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Jason Robertson and Nick Suzuki go from big trade pieces to pivotal players at IIHF World Junior Championship

25 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Dallas Stars, Jason Robertson, Kingston Frontenacs, Montreal Canadiens, Nick Suzuki, Owen Sound Attack, Vegas Golden Knights

Left wing Jason Robertson and center Nick Suzuki have been big deals this hockey season – both on and off the ice.

Dallas Stars forward prospect Jason Robertson.

Robertson, a Dallas Stars 2017 second-round draft pick, was the centerpiece of a major trade in November that sent him from the Kingston Frontenacs to the Niagara IceDogs, both major junior teams in the Ontario Hockey League.

Suzuki, a Vegas Golden Knights first-round draft pick in 2017, was a key piece in the shocking September deal that shipped Montreal Canadiens left wing and team captain Max Pacioretty to Las Vegas.

Both Robertson and Suzuki are expected to be in the thick of things for Team U.S.A. and Team Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Vancouver.

The 10-nation tournament begins Wednesday, December 26, and concludes January 5.  The NHL Network will televise games in the United States and Canada’s TSN will carry every game on its media platforms.

Team USA – 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on December 25, 2019 in Victoria, BC Canada. (Photo/Images On Ice/IIHF).

Robertson and Suzuki are sure to catch the attention of viewers. Robertson, who is of Filipino heritage, is the OHL’s second-leading scorer with 60 points – 31 goals and 29 assists in 32 regular season games with the Frontenacs and IceDogs.

Left wing Jason Robertson was traded from the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs to the Niagara IceDogs (Photo/Terry Wilson/OHL Images).

The 19-year-old Northville, Michigan, resident’s 31 goals are third-best in the OHL. His 13 power play goals are a league best.

Robertson responded to his trade from Kingston to Niagara Falls by tallying 3 goals and 7 assists in his first three games with the IceDogs.

Center Nick Suzuki was drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 but traded to Montreal in September.

“The Dallas Stars pick has great puck protection abilities and an elite goal-scoring touch, which explains why he’s one of the top producers in the league this year,” The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy wrote of Robertson in November.

Suzuki, an Ontario native whose great-great grandparents immigrated to Canada from Japan in the 1900s, is having a solid OHL season with the Owen Sound Attack.

The team captain is the Attack’s second-leading scorer with 20 goals and 23 assists in 28 regular season games. He’s the OHL’s 12th-leading scorer.

“He’s got offensive flair where he can be a No.1 power play guy for you,” Owen Sound Head Coach Todd Gill told The Toronto Sun earlier this month. “He’s got every tool in the box, and he has the ability to just make everyone around him better because of his talent.”

Center Nick Suzuki, a Montreal Canadiens prospect, represents Canada at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship in Vancouver (Photo/Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images).

Suzuki, 19, and Team Canada begin their quest for a second consecutive IIHF world juniors gold medal Wednesday against Denmark. Robertson’s Team U.S.A. looks to improve upon the bronze medal won in 2018 when it opens the 2019 tournament against Slovakia Wednesday.

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey. And download the Color of Hockey podcast from iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and Google Play.

 

 

 

 

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‘Soul on Ice’ star Jaden Lindo seeking to rewrite script toward NHL career

17 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Damon Kwame Mason, Jaden Lindo, Joel Ward, Owen Sound Attack, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, Soul on Ice, Wayne Simmonds

Jaden Lindo loves a happy ending to a movie as much as anyone.

Lindo thought he provided one as a leading man in filmmaker Damon Kwame Mason’s excellent black hockey history documentary “Soul on Ice, Past, Present and Future.”

Mason’s camera followed Lindo, then a forward for the Ontario Hockey League’s Owen Sound Attack, through the high of awaiting the 2014 National Hockey League Draft and the low of suffering a severe season-ending knee injury that jeopardized his draft prospects.

Jaden Lindo scored 21 goals for the Sarnia Sting in 2016-17 (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

The dramatic arc in the film ends with the Pittsburgh Penguins taking the injured Lindo in the sixth round with the 173rd overall pick in the draft. Happily ever-after, right?  Well, not yet.

“It didn’t work out the way I hoped with Pittsburgh, but there are different routes to getting to there (to the NHL),” Lindo told me in a recent telephone conversation from Accra, Ghana, where he and his family were vacationing. “There’s still a lot more for me to achieve and I still have a lot of potential that I still haven’t reached.  I’m completely optimistic.”

