a sea of nearly 650 players.

The NHL needs Scott Gomez not because he’s funny and bright and dedicated to the game, although it’s refreshing to see that big money at a young age doesn’t always result in a big ego.

“He’s almost like an old-school player in the now generation,” Devil General Manager Lou Lamoriello said.

No, the NHL needs Gomez because he can play. He’s the NHL’s top-scoring rookie, with five goals and 29 points, including an assist in the Devils’ 7-1 rout of the Kings Tuesday at Continental Airlines Arena. If his success can inspire other Latinos to play or watch hockey, so much the better.

“Whatever helps the game, that’s great. That’s what it’s all about,” said Gomez, who does interviews in Spanish but isn’t fluent. “As a little kid, I just wanted to play hockey, and any little kid who wants to play hockey should be able to, no matter what his race is.”

Gomez, who will be 20 next week, grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, in the Latino community that sprang up around the construction of the Alaska pipeline. His father, Carlos, an ironworker and one of 10 sons born in Modesto to Mexican parents, followed two older brothers there to find work after their parents were deported to Mexico. His mother, Dalia, was born in Colombia but was taken to Brooklyn by her father when she was 5. She lived with an aunt before moving to Alaska two years later. She and Carlos met at a dance.

“Anchorage is probably one of the most diverse cities you’ll ever see,” Gomez said. “In my high school, race has never been a problem.”

However, prejudice touched him on the ice. As a child, he was taunted about his surname and complexion, but he learned to rise above his detractors.

“Sure, there’s name-calling,” he said. “Kids are cruel. The way I looked at it, the kids that are doing that are the kids sitting on the bench.”

Playing well was his revenge, and he thrived in the youth ranks in Anchorage.

“It’s a hockey town,” he said. “There are great youth hockey programs. My junior high school team won the national Triple-A championship. [The University of] Alaska has always been a powerhouse. It’s just that most kids go the college route.

“College was in my initial plan. Anchorage is a big college town. My No. 1 goal was to go to college, but as the time came, I wanted to go the major junior route.”

He played one season in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League and two with Tri-City of the Western Hockey League, where he caught the eyes of the Devils. They made him their second choice and 27th overall in the 1998 entry draft, and brought him to camp later that year.

He was cut on the final day, returning to Tri-City and later to the U.S. national junior team. He scored 30 goals and 108 points in his final junior season, allaying the Devils’ fears that he might waste his playmaking skills and try to score more goals in order to win a quicker promotion.

“One of the things I was concerned about was that he might change and try to do it himself,” Lamoriello said. “I told him that might be his biggest stumbling block.”

An impressive training camp earned him a spot on the roster this season, and, playing center and left wing, he appears to have few hurdles to clear in the NHL. Although he’s not physically imposing--he’s listed on the Devils’ roster as 5 feet 11 and 200 pounds--he’s tough along the boards and strong on his skates, blessed with deft hands and great vision. The longest he has gone without recording a point is two games.

“He has a God-given ability to see plays prior to those plays developing,” Lamoriello said. “He makes other players better.”

He’s also indomitable in spirit. Robbie Ftorek, the Devils’ laconic coach, almost gushed in discussing Gomez’s assets.

“He’s got a bunch,” Ftorek said. “His love for the game. His movement. His body position. . . . There’s stuff that you can’t teach or is very difficult to teach that he’s got.”

It’s also impossible to teach the kind of professionalism that makes him a worthy role model.

“[Teammate] Martin Brodeur gave me good advice at the start of the year,” Gomez said. “He said, ‘This is your only career, so have fun and make the most of it.’ This has been a dream of mine. Every little kid dreams of playing in the NHL, and this is unbelievable. I’m living a dream right now.”

And fulfilling the NHL’s dreams, too.