In Boston, Willie ORee street hockey rink is one part of giant project to diversify hockey

It is unfortunate but unfortunately understandable that Willie O’Ree, the NHL’s first black player, experienced hostility during his career because of his ethnicity.

That a black player 52 years younger than O’Ree suffered similar indignity signals the pace of ice hockey’s progress.

“There were a couple times I was called racial slurs,” said 31-year-old Lenward Gatison, a native of New Haven, Conn., who was raised outside Philadelphia. “Or kids were hitting me on the back of my legs for no reason. They weren’t doing it to anybody else.”

Advertisement

On the ice, Gatison swore to impress upon his opponents that yes, he was different — he was better. Off the ice, by the time he was a teenager, Gatison used his appearance to amplify his identity.

“I had baggy pants on. I had the biggest T-shirt. I had a do-rag on. I had braids. I wanted to be, for lack of a better term, as black as possible,” Gatison said. “My thing was I wanted to be as comfortable as I want to be around my regular friends and also walk into the rink the same way. Eventually, when you see me enough, you’ll know that all that doesn’t mean anything. What matters is how he plays on the ice and how he conducts himself. Always being respectful. Always being the first person to help someone up when they’re falling. But also making sure I was scoring goals, making big hits, making big plays for my team to win and being the best hockey player.”

Gatison progressed to UMass Boston, where he was an energy forward. He is now a board member at SCORE Boston, the program that introduces hockey to city kids and families.

Gatison, who lives in Brockton, now spends Saturday mornings at Milton’s Ulin Rink, a wrist shot away from the Boston neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Mattapan. Gatison coaches SCORE’s bantam- and peewee-aged players.

For Gatison and his colleagues, it is measured and methodical work to diversify the sport. Grassroots grunt work, however, is perhaps the only reliable method to make hockey more welcoming.

On the other side of Boston, a similar process is under construction. It is practically mandatory.

“There’s nothing more of a priority,” said Kevin Erlenbach, USA Hockey assistant executive director of membership development, “than USA Hockey becoming more diverse and inclusive.”

Under construction

Willie O’Ree Community Rink is beautiful.

The street hockey rink, dedicated in November to its namesake trailblazer, would put most setups — driveways, dead ends, backyards, other such courts — to shame. It looks like its ice hockey cousin, from the boards to the bench doors to the red and blue lines painted on its surface.

Advertisement

The Allston facility is so new it does not exist on Google Earth. Two basketball courts, since removed from the footprint, appear online.

The rink was built through the collision of two forces. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh has emphasized upgrades to the city’s recreational infrastructure. Concurrently, the Bruins have wanted to participate in a legacy project to honor O’Ree, who broke the NHL’s color barrier with the organization in 1958.

The Allston location, adjacent to Harvard Stadium, was identified through collaboration between the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and the Boston Bruins Foundation. The Bruins contributed $250,000 toward the rink’s construction, refurbishing or building other facilities and organizing the launch of a citywide league that will also bear O’Ree’s name. According to Mike Devlin, director of recreation for Parks and Recreation, the league could start by late spring or early summer.

Proponents of street hockey insist it can help develop skills that are mandatory on the ice, such as creativity and spatial awareness.

“You ask Rick Middleton, who probably had the best hands of just about any Bruin to play the hand, he credits that to playing so much street hockey,” said Bruins Foundation executive director Bob Sweeney. “It doesn’t always have to be on the ice. It’s the same hand-eye coordination. Obviously you’ve got to be able to skate, but a lot of the tendencies you use in ice hockey, you can learn in street hockey.”

One of the appeals of street hockey is the reduced barrier of entry. The only pieces of equipment needed are sticks and balls. There is no need to pay for court time.

Ice hockey, in comparison, can cost a family thousands of dollars per season because of registration, ice time, equipment, travel and lodging. Sympathies to families whose children are goalies.

