The NHL has constantly produced famous and multi-talented players since its formation in 1917 in Montreal, Canada. Don Brashear stands out amongst the players who have always thrilled hockey fans and sent them to frenzy worldwide.
Born on January 7th 1972 to an African-American father and a White-Canadian mother in Bedford, Indiana, Brashear’s formative life was very challenging and devoid of hope. With his parents divorced when he was a toddler, his mother moving back to Canada and his father being alcoholic and abusive, Brashear remained in the custody of his paternal grandmother who later sent him to a public school in Montreal where he joined his mother again. With Brashear’s step-father being abusive too, Brashear went through a series of foster parents and he finally settled with the third family when he was eight.
Brashear started playing street hockey almost everyday with his step siblings and others in the neighborhoods for fun and competition. He had to take skating lessons to play ice-hockey and being from a humble financial background he had no choice but to engage in door-to-door selling of garbage bags, papers and baked bread in order to afford his lessons.
Brashear joined the NFL in 1992 and is currently a professional ice hockey forward for the Washington Capitals. Starting his career with the Montreal Canadians, he’s also played for Vancouver Canucks and the Philadelphia Flyers. Brashear suffered a concussion and memory lapses when he was hit by a colleague during a game but recovered and went back to the ice several weeks later. He claims that he does not like the new, more wide-open NHL game and has had trouble adjusting to it. Amongst other accolades, Brashear holds the 2002-3 Pelle Lindbergh Memorial trophy.
