Over the last half century, expansion in the NHL has brought the great game of hockey to many more fans and cities as the League grew from a small, six-team circuit to a burgeoning and prosperous 32-team, coast-to-coast outfit spanning the continent. And gradually, we’ve also seen some of those expansion cities – including the greater Washington, D.C. area – become hockey hotbeds that are capable of producing players capable of eventually reaching and playing in the NHL.

On Oct. 7, 2000, NHL hockey came to life in Columbus when the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets began their existence in Ohio’s capital city. Just over a year earlier, on March 24, 1999, Ayo Adeniye was born in Columbus. This weekend in Maryland’s capital city of Annapolis, Adeniye, a right-handed defenseman, is one of 20 prospects participating in the Washington Capitals’ annual rookie camp.

Within that group of 20 players, Adeniye is an outlier. Now 25 years old, Adeniye is the second-oldest player of the group. He is one of three of the 20 who has not yet signed a contract for the upcoming season. He is the only one of the 20 players who comes here directly from Division III level hockey; most players in camp this weekend played Canadian junior hockey or at an NCAA Division I program. And most noticeably, Adeniye is the lone Black player in the group.

Whether Adeniye would have eventually come to the game had he been born in an area far from NHL hockey is an unknown, but he is proud that his own ascension in the game has coincided with the birth and growth of NHL hockey in Columbus.

“It definitely impacted me,” he says. “It’s been super cool because as I’ve grown up, I’ve been able to see the game of hockey develop and grow in Columbus. And it’s kind of cool that it’s grown as I’ve grown. It’s just cool to see how Columbus can have a summer league this year with four teams filled with high caliber hockey players. Five, six years ago, that would have never been a thing. So it’s cool to see the growth and development.”

Growth and development. That’s also what it takes – along with so much more – to reach the NHL. For most of his life, Adeniye has been chasing a singular goal: to reach the NHL. The 6-foot-5, 202-pound defenseman left Columbus at the age of 16 to play in Florida, and he has since led a nomadic existence in undying pursuit of his dream.

A relentlessly positive and driven young man, Adeniye is a living, breathing and vibrant example of the good that comes from the growth, development and expansion of the game at all levels and among all people, and that hockey truly is for everyone. He knows the odds of him achieving his ultimate goal are long, but he hasn’t let anything deter him to this point, and adversity has been a near constant presence in his life since his first year on the planet.

Before he was a year old, Adeniye had the first of five eye surgeries in a span of about a dozen years.

“The first one, I think I was six or eight months old,” he recalls. “And the last one was at the end of eighth grade. The fourth one, they actually messed up and I got bullied a little bit; my nickname became ‘Chameleon’ because one of them was pointing off to the side.

“I had to relearn how to play, because I was playing with one eye a little bit. But when you’ve got somebody like Willie in your corner, that was really big. He gave me a couple of tips and tricks, and that’s why I’m on the right side of the ice. My right eye was messed up, and I could see through the left one, so adapt and find a way to make it work. The whole life has been adversity, and that’s not to say, ‘Woe is me.’ It’s to be able to give motivation and to inspire people that you can do whatever you put your mind to.”

The “Willie” to whom Adeniye refers is none other than Hockey Hall of Famer Willie O’Ree, who broke the NHL’s color barrier when he suited up to play for the Boston Bruins on Jan. 18, 1958. O’Ree, who played virtually his entire career without sight in his right eye after being struck with a puck in a minor league game. He managed to keep that fact hidden from the Bruins, and had he not been successful at doing so, we’d all be the poorer for it.

O’Ree and Adeniye first met about two decades ago when Adeniye was still a little kid learning the game. And ever since, O’Ree has been an ongoing inspiration and mentor for Adeniye.

“He is the face of representation for our game, and I appreciate him,” says Adeniye of O’Ree. “I’ve met him enough times that I kind of consider him like one of my grandpas. When I was young, we’d kind of be his chauffeur whenever he was in the city, so I was able to pick his brain. I was able to talk to him and to build a relationship. He actually invited me to go watch him get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame when he did, so it’s been cool to have him as a mentor.”

