50 years ago yesterday

[oz615]

Made his NHL debut with the Bruins on January 18, 1958, against the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the first black player in league history.

y'all gotta check this out this really sweet spoken word poem about The Black Hockey

[illwauk]

Straight DIGGIN' that piece.

And that's coming from a spoken word artist... at least I like to think of myself as one

[mantleisthebest7]

That's really cool. Even today, though, there are hardly any people of African Americandescent in the NHL. It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European. there needs to be more black players in the NHL. They are so far behind, that even Black players today, Georges Laraque, anson Carter, Mike Grier and Kevin Weeks are considered pioneers. Not that they shouldnt be, but dont you think ti's too far ahead of time to have black pioneers?

what 'm saying is, the players that come in now should be seen and recognized as regular players, like in the other sports leagues. It's a shame that the NHL is that far behind. We are all equal, and we are all people, and we should all be equal in everything we do.

[STL FANATIC]

The idea that hockey is behind where they should be is one of those arguments that's based soley on stats and not on actuality.

It's all about culture. And some of that culture does need to change. But it's not a direct result of racism, certainly not racism within hockey.

Hockey takes a considerable amount of money to play. It also takes a rink. So much of the black population is in poor inner cities. Playing hockey isn't something they can really do often, and as a result, they don't really have much interest.

That's true for the stats anyway. I don't know the breakup of race in Canada. But if it's less diverse than America, then that'd be another reason since so many players come from Canada.

Anyways, just as a side note, the two longest tenured Blues, Bryce Salvador and Jamal Mayers, are both black players.

[Breakwood]

Hockey is most popular in rural areas of Canada. These areas are just not racially diverse. If you look at the main cities in Canada (To, Mtl, Van, Cal, etc.) the make up of hockey leagues is very representative of the racial make-up of these cities. When I used to play hockey I always had East Indians, Asians and black people in the leagues I played in. Of course the fact that the visible minorities have other sports that they prefer to participate in, also adds to this. In Toronto the majority of East Indians play Cricket, while the Asians and West Indians prefer soccer. This isn't because of racism but merely a representation of the preferences of these people.

[Fred T. Jane]

It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European.

Yeah, all Europeans are the same. Just ask a Frenchman what he thinks of Polish people, or Germans and Russians for that matter.

[rams80]

It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European.

Yeah, all Europeans are the same. Just ask a Frenchman what he thinks of Polish people, or Germans and Russians for that matter.

Nah...asking them about Turks and Algerians would get even more of a reaction than asking them about some plumber.

That said...I agree with the sentiment that says that the absence of African Americans in hockey has more to do with the fact that hockey just doesn't seem to be as popular in the inner cities as basketball and football.

Although....if anybody's read "The Rebel League", they will know that racism has played a role in hockey in the past in certain markets (Birmingham, AL).

[slapshot]

I'll have you know that Willie O'Ree eats his French Fries with ketchup like anyone else.

And he pays in cash.

I stood behind him in line in Rochester.

[mantleisthebest7]

It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European.

Yeah, all Europeans are the same. Just ask a Frenchman what he thinks of Polish people, or Germans and Russians for that matter.

Oh I know. I was just trying to make a point that the reason that the NHL is "diverse" is because the majority of the players (unless Canadians, make up the majority, I'm actually not sure) come from European countries. And Russia is in Asia, not Europe.

[gojetsgo]

Another partial reason there are so few blacks in hockey is the demographics of the hockey nations. There are simply not that many black people in Canada, at least relative to the US. More than half of NHLers are from Canada, but black people make up just over 2% of the national population, compared with over 12% in the US.

Add to that the percentage of black people in Sweden, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, and you just don't have a lot of black people interested in hockey.

Based on the demographics of Canada and the US, (since there is effectively zero percent black people in the above European countries), and the number of players from these countries in the NHL (06-07 data), there should be about 32 black hockey players in the NHL.

Based on this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black_NHL_players

there are 14 black hockey players in the NHL, and there are a few more (Anson carter, Fred Brathwaite) that could be in the NHL again soon.

So, based on these stats, demographics isn't the only reason, but its a big one.

[chuckymack]

Dude, that color barrier's still being broken. Eventually, we'll see more diversity in hockey, but not until some Woodsian(think Tiger) prodigy comes along and just blows everyone else out of the proverbial water.

For a while, I thought it was going to be Jerome Iginla, but then the NHL went down the pooper.

