Editor's note: This is the third in a three-part series chronicling a journey from pond hockey in Auburn to the professional ranks of the National Hockey League.
A 25-year-old defenseman glides backward into his own zone. Wearing a Carolina Hurricanes jersey for the first time - or any NHL jersey for that matter - he stares down his opponent. On this particular evening, it's the Nashville Predators, in Nashville. On this particular shift, it's Paul Kariya, a 50-goal scorer and seven-time all-star. Kariya has 738 regular season NHL games under his belt. The defenseman J.D. Forrest, has zero. It's his first NHL game, and it's an exhibition.
Working on the power play, Kariya stickhandles the puck into the offensive corner. Then, in a flash, the puck is gone. It's skipping down the ice as precious power play time dwindles for the Predators. Forrest, who came up with the steal and the clear, has one thought running through his mind: “Holy crap.”
“I felt like I wasn't supposed to take the puck from him or something,” said Forrest, an Auburn native. “Like he's supposed to do something and I'm supposed to stand there.”
It's the stuff dreams are made of.
Almost.
Forrest only played one more game at the NHL level that year, an exhibition against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But that short-lived experience is one he won't soon forget - receiving passes from Rod Brind'Amour, a 20-year NHL veteran and two-time Selke Award winner, or skating with the likes of Ray Whitney, an all-star winger.
“(These are) guys I watched growing up,” a flabbergasted Forrest said, “and I'm out there with them.”
He spent about two weeks with the Hurricanes, progressing through training camp and into the preseason before being one of the final two defensemen sent to the team's top affiliate in the American Hockey League, the Albany River Rats. Still, Forrest was grateful to even have a shot at the big dance - and he swore it wouldn't be his last.
“There's not a ton of people that play hockey that ever get to sign an NHL deal,” Forrest said. “It's a tough emotion to grasp. You work so hard for it, but I kind of couldn't really believe I'm getting an NHL contract.”
Granted, Forrest would have loved to stay in the NHL, but he knew logging some AHL time was another essential step to becoming a big-league regular.
So with just a dash of disappointment and an abundance of optimism Forrest prepared to make an impact - all just a few hours from his home. It turned out to be the wrong kind of impact.
Playing in his first exhibition game with the River Rats, Forrest corralled the puck along the boards during the second period. As an opponent skated by, their knees collided.
“I've probably been involved in the same kind of play a thousand times,” Forrest said. “It just never came together at the right - or wrong - time.”
It was wrong, all right. Forrest tore an anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his knee.
“I knew something was bad because I heard a pop,” Forrest said. “It was painful - real bad, right away.”
Refusing to collapse on the ice in obvious pain, Forrest hobbled toward the bench and somehow hurled himself over the boards. Immediately going into the locker room, Forrest knew he was going to miss some games. A few days later an MRI revealed just how many. All of them.
Worst of all - aside from the agonizing pain - was that feeling of satisfaction he had during Hurricanes camp had left him confident he could have been a contender if a slot were to open up in Carolina.
The emotional damage was nearly as bad as the physical. But it was fleeting.
“I was real upset at first,” Forrest said. “But then I just said, 'All right, let's deal with it. There's nothing I can do, I'm not going to cry about it. It happens, and now I'm going to take care of it.'”
That meant starting rehab to regain his range of motion immediately following the surgery. About two days after the operation he was in therapy for three to four hours every day, and it was painful. Real painful.
“I pretty much wanted to punch my trainer in the face every day after he was done with me,” Forrest said. “Your knee doesn't want to bend and someone's on the other end grabbing your foot making it bend, stretching everything out. I just felt like everything was going to pop off my knee. I thought my tendons and bones were just going to explode out of my skin.”
When he wasn't being worked over in the training room, Forrest had to keep his leg immobilized, which made crutches his primary mode of transportation. Once the immobilizer came off, he had to re-learn how to walk with a normal gait before he could even think about lacing up his skates. Soon enough, though, he was ready to hit the ice.
About two months after the surgery he could skate lightly, but he still wasn't able to fully participate in practice - he wasn't allowed to partake in any contact drills for fear of doing damage to the repaired ligaments. By the time he was four months out of surgery, Forrest was going full throttle. But his doctors were still hitting the brake pedal.
