Black players among top OHL draft picks, but obstacles remain

30 September 2011 No Comments

By Cynthia Vukets

This year, for the first time ever, four Black players were taken in the first 12 picks of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) draft. But for the league, this is the new norm. “To me, that’s encouraging,” says Toronto-born former National Hockey League (NHL) winger Anson Carter. “It’s a predominantly white sport.”

Hamilton, Ont. native and Don Mills Flyers defender Darnell Nurse was the third OHL draft pick, going to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Fifth overall was Jordan Subban—younger brother of Montreal Canadiens’ P.K. Subban—picked by the Belleville Bulls. Right behind him was Ottawa’s Nicholas Baptiste, drafted to the Sudbury Wolves. And 12th pick overall was Stephen Harper, drafted by the Erie Otters.

Those players have all grown up playing on multicultural teams. “We’re really diverse,” says Nurse of the Flyers roster. “We had Black, brown, Jewish players. For kids my age, I think (hockey) is totally open.” Nurse, 15, started skating when he was two and playing hockey when he was four. His dad, Richard, played pro football with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but said it was too dangerous for his son. “He got me in hockey right away, from a young age,” says the younger Nurse. “Summer after summer I asked [to play football] but he wouldn’t budge.”

The big wave in this year’s draft is part of a larger trend, as the 2011 picks aren’t the first to make an impact in the OHL or the big leagues. This year’s Memorial Cup tournament featured several minority players, including Mississauga Majors’ Devante Smith-Pelly who has already been drafted to the Anaheim Ducks. In the NHL, Jarome Iginla has long been a leading scorer. And the Atlanta Thrashers dressed four Black players throughout this season, more than any other club. “It’s definitely worth recognition,” says Joel Ward, the Toronto-born Nashville Predators winger who once played for the Don Mills Flyers. “I think it’s good news. It just goes to show that hockey has come a long way.”

The OHL, however, isn’t sure this year’s draft is anything special. “We don’t trumpet it, because it is what it is,” says Ted Baker, OHL vice president. “We’re not looking at our league or our players as anything but players.” Baker says he can’t remember anything similar in his 23 years with the league, but can’t say this year’s draft is a first because the OHL doesn’t track the ethnicity of its players.

But there are still obstacles for minority players to reach the game’s highest level. “It’s way too cost-prohibitive … by this setup, none of us would have been able to be in the league,” says retired goaltender Kevin Weekes, who is now the self-described “first Black hockey broadcaster” in his post-NHL career with CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

While Weekes says his parents, who emigrated from Barbados, always encouraged him to play hockey, some newcomer parents are more comfortable putting their children in sports that are culturally familiar, such as soccer, baseball or cricket. And Carter says negative peer pressure can discourage teens from sticking with hockey. “It wasn’t until I got to high school that it became an issue,” he recalls. “Hockey wasn’t Black enough all of a sudden.”

Nurse shrugs off the thought of any barriers to his success. “The NHL is my goal now,” he says simply.