Joel Ward

Joel Ward (born Joel Randal Ward on December 2, 1980) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played for the Nashville Predators and the Minnesota Wild.

Playing Career
Undrafted, Joel played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Owen Sound Platers. After completing his four-year junior career and his final year of eligibility with the Platers in 2000–01, he linked up with lower tier professional team the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the West Coast Hockey League to end the season.

An unsigned free agent to start the 2001–02 season, Joel attended the Detroit Red Wings training camp on a tryout, but was recruited and played collegiately for the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers of the CIS.

Joel was awarded Rookie of the Year and the Panthers three-time MVP while earning a degree in sociology in his four-year collegiate career.

He was later invited to the Minnesota Wild's training camp in 2006. In his first full professional season, Joel was assigned to the Wild's American Hockey League affiliate, the Houston Aeros, signing his first professional contract for the entire 2005–06 season.

After impressing with his work ethic, Joel earned a two-year deal with the Wild on September 27, 2006.

Joel debuted in 11 NHL games with the Minnesota Wild during the 2006–07 season but primarily stayed with the Aeros, developing into a responsible two-way player and improving his points totals in each of his three years.

On July 15, 2008, Joel signed as a free agent to a one-year deal with the Nashville Predators. He made the opening night roster out of training camp for the 2008–09 season and scored his first NHL goal in his first game as a Predator against the St. Louis Blues on October 10, 2008.

In 2008-09, his first full NHL season, he scored 17 goals in 79 games and his reliability as a defensive forward and success as a utility scoring forward earned him a two-year contract on July 1, 2009.

Joel became a free agent after the 2010-11 season and signed a four-year contract worth $12 million with the Washington Capitals on July 1, 2011.

On April 25, 2012, Joel scored the winning goal in overtime in the seventh game of the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.

The Capitals advanced to the conference semifinals on Joel's game-winning goal. His dark skin tone (due to his Barbados' heritage)led to many racist comments in online media following his game-winning goal.

Joel's fortune would not continue into Washington's series with the New York Rangers. With the series tied at two games apiece, Joel took a high-sticking double minor penalty on Carl Hagelin with 22 seconds remaining in the 3rd period of Game 5 with Washington leading 2-1.

Rangers forward Brad Richards tied the game with under 10 seconds remaining, and defenseman Marc Staal scored in overtime with the Rangers still on the powerplay due to Joel's penalty carrying over into the extra session, giving the Rangers a 3-2 series lead. After the season he had sports hernia surgery.

On November 1, 2013, Joel scored his first career hat trick against the Philadelphia Flyers in a 7-0 Washington victory in his 336th career game.

Personal Life
Both of Joel's parents are immigrants from Barbados. Joel's mother Cecilia worked as a nurse and his late father Randal worked as an auto-mechanic. He has two brothers named Shane and Julian.