Jalen Smereck already felt like a stranger in a strange land. The last couple of months spent living in Ukraine were quite understandably a culture shock for the 24-year-old Detroit native.
For example, Smereck, who is Black, says he can count on one hand the number of faces he has seen that look like his around Druzhkivka, the city of about 70,000 in the eastern part of the country where he lives.
“I saw two (Black) guys at the grocery store one day,” he said, laughing. “But I haven’t seen ‘em again, and I’m at the store every couple days. So I think they were just rolling through here for a visit or something,”
Still, Smereck was getting along just fine, earning a decent wage while chasing his NHL dream as a 6-foot, 190-pound defenseman for HC Donbass in the Ukrainian Hockey League. The fact that he stood out in the crowd even made him feel like a celebrity, at times, with random requests for photographs from folks who didn’t even know he played hockey.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but so far the people here have been great,” said Smereck, a Detroit King graduate and former captain for the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds. “I’ve been saying I feel like the President or LeBron James or something in Ukraine.”
But those feelings changed 10 days ago, when Smereck was on the receiving end of a disgusting racist taunt in a UHL game and then at the center of an international controversy as outrage over the incident — and the league’s embarrassing response to it — spread like wildfire.
“It’s been challenging,” said Smereck, who spent the last three years playing for the Arizona Coyotes’ AHL affiliate. “But I think I’ve done a pretty good job handling the situation and moving on from it.”
But while “it” was nothing new for Smereck, who says he’d been subjected to racist slurs growing up in a predominantly White sport, this time was different. Because it wasn’t just a derogatory comment made on the ice, where what is said and done is often overlooked or ignored. No, this incident was captured on video, and circulated widely around the globe.
Even Smereck admits he wasn’t entirely sure what had happened during the second period of that Sept. 25 game against HK Kremenchuk. There was a whistle and a scrum, and Smereck took issue with the actions of Andrei Deniskin, a hulking, 6-6, 240-pound forward that he saw punching one of his teammates while down on the ice.
“I thought it was dirty and kind of cheap, so I tried to step in,” said Smereck, who was being held back by a teammate and one of the linesmen. “I told him to come fight me.”
But rather than engage, Deniskin instead did something truly contemptible. He stood facing Smereck and mimed peeling and eating a banana, though it wasn’t until after the game that Smereck, who’d been distracted by those trying to steer him away from a fight, realized exactly what Deniskin had done to earn a game misconduct.
“I’ve heard slurs in the AHL, so it’s not the first time at the pro level,” he said. “I’ve had the N-word, things like that. But this is the first time I’ve had an action or a gesture like that. This is by far the worst of ’em all.”
‘Pathetic’ response
Also offensive, though, was the response from the league, which ultimately handed Deniskin a three-game suspension for the ejection along with a 10-game ban that can be bought out entirely by paying a fine that amounts to roughly $1,900 in U.S. dollars. When that news broke, Smereck says, “My heart just dropped. I was in a bad place for a little while. But then I kind of realized I couldn’t let that get to me.”
Others did, however, including current NHL players like Colorado’s Nazem Kadri, who termed the penalty “pathetic.” Former NHLer Akim Aliu, who chairs the Hockey Diversity Alliance, a group he formed last year with other players to fight intolerance and racism in the sport, called the suspension a “complete embarrassment,” and asked in a Twitter post, “How are we as POC (people of color) ever supposed to trust the system when at every turn it fails to protect us. On and OFF the ice?”
It’s a question Smereck finds himself asking again, too, with his career approaching another crossroads. After his three-year stint with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, the Detroiter opted to head overseas this season, hoping to reestablish his offensive game and improve his skills on the bigger international ice surface. He settled on the offer from HC Donbass, an established winner in Ukraine that also plays in the Champions League, where Smereck figured he’d get more exposure.
Just not this kind of exposure, obviously. The International Ice Hockey Federation called Denyskin’s actions “a direct assault on the ideals and values of our game” but hasn’t yet announced any supplemental punishment. Meanwhile, Smereck never heard from any Ukrainian league officials other than the general manager, Eugene Kolychev, who has since been fired for speaking out about the incident and allowing the video of Denyskin’s gesture to be posted on the UHL’s YouTube channel.
“That just let me know Ukraine really isn’t a place for me,” said Smereck, whose great-grandparents on his father’s side of the family were from Ukraine. “The league definitely doesn’t support me or support minorities coming into their league.”
Those are some of the misgivings he felt when he returned to practice with his HC Donbass team late last week and then played in a UHL game Saturday. But he said he was encouraged by the response he got from fans and players alike.
“A couple guys from the other team gave me a tap,” Smereck said. “I don’t think most of them really speak English too well, so I figured that was just their way of saying that they support me. And I thank them for that. It meant a lot.”
Game needs ‘tremendous’ change
He’s staying, for now, to finish out the Champions League schedule that includes at least two more games (Wednesday and Oct. 13) and possibly a few more if Donbass qualifies for the playoffs.
“But after that, I’m gonna make up my mind and decide what’s best for me,” said Smereck, whose agent has fielded calls from minor-league teams back in North America that might be interested in signing the defenseman. “Maybe an offer comes rolling through the door from back home or something. I’d definitely be open to that.”
Likewise, he thinks it’s important that he continues to push this sport to be more open and inclusive. He has heard some of the comments this past week, including from Maple Leafs veteran Wayne Simmonds, a Black player who was dismayed by Smereck’s encounter.
“The way that guy did what he did, without any hesitancy, makes me sick to my stomach,” Simmonds said. “I can see why people of color don’t want to play hockey. I can see why parents are completely afraid to put their kids into the sport. I’m the same way as well. I’ve faced a lot of these things myself, and I don’t even know if I’d want my kids playing hockey to be quite honest.”
Smereck, who is a father of 4-year-old twins, has grappled with that same thought “probably since I was 18 or 19, with what I went through in the game. And I don’t think they will, unless we can make a tremendous change.”
So that’s one reason why Smereck says he’ll continue to press forward with his own hockey career, as well as his work in promoting the game. He spends his offseason in Detroit and runs non-profit outreach programs to help the homeless and minority youth sports. He also offers his help to mentors like Rico Phillips, who founded the Flint Inner City Youth Hockey Program more than a decade ago and now works with the Ontario Hockey League, as well as Jason McCrimmon, who runs the Detroit Ice Dreams youth program. He says both have called and texted offering their support the past couple of weeks, as have countless others via social media.
“I’ve always tried to really get people to pay attention to it,” Smereck said. “With the kids that I talk to and the kids that I work with through my nonprofit, I’ve been trying to get them out of the mindset of hockey being a White person’s sport. That’s the main thing that I hear when I introduce kids to hockey. I think that’s just the biggest thing is trying to show them that hockey is for everyone.
“Hockey is a great sport, it’s taken me to so many places all over the map, I’ve met thousands of great people, and now that I’m going through this all those people have been reaching out in some way. So it does come full-circle in a way, and I definitely want to keep pushing that and keep promoting hockey in the community.”
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @JohnNiyo