lakai17
Registered User
- Aug 10, 2006
- 20,951
- 1,344
How did this guy not get a cup of coffee. I definitely assume it's because of his size. He would make today's nhl I really believe. He was a force in juniors and excelled in the ahl.
Probably more this than belowAside from his size, I'd assume that his timing had something to do with not getting a cup of tea. By the time he entered pro hockey in the mid-80s (say 1983-84), the talent-level of the league had recovered and improved from the WHA times. Teams had less capacity to take a chance on good minor league scorers after all the good WHA players were absorbed into the NHL in the couple years leading up to Tsujiura.
Sure society was more racist at some level but players like Tony McKegney, Mike Marson and Grant Fuhr were in the NHL.Being Asian at a time when the NHL was exclusively Caucasian and society was more racist (generally speaking) than it is today also probably didn't help his cause.
Dude was absolutely invisible come playoff time.His cousin Taro Tsujimoto set a bad precedent and people were hesitant about Japanese players since he posted his 0 points, 0 assists, 0 goals, 0 sv percentage stats. Some people even insisted Steve didn't exist!
He didn't even show up in the pre season, I heard he even skipped the rookie campDude was absolutely invisible come playoff time.
And regular season time!
Before the 1981 draft he was the league MVP and the best U19 scorer in the WHL. Got ranked 15th in the league by the Hockey News despite concerns about his size. Typically that would have meant being drafted ca. in the 4th round or sixties overall, but he fell far further back to the 10th round and 205th overall.I think it's pretty simple, he just wasn't good enough. Size would have played a big factor of course. He was 5'6", at that size you aren't even going to get a look unless you are dominating on the scoresheet and he simply didn't. He put up respectable numbers, but so do a lot of other guys that never make it.
He played 4 years in junior and was never close to the top scorers....his 3rd year was the closest he got, but was still 20+ points back.
Welcome to HfBoardsSteven Tsujiura was a legend in the Japanese Canadian Community and we all hoped he would get a shot in the NHL. He was also a black belt in Judo. Not that Judo and hockey are similar but he knew how to throw his weight around and I remember a Hockey News article where Steve got in a fight with John Blum (6'3", 205 lbs) and he flipped him three times on the ice.
I’d rather have Glen Goodall.Dale Derkatch and Dan Hodgson were elite WHL Scorers but undersized so to speak ,how would their skillset play in todays NHL
Why didn't the 5'5" guy who had one top 20 finish in AHL scoring (12th) get to play in the NHL?
I mean, it's not like he played with some intense pace. Like Tyler Ennis and Rocco Grimaldi and these guys that make it at this size, their foot churn and pace really standout. This guy didn't have that. Good skill, very good hockey sense...but the skating and pace combo were short of what I'd expect to move up.
I don't remember him all that well but whatever impression he made on me, I can't help but compare him to Glen Goodall.
He was the effing man. Went to germany and dominated, sadly in DEL2 but helped get Ingolstadt up and played in the DEL. Warrior.
Anyone know if he stayed in Germany after that?