Sharks winger Joel Ward honored his late father in a heartfelt piece for The Players' Tribune.
"After my father died my life could have gone in a very different direction, but hockey saved me," Ward wrote in a post Monday titled Step By Step. "Whenever I take the ice, I'm playing for a lot of people. Not just the awesome fans in San Jose, but also my family, my friends and all the other people in my life who kept me on the right path."And I'm also playing for Dad, because I know he's be watching me with a big smile on his face.