{"id":448653,"date":"2026-02-06T09:53:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448653\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:53:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:53:36","slug":"kiefer-sherwood-brings-japanese-american-heritage-to-sharks-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/448653\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiefer Sherwood brings Japanese American heritage to Sharks \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kiefer Sherwood<\/a>, the newest member of the Sharks, is a 30-year-old skilled agitator who provides a boost to San Jose<\/a> on the ice.<\/p>\n

But Sherwood also brings a significant level of representation for Japanese Americans, rare in hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m just grateful to be here,” Sherwood recently told NBC Sports California. “I think it’s good for the game to have different faces and different guys with different backgrounds and origins, kind of be a melting pot. Just add to the diversity because, you know, a lot of different groups can bring different things. I think it opens up opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are only around 15 players of Asian descent currently in both the NHL and the American Hockey League (AHL). That\u2019s combining all nationalities, so being Asian American, like the Ohio native, provides even more context for what Sherwood has accomplished by playing over 300 NHL games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Identity can be difficult to navigate when you\u2019re in the minority amongst your peers, but Sherwood always viewed himself as a hockey player first, allowing him to be hyper-focused on his goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in this game you don’t really necessarily identify as Japanese American or whatever,” Sherwood said. “You just identify as a hockey player. I think for me, that’s always how I viewed myself. You don’t really matter or care what the world thinks. You just kind of go about your business and try to build that identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re trying to grow the game and, hopefully, if you can see more, more areas and opportunities for families and kids down the road, then you’re doing your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherwood arrived in San Jose following a trade with the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> on Jan. 19, so he\u2019s starting to learn about the rich history of Japanese Americans in Bay Area sports, like Olympic gold medalist Kristy Yamaguchi, or Giants postseason hero Travis Ishikawa.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a chance to join a place where Sherwood’s heritage will be fully celebrated by the local Japanese and Asian American communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m on board,” Sherwood said. “I love it. Just got into town, so I need to learn a little bit more, but I’m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hard-nosed winger has yet to make his Sharks debut, but he is on San Jose’s current road trip. It is anticipated he will play at some point before the Olympic break. The goal simply is to get San Jose to the Stanley Cup playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know how many chances you\u2019re going to get,” Sherwood said. “A lot of things have to go right for a team, [an] organization to be in the playoffs. Just to have that opportunity is all you can ask for and what you want and put [your] whole life and career into. Each and every day, the stakes are so much higher, but that is what you want and work for as a competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download and follow the San Jose Hockey Now podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiefer Sherwood, the newest member of the Sharks, is a 30-year-old skilled agitator who provides a boost to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5127],"tags":[5,6386,4,519,168,5306,5305,1780],"class_list":{"0":"post-448653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-kiefer-sherwood","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-sharks","13":"tag-sanjose","14":"tag-sanjosesharks","15":"tag-sharks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116023080046393299","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}