Josh Ho Sang

Early and personal life

Ho-Sang is Jewish, and was born in Toronto, Ontario. His hometown is Thornhill, Ontario, a Toronto suburb. He said he has "always celebrated the Jewish holidays like Chanukah and the High Holidays with family and friends," as well as Christmas and Easter. When he was 17 years old, Toronto Sun writer Steve Simmons predicted that he “might be better than all” the previous Jewish ice hockey players (which included the then-current Jewish NHL players center Michael Cammalleri, right winger Mike Brown, left winger Eric Nystrom, and centre Jeff Halpern).

His father, Wayne, is a black Jamaican professional tennis player from Kingston, Jamaica, whose grandfather is Chinese from Hong Kong. His business analyst mother Ericka is Jewish and was born in Santiago, Chile, to Russian and Swedish parents. His father immigrated to Canada from Jamaica at the age of 10, and his mother immigrated to Canada from Chile at the age of 12.

His brother Khole is five years his junior. At age 13 in November 2014, Khole was a member of Team Ontario in American football and was slated to play for Canada in the 2015 Snooper Bowl, an international Pop Warner Football competition. As a first degree black belt in taekwondo, he finished second in his category at Nationals in 2014, and was named to Team Ontario and the Canadian national team.

Junior

Ho-Sang played for the Minor Midget AAA Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League in 2011–12, and competing against older players had 79 points (31 goals, 48 assists) in 30 games, despite being double-teamed and triple-teamed at times. Windsor Spitfires general manager and former NHL player Warren Rychel said that Ho-Sang's work when one-on-one against a goaltender was the best he had ever seen.

Ho-Sang was drafted by the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in the 1st round (5th overall) of the 2012 OHL Priority Selection. He was rated a top prospect.

In December 2012 he played for Team Ontario at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge. In five games, he had three goals and two assists.

Ho-Sang played with the Windsor Spitfires starting in the 2012–13 OHL season. In 2012–13, he was sixth among all OHL rookies with 44 points (14 goals and 30 assists), in 63 games. In 2013–14, he led the Spitfires in scoring with 85 points (32 goals, 53 assists) in 67 games, adding 3 points (1 goal and 2 assists) in four OHL playoff games.

He was recognized for his outstanding play when he was chosen to play the 2014 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. On April 5, 2014, the OHL suspended Ho-Sang for 15 games (later reduced to 6 games) from the start of the 2014–15 OHL season. The suspension was the result of an illegal push from behind by Ho-Sang against 228-pound London Knights' defenceman Zach Bell during their March 27, 2014, Conference quarter-final game, that resulted in Bell breaking his leg; Ho-Sang was originally just given a two-minute minor penalty for holding.

Ho-Sang started the 2014–15 season leading the Spitfires in scoring with 3 goals and 19 points in 11 games. He had 49 goals and 148 points in 141 career regular-season games for the Spitfires. He was traded in November 2014 to the Niagara IceDogs of the OHL for Hayden McCool and three second-round Ontario Hockey League draft picks.

Professional

Ho-Sang was listed at #22 on NHL Central Scouting's list of the top North American skaters eligible for the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. He was selected in the first round, 28th overall, by the New York Islanders. NHL Central Scouting’s Chris Edwards said: "He handles the puck very well at top speed and sees the ice well. His skating is excellent and his first step is explosive."

Islanders General Manager Garth Snow indicated he was not worried about Ho-Sang fitting in, saying: "He'll fit right in. They shit on me too." And: "We get the players that we feel can help us win. [And] we don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks." In October 2014, Ho-Sang and the Islanders agreed to terms on a US$3.4 million three-year, entry-level contract.

Ho-Sang attended the Islanders training camp, before being reassigned to the Spitfires for the 2014–15 season.

Ho-Sang was immediately returned to the OHL as punishment after being late to the first day of Islanders training camp on September 18, 2015. Arthur Staple of Newsday Sports tweeted, "Ho-Sang was late for the first day of #Isles training camp. He's been sent back to Niagara of the OHL. Camp over for him."

Ho-Sang started the 2016–17 season with the Islanders' AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. On February 28, 2017, Ho-Sang was called up by the Islanders on emergency conditions, but was returned to Bridgeport just a few hours later. Ho-Sang was recalled the following day and made his NHL debut with the Islanders on March 2, 2017 against the Dallas Stars. On March 7, in his fourth NHL game, Ho-Sang scored his first NHL goal. It was a power play goal in the 1st period against the Edmonton Oilers. The primary assist was from Thomas Hickey and secondary assist from Shane Prince. His first NHL assist came on March 11 in the second period of a game against the St Louis Blues when he set up Brock Nelson for the Islanders' first goal of the game. His first multi-point game was on March 13 against the Carolina Hurricanes. His first NHL faceoff was on March 18 against the Columbus Blue Jackets when Brock Nelson got thrown out of the face off circle and Ho-Sang stepped in.

Ho-Sang sparked a minor controversy amongst hockey purists when he chose to wear sweater #66 for the Islanders. Ho-Sang stated he chose the number to pay homage to Mario Lemieux. He was the second player, after Calgary Flames defenceman T. J. Brodie to wear the number after Lemieux in a regular season game.