Advertisement

“All my friends growing up have said, ‘Oh, I played street hockey growing up. I just never got into ice hockey.’ It’s usually because of the money,” Gatison said. “They don’t have the money for the equipment, the ice time. Sticks now are $200 apiece. How do you expect Mom and Dad to pay $200 for a stick? And if it breaks in two weeks, then you’ve just lost that money.”

Cost is not the only impediment obstructing black players from ice hockey. Culture is just as significant.

‘The rink is very intimidating’

There are no barriers to outdoor sports such as soccer, basketball or football. Their habitats are open courts or fields. Play starts with just one ball.

Ice hockey, in contrast, is literally walled off. A car ride is usually required to arrive at the rink. Facilities are built for utility instead of comfort or aesthetic appeal.

Once inside, the rink can be dizzying for those unfamiliar with what gear to wear or where to put it on. The sport does not exactly wave visitors through the door. A secret password might as well be required.

“In reality, the rink is very intimidating,” said Erlenbach. “It’s intimidating in any arena. You’re walking into a close-knit, tight community. It may not be welcoming regardless of race or ethnicity.”

This sense can be amplified for black families, who may be more familiar with other sports.

“In inner cities, we have such a dominance of football and basketball, even baseball,” said SCORE vice president Deniere Watford-Jackson, a black Dorchester resident who grew up in Hyde Park. “There’s not a lot of rinks in inner-city neighborhoods. There’s one or two. You might ride by and say, ‘Oh, I know that’s an ice skating rink, but I don’t really know what’s going on in it.’ It’s nothing but walls. You can’t really see into it to see what’s happening. You ride by, it’s just a building if you have no idea what’s going on inside. When kids are just going on with their day-to-day life, they don’t see that. But they see fields. They see kids out on the fields. They see a basketball court. They see people running around with a ball. Oftentimes, there’s no connection to a sport that seems so foreign to them.”

Advertisement

Six years ago, Watford-Jackson had not heard of SCORE. She is now a hockey mom.

Daughters Dallas (16 years old) and Toryn (12) started their careers in the program. Both have progressed to Parkway Youth Hockey, which covers the neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury. They also play for school programs in Concord.

For $140, a player receives an hour of on-ice instruction every Saturday from October through March. All equipment is provided, to be returned at the conclusion of the season. Scrimmages are available for the older players. There are off-ice components that cover topics such as nutrition, hockey safety and bullying.

By Watford-Jackson’s count, approximately 65 players are registered this year. About 15 volunteers, including former participants such as Dorchester’s Emma Tobin, a senior at Boston Latin School, serve as coaches.

On a recent Saturday, Watford-Jackson nodded toward Toryn, who was coaching SCORE squirts. She described her younger daughter as reserved. Playing ice hockey teased more confidence and assertiveness out of Toryn.

“There’s so many options in the world that people are not familiar with. We just encourage kids and families to give it a try,” Watford-Jackson said. “The first thing they always say is, ‘Oh, it’s so cold.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, it’s cold. But it’s cold wherever you’re going to be in Massachusetts.’ We just offer them the opportunity to come out, check us out. We have coaches that have played at the college level. I think the most appealing thing about SCORE is it’s really community-based and family-oriented. We care about them on the ice, off the ice, in school. We’re always checking up on them. I think that’s what keeps people coming.”

Getting players in the door is one thing. Keeping them is another.

Making them stay

Some NHL players first pulled on skates when they were two years old. They are exceptional in every sense of the word.

Advertisement

According to USA Hockey’s data, only 17 percent of players who start at four years old or younger return for U-5 seasons. That percentage climbs to 92 percent for U-9 players.

Little about ice hockey is natural for four-year-old girls and boys. The fastest and most powerful runners off the ice will fall when they first try to skate. At that age, failure and frustration discourage most players from continuing.

“At four years old, they’re not physically, mentally or emotionally ready,” Erlenbach said. “Six years old is the sweet spot.”

The programs that succeed at introduction and retention emphasize fun, reinforcement and engagement. Practices and games must be fulfilling. This requires committed, creative, high-energy coaches.