“They weren't going to let me play no matter what,” Forrest said. “I hated it. I couldn't stand going to the games all the time and sitting there watching. It was frustrating to say the least.”
Finally, the day after the final game of the season - obviously not by coincidence - the doctors cleared Forrest to play. With no games on the schedule, it meant practice, practice, practice. And then a little more practice.
He worked all offseason to strengthen his leg, though he admits to this day it's still not as big as the other, but almost. He entered Hurricanes camp flying, again getting some opportunities to play in exhibition games. But having not been in a structured hockey environment for almost a calendar year, Forrest found it difficult to get back into game mode.
“The hardest part was trying to remember all the little things that you do. A lot of it is habit, but some of it (comes from) repetitions,” Forrest said. “It wasn't really the stick-handling, shooting, skating - those were fine. It's more the mental part of the game.”
His mental toughness was tested again once camp came to a close. Forrest had his ticket punched for Albany once more, but after camp with the River Rats, he was sent down another level, to the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League. Not to worry - at least Forrest didn't.
“I was going through some weird emotions,” he said. “I just wanted to get into the season. The whole preseason stuff, I felt like I'd been doing it forever. After the injury all I did was practice. All summer long I just worked out and practiced and then I had training camp and then Albany camp. I was just sick of all the camp and I wanted to get into a regular season where it meant something and intensity was there.
“It was actually good,” Forrest said of the assignment to Florida. “They told me they wanted me to get some games in, just because I hadn't played in games so long.”
He didn't wait long to make the most of them.
Playing in 12 games for the Everblades Forrest netted a goal and seven assists and earned a trip back up to Albany one month and one day after being sent down.
Again, he didn't waste any time.
In his first regular season game with the River Rats - finally - Forrest came within inches of netting his first AHL goal just moments after the opening faceoff. Teammate Keith Aucoin fed a pass to a trailing Forrest, who deked the goalie to give himself a wide-open net. As Forrest released the shot into the yawning goalmouth the goalkeeper flung his arm out and knocked the puck aside with the paddle of his stick.
“He just got so lucky. I had him burned,” Forrest said, succumbing to laughter. “But it happens.”
At the end of the game, though, that play isn't what stood out for Forrest in the 3-0 win over the Lowell Devils. He got that first game under his belt, and it felt good. But it was only one game. He found himself questioning, Can I do this over an 80-game stretch?
By Game No. 2 he answered with his first AHL point - an assist on the opening goal during a 5-2 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Game No. 4 yielded Forrest's first AHL goal when he deflected a shot into the net in the first period of a 7-0 rout of the Norfolk Admirals. In his first 19 games with Albany, Forrest piled up 10 points.
But trouble lurked. His ice time started to diminish. He was left out of the lineup without an explanation. He was left dumbfounded.
“I felt like I was contributing pretty much on a nightly basis,” Forrest said. “I finally get this grove back, this flow that you need to get through the season and then I was kind of in and out of the lineup with no explanation. I started to get a little frustrated.”
Then came the trade talks.
There's no easy way to describe what it's like to be traded - swapped like a snack at the third-grade cafeteria table. But the thought didn't disturb Forrest one bit. In fact, just the opposite. He welcomed a change.
“Now I have some new team that wants me,” Forrest said. “It was nice to know I was going to be going to a team that actually wanted me for whatever reason.”
Of course, it wasn't easy for Forrest to leave his teammates and friends behind. But that's the business, and he had to do what was best for his own career. That meant joining the San Jose Sharks, who obtained Forrest on Feb. 7, and quickly assigned him to their AHL affiliate, the Worcester Sharks. In 16 games, he tallied five points, including a power-play goal.
But now, Forrest finds himself in a familiar position: a free agent playing the waiting game, wondering where he might call home next year. He currently lives with his wife, Sarah, in Boston. But he knows - maybe even hopes - that it could be only temporary.
“You could start in Worcester, get sent to San Jose, sent down, called back, guys are doing it all the time,” Forrest said. “It would be nice for myself and my wife if we could have a home base.”
