From Japan to Guelph; Skalde’s hockey journey lands in the Royal City
By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury
Let there be no doubt that Jarrod Skalde loves the game of hockey.
How else do you explain why the new Guelph Storm head coach would play more than 1,000 games in six countries over 18 seasons chasing the dream of playing in the National Hockey League?
He got there, playing 113 NHL games with eight teams. But much of the time was spent in hockey backwaters such as Utah, Kentucky and Orlando, Fla.
“When you look at where I’ve been, some of those decisions to move on weren’t mine,” said Skalde after running his first practice Sunday as the players returned from Christmas break.
“But some were my choices. I had several opportunities to sign longer-term deals, but for me it was about getting to the National Hockey League. Where is the best opportunity? That was the one decision, year after year, where do I have the best opportunity to play in the National Hockey League?”
Sometimes that meant turning down better deals financially in the hope of making it back to the big leagues.
Originally drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the second round, the most Skalde ever played in one season in The Show was 22 games with the 1997-98 San Jose Sharks.
His last NHL experience was a single game with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2001.
“For me I didn’t want to just call it a career in a sense that I was going to be a minor league guy. I always wanted that one more game in the NHL,” he said.
Once he got into his 30s he realized the NHL dream had likely died, so he went overseas to make some better money.
That included a year playing in Japan near the end of his playing career. The hockey might not have been the best, but it was a great opportunity for he and his family to see Japan, China and South Korea, which all had teams in the league.
“It was unbelievable,” he said of the Asian experience. “It was one of the best family decisions I’ve ever made. It was amazing to live in Japan. We just have great memories of that time.”