THE BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY:: BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " EMERSON ALBERT SPRATLEN ETEM " IS A PROFESSIONAL ICE HOCKEY PLAYER CURRENTLY PLAYING FOR THE NORFOLK ADMIRALS OF THE AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

Friday 5 September 2014

BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " EMERSON ALBERT SPRATLEN ETEM " IS A PROFESSIONAL ICE HOCKEY PLAYER CURRENTLY PLAYING FOR THE NORFOLK ADMIRALS OF THE AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Emerson Albert Spratlen Etem (born June 16, 1992) is an American ice hockey player currently playing for the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League. He is a first round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks, selected 29th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Early life

Etem comes from a family where rowing is popular, and his African-American mother Patricia made the U.S. Olympic rowing team, but due to the boycott, did not participate at the 1980 Games in Moscow. Patricia rowed in the four with coxswain at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Continuing with the rowing traditions of his family, Emerson's elder brother Martin is an Elite rower, who is training to compete for the US National Rowing Team. After a successful collegiate career at Syracuse, Martin most recently trialled at the 2012 National Selection Regatta in the Men's Heavyweight Double Scull. Emerson has an older sister Elise, who also has had a successful athletic career. She was Wilson High School's Most Valuable Swimmer; swam for one season at University of California, Berkeley and then walked-on to the Women's Rowing team at Cal. She became a captain of the crew in her senior year and ended her career as the Pac-12 Athlete of the Year and a CRCA All-American.

Playing career

Junior

Emerson followed his older brother Martin into roller then ice hockey. While watching Martin play with the Long Beach Jr. Ice Dogs in the 2003 National Tier II Championship tournament, he saw Sidney Crosby lead the Shattuck-Saint Mary's Sabers to the Tier I 17&under National Championship (held concurrently at The Gardens Ice House in Laurel, MD). Inspired by the caliber of players, coaching, and winning tradition of Sabers hockey, Etem moved to Minnesota at age 14 to play at Shattuck-Saint Mary's, where he led the Bantam team to a third place finish at the Tier I 14&under 2007 National Championship at Amherst, New York, in his freshman year. As the only sophomore on the Shattuck-Saint Mary's 2007–08 Midget Minor AAA team, Etem helped the Sabers win their second consecutive Tier I 17&under National Title - the first time in the school's history. In 2008–09 Etem moved to Michigan to play for the National Team Development Program.^[1] Etem is of mixed race as his father, Rick, is white, and his mother, Patricia, is black.

Etem was drafted into the Western Hockey League (WHL) 115th overall by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2007 Bantam Draft. While playing for Medicine Hat in 2009–10, Etem led all WHL rookies in goals.

Professional

Despite reaching the eighth spot in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau's rankings, Etem saw his draft day go on longer than expected as he was drafted at 29th overall by theAnaheim Ducks. Etem scored his first career NHL goal on March 18, 2013 against Antti Niemi of the San Jose Sharks.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

			Regular season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2008–09	U.S. National Development Team	NAHL	40	19	14	33	16	9	4	4	8	4
2009–10	Medicine Hat Tigers	WHL	72	37	28	65	26	12	7	3	10	0
2010–11	Medicine Hat Tigers	WHL	65	45	35	80	24	15	10	11	21	7
2011–12	Medicine Hat Tigers	WHL	65	61	46	107	34	7	7	6	13	13
2011–12	Syracuse Crunch	AHL	2	1	0	1	2	4	2	0	2	0
2012–13	Norfolk Admirals	AHL	45	13	3	16	12	—	—	—	—	—
2012–13	Anaheim Ducks	NHL	38	3	7	10	9	7	3	2	5	2
2013–14	Anaheim Ducks	NHL	29	7	4	11	4	4	0	0	0	12
2013–14	Norfolk Admirals	AHL	50	24	30	54	10	4	0	2	2	0
NHL totals			67	10	11	21	13	11	3	2	5	14