first black hockey players

O’Ree was born in the Canadian province of New Brunswick in 1935. Willie O´Ree paved the way for all black hockey players who have come after him. With more and more black kids being exposed to hockey and seeing players like Seth Jones drafted in the first round and finding success, there is no doubt that black hockey players is not a passing fad, but a sign that hockey is truly a global, multicultural, multi-ethnic and becoming a multi-racial game.

Fredericton's O'Ree broke the NHL's colour barrier Jan. 18, 1958 with the Boston Bruins. The first Black man to play in the NHL in 1958 is distressed by both the death of a Black man under the knee of a white policeman, and subsequent violent confrontations between police and protesters erupting across the United States. "It's very discouraging to see what's going on now." ... Read Willie O'Ree: The story of the first black player in the NHL (Lorimer Recordbooks) Ebook. "But surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed, it made me realize that by not speaking up on the matter, and not using my voice as a professional athlete, it's in fact allowing racism to fester and continue." Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron wrote "silence is not an option for me anymore." George Floyd was killed May 25 when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into the 46-year-old black man's neck for nearly nine minutes.

Three officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder Wednesday, when the police officer whose knee was on Floyd's neck was given an additional charge of second-degree murder. "I experienced it when I was playing and a lot of these boys and girls I come in contact with the Hockey Is For Everyone program, they've had racial remarks directed towards them on the ice, on the bench or in the dressing room. . Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted. "I'm 84 years old and didn't think I'd witness some of the stuff that's going on, but this dates back to the slavery age," O'Ree told The Canadian Press. We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. Willie O'Ree, poses for a photo during an interview in Toronto on Wednesday, May 1, 2019.

The video of his death circulating widely on social media fuelled protests that have been met with police force in some U.S. cities. O'Ree hopes those acknowledgments translate into meaningful action among NHL players when the league emerges from its COVID-19 hiatus.

"Maybe they're starting to realize what's been going on and what's been happening, not only to black players, but players of colour," O'Ree said. Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue. 0:14. Players such as Connor McDavid and Gabriel Landeskog have written about coming to grips with white privilege in their social-media posts. Black Hockey Players Wall of Fame – Photos, stats and biographies of black players who have been drafted by or played in the NHL; Last edited on 2 August 2020, at 05:35. Your life is just snuffed." We rely on readers like you to uphold a free press. He was the first black player in the National Hockey League (NHL) and has an amazing story.

Hohiekaimana. Now living in San Diego, O'Ree has been the NHL's diversity ambassador for over two decades. Peter Worrell [1]-Left Wing (Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche) Defensemen Edit. The First Black Ice Hockey Players – 1820 to 1870 With certainty, we can only date Black hockey to the early 1870’s, yet we know that hockey and Black history in Nova Scotia have parallel roots, going back almost 100 years. It's been 60 years since Willie O'Ree broke the National Hockey League's colour barrier and he still hears racial remarks in the rink. He played 45 career games for the club.

"I wish that it didn't take me this long to get behind it in a meaningful way." See our

Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler told reporters Tuesday "we have to be as involved in this as Black athletes. "It's like you're here today and gone tomorrow. It can't just be their fight." He played as a winger for the Boston Bruins. it's not going to stop overnight," O'Ree said. . (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin)