About 40 minutes prior to faceoff Sunday night, Joe Snively jumped onto the ice for the pregame warmup and took his first few twirls all alone.
There have been several “rookie laps” this season at Capital One Arena due to a Washington roster that’s been crushed by injuries and COVID-19. But the louder than usual round of applause Snively received underscored the fact that there was something different about this debut.
Herndon, Va. native Joe Snively, who is making his NHL debut with the #Caps, got quite the ovation during his solo lap. pic.twitter.com/koFG0B8HXN
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) December 19, 2021
Indeed, Snively grew up 25 miles down I-66 and the Dulles Toll Road in Herndon, Va. and became the first player from the commonwealth to play for the Caps, according to the team. He played his youth hockey at SkateQuest in Reston, Va., and MedStar Capitals Iceplex, Washington’s practice facility and headquarters. He grew up cheering for Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson from the same seats he was now looking at from the opposite side of the glass.
Advertisement
Just eight minutes into the game — and on just his third NHL shift — Snively was being toasted again by the capacity crowd that was on hand for the Caps’ eventual 3-2 loss to the Kings. The 25-year-old had earned his first point just eight minutes into the game — a primary assist on a goal by Connor McMichael.
Joe Snively, Virginia native, gets his first career point just 8 minutes into his first game on this McMichael goal!!!
Come for the goal, stay for the Snively family's celebration 😍 pic.twitter.com/oXuQXy9xdf
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) December 20, 2021
After the game, Snively said he was a little jittery on his first couple of shifts but earning a point early on calmed his nerves.
“That settles you down a little bit,” he said with a smile. “Got a little confidence going.”
Joe Snively, Virginia native, gets his first career point just 8 minutes into his first game on this McMichael goal!!!
Come for the goal, stay for the Snively family's celebration 😍 pic.twitter.com/oXuQXy9xdf
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) December 20, 2021
Snively’s parents and siblings jumped to their feet. As did his longtime skills coach Tim Graham, who made sure he was in the building for Snively’s debut, too.
“I started working with Joe when he was seven,” said Graham, who is now the hockey director at The St. James in Springfield, Va. “He was always a kid that was head and shoulders above the others. Between ages eight and 11, I’d say, he came for lessons on every Wednesday and Friday morning from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. before school to make that difference in his skating and skill level.”
Snively said he still works with Graham each offseason.
“It’s a little emotional for me, and it’s so rewarding to a see a kid — I mean, he was ‘Little Joe’ — and to see him actually matriculate to this level,” Graham added, “I’m almost at a loss for words.”
Advertisement
Many more supporters — like local power skating guru Wendy Marco — rooted Snively on from home. Marco also began working with Snively as a young boy.
“He just loved being on the ice,” Marco recalled. “He was super competitive. He got a thrill out of competing. He was determined and smart and easy to coach. It was easy for him to take instruction and turn into physical movement. It was also obvious from a young age that he was super athletic.”
When Snively was 13, he set a record in a drill that all of Marco’s pupils do. The student jumps over a stick, crosses over, touches the ice and then does the same motion in the opposite direction. Snively registered 95 touches in 30 seconds, a record that stood for almost 10 years. The record was broken two years ago by Alex Limoges, who is from Winchester, Va., starred at Penn State and is now in the Anaheim Ducks’ minor league system. Both Snively and Limoges were nominees for the Hobey Baker Award.
“He’s always just had wicked fast feet,” she said of Snively. “I mean just crazy fast feet. He’s such a great skater.”
By now, the tale of Snively’s journey from the Little Caps to the big Caps is well known. He played for the Reston Raiders and the 13U AAA Little Capitals before heading to prep school in Connecticut to hone his skills against some of the best youth players the Northeast has to offer. After that, he played three seasons of junior hockey for Sioux City of the USHL before suiting up for Yale, where he went on to have a decorated collegiate carer.
Snively signed with his hometown Caps as a free agent in 2019 and began his professional career with the Hershey Bears, Washington’s AHL affiliate.
