Black players know the NHL has never been a place for ‘everyone’

The National Hockey League is governed by purists who cling to tradition, Berni e Saunders writes. Changing the culture starts with the athletes themselves taking a stand

Bernie Saunders is the author of

Shut Out: The Game That Did Not Love Me Black and the fifth Black player to play for a National Hockey League team.

IloveWillieO’Ree, thefirstBlack man to play in the National Hockey League. I can’t imagine the amount of racism that he faced trying to realize his dream of playing in the NHL in the 1950s, and so I am happy that the league has rescued him from obscurity, and that it seemingly finds a new way to recognize him every Black History Month. He is called the Jackie Robinson of hockey, and that is technically correct; when he suited up for the Boston Bruins on Jan. 18, 1958, he made history, 10 years after Larry Kwong broke the colour barrier with the New York Rangers.

But what hockey fails to recognize is that the sport didn’t actually follow the Jackie Robinson model. When Mr. Robinson played his first game as a Brooklyn Dodger in 1947, it quickly opened the door for other Black players to play in the major leagues; Larry Doby, Hank Thompson and Willard Brown soon followed him. In the NHL, it wasn’t until 1974 – 16 years after Mr. O’Ree’s first game – before the next Black man, Mike Marson, skated in the league. And Mr. Marson’s importance is not widely recognized.

When I grew up, playing a sport I loved because of the freedom it let me feel, I had never heard of Mr. O’Ree or Mr. Marson; my brother John and I thought we were the only Black hockey players on the planet. Because of the 16-year O’Ree-Marson gap, most people that I played against growing up had never even seen a Black hockey player. My experiences were of playing a game as white as fresh snow, trudging across an unshovelled pathway.

I played 10 games with the Quebec Nordiques in the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons, and while I was a highly touted prospect I was rejected at nearly every stop on my way there, experiencing racism at every level. In the end, I wound up walking away from my contract because of the brutality that I faced from fans, opponents, people in the organization and, perhaps most pain fully, from my own teammates.

Now, although it remains in my DNA, I am happily estranged from hockey. Since I left the game 40 years ago, I have lived in various states and currently reside in South Carolina. Although I’m a Canadian at heart, my perch allows me to view the game from a unique vantage point, and here the NHL is seen as a boutique league. The people who visit this specialty shop love it and swear by it, but there are too many who just won’t enter. Here, the NFL, NBA and college football are the big dogs, the Walmarts of the sports landscape. The NHL is just a quaint but fancy corner store.

If you are happy with the game as it is, then fine. But please, please stop saying that you are for “everyone.” Because you just aren’t.

The NH Lisa conformist league. It is governed by written – and, often, unwritten – rules, protected by purists who cling to tradition. Many of those purists are actually the players themselves, who keep people in line on the ice. But the funny thing about those guardians of the rules is that often they can’t explain why certain practices exist. Here’s one example: Who was it that ratified the new scoring celebration that today’s players robotically perform? It’s different from the approved ritual I’m familiar with, which was just to raise our sticks. But now, the unofficially-officially endorsed celebration is to execute a bench flyby and bump gloves with watching teammates. Be careful not to smile too much, though – smiling is frowned upon.

With prescriptions such as these, it’s little wonder that hockey is seen as an exclusive country club. When you join you are provided a set of rules upon which you’re expected to obey. NHL defenceman P.K. Subban, however, failed to read his manual and showed up acting like – well, like a Black man. As a star for the Montreal Canadiens, he celebrated his feats like a wide receiver celebrates a touchdown: joyfully and individually. That’s a big no-no in the No Happy League. P.K. was forced to tone down his jubilance. The message: The NHL is accepting of people of colour who play the game the “right” way, but not of a Black man who acts Black.

And to some degree, that’s fine. It is the league that it is, and it always has been. Where I get a little miffed is that when the NHL is criticized for its whiteness and looks to solutions so it can be a truly major league, it jumps to fixes such as grassroots programs designed to attract inner-city kids. Why bother when that kid is going to be rejected by the game at some point unless he changes his personality?

Critics get down on Gary Bettman, but I think he has been a solid NHL commissioner. He’s just powerless in this regard. When Barack Obama got elected U.S. president in 2008, many thought that he would change everything. If anything, though, the country went backward on race relations. Same concept with hockey. If hockey really wants to be for “everyone,” then it’s the players themselves who have to learn to be more accepting – and they have to learn to celebrate our differences, not reject them.

The game’s superstars should convene a players meeting to review the game’s unwritten rules. Wouldn’t it be more fun if players were allowed to celebrate in their own way, for instance? Wouldn’t a young athlete in South Carolina feel more included if he or she was allowed to be who they are, as opposed to conforming to some mythical standard?

Hockey is doing well among its constituents, its base of purists who like the boutique exactly as it is. But there is so much more room for growth. Imagine if the likes of LeBron James or Charles Barkley played hockey – that’s what I think about when I tune into a game. That would elevate the sport to new heights – the best Black athletes with personality and independent streaks. Everyone in the league would benefit from that energy: Just ask any professional golfer over the past 25 years whether Tiger Woods has been good for their game.

Hockey isn’t for everyone right now, but it could be. It just has to happen on the ice. It starts with the players taking a stand.

Hockey is doing well among its constituents, its base of purists who like the boutique exactly as it is. But there is so much more room for growth.