Tootoo finds peace, purpose in life

A quarter century ago, Jordin Tootoo was a chaotic force for the Brandon Wheat Kings both on and off the ice.

Now 43, the much-beloved Wheat Kings legend from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, will be the keynote speaker at the Brandon Wheat Kings Foundation’s sold-out Black And Gold Gala tonight for the addition of Bob Cornell and Kelly and Brad McCrimmon to the team’s Hall of Fame.

While a much younger Tootoo regularly butted heads with Kelly McCrimmon during his time in the Western Hockey League, he’s now filled with gratitude for what the team’s former general manager and owner did for him.

“Not a lot of people know the other side of Mr. Kelly McCrimmon as far as being compassionate, sentimental, loyal, trustworthy,” Tootoo said. “He exemplifies every one of those definitions. At the time when I was a Brandon Wheat King, I would get called into Kelly McCrimmon’s office on a monthly basis.

“It was cumbersome to my mental state. I always thought ‘Why is Kelly picking on Jordin Tootoo all the time? Why am I being called into the office all the time?’ Looking back, it’s because he cared about Jordin Tootoo the person and not just the hockey player.”

Tootoo said he’s heard similar stories from many former Wheat Kings when they were on McCrimmon’s radar. It wasn’t always easy, but he was inevitably a positive influence.

“He knows your potential and in the day-to-day grind, there are people pulling you in different directions,” Tootoo said. “Now every time I get to see Kelly, it’s more of a thank you and a hug. I now understand the person that he was for me in my teenage years.”

Tootoo made the jump to the Wheat Kings at age 16 in the 1999-2000 season, and became one of the most popular players in team history with his offensive ability, thunderous hits and fearless fights. He drew well at the Keystone Centre and around the league.

Tootoo’s incredible physicality was a big part of his effectiveness, and it became part of Brandon’s game plan. Off the opening faceoff, the instruction was to dump the puck deep on the right side and let the fearless right winger chase it.

He either got the puck or at very least, delivered a message to the other team’s defencemen that it was going to be a long, painful night for them.

“That was either Bobby Lowes or Dean Clark,” Tootoo said with a laugh. “He instructed every guy who played with Jordin Tootoo to get the puck in the corner and be ready to shoot the puck, because Toots is going to come out with the puck.”

Tootoo, wearing No. 22, played 220 games with the Wheat Kings, earning 209 points on 93 goals and 116 assists and 874 penalty minutes. He also played for Team Canada at the 2003 IIHF World Junior Championship, winning a silver medal.

In 39 playoff games, he added 22 points and 125 penalty minutes.

The Nashville Predators selected him in the fourth round of the 2001 NHL draft, and Tootoo made the jump in his 20-year-old season in 2003-04.

“You are a product of your environment,” Tootoo said. “Honestly, the hockey world has really opened its arms and allowed Jordin Tootoo to live out his childhood dreams, but also, have the right people around me to guide me and really direct me in the direction where I would hopefully become most successful.

“I’m grateful that I was chosen by the Wheat Kings. Brandon is not a big city, and I needed that for my transition into the big world.”

In the NHL, he played 723 regular-season games with the Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks between 2003 and 2017. He last saw action in the 2016-17 season with Chicago.

In 2018, he came back to Brandon to announce his retirement, a nod to the city that helped launch his career.

TOUGH TIMES

The off-ice issues came from his partying, a habit he had picked up with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s OCN Blizzard at age 15, when he was playing with his older brother Terrence.

Tootoo has been candid about his struggles with alcoholism. He entered the NHL’s substance abuse and behavioural health program in 2010, and has been sober ever since. He detailed many of those battles in the book: “All The Way: My Life on Ice,” which was co-authored with Stephen Brunt, and released in 2014.

When he was in Brandon, it was an issue and created many problems. Tootoo repeatedly asked McCrimmon for trades — “Get rid of me if you can’t handle me” — but he now recognizes that request was coming from a lost teenager who didn’t have a lot of structure or guidance in his life from the right people.

He notes head coaches Lowes and Clark and assistant coaches Mark Johnston and Brad Wells were also formative figures during his time in the city.

“I now get to come back and show them that appreciation and show them the love that they deserve and recognition,” Tootoo said. “I’m truly honoured to come back and be one of the speakers.”

Tootoo’s impact on the city can be summed up in two standing ovations he received. One came in his 19-year-old season, shortly after he returned from Nashville Predators training camp in the wake of his brother Terence’s death by suicide in 2002 in Brandon.

“The city really embraced me,” Tootoo and Brunt wrote in the book. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone cheer louder than the city of Brandon when I came back to play my first game after Terence’s death.

The second came when he was involved in a ceremonial faceoff prior to a game at the 2010 Memorial Cup in Brandon. Tootoo was still in his partying days, but was emotional as Brandon fans gave him a lengthy standing ovation after he stepped on the ice.

“When you’re in the moment, you don’t realize the impact you may have, until you take a few steps back and look at the big picture,” Tootoo said. “At the 2010 Memorial Cup when I got on the ice, I was still in one as far as my off-ice extra-curricular activities. When I walked out on the ice and the fans were going crazy, it truly sunk in, the impact that I left.

“Looking back, those were probably the best four years of my entire hockey career. There were a lot of turbulent times, but I had the right people to help me and to guide me and to push me to be the best version of myself. Kelly McCrimmon and the coaching staff and the office staff, Lyn Shannon, Rick Dillabough. It was people you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

“I’ve met thousands of people in the hockey world, but it’s the people who care that wish you the most success and wellness that when it comes back full circle, you damn well better go and give those people a big hug and a thank you.”

NEXT CHAPTER

Happily, his life now has the structure and sense of purpose that eluded him when he was younger.

Tootoo, who is married to wife Jennifer, is the father of daughters Siena Rose and Avery Grace, started his Team Tootoo Fund in 2011 to raise awareness for suicide prevention and anti-bullying programs. He’s also actively engaged with Indigenous youth.

Tootoo has lived a turbulent life, but he eventually found the path he was meant to walk. His advice is not to learn from others as much as it to learn about yourself.

“The one metaphor I’ve used through my travels is finding your tundra,” Tootoo said. “Finding a place where you can go and be present and be silent and reminisce. For me, that’s when I go out on the land. The land is where I feel comfortable, the land is where I feel most at peace. It’s a place of peace, it’s a place of happiness.

“A lot of times I ask people, ‘Where is your tundra? Where is the place you can go to debrief and disconnect and get away from a device. It doesn’t necessarily have to be nature. Is it going for a walk? Is it doodling? Is it journaling? Is it meditating?

“I don’t know what that is, but for me, it’s been the land that allowed me to be who I am and keep striving to be the best version of myself.

“I don’t ever want people to compare themselves to somebody else. Just be the best version of yourself.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com