Tough Todd’s life like a movie
Jansen Harkins’ father ‘improved’ his game by portraying Valeri Kharmalov
Todd Harkins has been in the movies, and his life has played out like one.
A tough centre with a short NHL career, he portrayed legendary Soviet Union winger Valeri Kharmalov in Miracle, the 2004 movie about the legendary 1980 U.S. Olympic team.
“I just figured I wasn’t very good as a hockey player, and I could be better when they put it on a feature film and they can cut out the bad parts of my game,” says a laughing Harkins, who was selected 42nd overall in the 1988 draft by Calgary but played just 20 games for the Flames over two seasons.
Harkins was also on the initial season of the reality TV show Making the Cut, and helped choreograph hockey scenes for the movie Slap Shot 3.
Harkins met his figure-skating wife, Kirsten, while playing at Miami of Ohio and a boys’ night out turned into a 45-minute trek to Cincinnati to see Kirsten perform for Disney on Ice. After an 18-month, long-distance courtship, the Cleveland native turned pro with the Flames and had 48 hours to report to their farm team in Salt Lake City. Harkins bought a ring in Calgary and flew to Charlotte, N.C., to propose and then flew all the way back to the minor league team. Next July will mark the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary.
Harkins was also in an infamous 1994 Buffalo bar punch-up with five members of the Hartford Whalers and their coach. They were leaving the establishment when a bouncer knocked a player to the ground and started punching. Harkins came to the defence of captain Pat Verbeek, but the players and coach were still arrested and given a reduced charge of trespassing.
“I tell that story a lot because there’s a time and place for everything,” reasons Harkins. “We were celebrating Brian Propp’s 1,000th point. They (bouncers) knew who we were and next thing it’s a big media event. I’m not proud of what happened, but you experience it and try to make the right choices. It’s what I teach my kids.”
Jansen Harkins has learned the game of hockey and the game of life from his father and his older brother, Nicklas, who has immense health challenges. The Prince George Cougars centre is projected to go in the latter half of the first round in the 2015 NHL draft next Friday and Saturday in Sunrise, Fla., and all the attention he’s been afforded has been well earned. His youngest brother, Jonas, was taken by the Cougars in the WHL bantam draft last month, but it’s his oldest sibling who has captured everyone’s admiration with his determination to lead a rewarding life.
Nicklas was diagnosed at age five with Mucopolys accharidosis (MPS). The rare genetic order that affects physical ability, organ and system function is heartbreaking. The support Todd must afford his son trumps being GM of the Cougars or having served 11 years as director of hockey operations for the North Shore Winter Club. When Nicklas was two years old and his father was playing for Fort Wayne in the IHL, he kept coming into the locker-room to try on his dad’s equipment. He was a hockey fanatic. But by age five, Nicklas started walking on his tiptoes and his fingers started to curl. A synthetic enzyme to help stabilize the course of the disease was administered to Nicklas at age eight, and he was one of the first in Canada to receive the new enzyme replacement therapy.
“We just don’t know the length of how long he’s going to live because it’s brand new stuff,” says Todd. “He lacks an enzyme in his body and it’s multi-symptomatic. He’s able to continue to live a life and he loves being around the game.”
When Nicklas was asked to join a Cougars road trip two years ago, he jumped at the opportunity and it turned into him becoming an assistant equipment manager with the WHL club. He also coaches a spring team.
“His body inhibits him from being an elite athlete, but we teach the love of the game and life in different ways, because he has to be driven to get up every day and live life to the fullest,” says Todd. “He has taught me to enjoy every day and when things are going tough, you can’t complain.
“You see him getting up after watching a game and he has to struggle to get up the stairs when he’s holding on to every railing. It’s not easy and I don’t help him. I expect my kids to find their own way and to see him do that and just struggling to get up and go to bed, I don’t complain about a lot in my life.”
For Jansen, the motivation to reach his hockey goal is only magnified when he speaks of Nicklas.
“He loves the game probably more than anybody in my family because of the sacrifices he’s had to make to still be around,” says Jansen. “He’s a good driving force of determination and work ethic and I don’t look at him any differently when people ask me about him. Obviously, it’s tough for him to do some stuff with his energy and being sore, but he takes it really well.
“I’m lucky to have him as my brother.”