There's one thing Forrest is sure of, though. Home base or not, hockey has been a great home to him for 27 years.
“I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out,” he said. “I still feel like I have other goals to accomplish and I still think I can get there. I've been pretty luck to play with some really good players and some great teams. I think that's pretty much all you can ask for right there.”
Working on the power play, Kariya stickhandles the puck into the offensive corner. Then, in a flash, the puck is gone. It's skipping down the ice as precious power play time dwindles for the Predators. Forrest, who came up with the steal and the clear, has one thought running through his mind: “Holy crap.”
“I felt like I wasn't supposed to take the puck from him or something,” said Forrest, an Auburn native. “Like he's supposed to do something and I'm supposed to stand there.”
It's the stuff dreams are made of.
Almost.
Forrest only played one more game at the NHL level that year, an exhibition against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But that short-lived experience is one he won't soon forget - receiving passes from Rod Brind'Amour, a 20-year NHL veteran and two-time Selke Award winner, or skating with the likes of Ray Whitney, an all-star winger.
“(These are) guys I watched growing up,” a flabbergasted Forrest said, “and I'm out there with them.”
He spent about two weeks with the Hurricanes, progressing through training camp and into the preseason before being one of the final two defensemen sent to the team's top affiliate in the American Hockey League, the Albany River Rats. Still, Forrest was grateful to even have a shot at the big dance - and he swore it wouldn't be his last.
“There's not a ton of people that play hockey that ever get to sign an NHL deal,” Forrest said. “It's a tough emotion to grasp. You work so hard for it, but I kind of couldn't really believe I'm getting an NHL contract.”
Granted, Forrest would have loved to stay in the NHL, but he knew logging some AHL time was another essential step to becoming a big-league regular.
So with just a dash of disappointment and an abundance of optimism Forrest prepared to make an impact - all just a few hours from his home. It turned out to be the wrong kind of impact.
Playing in his first exhibition game with the River Rats, Forrest corralled the puck along the boards during the second period. As an opponent skated by, their knees collided.
“I've probably been involved in the same kind of play a thousand times,” Forrest said. “It just never came together at the right - or wrong - time.”
It was wrong, all right. Forrest tore an anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in his knee.
“I knew something was bad because I heard a pop,” Forrest said. “It was painful - real bad, right away.”
Refusing to collapse on the ice in obvious pain, Forrest hobbled toward the bench and somehow hurled himself over the boards. Immediately going into the locker room, Forrest knew he was going to miss some games. A few days later an MRI revealed just how many. All of them.
Worst of all - aside from the agonizing pain - was that feeling of satisfaction he had during Hurricanes camp had left him confident he could have been a contender if a slot were to open up in Carolina.
The emotional damage was nearly as bad as the physical. But it was fleeting.
“I was real upset at first,” Forrest said. “But then I just said, 'All right, let's deal with it. There's nothing I can do, I'm not going to cry about it. It happens, and now I'm going to take care of it.'”
That meant starting rehab to regain his range of motion immediately following the surgery. About two days after the operation he was in therapy for three to four hours every day, and it was painful. Real painful.
“I pretty much wanted to punch my trainer in the face every day after he was done with me,” Forrest said. “Your knee doesn't want to bend and someone's on the other end grabbing your foot making it bend, stretching everything out. I just felt like everything was going to pop off my knee. I thought my tendons and bones were just going to explode out of my skin.”
When he wasn't being worked over in the training room, Forrest had to keep his leg immobilized, which made crutches his primary mode of transportation. Once the immobilizer came off, he had to re-learn how to walk with a normal gait before he could even think about lacing up his skates. Soon enough, though, he was ready to hit the ice.
About two months after the surgery he could skate lightly, but he still wasn't able to fully participate in practice - he wasn't allowed to partake in any contact drills for fear of doing damage to the repaired ligaments. By the time he was four months out of surgery, Forrest was going full throttle. But his doctors were still hitting the brake pedal.
“They weren't going to let me play no matter what,” Forrest said. “I hated it. I couldn't stand going to the games all the time and sitting there watching. It was frustrating to say the least.”
