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Nareg DeCamenzian had a Mother’s Day brunch at the Stanley Cup, but caused a bit of anxiety as he didn’t think the hockey championship trophy loved eating.
“I’m thinking about all the meals in the Stanley Cup,” Decamesian said before slipping into the big corner booth at Stanley’s restaurant in Sherman Oaks (not related to the cup). “Nothing less, I’m going to be very, very disappointed.”
After all, the cup was fasting, so the plate in front was left empty. But then the trophy wasn’t fett on Sunday, Dekamenzian said. Last week he was named winner of the NHL’s future goal of the most valuable teachers program, and was selected from a field of hundreds of candidates from 31 of the league’s 32 cities.
For a fifth-grade teacher who left a high-paid job as a classroom financial advisor four years ago, being recognized for a visit from the Stanley Cup was a full-sake moment in several ways. First of all, it acknowledged the role of helping hockey adapt to his new country. His father, Lebanese jeweller Edward, spoke only broken English and staked everything when he left Beirut for West Valley, allowing his three children to have a chance to live a better life.
Nareg DeKamenzian and his family eat lunch while Stanley Cup sits in the middle of the table. From left to right are Edward, Ian, Zovig, Oliver and Nareg.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
The youngest Dekermenjian was only five years old and had a hard time getting it to settle in no time.
“Make friends and have some link to kids my age, it comes from another country, and it was really different,” he said. One day, his mother, Zovig, pushed him out the door to join the kids in the neighborhood at a street hockey game.
“I’m glad I did it,” Zovig said Sunday. The game turns out everything will change.
“They gave me a jet hockey stick and I just fell in love with the sport right away,” Dekermenjian said. “I’ve never really been good at anything before, especially track and field. But I took me to roller hockey.
“What I’ve helped is to create a lot of confidence and self-esteem, which helps me in social situations.”
Dekermenjian played on several levels, became a Kings Season Ticket Holder, and now he coaches his two sons with concrete rinks he built in his backyard. He also uses hockey to break down social and cultural barriers at the Dixie Canyon Community Charter School in Sherman Oaks.
NHL Award-winning Sherman Oaks teacher Nareg De Carmenzian watches Stanley Cup Keeper Howieborough sets up the trophy.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
“There’s a big crucible here,” said Principal Maria Silva.
But if all those kids speak different languages, wear different clothes and stuff different foods for lunch, they all understand sports. Even hockey.
“100%,” said Dekermenjian, 41. “That’s why I do that.”
There are similarities between the challenges faced by athletes and the challenges faced by students. The grit and patience required to achieve that throughout the NHL season is what you need to go through the grade. There is goals, victory and defeat, and teamwork in both the ice and the classroom.
“It connects a lot of dots for these kids who aren’t used to hearing like that,” Dekermenjian said. “I actually show clips and videos of the hockey game when the team is down with multiple goals.
“I think that’s a better way to start a session. I’m getting these kids to see something so incredible, look at themselves and think, ‘What do you know? You can do this.’ ”
Nareg Dekermenjian takes a selfie with his son Oliver and Stanley Cup during lunch at Stanley’s Restaurant.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
Silva said teachers at Dixie Canyon are requested by their parents more frequently than Decamenjian, known as Mr. Decamer. She often stops by just to listen to his class.
“I’m just fascinated by the stories he shares, and I don’t want to leave,” she said. “I want to be a child and listen to him too, when they announced he’d won. [the NHL award,] I definitely felt they had it right. ”
However, stories don’t always work. And when Dekamenzian doesn’t change his game plan, like they’re a good coach – as he did as a teacher in his first year after welcoming a shy Ukrainian girl named Maria, who barely understands English.
“We are introducing us to history. I have a more important lesson that we need to teach, ‘What does this child need to know about the Constitution?'” he said.
Maria loved art, so Dekamenjian asked her to draw every day, and after class, he and the translator discussed the meaning behind what she drew. She was soon thriving in her new environment.
When the kids struggled, Dekermenjian said the issue was often not the students, but the matter of engagement with teachers.
“Educators, we need to take that step forward and attract them in a non-traditional way,” he said.
“I’ve seen it work in the classroom, so I’m doing it more and more and the feedback is overwhelming. I’m creating a bunch of hockey fans and Kings fans in the process, so everyone wins.”
Speaking of King, that’s the second reason why Sunday’s meal was a reunion with the Stanley Cup. He first met the trophy in 2014. He was when he posed in front of him with his wife Lori and later son Ian.
During the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, Lori came to Dekermenjian and suggested that if the King wins the Cup, they should have a baby. Dekermenjian is unclear if he is ready to become a father, but he is sure that the Wang had no chance to win the NHL title. They have since added their second son, Oliver.
“It’s full cell,” he said.
“I definitely feel like I’ve found where I need to be in life, and I’m 100% sure I was going to teach.”
On Sunday the NHL agreed and proved it by giving an afternoon at the Stanley Cup.
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