“The customer base is not guaranteed,” Erlenbach said. “The notion of getting on the ice and touching a stick leads to a fan for a life or a player for life really isn’t true. How do we structure programming for our recruitment efforts?”

Value is also critical. Erlenbach cited an association in Charlotte that splits its season into five four-week sessions for $70 each. Upon the completion of every session, players can keep two pieces of equipment — a helmet and gloves after the first four weeks, for example, and elbow pads and knee pads following the next session.

This encourages commitment from the program and its players. The association loses money if players quit after the first four weeks. At the same time, players can leave with full sets of gear following the five sessions.

The Bruins have a similar initiative through their Learn to Play program. For $100, players ages 4-9 are fitted with $500 worth of CCM equipment and participate in four weeks of on-ice instruction. The gear is theirs to keep.

These efforts, however, do not guarantee that black players will enter the door and stay. It is not easy for families to feel comfortable when so many of their peers are not black. USA Hockey only started gathering demographics data this season, so the percentage of black players among its membership is unknown.

Advertisement

“They don’t see a lot of kids in their community that are trying ice hockey,” Watford-Jackson said. “So when they don’t see it, I think it just doesn’t resonate in their brain that, ‘Maybe this is a sport I should give a try.’ And they also don’t see people who look like them often playing the sport. When you don’t see things like that, it might be more difficult to connect to something when there’s a lower representation in the sport overall.”

If you build it, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee they will come. In ice hockey, attracting and retaining players of any race requires cultivation. Street hockey is no different.

Programming needed

Not long ago, kids played outdoors without encouragement. Those days are over for whatever reason: video games, phones, helicopter parenting, safety.

“Kids don’t play pickup sports,” Devlin said. “They don’t do that anymore. They want it programmed and structured. I’d love to see more kids playing pickup. Maybe with new facilities, they can.”

On an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon in February, O’Ree Rink was empty. The only other person within range was a skateboarder carving up the adjacent skate park.

Building a gem like O’Ree Rink is only the first step. Conceiving, organizing and maintaining the activity to populate such facilities are just as critical to getting users onto the surface.

It’s why O’Ree Rink will have structured activities to serve its purpose. According to Devlin, other sites in Mattapan and Roxbury are under consideration for either new or refurbished street hockey rinks. Within each facility, teams will play in a league named after O’Ree, most likely twice a week. Proposed schedules will be coordinated with existing baseball programs to prevent overlap.

“This is a mission for us,” Devlin said of increasing citywide participation in outdoors sports. “We can’t just keep rolling basketball out for kids of color and hockey for white kids. We have to find ways to bridge those gaps. It is a challenge in that some neighborhoods are stuck in what they do. We have to break through there. We’ve done work with the SCORE program. (President) Wendell Taylor is an incredible guy who works hard at getting kids of color, minority kids, to fall in love with the game of hockey. Skating will always be the challenge. Not every kid can skate no matter what color they are. But everybody can run. Everybody can use their feet. Maybe street hockey is the catalyst to get kids out there.”

Advertisement

Part of the vision of O’Ree Rink’s backers is for street hockey to be a gateway to its colder cousin, especially for kids of color. Ice hockey is a difficult sport with considerable barriers around its perimeter.

But once inside, players can learn its value. It is hard. There is nothing natural about speeding around a slippery surface on blades.

But kids are good at solving problems. With direction, they can solve the problem of playing a challenging sport.

Once that happens, a child quickly learns there is little he or she cannot do.

(Top photo of Willie O’Ree: Jessica Rich/Boston Bruins)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57l2pqbGthZH9xfZhoZ2tnYW18qrqMm6asrJ%2Bjeri1y6WgnmWfp7KmedKtqZ6dpGK1sK%2FKnrBmqpmjuG610mamp51dpa6zwIyonWafmZa7tXnPq6ajnZOperW7jJ2gr52iqLanxYyhppyjla58