Finally, the day after the final game of the season - obviously not by coincidence - the doctors cleared Forrest to play. With no games on the schedule, it meant practice, practice, practice. And then a little more practice.
He worked all offseason to strengthen his leg, though he admits to this day it's still not as big as the other, but almost. He entered Hurricanes camp flying, again getting some opportunities to play in exhibition games. But having not been in a structured hockey environment for almost a calendar year, Forrest found it difficult to get back into game mode.
“The hardest part was trying to remember all the little things that you do. A lot of it is habit, but some of it (comes from) repetitions,” Forrest said. “It wasn't really the stick-handling, shooting, skating - those were fine. It's more the mental part of the game.”
His mental toughness was tested again once camp came to a close. Forrest had his ticket punched for Albany once more, but after camp with the River Rats, he was sent down another level, to the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League. Not to worry - at least Forrest didn't.
“I was going through some weird emotions,” he said. “I just wanted to get into the season. The whole preseason stuff, I felt like I'd been doing it forever. After the injury all I did was practice. All summer long I just worked out and practiced and then I had training camp and then Albany camp. I was just sick of all the camp and I wanted to get into a regular season where it meant something and intensity was there.
“It was actually good,” Forrest said of the assignment to Florida. “They told me they wanted me to get some games in, just because I hadn't played in games so long.”
He didn't wait long to make the most of them.
Playing in 12 games for the Everblades Forrest netted a goal and seven assists and earned a trip back up to Albany one month and one day after being sent down.
Again, he didn't waste any time.
In his first regular season game with the River Rats - finally - Forrest came within inches of netting his first AHL goal just moments after the opening faceoff. Teammate Keith Aucoin fed a pass to a trailing Forrest, who deked the goalie to give himself a wide-open net. As Forrest released the shot into the yawning goalmouth the goalkeeper flung his arm out and knocked the puck aside with the paddle of his stick.
“He just got so lucky. I had him burned,” Forrest said, succumbing to laughter. “But it happens.”
At the end of the game, though, that play isn't what stood out for Forrest in the 3-0 win over the Lowell Devils. He got that first game under his belt, and it felt good. But it was only one game. He found himself questioning, Can I do this over an 80-game stretch?
By Game No. 2 he answered with his first AHL point - an assist on the opening goal during a 5-2 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Game No. 4 yielded Forrest's first AHL goal when he deflected a shot into the net in the first period of a 7-0 rout of the Norfolk Admirals. In his first 19 games with Albany, Forrest piled up 10 points.
But trouble lurked. His ice time started to diminish. He was left out of the lineup without an explanation. He was left dumbfounded.
“I felt like I was contributing pretty much on a nightly basis,” Forrest said. “I finally get this grove back, this flow that you need to get through the season and then I was kind of in and out of the lineup with no explanation. I started to get a little frustrated.”
Then came the trade talks.
There's no easy way to describe what it's like to be traded - swapped like a snack at the third-grade cafeteria table. But the thought didn't disturb Forrest one bit. In fact, just the opposite. He welcomed a change.
“Now I have some new team that wants me,” Forrest said. “It was nice to know I was going to be going to a team that actually wanted me for whatever reason.”
Of course, it wasn't easy for Forrest to leave his teammates and friends behind. But that's the business, and he had to do what was best for his own career. That meant joining the San Jose Sharks, who obtained Forrest on Feb. 7, and quickly assigned him to their AHL affiliate, the Worcester Sharks. In 16 games, he tallied five points, including a power-play goal.
But now, Forrest finds himself in a familiar position: a free agent playing the waiting game, wondering where he might call home next year. He currently lives with his wife, Sarah, in Boston. But he knows - maybe even hopes - that it could be only temporary.
“You could start in Worcester, get sent to San Jose, sent down, called back, guys are doing it all the time,” Forrest said. “It would be nice for myself and my wife if we could have a home base.”
There's one thing Forrest is sure of, though. Home base or not, hockey has been a great home to him for 27 years.
“I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out,” he said. “I still feel like I have other goals to accomplish and I still think I can get there. I've been pretty luck to play with some really good players and some great teams. I think that's pretty much all you can ask for right there.”
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