From Ice to Inspiration: How Jordin Tootoo’s Unseen Battle Redefined Rock Bottom
As the first Inuk player in NHL history, Tootoo was a pioneer of sorts. But by the time he broke into hockey’s top league in 2003 with the Nashville Predators, Tootoo had already experienced racism and turbulence on and off the ice.
When he left his childhood home in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, and began flourishing as a member of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, Tootoo knew he was blazing a trail for people like him.
By the time he got to the NHL, however, Tootoo had already experienced tragedy, as his older brother, Terence, died by suicide in 2002. But Terence left a note for Tootoo, and its contents stay with him to this day.
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