Leveling the Ice: Confronting Racism in Hockey

The prevalence and impact of racism in North American hockey are explored by sports journalist Sandor (Called Up) in this noteworthy interrogation. In 2023, around 5% of National Hockey League players were Black, Indigenous, or people of color. Though often seen as a “white man’s game,” hockey has a history of trailblazing players of color, according to Sandor, who spotlights prominent players like Willie O’Ree, the first Black player in the NHL, and the Colored Hockey League, which began in 1895, decades before baseball’s Negro Leagues. Today, costly gear and ice rink time are financial barriers for young athletes of color interested in the game (“The rink is a place that screams wealth and privilege,” Sandor writes). When these players do make it to the upper tiers of hockey, like star defenseman P.K. Subban, they are asked to play stereotypically violent roles on the ice, according to Sandor. The author does a solid job of laying out possible solutions, detailing how organizations like Apna Hockey are involving more people of color in the game through youth camps, but, as he astutely demonstrates, part of the issue lies in the lack of BIPOC owners in the NHL. This is a clear-eyed and important call for an institutional reckoning. (Sept.)