Despite the hardships and travails of his own career, O’Ree is and always has been one of the game’s greatest ambassadors. As a trailblazer, he has a role model and mentor for countless youthful hockey hopefuls for decades now; he is someone who has been where they’re trying to go, and his skin color is the same as theirs. In turn, many of those same players he has mentored over the years have actively paid it forward and continue to do so, something Adeniye is already doing whenever and however he is able.

Adeniye got his own start in hockey with the Columbus Ice Hockey Club, one of 26 Hockey is for Everyone organizations across the continent. He wears his hair in dreads in tribute to another of his hockey heroes, ex-Capital Anson Carter, who also played in Columbus late in his own distinguished NHL career.

Last month at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the Capitals hosted a Rising Stars Academy Clinic, a co-ed program designed to deliver skills development and mentorship to youth hockey players of color. When he learned of the clinic, Adeniye offered to assist an already star-studded group that included Tennessee State University head coach Duante’ Abercrombie, Gonzaga College High School coach Bryan King, and Hockey Hall of Famer and longtime Team Canada star Angela James.

“[O’Ree] always said something that has stuck with me,” says Adeniye, “and it’s something I still tell kids today: ‘If you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can’t, you’re right.’ He has been able to push me. I’ve seen my fair share of adversity, and just that quote itself I feel has gotten me to where I am today; blinking from playing Division III hockey and being at Caps’ rookie camp is a dream come true. I know it’s nowhere near the end, but little things like that definitely make a big difference. And I hope to be that representation for the next generation.”

Adeniye’s “fair share of adversity” didn’t end with that series of eye surgeries, either. After leaving Ohio to play hockey in Florida in 2015, he then moved on to New Jersey where he played for two different teams while living in New York City. Later in that same 2016-17 season, he moved on to Iowa where he played the remainder of the campaign for the Iowa Wild 18U AAA team. The following season, he was back home in Ohio with the Blue Jackets 18U AAA team, and the next season he was off to Canada to play for Carleton Place Canadians.

This is not a typical path of an NHL-bound player, and Adeniye still hadn’t celebrated his 20th birthday when he started his two-season stint north of the border.

“Ever since I’ve been 15 or 16, I’ve moved every year to play hockey,” he shrugs. “It’s never been an easy battle and it’s not supposed to be. That’s how you grow; comfortability does not push development. It’s a cool story to be able to tell, because everybody’s journey is different, and I just want kids to know that your story doesn’t have to be: Drafted, rookie camp, development camp, and straight to the League. Everyone’s journey is different, and if you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

“It made me grow up pretty early; I’m not going to lie. But again, it showed me resilience, it showed me adversity. I’ve always had coaches telling me that you need adversity to grow. And it was never deterring; it was just another obstacle in the way that I had to find my way through. I’m just grateful to be able to step through it, and to be able to show people that it’s possible, because that’s the biggest thing.”

When he did step through it, Adeniye achieved a huge step toward realizing his NHL dreams when he landed a scholarship at a Division I school, University of Alabama-Huntsville. But following his freshman season there – in which the team forged a dismal 3-18-1 record, the program disbanded, and tossing another roadblock in front of Adeniye’s career aspirations.

He quickly pivoted to Adrian College, a school in southeastern Michigan. In his three seasons with the Bulldogs, Adeniye’s team rolled up a combined 81-13-3 record, losing fewer games in three seasons at Adrian than his team did in one season at Alabama-Huntsville.

“It was cool to say I played Division I hockey,” says Adeniye. “But going down, and taking the humble step down to Division III, it humbled me, and it honestly did make me work that much harder. Winning a national championship was extremely fun. After that, we were runners up the next year and then made the frozen four the year after that, so we definitely did win a lot of hockey games, and I feel like that definitely put me in the eyes of these guys as well, so I’m extremely grateful for that.”

