Toyo Tires Ducks Alumni Spotlight: Jason Marshall

When Jason Marshall makes the occasional visit to Honda Center these days, it's not the sight of Ducks flying around the ice, the reuniting with old friends or the roar of the crowd that gets him reminiscing about his playing days.
"Of all things, I think it's more the smell," Marshall says. "Coming down the ramp and walking down this hallway, it brings back memories. You remember back in the day when you were excited to play and nervous and going through all of those emotions."

Last week the 47-year-old Marshall was back in the arena that was called The Pond during his playing days, this time as an invited guest for one of the Ducks' Jersey Tribute Nights that are being held as part of the franchise's 25th Anniversary celebrations. The team recognized the plum and teal striped sweater worn by the team from 1997 to 2000, and Marshall was there to drop the ceremonial first puck in addition to meeting and greeting fans.
The former defenseman says the fondest memories he has of playing in that building is the first time the Ducks made the playoffs, in the spring of 1997. "I mostly think about what the crowd was like," he says. "That was my first playoff experience, and it's just a whole different level of intensity and excitement. You come out and the crowd is going crazy and they have the towels going and everything. And then you have Paul and Teemu just flying. It was amazing to be a part of that."
Marshall's hockey upbringing started in Cranbrook, British Columbia, a small town that has produced the likes of Scott and Rob Niedermayer, Steve Yzerman and a handful of other NHLers. In fact, Niedermayers' father, Bob, was actually the Marshall family doctor. But Marshall was a little bit older than Scott and Rob and didn't play with them until his second stint with Anaheim in 2005-06.

Marshall's trajectory with the Ducks is an interesting one. He was drafted by the Blues in 1989 and played just two games with the Blues (scoring a goal in one of them) during the 1991-92 season while spending most of his time with Peoria of the IHL. He landed in the Ducks system in 1994, playing 80 games with the old San Diego Gulls of the IHL before getting a last-minute call-up to Anaheim at the end of the 1994-95 season.
"I just remember our season was done in San Diego, and they were calling a couple guys up," he recalls. "I had two of my friends come down from back home to hang out with me. We were in San Diego, having fun, and the Ducks said, 'Okay, you need to come up and play a game.' I was really excited and they came up with me and watched me. It was pretty special."
He played just that one regular season finale, but he says, "I think about that first game here and I remember seeing Wild Wing and the whole show back in those days. It gives me a lot of good memories whenever I come back here."
What he remembers most from that season is training camp, "because we all stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. They had a breakfast place for the Disneyland cast members, so we would go there and have these great breakfasts, all the food you can eat for like $3. That whole part of coming to Orange County, California, staying at the Disneyland Hotel and then playing hockey was pretty interesting to me."
Marshall would play more steadily over the next six seasons with the Ducks, earning the reputation as a rugged, reliable defenseman. He spent time with the Capitals, Wild and Sharks (and even overseas in the Czech Republic) from 2001 through 2005 before returning to the Ducks at 35 and nearing the end of his NHL days.
He and his wife Sonia had always kept a house in Orange County and would return in the summers, so signing back with the Ducks seemed like a good fit, though he only got into 23 games that season.
"I may have overstayed my welcome," he says with a chuckle. "But that was okay. I was 35 and I had played 10 years longer in the NHL than I ever thought I would."

Many of the guys he played with that season went on to win the Cup the following year, "and people always ask me, 'Were you [ticked] off? Too bad you couldn't stay longer.' And I always say, 'Oh no, I was hanging on as it was.' And I was super happy for those guys because those were my teammates. They all worked so hard and they had guys like Sammy Pahlsson, Travis Moen, Robbie Niedermayer, Francois Beauchemin, who was my roommate that season. A lot of really good character guys."
Marshall played his final two years of pro hockey in Germany before finally retiring in 2008, and he found himself at a crossroads. "When everything stops, it's a bit of a transition and it can be tough," he says. "When you're so focused and you have a goal and that ends, you're like, Wow. There is a big void there. For six months I was like, What am I going to do?"
He always had an interest in architecture, so he enrolled at nearby Orange Coast College and spent two years in the Architectural Technology program. From there it was five years in the acclaimed architecture program at Cal Poly Pomona, during which he studied luminaries in the field like world-renowned Frank Gehry, a Canadian who happens to be a hockey fanatic and recreational player.
One thing led to another, and Marshall was put in touch with Gehry by some of his fellow NHL alums. "He invited me up to the office and showed me around," he says. "I skated with his team for about six months. He asked me, 'If you're not doing anything this summer, you can try an internship.'"
Marshall interned for Gehry for three summers, and after completing the program at Cal Poly Pomona, went to work for him full time. He's been with Gehry Partners, LLP for 2 1/2 years, helping with projects like Facebook headquarters, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and several high-end homes. He's currently focused on a residential, hotel and retail development across from Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA.
"I was lucky because I found something I was really interested in, something that kept me busy and something I was passionate about," Marshall says. "It didn't replace hockey, but it was something I could get into."
He makes the commute to LA from his home in Corona del Mar, where he and Sonia live with daughter Leila (a senior at Mater Dei High School) son Lucas (a freshman hockey player at Santa Margarita HS) and youngest son Max (who is playing youth hockey on a team coached by Marshall's former teammate Todd Marchant and his wife Caroline). Oldest daughter Beatrice is a sophomore at UC Santa Barbara.
Marshall can't help but smile as he talks about his family, his days with the Ducks and the fulfillment of his post-retirement life.
"It's been awesome," Marshall says. "I've been really lucky."