When I tell people I enjoy hockey there are usually two thing that pop in their head. One is completely fair, "This girl does not seem like the type to like hockey or anything about it". The other one is deeply rooted micro-aggressions, "What black girl likes hockey?" That second question has been thrown around casually and to begin with I would just shake my head. However, after the third and the fourth time, I began to realize what it really was. Just like with everything I end up doing, I was once again breaking stereotypes. People, even my own parents, could not comprehend how their daughter ended up liking a sport that they had never put on the TV. Basketball and football those are "black sports", anything outside of those are just meant for the others.
The sound of a hockey game is fantastic, something I could play as a lullaby. The sound of players turning on their ridiculously sharp blades, the harsh sound of a puck hitting a stick after a pass has beautifully connected and the sounds of a 200 pound man getting into thrown into plexiglass. What could be better than that? High school hockey games led me into the world of The NHL and before I knew it, I was scrambling to watch any game I could get my eyes on. I taught myself the rules, signs and teams of the sport. I could probably tell you what all the referee hand signals are, what icing the puck actually means, what a butterfly save is, and what constitutes as a "pretty goal". I learned all of that for myself, to help me, but it doesn't hurt to see the shocked look on people's face when I know more than they do.
Hockey has helped me realize a lot of things that people wouldn't expect a sport to teach you. I learned exactly how important it is that you need to constantly keep people on their toes. I live for watching someone's facial expression when I tell them something that might not fit what they expected of me. Trevor Daley of the Pittsburgh Penguins, once said "I always questioned it. Why aren't there more black players in hockey?" And honestly, why aren't there? A lot of it has to do with stereotypes being forced on black people. A large black man is always assumed to be playing basketball or football, it’s unfathomable to people that he might be put on the ice with a gloves and a stick.
But that doesn't just stop with the players, it extends to the fans. To most people, black hockey fans don't exist. We all come from this mystical land called "Not Black Enough". When I first started watching I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was just there to watch but it wasn't until I saw some of the way black fans were treated online and in the crowds that I realized that I had, yet again, put myself in another odd man situation. When of an opposing team, black fans and players are often slandered with the “n”-word and a slew of insults. It makes me wonder, in the world we live in today, when did sports, of all things, become designated by race? When did hockey only become for white people? When did basketball become black exclusive? When did something so recreational become so heavily divided?
Hockey for me, it runs deep and somewhere along the way it became just another part of me. Just like my race. Those are two things that I'm not afraid to be proud and it's not I can really hide my skin color. Overall, they are both things that I constantly am always fighting about. I look forward to watching the sport change as I grow older. I've learned that you never have to conform. As long as you keep your head high, believe in what you say and truly love something then it doesn't matter the color of your skin.