“These guys” refers to the Caps’ hockey operations and development departments, which was impressed enough by Adeniye’s college career to offer him an invite to the team’s summer development camp in July of this year. But here came adversity once again; Adeniye was injured early in the week and missed some time. Ever true to form and character, he returned in time for the eagerly anticipated three-on-three tournament that closes out the weeklong camp.

“I know I’m a grinder, I know I’m an energy guy; I know that’s what I bring to the game,” says Adeniye. “So being able to show guys that, ‘Hey, you can go out there and you can battle, and you’ve got time to recover and time to rest.’ Kobe [Bryant] always said, ‘You’re not hurt unless you say you are.’ You know, it’s all in your head. I was again grateful to be able to show the coaching staff and to show everyone that I can do this.”

Invited to join the larger group of Capitals and prospects who will be participating in Washington’s NHL training camp when it opens up later this week, Adeniye came to the area weeks before the start of this weekend’s rookie camp in Annapolis, and he’s been on the ice at MedStar most days since.

“There is nothing that is going to stop me,” he says. “I was grateful to be invited up here early for the informal skates, but my car broke down in week two, and I was waking up at 5 a.m. and taking the train to practice, I’m not even joking. I was staying in Wheaton, Maryland. I was taking the red line, switching over to the silver, and then taking a five or 10-minute walk to the rink. But again, you’ll find a way. If you legitimately want to do it, you’ll find a way.”

These last few years, Adeniye has also made a significant and life-altering adjustment to his eating habits; he gave up animal products.

“I’ve been vegan for a little over two years,” he states. “It started after my freshman year at Huntsville. I wasn’t really taking care of myself the way I should have; I was eating a lot of the café food, and it was starting to mess with my stomach, so I went to the doctor. I was already lactose intolerant, and they said the best thing to do was to just cut out meat to help the digestion process.

“It’s been life changing; my mind/body connection has been better, and it’s led me to a spiritual path to yoga and stuff like that. It’s all connected, you know. It’s been cool, and it’s been a grind. Over the summer, I was able to talk to Sue [Saunders] the nutritionist, and she put me on a 5-6,000 calorie diet. That’s a grind; as soon as we get off the ice, the next full-time job is eating for the rest of the day.”

“I will say that I do not have the best relationship with food, because it’s kind of hard. I haven’t been living with a full kitchen or anything like that, so I’m making the same thing and I’m eating the same thing every single day. Again, it’s part of the process. If you want it, you’ll do it.”

NHL teams annually conduct these rookie camps ahead of their varsity training camps. Many of the players in Annapolis for this long weekend will be facing NHL-caliber competition for the first time on Thursday when the Caps conduct the first on-ice sessions of their 2024 training camp, and rookie camp is designed to help them shake off any residual offseason rust, ramp them up for what’s on the horizon in a few days, and to help ease any lingering anxieties or nerves.

However, not all of the players at rookie camp are invited to stay for training camp. Among the 20 players attending rookie camp this year, 10 are Caps draft choices, six have signed on with AHL or ECHL teams for this season and another – winger Zac Funk – is signed to a three-year entry-level NHL contract. Those 17 are likely to be at NHL training camp in a few days.

Adeniye is one of the three free agents, and the primary driving goal for those players is to secure a pro deal of their own for the upcoming season. And the best first step in that process is to use rookie camp to earn one more significant invitation, an offer to join the Caps at their 2024 camp, which could in turn lead to that coveted contract.

“It’s humbling,” says Adeniye. “You know, you see guys in there that are on [entry-level contracts]. You see guys that are signed, and again, everyone’s dealt their own set of cards. So you just take it one day at a time, one shift at a time, one hour at a time, one drill at a time, one minute at a time, and just try to do the best you can. Reach for the stars, aim for the moon.

“And I know I’m signing a contract out of here. I’m manifesting it. I’m working every day, and I’m just, I’m going to do it. I know I’m going to do it.”