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Tuesday night, as part of Black History Month, Union College held a webinar on diversity and inclusion in hockey.
Union College President David Harris moderated the one-hour discussion. Also involved in the discussion were Union men’s hockey assistant coach Lennie Childs and Union women’s hockey assistant coach Olivia Soares, who are two of four Black assistant coaches in NCAA Division I hockey; former Union player and assistant coach Guy Logan; Jeff Scott, vice president for community growth and development for the National Hockey League; and Meredith Lang, founder of Mosaic Hockey Collective.
It was a fascinating one-hour discussion. Everyone talked about how important it is to attract minorities to hockey. They also talked about how they got involved playing hockey and some of their experiences playing the game, especially at the youth level. Sometimes, the stories were, unfortunately, not pleasant.
Childs grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, not far from Washington, D.C., home of the NHL’s Washington Capitals. There were times that opposing players said some derogatory things to Childs, but he credited his teammates with sticking up for him.
“For me, No. 1, my experience of having some really great teams that whenever there was something said, and there’s been things said, they had to go through the team, like the game stopped,” Childs said. “I didn’t need to [say] a word. My whole team came on the ice and said, ‘Find him.’ There was a specific time, and it was actually in Boston, that we’d won the game and a player said something through the handshake line. I kind of caught the tail end of it. My team took care of most of it, but it was something new to me.
“I went off the ice kind of crying, and then my dad actually picked me up. We had a great heart-to-heart [talk] in the locker room. I was hysterical, and he said ‘Calm down. People are going to want to try to get you off your game. That’s what it’s all about. So it really wasn’t hating you as a person, it was hating what you were going to do to them and what you were doing to them. They were using that to get against you to get on your nerves.’”
Soares has heard the stories on the youth level about unflattering remarks made. She believes it’s important to make locker rooms friendly and not so divisive where a player would not want to play because of rude comments.
“I think there’s so many times where maybe we see it and we hear it and there’s articles about it,” Soares said. “But I think about the many times where we don’t [hear the stories] and how those players are impacted. And I’ve heard of smaller stories, just of friends and family that have had things said to them and they don’t even want to play anymore because of it. Those are the situations where we need to start to look at how we can start to be more prepared there to deal with those situations and be prepared to know what conversations to have how to redress players in those times.”
I first met Logan, who grew up in Windsor, Ontario, when I began covering Union in the 1991-92 season when he was an assistant coach. He was engaging and thoughtful. I’m not sure if he or I realized it back then, but I believe he was a trailblazer. I’m not sure there were any Black assistant coaches at that time, but I could be wrong.
“I did not let my race hold me back,” said Logan, who is on Union’s Board of Trustees. “[It was] wide open, go for it. Why not me? Why not at that time? And I encourage all the young players out there now to ask yourself that question, why not you? Why not now? To me, the only things inhibiting you is how hard you want to work and how much you want to sacrifice.”
There was one thing Childs said during the session that I hope comes to fruition — that there will be more Black players involved in hockey.
“It is coming,” Childs said. “I’m out recruiting, and it used to be where when I was playing the game, we had a couple of Black players on my team. I was fortunate in that, but there was only a few here and there. There’s more color on the ice at the youth hockey levels than I’ve seen before, and that really gets me really excited.”
To watch the webinar, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4oP8zNjzfQ.
BEST WISHES TO EZRA UNGER
I’d like to extend my best wishes to Ezra Unger, the 4-year-old son of Union hockey TV analyst Brian Unger, who was diagnosed with Burkitts lymphoma last Wednesday. Ezra has started chemotherapy.
You’re going to win, Ezra. I guarantee it.
SUTTON COMMITS TO UNION
Union’s men’s hockey received a commitment Monday from Drew Sutton, a forward for the North American Hockey League’s Oklahoma Warriors. Sutton could be joining the Dutchmen either next season or the 2024-25 campaign.
“There are a number of reasons Union College was the right choice for me, and it was an easy decision to make,” Sutton said in a press release on the team’s website. “Education is very important to me, and Union is a prestigious school with a good history of academics so that played a big factor.”
Sutton, 20, is second on the team in scoring with 16 goals and 31 assists in 42 games. His 47 points are tied for eighth in the NAHL. Sutton has a +33 rating, which ranks second in the NAHL, and he has just four penalty minutes.
Sutton said the Union coaching staff’s style played a role in his decision to join the Dutchmen.
“In speaking with them, I can tell that they are players’ coaches, so I’m really excited for that aspect of the team,” Sutton said. “To me, a player’s coach is someone who you can develop a relationship with and someone who will check in with how you’re doing, whether academically, on the ice or just because they care.”
AWARD NOMINATIONS
Here are some award nominations involving area players.
Union senior forward Owen Farris and RPI senior defenseman Mason Klee are nominees for the ECAC Hockey Men’s Scholar Athlete Award.
On the women’s side, Union sophomore defenseman Maren Friday and RPI defenseman Hannah Price are up for the Mandy Schwartz Student-Athlete of the Year Award.
Speaking of Price, it was announced late last week that she is a top-six finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award.
POWER RANKINGS
Time for my latest ECAC Hockey men’s power rankings.
1) Quinnipiac — Wins this straight Cleary Cup, gets top seed for ECACH tournament. Should be the top-ranked team in the country.
2) Harvard — After losing the Beanpot championship in the dreaded shootout, the Crimson take care of business against the Capital Region teams.
3) Colgate — Had a five-point weekend against the North Country teams.
4) Cornell — Lost at home to Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Stunning and unexpected.
5) Clarkson — The win at Cornell highlighted the Golden Knights’ four-point weekend.
6) St. Lawrence — Didn’t have the Saints shutting out the Big Red at Lynah Rink on the bingo card.
7) Princeton — Beat Brown at home, but then get blanked by Yale. Strange.
8) RPI — Have a feeling the Engineers will be facing Union next weekend in the ECACH tournament single-elimination game.
9) Union — Dutchmen picked a bad time to have a two-game losing streak. The Dartmouth loss stings.
10) Brown — Swept by Princeton and Quinnipiac
11) Yale — Nice shutout win at Princeton.
12) Dartmouth — Good weekend. Probably should have beaten RPI.
Contact Ken Schott by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @slapschotts.
Categories: -Sports-, College Sports, Email Newsletter, Union College
