Bonkers story behind Aussie NHL trailblazer Nathan Walker
The name Nathan Walker may not ring many bells for sports fans but the man is a groundbreaking pioneer in one of Australia’s final frontiers.
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If you are an Australian sports fan and don’t know the name Nathan Walker, you should.
By the start of the century, there had been few mountains that Australian athletes hadn’t conquered on a global stage and reaching the heights of the National Hockey League in ice hockey was one of them — until Walker arrived.
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Walker is an Australian pioneer in one of the world’s biggest sporting organisations, cracking the final of the “Big Four” US sports.
The NBA has had 29 Aussies since Luc Longley’s debut in 1992, MLB has had 36 Aussies starting with Joe Quinn way back in 1884, although Craig Shipley in 1986 started the modern trend, and Colin Ridgeway was the first Aussie to play in the NFL in 1965, with 19 Aussies having followed suit.
While there have been other players who may have been born in Australia make the NHL, they were usually born here before moving away when they were young.
For example, the LA Kings’ Jordan Spence was born in Manly, NSW but moved as a one-year-old to Japan, before moving to Canada as a teenager. He holds a dual citizenship for Canada and Japan.
But in the National Hockey League, there is only one player who identifies as Australian in the sport’s biggest organisation.
And every first Walker’s achieved has broken new ground in Australian sporting history.
“It is pretty special, I do take pride in that,” Walker told news.com.au. “But at the same time, I’m just another hockey player playing the game.
“The first couple of years was pretty funny. Guys would be asking me ‘Oh, so you’re actually from Australia, not Austria’ and all those sorts of things.
“But now it’s kind of known that there is an Aussie floating around but it’s cool.
“Every now and then if I scored, sometimes I’ll make the news. So that’s kind of nice back here to get some recognition for the sport, which is good. Hopefully I can just keep getting more recognition and keep growing that way.”
Walker was drafted in 2014 by the Washington Capitals and bided his time until he debuted in the side’s home opener of the 2017-18 season, where he scored a goal on debut.
While he had a tumultuous season where he was placed on waivers and picked up by the Edmonton Oilers before returning to the Capitals after just two games, he became the first Australian to lift the Stanley Cup — the oldest trophy to be awarded in professional sport in North America — having played a post-season match and providing an assist in the lead up to Washington winning its first title.
Along with his debut game, Walker said lifting the Stanley Cup was one of the highlights of his career.
“Lifting the Cup over your head is pretty special too so that’s got to be up there,” he said.
“You read some of the names on there, and it’s just like, holy smokes. 1930-something that this team won this and it’s cool to see other names on the cup. It’s such an honour to get to lift that over my head. That’s something you dream about your whole life as a kid.”
After leaving the Capitals with 12 matches under his belt over two seasons and having mainly played in the second-tier American Hockey League, Walker joined the St Louis Blues, where he has thrived, playing 99 regular season matches and four playoff games over the past four seasons.
He’s scored 12 goals — including a hat-trick last season — as well as 13 assists and has become a valuable member of the Blues organisation.
He also made headlines for an “old school” NHL fist fight in a pre-season game last year.
He’s now played 111 games in the NHL over six seasons, including 56 last season, and is already contracted for another year, having signed a one-year extension with the Blues which will see him take home a guaranteed $US775,000 ($A1.15m) next season.
He’s at home in St Louis, saying “the culture around the Blues organisation is just unbelievable”.
Leaving home at 13: Walker’s wild path to NHL
But his NHL career is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Walker’s journey.
While Walker was born in Wales, his family moved to Australia when he was two and he fell in love with the game on Australian rinks.
“My brother and I went to the rink in Canterbury — I would have been four or five, he would have been 10 or 11,” Walker said.
“We were playing in-line hockey out of Caringbah then as well so we’re familiar with the sport but we saw the ice hockey and we were just blown away by it. We just decided to give it a go.
“Also around that time was when the Mighty Ducks movies came out. So that just really gave me that extra little nudge to go out and try to play ice hockey.”
Walker quickly became a big fish in a small pond, showing abilities well beyond his years.
He was so good that by the age of just 13, Walker asked his parents to allow him to test his skills overseas, already with only one goal in mind — to play in the NHL.
Now 29, Walker said although it was difficult at the time to move to Czechia, it was what he needed to do to achieve the dream.
“It was tough but it was something that had to be done,” he said.
“I was only looking forward then to getting to the Czech Republic and putting the skates on and getting out there.
“It was definitely a tough time and I missed out on a lot of things back here. But I was there to play hockey and that was the main reason so I just kind of had to let all that outside noise just be outside noise.”
Asked how long it took him be comfortable in the Czech Republic, Walker joked: “I don’t know if I was ever comfortable.”
But he quickly learned the language and excelled in the HC Vitkovice system, quickly working his way through the ranks.
In his first match after arriving, Walker scored a hat-trick and was immediately bumped up to a more senior team.
He eventually debuted in the Czech Extraliga as the first Aussie to play for a professional team senior team in Europe as well as the youngest player in the competition at just 17.
As with many elite athletes, Walker also excelled in other sports.
Walker would return to Australia in the hockey off-season and play rep rugby league for the Cronulla Sharks until he was 15.
“I kept coming back and playing and they said to me ‘Listen, you can’t just keep coming back and taking guys’ spots and then leaving so you’ve got to make a decision — do you want to play rugby league or do you want to play hockey’?” Walker said.
“Obviously I chose the hockey route and then I’ve really played footy again since.”
He said playing football helped him in making an impact on the Czech Republic
“Being Australian, I think it’s one of those things where you don’t like to take s**t off anyone,” Walker said.
“So I think that definitely went in my favour for sure.”
But had Walker stayed in Australia, he has no doubt his trailblazing career would not have happened.
“Not to talk down on Australian hockey, but it’s just not going to happen here unfortunately,” Walker said.
“Everything’s just not as good as overseas and that’s just the cold hard truth.
“I say this a lot, but it’s a lot easier to go to Rebel Sport and grab a rugby ball and a pair of boots and go kick goals for a couple hours than it is to go get fitted out for hockey equipment and find ice somewhere and pay for ice and then find another 30 people to help you pay for the ice.”
Australia gets a taste of the NHL
Australia will finally get a taste of NHL action when the competition sends the LA Kings and Arizona Coyotes for a pair of pre-season games in September.
Melbourne will become the first city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the NHL for it 2023 Global Series at Rod Laver Arena.
While Walker will return to St Louis, Jordan Spence of the Kings is expected to part of the games on Saturday September 23 and Sunday September 24.
Walker said for first-time hockey watchers, it will give them someone to barrack for.
“I have only spoken to him really briefly, but Aussies will love the fact that there’s an Australian in the LA team, for sure,” Walker said.
“LA and Arizona are coming out, two great teams, so they’ll put on a great couple of games for everyone involved and it’ll be good. It’s going to be good for Australians to see NHL games up close and personal I guess.”
As for missing out on the first NHL action in Australia, Walker said: “It sucks”.
But when asked about comments from Canadian sports journalist and NHL insider Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts podcast that he could be “on loan to one of the teams for these two games”, Walker shut it down.
“I’m fine with the Blues,” Walker said. “I want to be part of the St. Louis team. I don’t want to be handed out a charity loan to go and play in Australia — I’m not about that. I’m with the St. Louis Blues.”
Maybe next year NHL.
Originally published as Bonkers story behind Aussie NHL trailblazer Nathan Walker
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