By Chris Rotolo
MIDDLETOWN – When James van Riemsdyk recalls his fondest memories of a lifetime on the ice, he’s taken back to a hilltop setting that overlooks the icy currents of the nearby Navesink River. He is surrounded by friends, family and a frigid holiday season chill in the air, the bite of which is dulled by the sound of skates cutting up the Navesink Country Club’s outdoor rink.
A sheet of ice exposed to the elements is this competitor’s playground and a pathway back to a simpler time of pickup puck, before career opportunities led van Riemsdyk to the United States Hockey National Development Program in Minnesota, collegiate stardom at the University of New Hampshire and eventually the National Hockey League, where he has spent the last 11 years with the Philadelphia Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs inspiring the next generation of New Jersey skaters.
More than a decade worth of achievement among the best players in the world resulted in another career milestone during a Feb. 21 tilt between van Riemsdyk’s Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins, where the Middletown native delivered a goal and two assists to register the 500th point of his professional career.
According to van Riemsdyk, the significance of the moment was accentuated by the environment, a regulation size rink on the edge of Lake Tahoe with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains as a natural backdrop, which stirred up memories.
“It wasn’t just a typical stadium set up, but sort of a makeshift arrangement, that will probably never be done again,” van Riemsdyk told The Two River Times. “Playing there brought back that youthful excitement. We don’t have a ton of chances in New Jersey to play on ponds or the river when it freezes over. But every year at Christmas-time at the (Navesink Country Club), to this day, it’s me and my family skating out there. I don’t get to make it back home as much these days, so hit that milestone in that setting, it was special because I was reminded of home.”
Through 18 games of this 2020-21 campaign, the Flyers are the fourth-place team in the Eastern Division standings, with 25 points and a record of 11-4-3, just three points shy of the division-leading Washington Capitals.
The early season success of this Flyers club is due much in part to van Riemsdyk’s hot offensive start to the year. The 31-year-old winger is currently the NHL’s eighth-leading scorer with 25 points on 10 goals and 15 assists, despite a restrictive playing environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The key to this season, and playing last year in the bubble, is trying to remain as adaptable as possible,” said van Riemsdyk, who is on pace to set career highs in assists and scoring, despite an abbreviated 56-game regular season schedule, opposed to the 81-game standard under regular circumstances. “There’s a lot of people, not only in hockey and sports, but around the world, who are working to try and make sure that our communities are able to make it through this as safely as possible. We’re very lucky to be able to do what we love right now and adaptability to situations as they change is key to success.”
Van Riemsdyk also cites the support of the New Jersey hockey community, as well as the growing fraternity of NHL skaters from the Garden State, as a point of pride that continues to inspire his development.
“When a young player picks up a stick, it’s their dream to play in the NHL one day and you don’t necessarily realize how much the odds are stacked against you. And at that time, we didn’t have a lot of Jersey guys making it to the NHL. Growing up, our guy was Jim Dowd. I remember looking up to him and it’s kind of surreal to have local guys doing the same for me. It means everything,” said van Riemsdyk.
Since making his NHL debut in 2009, two years after the Flyers selected him second overall in the NHL Draft, 16 New Jersey-born players have appeared in the NHL, including 10 active skaters.
“I wouldn’t be where I am without the support back home and I know these guys feel the same way,” van Riemsdyk said. “To be a player from New Jersey, it’s a community we take a lot of pride in, and one we carry with us. Seeing where I am today, I’m really proud to have started that journey in New Jersey, in Middletown.”
This article originally appeared in the March 4-10, 2021, print edition of The Two River Times.