Pittsburgh signed Lindo to an amateur tryout agreement in 2015, and he even saw some exhibition game time with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

But things didn’t work out with the Pens. Lindo returned to Owen Sound where the 6-foot-2, 214-pound right wing had 14 goals and 16 assists in the 2015-16 season.

He was traded to the Sarnia Sting for the 2016-17 season and tallied 21 goals and 14 assists in 58 games as a 21-year-old in his final year of OHL eligibility.

Lindo says his script to the NHL isn’t finished. He’s committed to play Canadian college hockey at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario this fall.  The team, which posted a 24-14-0 record last season, is stocked with former major junior players.

The Queen's Gaels have a commitment from forward Jaden Lindo from the Sarnia Sting for the 2017-18 season. pic.twitter.com/E7dNEhNyjH

— Victor Findlay (@Finder_24) May 11, 2017

Other former major junior players have taken the Canadian college route and landed in the NHL, most notably San Jose Sharks right wing Joel Ward, who skated for the University of Prince Edward Island after his Owen Sound career ended.

Like Ward, Lindo is a rugged power forward. But Lindo models his game after another Owen Sound alum, Philadelphia Flyers right wing Wayne Simmonds. Lindo even lived in the same billet residence that Simmonds did during his major junior days.

His season for Sarnia completed – he had 2 goals and 1 assist in 4 OHL playoff games for the Sting – Lindo played two exhibition games last week for the Jamaican national hockey team effort in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His family is of Jamaican descent.

.@battisctv eye to eye w/ @JLindo22 Bobsled to Blades Halifax, NS #jamaica #olympichockey #JOIHT pic.twitter.com/iZ21cUSuxe

— Jamaica Ice Hockey (@JOIHT) May 12, 2017

His play in the exhibition games caught the eye of Bill Riley, a Nova Scotia resident who became the NHL’s third black player when he joined the Washington Capitals in 1976.

“He has all the tools,” Riley told me. “I had a real good chat with him after the game. I said to him, ‘Look, you have everything it takes to be a pro.’ I told him it’s 90 percent mental, 10 percent physical. I said ‘if you’ve got the right mindset, don’t take no for an answer.”

Lindo appreciated the advice from Riley, who served as a Junior A hockey general manager and a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League head coach.

“He’s someone to reach out to and talk about hockey,” Lindo told me. “He knows the game, he’s been a pro, he knows what it takes. If I ever need that support, I have the ability to reach out and talk to him.”

For those who haven’t seen “Soul on Ice, Past, Present and Future,” the award-winning documentary by Damon Kwame Mason, catch it via iTunes, Amazon Video,  Google Play, Vudu, Microsoft Movies & TV,  or Sony PlayStation. It’s also available on Starz in the United States.

Follow the Color of Hockey on Facebook and Twitter @ColorOfHockey.

 

 

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Ho-Sang, Iverson, Lindo, and James crack NHL midterm draft ranking list

16 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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2014 NHL Draft, Jaden Lindo, Josh Ho-Sang, Keegan Iverson, Owen Sound Attack, Portland Winterhawks, Windsor Spitfires

The National Hockey League’s 2014 midterm draft rankings are out and players of color populate the list from top to bottom. Forward Josh Ho-Sang of the Ontario Hockey League’s  Windsor Spitfires placed highest – listed as the 18th best North American skater. Forward Keegan Iverson of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks ranked 64th among draft-eligible North American players.Forward Jaden Lindo of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack was graded as the 96th-best North American player. And Cordell James, a forward for the OHL’s Barrie Colts, ranked 126th among North American skaters.

NHL scouts ranked Windsor's Josh Ho-Sang as the 18th-best North American skater.

NHL scouts ranked Windsor’s Josh Ho-Sang as the 18th-best North American skater.

Samuel Bennett, a forward for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs topped the list of North American skaters, with 26 goals and 66 points so far this season. Kasperi Kapanen, a forward for KalPa of Finland’s SM-liiga, heads the list of draft-eligible European skaters. He has four goals and four assists.

The draft will be conducted June 27-28 at the Wells Fargo Center, home of the Philadelphia Flyers. Last year, eight minority players were chosen in the draft. Some hockey experts think this year’s draft could exceed that number.

Some people believe that the offensively-gifted Ho-Sang could be a first or second round pick.  He has 19 goals and 32 assists for the Spitfires in 42 games. Craig Button, director of scouting for Canada’s TSN, ranks Ho-Sang 33rd among North Americans and European draft-eligible players.

