Samuels-Thomas still involved in hockey, just in a different way
Jordan Samuels-Thomas had kept his retirement on the quiet side. He played his last game across the Atlantic with the Heilbronn Falken of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga 2 in late February 2020.
So when he popped up in a black and white shirt with orange armbands at AHL games at the start of this delayed season, it’s fair to say he surprised some former teammates and opponents.
“There were a few weeks of guys going, ‘What are you doing here? You on the other side now?’ ” SamuelsThomas said Wednesday.
“Yeah, I surprised a lot of people. That was funny for a time.
“Now, I’ve seen these guys enough where I’m not sure some of them are happy with some of the penalties I’ve called.”
Certainly not as a professional hockey referee. Growing up in West Hartford, later playing for Quinnipiac, he got hooked on hockey at age 5 watching ‘The Mighty Ducks’ movies. “I love the game,” Samuels said. “I was blessed to play at every level with the exception of the NHL. Since I was 10, I wanted to play in the NHL. When it became clear in recent years that it wasn’t going to happen, I was looking for different avenues to get to the NHL.”
Officiating became one. He learned about the possi
bilities as a player representative for San Diego of the AHL and Worcester of the ECHL. About 18 months ago, he began calling former players who had made the transition along with some lifetime officials.
From a physical standpoint, he was in good stead at 6-foot-4, 190. He did the things he’d normally do to get in shape for a season. His diet remained the same. Picking up the rulebook for the first time and beginning to digest it? Different story.
“That definitely was eye-opening to learn all the nuances to be an official at a high level,” he said. “The second part was getting on the ice without a hockey stick.”
Working hard to get in position for the proper sight lines, making sure the game is played the way the league wants, it’s all a process. A process that Jordan Samuels-Thomas, 30, hopes will lead him to become the third Black official in NHL history. Jay Sharrers was the first Black referee. Shandor Alphonso is an NHL linesman.
“Anytime you can add to diversity to hockey, not only on the ice, behind the bench, in management, I think it’s good not only to bring people of different backgrounds together so you can have different ways of seeing things. But also for younger generations to see that, hey, I can be a player, a coach, a referee, a front-office person. That’s all important.
“If I can work and earn my way to the NHL and be that for someone like Anson Carter or Mike Grier was for me, that’s something that is really exciting. I’m working every day to be the best for the job regardless of race, background or my playing career. I want my work ethic and my results to speak. That’s what is most important. That’s how I hopefully someday will receive the call to the NHL based on my performance and not based on anything else.”
Mike Grier? As a kid, he got a stick at a Whalers game from him. Anson Carter? He wore dreads in San Diego for a time as a player like Carter.
As an official, he started by working scrimmages at the U-16 level. He got some coaching from former NHL officials. His first game officiating was in the USHL, where he had started as a 17-year-old junior winger. He did some NHL scrimmages.
“My first game officiating turned out to be in Green Bay where my last game of junior hockey before college was played,” SamuelsThomas said. “That was cool. The NHL didn’t do a preseason this year, just scrimmages. It’s funny. I couldn’t get invited to an NHL camp as a player and now I’m there as an official. To have that experience, really got me excited that, hey, I can do this.”
The AHL season started Feb. 5 and it has been full speed since.
“I have a lot more respect for the officials who reffed me now,” Samuels-Thomas said. “You need to be dialed in for 60-65 minutes. As a player you can decompress, have your shift, kind of reset. You can look at your last shift on an iPad.
“You are making all these calls in real time. It’s something you always knew, but I think it’s something that is underappreciated by a lot of people who watch hockey, including people who play. You see something on TV, there’s the benefit of replays and a million different angles. The guys at the highest level — and what I’m trying to do — make all these choices in real time. It’s a tough job. Something I’ve really come to appreciate.”
Call an otherwise great game, one bad call and you’re a bum. He gets it. He tries not to over-complicate matters. Be confident. You start searching for things, he said, you can get in trouble.
“I’ve played at the second-best level,” he said. “I think I’m a real student of the game. I feel confident in what I know, not just X’s and O’s but being on the ice.
“I feel I have a real calm personality. I don’t get hyped up for anything. When I work with officials who officiated me, they say they never had anything bad to say about me. I never went and yelled at them.” Jordan-Samuels laughed. “I knew yelling at an official never changes the call,” he said.
The calm temperament and level head, something I first saw working in the same space when he was an intern for Rich Coppola at Fox 61 should bode well as an official. SamuelsThomas has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Quinnipiac. He worked as a contributor/ analyst for The Athletic for two years.
As a player, he knew the camaraderie of the team. You travel together on flights or on the bus. You play cards in the back. To be an official is to know the loneliness of a long-distance arbiter. He drives himself.
“This year is different because of COVID, too,” Samuels-Thomas said. “Not only do we travel by ourselves, I can’t even have a cup of coffee with another official, because we’re trying to be safe and follow protocol.”
His pro hockey life is a road map to everywhere. Rochester, Manchester, Ontario, Utah, Florida, San Diego, Mlada Boleslav, Augsburg, Zagreb, South Carolina, Worcester, Heilbronn … small wonder their second daughter, two months old, is named Vienna. Chloe is 2.
Samuels-Thomas and his wife Paula decided they wanted to return to San Diego when his playing days were over. He met Paula at Bowling Green where she was on golf scholarship and he played before transferring to Quinnipiac. They like the diversity of San Diego and all the things you can do outdoors near the water. Hockey, Wounded Warriors, Salvation Army, they have immersed themselves in the community.
“And you don’t have to shovel snow,” SamuelsThomas said.
While playing in San Diego, Samuels-Thomas met Willie O’Ree, the first Black NHL player who played there in the minors.
The two keep in touch. When Samuels-Thomas worked for The Athletic, O’Ree helped with a roundtable on diversity.
“So much respect for Willie,” he said. “He’s a huge ambassador for inclusion and diversity.”
With COVID, travel has been a little less this year, but this isn’t your daddy’s AHL. It spreads from coast to coast now, from Bakersfield to Bridgeport. Already he has worked games in Connecticut and will be back East next week. On Wednesday, he was speaking from Grand Rapids, Michigan. When you’re an official, there are no home crowds rooting for you.
He keeps track of old friends. On Tuesday he was texting Bill Riga, who he has known since he was 10 and recruited him to Quinnipiac, on being named Holy Cross coach.
“I’m so happy for him and his family,” SamuelsThomas said. “He’s a great guy. You hear people say overdue, but he was overdue for an opportunity. He’ll do a great job. Excellent recruiter.”
Some old teammates like Jaycob Megna in San Jose, Kevin Gravel in Bakersfield, Sam Carrick in San Diego and others still have a stick in their hands. He has the whistle.
“It’s always fun to see those guys,” SamuelsThomas said. “It’s how’s the wife and the family? Lately, people are congratulating me on (Vienna). But I’m trying to do my job and make the NHL. They’re trying to do the same. I see an infraction, throw my hand up, then I look to see what the number is. From there, it is what it is.
“I’m still chasing the same dream but in a different way.”