The One

                                  

His name is Seth Jones.  He is the answer to the question: "What if the best athletes in the United States played hockey instead of basketball or football?"  A just-turned 18 year old man-child whose father, Popeye Jones, spent over a decade playing in the NBA, Seth appears to be The One. USA Hockey lists him at 6'3" 210 pounds, but those numbers keep changing.  He's now 6' 4" according to other sources, and the weight training he is doing for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League has resulted in lots of weighty new muscle.  He's still growing, and if you believe the whispers from the scouting corners of the rink, he would be a top-4 defenseman on most NHL teams today.  All those scouts gathered at the inaugural All-American Prospects Game hosted by USA Hockey in Buffalo September 29, and Seth was the headliner.  Veteran hockey writers with no NHL to cover descended on Buffalo for their first look at Jones.  They were not disappointed.

Time to fill in some blanks...Seth was born on October 3, 1994, 18 days after the NHL draft cutoff for 2012.  Had he been born three weeks premature, Jones would probably be signed and chomping at the bit to play in the NHL right now.  He's spent the last 2 seasons incubating under the watchful eye of USA Hockey's top coaches, playing with the U-17 and U-18 National teams, sequestered in Ann Arbor,  Michigan on a crash course of hockey fundamentals and games.  His crowning achievement for USA Hockey was this past spring when he captained America's Under-18 club to the World Championship gold medal in Prague. If Seth played a mainstream sport like hoops, football or baseball at the level he plays hockey, he would be a household name nationally.  But American hockey prospects end up on page 6 of the USA Today sports section and maybe on a postage stamp in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd."  Most Americans will learn about Seth when he competes for a Stanley Cup in a town near them. EXCEPT that...the Seth Jones story is so good that it might leak out beyond the frozen north.

Hall of Fame hockey writer Kevin Allen of USA Today took an immediate liking to Seth in Buffalo when he learned that Seth took a red eye flight from his Friday night game in Portland in order to entertain the pre-game press throng in Buffalo. This is where Jones showed some off-ice mettle: he ran a virtual gauntlet of media for an hour Saturday morning in Buffalo, starting with an in depth sit-down in front of the NHL Network cameras to a full media scrum in the USA Hockey mixed zone. Somehow the jet-lagged teenager held it together while fielding a range of questions that bordered on the absurd: "Tell us something interesting about yourself that people don't already know (that nearly stumped him)";  "What other hockey players are good in basketball?";  "At what point in your life did you know you were going to be a star?"  Those would be tough for a media savvy veteran, let alone a sleep-deprived teen 9 months prior to being drafted, but Jones addressed them all, asking for help once while struggling for a particular word, and always remaining perfectly comfortable in his own skin.  No one enforced time limits on this getting-to-know-you media free for all; Seth was the primary attraction under the tent, and he accepted the responsibility with grace and an amazing even temper, even when his synapses were firing at less than 100%.  Does anyone know any other teenagers like this?

In the game, Seth delivered, scoring a goal and leading Team McClanahan to a 5-2 victory in the inaugural All-American Prospects Game.  Scouts, fans and media saw classic Jones hockey: His goal came on his signature slapshot from the point; he jumped eagerly into the rush at every opportunity; he anticipated all offensive forays to his side of the ice which he steered away from his end. He played tough in front of his net, moved the puck calmly and efficiently, and even accommodated a live in-game interview on the bench in which he detailed his netherworld travelog from Portland to Buffalo. He aced this exam with style and grace, exhibiting a cool jazz reminiscent of the late Arthur Ashe.

As a serious observer of the Seth Jones story in the making, here's what I took from his first closeup in Buffalo: the guy is unflappable and he's got huge Captain intangibles.  Hockey Captains are a special breed, and when you see them, you know them.  The subject of the World Juniors came up, and here is where Seth's leadership qualities shined brightest. Last year, Team USA entered the prestigious U-20 World Championship with justified medal hopes--they had captured bronze and gold their prior two years--but suffered a horrendous setback in Alberta last New Year's, failing to make the medal round. Seth was home injured, watching Team USA get embarrassed on a global stage, a performance that would have most people diving out of buildings in order to distance themselves. Seth said "We have to perform better...7th place isn't good enough for the U.S."  The fact that he said "we," and not "they," spoke volumes.  When asked about his top moment in his career, he didn't hesitate to label his TEAM's victory at the U-18 World Championship as the one, and only.  Even though he'll be nearly two years younger than some of his teammates at the U-20 World Juniors this December in Russia, USA Hockey should start stitching the "C" on the oversized #3 jersey today.

Jones has streamlined his life toward professional sports from the beginning, benefitting from the experience of living in his father's NBA shadow. He has seen Dirk Novitzky shoot obsessively before and after games; his vision of Ray Bourque hoisting the Stanley Cup after Game 7 in Denver seared a memory into an impressionable child that will never be forgotten; it was NHL superstar Joe Sakic who told Popeye Jones in the bowels of Denver's Pepsi Center that Seth should take a year of skating lessons BEFORE buying that first pair of shin pads.  Seth's impressionable first years were framed by Avalanche hockey mania in Denver, resulting in hockey being his only sport, despite legitimate basketball skills.

He has a deep appreciation for NCAA hockey and academics in general, but Jones opted to play in Canada's major junior circuit. He is proud to be playing in "The Dub" as he calls the WHL, in his mind the fastest track to the NHL.  Hockey's next Captain America is a black man-child, the perfect storm of genetics, behavioral conditions and an as-yet unexplained cool jazz demeanor.  Projecting professional success for teenagers is usually the ultimate dice throw, but in Jones's case, it is a foregone conclusion.

At the end of the Prospects Game in Buffalo, Seth reacquainted with an independent film producer, taking in the fact that there might be a documentary in the works. He accepted the news in stride, as he had everything else in what had been a whirlwind 20 hours. He glided up the steps at the First Niagara Center to meet with hockey's premier agent Pat Brisson, who made a special trip from L.A. to connect with Jones.  He knows better than anyone that the stars are in align for this young man, who may very well be The One to re-shape perceptions of hockey in America.