Ho-Sang matures into pivotal Isle
Rarely are the things coming out of a player’s mouth as interesting as the things he does on the ice.
But Josh Ho-Sang is nothing if not a rarity, a mix of sublime talent and introspective candidness that make the Islanders’ 21-year-old forward a magnetic force. He speaks of all the things he has learned in the past seven months with reverence — and his learning experiences have been plentiful.
But he often shakes his head in disbelief, his curly mohawk bouncing like wayward springs. With his eyes wide, he said he never could have expected being here right now, helping the Islanders as they push for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with just seven games left in the regular season and his spot in the lineup integral to them making it or not.
“If you asked me if I thought I would be in the NHL, not a chance,” HoSang told The Post after Tuesday’s practice, the final push continuing with Thursday’s game at Philadelphia. “A few months ago, I was like, ‘ What am I doing?’ Then I started playing better. For me, it’s been a crazy year.”
After the Islanders traded up to take HoSang with the 28th overall pick in the 2015 draft, he rewarded them by oversleeping for the first day of his first training camp, earning him an immediate demotion to his junior team. This past training camp, he showed up on time and his skill was impressive, but he still didn’t make the team. The organization wanted him to learn how to be a pro, which took some time at AHL Bridgeport.
“For me, just a good kid, fun-loving guy that approached the game a little bit casual at times,” said Sound Tigers coach Brent Thompson. “It was one of those things where we wanted to hold him accountable.”
Ho-Sang was told if he played well, he would be called up. He had six points in his first six games, but no call came.
“Then the negativity just creeped in,” he said.
By his own count, Ho-Sang was a healthy scratch seven times before Christmas. He said Thompson wasn’t really speaking to him, and that the coach “wasn’t sure how to talk to me.” But eventually, the message got through.
“It all kind of punched me in the face at once,” Ho-Sang said. “Nothing is perfect, no one in life is perfect. For me, it’s nice to have gone through that because that’s the worst my hockey career has ever felt — not been, but felt. On a personal level, I was like, ‘ Oh, what am I going to do?’ ”
Ho-Sang said it was the first time he ever had been scratched in his life, “except for when I do dumb things. Normally I have coaches that are like, ‘Josh, you’re my best player. It doesn’t matter how bad you play, we know you’ll be better next game.’ [Thompson] didn’t care. He was like, ‘I don’t care if you’re going to be better next game, you don’t always get a next game. You don’t always get the next chance.’
“He taught me the value of the game to myself. Sometimes you just play. I realized when I was getting scratched, ‘ God damn it, I love this game. I want to be on the ice.’ ”
From the end of January until the end of Feburary, Ho-Sang had seven goals and 20 points in 16 games, and was kept off the score sheet just five times during that stretch. He finally was called up and made his NHL debut March 2 in Dallas.
Ho-Sang has played 14 games for the Islanders, with three goals and eight points. On Monday night against the Predators, the Islanders lost a crucial game and Ho-Sang had what he called his first bad performance in “a month and a half — which is pretty awesome, in the larger scheme of things.” But he took it hard, and watched the game in full twice before Tuesday’s practice.
“For me, adjusting to dealing with playing bad in the NHL versus playing bad in the AHL is like, they are two different sides of the spectrum,” he said. “You play bad in the AHL and, like, nobody’s watching. Right?”
But now people are watching, and the stage is set for the rest of the league to take notice — if it hasn’t already. And for the Islanders, it’s about making that final push to reach the playoffs and capitalize on all the maturing Ho-Sang has done in the past few months.
“For me, it’s just about being another gear in the turning clock,” he said. “I can be a big piece or I can be a little piece, but as long as the clock is turning, that’s all that matters.”