Adeniye pursuing NHL dream, has fan in Blue Jackets defenseman Jones

For years, Ayo Adeniye had an identity around the rinks in his hometown of Columbus.

"I've just always been known as the black kid around Columbus that plays hockey," Adeniye said.
He'd like a new identity one day soon, one that reads something like this:
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The black kid from Columbus who made it to the NHL.
Adeniye, who started skating with the Columbus Ice Hockey Club, an NHL Hockey Is For Everyone program, when he was 4 years old, is working now to carve his path to the top as a defenseman for the Carleton Place Jr. A Canadians in the Central Canada Hockey League, a 12-team league based in the Ottawa region.
He will begin playing NCAA Division I hockey at the University of Alabama-Huntsville in the 2020-21 season on a full scholarship.
"It would mean the world to me to make it because hockey is for everyone," Adeniye said. "It's not really an inner-city sport that's given a whole lot of attention to by African-Americans. Hopefully, if I could do something, crack a lineup, maybe more kids from the inner city could get into hockey."
Adeniye, who turns 20 on March 24, has a long way to go. Since his scholarship doesn't start until the 2020-21 season, he'll also play next season in Carleton Place. If he's going to make it as a pro at any level, let alone the NHL, it might not be until he's at least 25.
"I'm going to be the underdog and I'm still going to come up and get noticed," Adeniye said.
He has at least one well-known supporter interested to see how he does:Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Like Adeniye, he is a 6-foot-4, African-American defenseman.
Jones is also the Blue Jackets' Hockey Is For Everyone ambassador.
"Anytime you can get a homegrown kid in a nontraditional market, when it seems like all the odds are against him and he's not supposed to be there, it's awesome," Jones said. "It gets other kids into it too.
"I try to be a role model, but a kid like that is really the role model for other kids growing up in Columbus. I'm happy that he's still pursuing his dream. I met him last year and I hope to see him this year. You need to know you belong, that you have the skill and heart and determination to make it."

Adenyie, who weighs 190 pounds, doesn't lack skill, heart or determination. He has the full complement of athleticism and skating ability too, Carleton Place coach and general manager Jason Clarke said.
What Adeniye was missing for a long time was an opportunity.
"I've been overlooked," he said.
Adenyie was cut from the 16U Ohio AAA Blue Jackets team. He said it was because he was still a forward at the time of the tryouts, but he wanted to be a defenseman because he thought that was his position of strength. He didn't make it.
Adeniye instead found somewhere else that would take him. It was 2 1/2 hours away in Cleveland in the Elite Junior Prospects Hockey League.
"I definitely didn't want to quit hockey, so my mom would drive me to Cleveland and back for practices twice a week," Adeniye said. "Anything she could do."
He also played for teams in Florida, New Jersey and Iowa before making it back to Columbus and playing for the 18U Ohio AAA Blue Jackets last season.

He wound up in Carleton Place because Clarke is friends with Ed Gingher, who runs the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets program.
"Ed told me about Ayo and said, 'This kid has got a lot of upside, but he needs some work,'" Clarke said. "He figured if he was in our program for a year as a sixth or seventh defenseman, in and out of the lineup, that he could probably do some good things and be an impact player. Well, he was a six or seven guy in training camp and he's exploded into a regular guy, just a very good shutdown defenseman who can kill penalties. He reminds me a lot of Jones in Columbus."
Clarke said Adeniye's athleticism makes the 19-year-old confident he can rise quickly. That confidence, though, has a way of hindering Adeniye because Clarke said it makes him believe he should already be a level or two ahead of where he is.
"He has the mindset that he wants to be elite yesterday just because his athleticism allows him to continue to get better really quickly," Clarke said. "He's just so focused on wanting to become this elite two-way defenseman and he knows his athleticism allows him to hopefully reach his goal, but he has to understand that it's not going to happen tomorrow."
Adeniye is starting to understand and embrace the process, Clarke said. He's thriving too, leading the Canadians with a plus-23 rating, according to Clarke, to go along with his 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 48 games.
"I think that when I go to the University of Alabama-Huntsville, people are going to be surprised," Adeniye said.
And maybe one day what he told Jones will come true.
"I met him after one of the games, just had a little bit of small talk and before I left jokingly I told him that I was coming for him," Adeniye said. "He laughed it off. That would be crazy, though, two African-Americans on the point, on a line."