And, somehow, the whole issue was treated like some sort of discussion. Instead they had to hear about my refusal to strip naked and get in a bathroom in the back of the team bus with three other rookies. I dreamed of my parents reading in the paper back home about their son scoring a hat trick in his first game, or leading his team to the playoffs. I was the kid who wouldn’t go along with it. Thanks to this guy, that was the way I was introduced to the entire hockey world. If you’ve heard of me, you’ve heard of the hazing incident that took place that season.
He was two years older than me and a rising star, and he wielded his power over me like I was nothing - like I was subhuman. He’d make fun of my clothes, the way I spoke. And then he began to belittle me in front of my teammates, the coaches, whoever would listen to him. Then he took my gear outside and threw it on the roof. There was this guy on the team - he was the top-prospect, future-NHL-star type that most junior teams in Canada have - and he looked at me, Akim Aliu, and chose to make my life a living hell.įirst couple of practices he put Tiger Balm in my jock. But from the moment I joined the Windsor Spitfires, I had a target on my back. I was just a raw 16-year-old kid with a big ol’ dream that he’d make it to the show one day. It was the year I’d left my family home in Toronto to go play hockey in the OHL. In 2005, in a tiny arena in Windsor, Ontario, I fought for my life.