[AndrewPF]

I think it's interest. One time I was talking to my friend Darryl, who is black, and I got on the topic of the Bruins somehow and he said something to the effect of "Don't ask a black man about hockey, that's really more of a white guy thing." or something like that.

[rams80]

It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European.

Yeah, all Europeans are the same. Just ask a Frenchman what he thinks of Polish people, or Germans and Russians for that matter.

Oh I know. I was just trying to make a point that the reason that the NHL is "diverse" is because the majority of the players (unless Canadians, make up the majority, I'm actually not sure) come from European countries. And Russia is in Asia, not Europe.

It's in both....but I'm willing to bet that most Russian players either hail from west of the Urals (traditional continental boundary) or are descended from European Russians.

[Fred T. Jane]

And Russia is in Asia, not Europe.

You amuse me.

[OMMF]

It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European.

Yeah, all Europeans are the same. Just ask a Frenchman what he thinks of Polish people, or Germans and Russians for that matter.

Oh I know. I was just trying to make a point that the reason that the NHL is "diverse" is because the majority of the players (unless Canadians, make up the majority, I'm actually not sure) come from European countries. And Russia is in Asia, not Europe.

You really should stop posting now.

[mantleisthebest7]

It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European.

Yeah, all Europeans are the same. Just ask a Frenchman what he thinks of Polish people, or Germans and Russians for that matter.

Oh I know. I was just trying to make a point that the reason that the NHL is "diverse" is because the majority of the players (unless Canadians, make up the majority, I'm actually not sure) come from European countries. And Russia is in Asia, not Europe.

You really should stop posting now.

Huh? I coulve sworn my teachers saying Russia was in Asia. Oh well now that i've made a fool of myself, I'll stop posting on the topic like you requested. And especially now that I got "stupid post of the day". Thanks y'all.

[-Helix-]

It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European.

Yeah, all Europeans are the same. Just ask a Frenchman what he thinks of Polish people, or Germans and Russians for that matter.

Oh I know. I was just trying to make a point that the reason that the NHL is "diverse" is because the majority of the players (unless Canadians, make up the majority, I'm actually not sure) come from European countries. And Russia is in Asia, not Europe.

It's in both....but I'm willing to bet that most Russian players either hail from west of the Urals (traditional continental boundary) or are descended from European Russians.

I forget who it was, but I remember the first NHLer to come from the Asian part of Russia always bragged about how he was the first Asian NHLer.

[zer0dotcom]

Russia could be either. It's a part of the Eurasian continent; there is not an actual divide between the Asian and European landmass. The UN recognizes Russia as an Asian Nation, but in terms of people, the term Asians usually refers to peoples from the Eastern and Southern Asian landmasses as opposed to people from Russian. Culturally, people living in Western Russia are considered to be European in spite of living in land that technically is part of Asia.

Being that Moscow the capital is so close to the border with other European nations, it's not difficult to simply consider Russia as a whole to be European.

Really, the split seems like an act of convenience. Europe is an extremely small area of land on the global scale, but incredibly diverse and dense when it comes to Social Demographics. Asia itself it just as diverse, however on a far greater scale of size.

That's really cool. Even today, though, there are hardly any people of African Americandescent in the NHL. It's the one sport that I think is way behind in where it should be racially. And before anyone makes the argument that the NHL is one of the more diverse leagues, keep in mind that thyre basically all European. there needs to be more black players in the NHL. They are so far behind, that even Black players today, Georges Laraque, anson Carter, Mike Grier and Kevin Weeks are considered pioneers. Not that they shouldnt be, but dont you think ti's too far ahead of time to have black pioneers?

what 'm saying is, the players that come in now should be seen and recognized as regular players, like in the other sports leagues. It's a shame that the NHL is that far behind. We are all equal, and we are all people, and we should all be equal in everything we do.

I'd address some of the points you've made, but just reading them over makes my head hurt. Ever stop to think maybe that there aren't many black/African American players in the NHL because they aren't good enough to make a team? If there are black players that are able to play with the level of play that the NHL offers right now, then by all means they should play.

At the junior level in Canada there are pleanty of black players that start off playing Canadian Junior hockey. and very few do make it to the NHL. However, it is rare that you ever see these players as a scoring leader, or as a valued defensive player. Maybe they just aren't good enough to play hockey professionally. That's not a crack at African Americans, plently of Caucasians can't cut the butter in the NHL either.

Saying that the NHL is far behind where it should be because it has extremely few African American players is downright ignorant in this day and age. By that line of though, I say that the NFL is living in the stone age because it doesn't have enough European players playing in it right now