Just after Martin Luther King Jr. Day last month, The Carnegie Initiative, a new platform that addresses and unifies diversity and inclusion in hockey, held a full day symposium to discuss solutions for issues plaguing the sport and how the game could grow.
The widely attended event, both in person and via Livestream, was followed by another milestone hockey event- the retiring of Willie O’Ree’s number 22 by the Boston Bruins, sixty years to the day he broke the color barrier in the NHL.
The Carnegie Initiative, named after hockey trailblazer Herb Carnegie and co-founded by his daughter Bernice and entrepreneur/former NHL executive Bryant McBride, has a deep affection and understanding of hockey and impressed all those in attendance. That included NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who was in attendance. Bettman expressed his commitment to the initiatives through funding additional league support.
But the positivity generated was clouded by two separate incidents less than a week later.
The first involved Jordan Subban, brother of NHL star P.K. Subban, of the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays in which an opposing player appeared to taunt Subban by mimicking a monkey.
The second involved the AHL’s Boko Imana, where an opposing plan targeted him with a racial slur.
The response to the pair of incidents was swift and decisive, and there has been an outpouring of support and unity for both players in the time since.
McBride, who has been one of the most proactive leaders for change and inclusion and positivity in hockey, came up with another idea.
He connected with some of the bigger thinkers and influencers in diversity and inclusion (D & I) in hockey to create a campaign celebrating the best in Black hockey history and culture.
So he, along with former NHL star turned commentator and entrepreneur Anson Carter, the NHL’s Kim Davis, the Premier Hockey Federation, Ice Hockey in Harlem, Wollman Park Partners and others, hosted an event at New York’s Wollman Rink on Thursday to kick-off “Celebrating Black Excellence and Joy in Hockey”.
The event began with a discussion on D & I in hockey, the first step in a multimedia campaign that Turner Sports and Bleacher Report will host over the next month.
The program will showcase the best moments in black hockey history. They will be featured on a Turner Sports NHL broadcast and on Bleacher Report throughout the next month. In addition, youth hockey players will be asked to submit a video of their own personal moment of excellence/joy on the ice for a chance to win a trip to NYC for them and their families to skate on Wollman rink with NHL players of color, be featured in a PSA promoting the “Hockey Is For Everyone” message and attend an NHL game in the NYC area in late March.
“This is a great way to continue to send a message to all, that our diverse faces, voices and talents are not going away in hockey, they are growing,” said Carter, who moderated the panel. “We will continue to rise by working together and highlighting the good, from trailblazers like Willie O’Ree and Herb Carnegie, to the work being done to grow women’s hockey in the PHF, to all these young kids of color here today with programs like Ice Hockey in Harlem. We have an important and powerful message of inclusion in hockey, and we are really just getting started.”
For Imana, the weeks since the incident have been challenging but inspiring.
As he sat at the dais with so many young people of color from New York City Public schools enjoying a warm fall day on the ice behind him, he was moved, reflective and inspired.
“I don’t look back on what happened, I am determined to continue to make a difference and use any negativity around me to fuel my passion and my drive for success,” he said. “I love this game and no one will be able to stop me with words or actions, the only person who can limit me is myself.”
That idea of unlimited opportunity was also not lost on Kelly Babstock of the PHF Metropolitan Riveters.
Babstock, who is Indigenous Canadian, smiled in agreement with Carter and Imana, and added on her own thoughts.
“I have a responsibility not just as an athlete but as an Indigenous woman to set an example and show kids of every gender & color that their dreams are possible,” said Babstock. “The road isn’t always easy, and we sometimes have to work twice as hard to get a real chance in this game we love, but by pushing forward and including all, we grow as people more than even athletes, and the impact we can make for good is really endless.”
What is also seemingly endless is the power and drive groups like Wollman Park Partners, Ice Hockey in Harlem and The Carnegie Initiative have in trying to literally change a game.
They continue to fight for inclusion for groups of people who love the game but are sometimes denied equal opportunity and access.
“Of all sports, hockey is the great equalizer,” McBride said. “It’s the only one where what you put on your feet, a pair of skates, takes away many of the other issues we face in sports. Ice skates on ice can be a great equalizer, we just have to make sure we give everyone the chance.”
That chance for inclusion presented itself once again on a sunny day in Central Park, with players current, former and future, all agreeing that hockey is a great game.
But for it to be even greater, it must be open, inviting safe and fun for all.