A call-up felt inevitable for Snively in recent weeks. Beset by injury and COVID-19 complications, the Caps had summoned several prospects to fill in and Snively has been arguably the Bears’ best player this season. In fact, he leads the team in points with 22 (eight goals, 14 assists) in 21 games. He’s also one of the organization’s most improved prospects.
Advertisement
“Physically he’s not one of the bigger guys out there so there’s a lot of details in the game — plays along the wall in his end, plays along the wall in the offensive zone — where you just need reps and time and work with the coaches and work with video,” Capitals assistant general manager Chris Patrick said. “His first couple of years, the puck comes around to him on his side in the D zone maybe it’s not getting out of the zone. Now, not only is getting out of the D zone, but they’re coming through the neutral zone with possession and able to make a play off the rush.”
“You’re starting to see that time and effort come to fruition.”
The big pay off, though, came Saturday when Snively was preparing to suit up for the Bears and his phone rang. The moment he had envisioned so many times before was finally happening. The Caps wanted him in D.C.
“He’s worked hard,” Coach Peter Laviolette said. “He put himself in a position to have his name called.”
Snively finished with an assist in 6:53 of ice time spread over 11 even-strength shifts against Los Angeles. He also registered two shots on net and a hit.
He wasn’t on the ice often. But for a lot of people in the local hockey community, the fact that he was there at all meant everything.
The D.C. area has produced some homegrown talent over the years, the best example being Potomac, Md.’s Jeff Halpern, who played 14 NHL seasons for seven clubs including the Caps and now stands behind the bench for the two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning as an assistant coach.
But for Graham, Snively’s arrival signals the first ripple in what he hopes becomes a tidal wave of local talent reaching hockey’s higher levels.
“What’s cool to me is he’s the first of many to come,” Graham said. “Alex Limoges isn’t going to be far off; he’s with the (AHL’s) San Diego Gulls. (Fairfax, Va.’s) Greg Printz is playing in San Diego with him. (Falls Church, Va.’s) Liam Gilmartin just got drafted by San Jose and is playing for London in the OHL. If Liam figures it out with his skill set, he can be here, too. (Bowie, Md.’s) Bryce Montgomery got drafted by Carolina; he’s in London, too.”
Advertisement
“I think there’s going to be a wave, and there’s only going to be more and more. It’s ‘The Ovechkin Effect.'”
Marco said Snively’s ascension to the Caps is as inspiring as it is proof that the Washington area is capable of producing top level players.
“It gives local kids someone to look up to who was just like them,” she said. “It also makes the path easier for good local kids. They had to go prove themselves to people in Michigan and Minnesota and Canada and Boston and Rhode Island that they knew how to play hockey. Now, all of those people — the coaches and scouts and agents — they know when a kid from down here applies or wants to get looked at, it’s not automatically a black mark like it once was. They’re looking for kids from here now.”
Brad Surdam, the youth hockey director at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, echoed Marco’s sentiments. As a coach and hockey administrator, Surdam said Snively’s success story gives him a recent example that he can point to when talking to players and parents about the pathway to junior, college and the pro ranks.
“It proves that it’s not too far-fetched for a kid from Herndon, Virginia to have a dream of playing in the NHL,” Surdam said. “I can now say to kids, ‘If you want to be the next Joe Snively and work just as hard as he did, it’s a possibility. It’s great for this area.”
Snively is hopeful, too.
“I came from this area and I made it,” he said. “So they can, too. I’m just trying to set an example for them.”
Right now, however, he’s more focused on establishing himself as an option for the Caps, who, in the short term, need capable fill-ins and, in the long term, are on the lookout for young, inexpensive talent that can flesh out a star-laden, capped out roster.
After Sunday night’s game, Snively has put himself on their short list.
Advertisement
“He’s kind of at that point in his career where he’s not a young guy anymore,” said Patrick, who oversees the Caps’ prospects and minor league operation. “But he’s not a grizzled veteran by any means, either. He’s kind of in that sweet spot where he’s an experienced guy that’s going to have a big role on any minor league team that he’s playing for. Hopefully, Joe will show that he can play on an NHL roster. He’s got that opportunity now and you hope he does as good as he can with it. It’s the kind of thing that can make your career.”
(Top photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
