DENVER — The dream of playing hockey in Canada did not begin with Nazem Kadri. It began with his father.

After fleeing civil war in Lebanon, Sam Kadri arrived in Canada as a young boy and quickly fell in love with the game. But like many immigrant families trying to establish themselves in a new country, his family simply could not afford the cost of organized hockey.

Rather than letting that missed opportunity turn into resentment, Sam Kadri chose a different path. If he never got the chance to fully pursue the sport he loved, his children would.

“I love the game,” Sam Kadri told 16:9 The Bigger Picture in 2010. “We played road hockey. I’d find a stick. Someone would throw it out, but I’d tape it together and play.”

“It stayed in my head. When my kids came along, I said it’s a sport I definitely want to put them in.”

A generation later, that dream found new life in his son.

When Nazem Kadri stepped onto the ice, it didn’t take long to realize he was different. With the puck on his stick, he was creative, confident and impossible to ignore. From local rinks to the international stage, Kadri stood out at every level he played.

Then, in 2009, the dream reached its defining moment.

Kadri was selected seventh overall in the NHL Draft by one of hockey’s most storied franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs. For his father, the moment felt almost surreal — the culmination of a dream that had begun decades earlier.

Making it to the NHL is only part of the battle.

Staying there can be even harder.

Kadri’s early career quickly showed how unforgiving the league can be. In his first season, he struggled to secure a permanent spot on the roster. The following year brought even greater expectations. Playing for a struggling Leafs team, Kadri was suddenly viewed as a young player who might help turn things around.

The pressure came quickly.

Just weeks after skating in front of sold-out crowds in Toronto, Kadri was sent back to the minors. The criticism followed just as fast. Some questioned his maturity. Others labeled him a disappointment.

But Kadri never stopped believing he belonged.

That edge — that grit — has defined his game since the first time he stepped on the ice. Whether he’s battling someone who’s 5-foot-7 or a towering 6-foot-7 like Lian Bichsel, Kadri fights for every inch.

He proved it again during the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals run with the Colorado Avalanche — a postseason that showed he wasn’t about to be pushed around.

Kadri had already built a reputation as a hard-nosed competitor. Earlier in his career he served multiple playoff suspensions, including an eight-game ban during the 2021 postseason for an illegal check to the head of Justin Faulk of the St. Louis Blues.

That reputation came sharply back into focus the following season.

During Game 3 of the second round playoff series between Colorado and St. Louis, Kadri and Blues defenseman Calle Rosén collided with Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington while chasing a loose puck in the crease. Binnington, who had been outstanding through the first five games of the postseason, suffered a lower-body injury that knocked him out of both the game and the remainder of the series.

The play immediately ignited controversy.

In the hours that followed — fueled in part by comments from then-Blues head coach Craig Berube — Kadri became the target of racist abuse and threats online.

Less than 48 hours later, he responded in the only place he could.

On the ice.

Kadri returned for Game 4 and delivered the best postseason performance of his career, scoring his first NHL playoff hat trick.

But that was not his only test during the postseason.

Kadri’s toughness was tested again during the Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers.

In Game 3, he was driven hard into the boards by Evander Kane, suffering a thumb injury that required surgery. Doctors initially projected a six-week recovery — long enough to sideline him for the entire Stanley Cup Final.

Kadri had other plans.

Determined to return and finish the job with Colorado, he shortened the timeline dramatically, returning in just two weeks.

Before Games 4, 5 and 6 of the Final, Kadri wrapped and froze his damaged thumb before forcing it into a specially modified glove for protection. Even then, the injury limited what he could do. Taking faceoffs was nearly impossible, and the quick, lively shot that normally defined his game turned into little more than a soft flutter toward the net.

Still, he refused to sit out.

“It was terrible. Terrible. I felt it every single shift, and it was tough,” Kadri told Sportsnet. “I turned a six-week (recovery) timeline into two weeks. Great medical staff helped me along the way. I couldn't even tie my skates before the game. I had the medical trainer tie my skates before every game. So, what a war. But nothing was going to stop me from being out here.”

Kadri ultimately proved that determination not with his words, but with his play.

He scored the overtime winner in Game 4, putting Colorado within one victory of the Stanley Cup. The Avalanche eventually defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 6, securing the third Stanley Cup championship in franchise history.

In the process, Kadri did more than silence critics.

He exorcised the doubts and controversy that had followed him for years — and became the first Muslim player to win the Stanley Cup.

Now, after parts of four seasons with the Calgary Flames, Kadri is back with the team that helped him become a champion.

But throughout his journey — from childhood rinks to the Stanley Cup — one constant has remained: his father.

“Thinking back, there was definitely some hard times and some adversity we had to go through (as a family),” Kadri told The Hockey News. “I'm glad he gave me the shot and now I understand why he was so pissed when I didn't play well.”

“He's been my day-one supporter; he's always in my corner no matter what happens out there, and my whole entire family is like that. And that's what's (helped get me) here. To have that support, when things aren't going so well, to have them as a backbone — it's wonderful.”