“I like him as a player,” Chris Edwards, a scout for the NHL’s central scouting bureau told The Windsor Star. “He’s highly-skilled and has a chance to be a good pro.”

Bob Boughner, Ho-Sang’s coach at Windsor, agrees but also noted that the young player still has some work to do.

 Owen Sound's Jaden Lindo ranks 96th among North American players.

Owen Sound’s Jaden Lindo ranks 96th among North American players.

“You can’t teach his skill, but he still has to learn to conform a little and make guys around him better,” Boughner told The Star.

Ho-Sang, who’ll turn 18 on Jan. 22, still has some growing up to do. he was scratched for one game this season for what Boughner termed “internal discipline problems.” Ho-Sang told The Star the benching stemmed from being late for a practice.

Portland's Keegan Iverson occupies the 64th slot among North American skaters.  (Brian Heim/Portland  Winterhawks).

Portland’s Keegan Iverson occupies the 64th slot among North American skaters. (Brian Heim/Portland Winterhawks).

“I know it could (hurt my draft ranking), but that’s not what bothers me,” he told the newspaper. “It’s the 22 players (teammates) in that room that I let down.”

Barrie Colts' Cordell James ranks 126th on NHL draft list. Barrie Colts (Terry Wilson Photography)

Barrie Colts’ Cordell James ranks 126th on NHL draft list. Barrie Colts (Terry Wilson Photography)

Button ranks Lindo the 76th best player available. Lindo has nine goals and nine assists in 35 games for the Attack. Iverson, who didn’t make Button’s list, has 10 goals and 11 assists for Portland. James has tallied two goals and three assists in 39 games for the Colts.

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“Black Aces” players, coach, hope NHL futures are in the cards

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Black Mafia, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Fred Sasaskamoose, Josh Ho-Sang, Montreal Canadiens, Owen Sound Attack, Saginaw Spirit, Skillz Black Aces, Toronto, Willie O'Ree

With names like the Black Aces and Black Mafia and a logo featuring a smiling dude with sunglasses and an afro, you knew that these teams were going to be just a little different.

But different was what the Skillz Black Aces and Black Mafia were all about. The early squads were Toronto-based summer youth hockey teams comprised of elite,  National Hockey League draft-eligible players born in 1995 and 1996 – and almost all of them black.

The teams barnstormed summer hockey tournaments in the United States and Canada and consistently dominated opponents with their speed and skill.

“It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life,” said Windsor Spitfires forward Josh Ho-Sang, who skated for four summers with the Skillz teams before joining the Ontario Hockey League franchise. His father, Wayne Ho-Sang also served as a team coach.

Skillz Black Aces Coach Cyril Bollers, rear left, and his 2010  team.

Skillz Black Aces Coach Cyril Bollers, rear left, and his 2010 team.

The Black Aces and Black Mafia alumni reads like a page from “Who’s Who Among Up-And-Coming Hockey Players”: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds  defenseman Darnell Nurse, the Edmonton Oilers’ 2013  first-round pick last summer; Kitchener Rangers forward Justin Bailey, a Buffalo Sabres second-round pick; forward Stephen Harper of the Erie Otters; and Bellville Bulls defenseman Jordan Subban, the Vancouver Canucks’ fourth-round pick and the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban and Boston Bruins goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban.

And players hoping to hear NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman call their name at next summer’s draft in Philadelphia includes forwards Ho-Sang, Jeremiah Addison of the Saginaw Spirit, Jaden Lindo of the Owen Sound Attack, Keegan Iverson of the Portland Winterhawks, and Cordell James and defenseman C.J. Garcia of the Barrie Colts.

Coach Cyril Bollers, right, with Josh Burnside, who now plays for the OHL Mississauga Steelheads.

Coach Cyril Bollers, right, with Josh Burnside, who now plays for the OHL Mississauga Steelheads.

Like his players, Skillz President and Coach Cyril Bollers has professional hockey dreams. He hopes the progress of his players – along with him obtaining the requisite certifications, credentials, and experience – will lead to a coaching job behind the bench of a major junior, American Hockey League or NHL team.

“I have ambitions and I’m hoping that I get an opportunity,” Bollers told me recently. “With the face of hockey changing, and more visible minorities becoming involved, eventually it has to change at the coaching level as well.”

The success of Bollers’ summer teams over the years has attracted the attention of the broader hockey community to the point that the squads are no longer just a black thing.

White players like Brendan Lemieux, a Barrie Colts left wing and son of retired NHL agitator supreme Claude Lemieux, and Chad Hefferman, a Bellville Bulls left winger and stepson of former Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers sniper Steve Larmer, have played for Bollers.

