If you had asked a young Jason York what he thought he’d be doing a week after his 56th birthday, he’d probably have guessed he’d be teaching a high school gym class, not being inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame (OSHOF).
York had it all figured out — he was going to finish his overage year in the OHL with the Windsor Spitfires, take up a scholarship offer from the University of Prince Edward Island, and play on their hockey team while earning a teaching degree.
Of course, the NHL came calling, and the Nepean native made his NHL debut the same year that the Ottawa Senators did, 1992–93. Within five years — three in the Detroit Red Wings organization and two with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim — York had made his way back to the nation’s capital, where he played five seasons with the Senators, years he describes as “building block years” for the Sens.
The homegrown defenceman didn’t grow up dreaming of playing for the Sens, who he helped to five straight playoff berths between 1997 and 2001. It was a different Ottawa he grew up in, one that only knew the ‘Ottawa Senators’ as a team from the history books.
“The thought never once occurred to me that I need to make the NHL, I want to make the NHL, I want to be on the Ottawa Senators. I just played because my brothers played, so I played, and my sister played. Our whole family played, and I just kept doing it,” said York on Tuesday afternoon, a day before his induction into the OSHOF.
“I didn't put pressure on myself… I was just very in the moment, and obviously when I got to the minors, and I got drafted it was different, but growing up as a kid, I didn't even have a favorite hockey team. I didn't. I probably watched the Montreal Expos more than any hockey team in particular. I was too busy playing sports and doing my thing, watching my brothers and my sister, than having any pressure of trying to make the NHL.”
When he was traded to Ottawa along with Shaun Van Allen in the fall of 1996, that pressure did creep in a bit.
“I probably put a little bit too much pressure on myself when I came home. You're playing these games in awe, you're like, ‘I wonder how many people are in the stands today, how many people are watching.’ I was a little more nervous than I was versus when I was playing Detroit, playing in Anaheim.
“It took me about a month, and then you kind of get rid of that, and you just play. And you have to play, you can't be thinking about things like that. Not that I was thinking about those things all the time, but it was just a little bit of added pressure. But having my mom and dad here was amazing. My brothers used to come, my whole family used to come to the games, and we had a great run here, five straight years making the playoffs.”
“Yorkie” still keeps in contact with a lot of old teammates from those teams, both off the record and on the record. Part of his media duties these days is a co-host role on Senators podcast Coming in Hot.
On Monday, the podcast — which he hosts alongside longtime Senators beat reporters Brent Wallace and Graeme Nichols — interviewed Ron Tugnutt. Over the years, they’ve had on almost every player from those teams, including Radek Bonk, Marian Hossa, Alexandre Daigle, Chris Phillips, Wade Redden, Shaun Van Allen, Shawn McEachern, and many more.
“When I first started playing here, we actually flew commercial for a bit,” he laughed. “So you got to spend a lot of time on the road with the guys. We had a really tight-knit group. Hossa is an interesting story, because when he came over, he played over in [the WHL’s] Portland [Winterhawks] first, he was great, because he wanted to learn English so badly, he was like a sponge.
“And then with Tugnutt and Damian Rhodes splitting the net together, playing with a young Wade Redden, Chris Phillips coming in, we had a lot of guys that ended up being really good players and having really good careers, but more importantly, a lot of those guys from those teams are really good people, and I think that’s what made those teams so special.”
York enjoyed some of his best seasons with the Senators, logging over 70 games each of the five years he spent in Ottawa. He led all Sens blueliners with 35 points in 1998–99, which was a career-high. When all was said and done, and he retired after the 2006–07 season, York had played 757 games, scored 42 goals, 187 assists, and 229 points.
When that career was over, he completed the NHLPA life after hockey broadcasting program at Quinnipiac University. One other profession he’d always wanted to try his hand at was colour commentary.
Since then, he’s spent time hosting afternoon shows and mid-morning shows on TSN 1200 with Steve Lloyd, and has worked as an analyst and colour commentator on Sportsnet, beginning with a gig as an analyst on regional Senators broadcasts for Sportsnet with Ian Mendes.
“I would say the radio was a little more natural. Radio, you have a lot of time to calculate your thoughts, and if you make a mistake, you can correct yourself, because you have time and air to fill,” described York of his adjustment to the new gigs.
“But on television, especially when I was doing colour commentating, you’ve got to be sharp, and you’ve got to be on, and that’s what I liked doing about colour. That’s what I still like about colour. There’s some pressure, and if you screw up, you look like an idiot, because you’ll blow up on Twitter or people will start saying you don’t know what you’re talking about. So I like that pressure part of it.
“But the radio is so much fun, Lloydie and I used to have a blast, I used to work with A.J. [Jakubec] a little bit, [John Rodenberg], all those guys. Glad to see that TSN radio is still alive and well, because radio’s had a tough go, but that’s where it started, and I have some great memories there, having lots of fun and honing my craft there in the media world.”
Truthfully though, York says the itch of still playing weighs on him, especially at this time of the year.
“When the Stanley Cup playoffs are on, you always think, man, it would have been nice to win a Stanley Cup,” he laughed.
“That's just a little bit of the competitiveness coming out, but for sure, I had a good run, and I'm thankful for it. I met a lot of good people, a lot of friends in the game. Met my wife through hockey, had two of my kids when I played in Anaheim. My other son was born here in Ottawa. They all went on to play hockey, so no, it's been a really great ride, lots of fun, and lots of really good memories.”
Wednesday’s induction ceremony at the Horticulture Building in Lansdowne Park serves as a perfect chance to celebrate York’s ‘ride’ in hockey. He’ll have about four tables of friends and family in attendance.
“It’s a great honour. I’m going to have a lot of friends and family there, which is going to be special for me, because that’s what it’s all about,” said York.
“You get to this point in your life and you kind of just start looking back on things and thinking about things, and your family. My parents aren’t around anymore, they’ve both passed away, so just thankful for all the good people in my life.”