“Guys who all played (pro hockey) were sending their kids to come to play for us,” Bollers said. “We integrated (with) good hockey players. It doesn’t matter to us –  black or white or purple. We’re just a good hockey team.”

 Jeremiah Addison with OHL Saginaw. (Photo: Saginaw Spirit)

Jeremiah Addison with OHL Saginaw. (Photo: Saginaw Spirit)

Bollers teams are a legacy of a Skillz hockey program that was created to give minority and disadvantaged Canadian youth the exposure and the opportunity to play the expensive sport of hockey.

The program helped produce a talented crop of NHL players: Joel Ward of the Washington Capitals; Chris Stewart of the St. Louis Blues; Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers; and retired NHLers Anson Carter, Jamal Mayers, and Hockey Night in Canada/NBC Sports Network/NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes, who went on to help underwrite Skillz.

Skillz Black Aces alum Cordell James with Barrie Colts (Terry Wilson Photography)

Skillz Black Aces alum Cordell James with Barrie Colts (Terry Wilson Photography)

In the years that followed, Bollers added the competitive summer teams to the program. The initial squads wore their ethnicity with pride – and with a purpose.

“We wanted to make a statement. The statement originally was we had all black coaches, all the kids on the team were black, and that was great,” Bollers said. “We wanted to prove that, yes, African-Canadians can coach at this level and that our kids could play at this level.”

Racial attitudes have come a long way since Fred Sasakamoose became the NHL’s first Native/First Nation player during the 1953-54 season and Willie O’Ree became the league’s first black player in 1958.

But minority players are still occasionally subjected to stereotyping and racial taunts by

Barrie's C.J. Garcia, a Black Aces alum (Terry Wilson Photography).
Barrie’s C.J. Garcia, a Black Aces alum (Terry Wilson Photography).

fans, teammates, opposing players, coaches, and on-ice officials – from youth hockey to the professional ranks.

Look no further than the torrent of racist emails from so-called Bruins fans after Ward scored a Game 7 overtime goal that vanquished Boston from the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs. Or the Flyers-Detroit Red Wings 2011 preseason game in London, Ont., where an alleged fan threw a banana towards Simmonds during a shootout.

“People don’t understand what our guys go through, they don’t get it, even I don’t truly get what these guys go through,” said Amy Iverson, Keegan Iverson’s mother.

The Skillz elite teams offer is a change of pace for young players of color: a respite from being the only one on the team or the player who has to conform to a locker room culture where country and rock music are often rule, Bollers said.

“From the get-go, you walked into our dressing room the one thing you’d noticed we had reggae playing, we had Bob Marley, Caribbean music playing,” Bollers said. “So when we first started out, that was a of letting their hair down so to speak, culture, enjoying themselves.”

Justin Bailey of OHL Kitchener played for Bollers. (Kitchener Rangers).

Justin Bailey of OHL Kitchener played for Bollers. (Kitchener Rangers).

And how did the predominately black teams go over with opposing players and fans?

“There were some people who had problems with it and there were some people who thought it was great,” Ho-Sang recalled. “Sometimes when we played against teams from the (United) States there was a little more hostility, right, because I find the States are a little more race-conscious than Canada. But everything was good, we never had any problems.”

But Karen Buscaglia, Justin Bailey’s mother, recalled that the Black Mafia name was too much for one opposing parent. He angrily removed the name from the board at a tournament, she said.

“One of the dads from the other team was, like, “Stupid coons,” and erased it,” said Buscaglia, who’s white and Italian-American. “I was like ‘Did that just happen?’ I was so blown away by that.  If anybody else called themselves whatever the name was, nobody would have had an issue with it. But because the team was predominately black team, and they were winning, and they were good…it is what it is.”

Portland's Keegan Iverson, a Black Aces alum (Brian Heim/Portland  Winterhawks).

Portland’s Keegan Iverson, a Black Aces alum (Brian Heim/Portland Winterhawks).

The “Black Aces” moniker has a rich hockey history. In the 1940s, former Bruins great Eddie Shore owned the minor league Springfield Indians and used the name to describe players who were trying to work their way back from injury or out of the doghouse.

The name was also given to the famous all-black 1940s hockey line of the Sherbrooke Saints that featured Herb Carnegie – regarded by many as the greatest player never to play in the NHL – brother Ossie Carnegie and Manny McIntyre.

Skillz players and parents describe Bollers, 44, as one part Hockey Hall of Fame Coach Scotty Bowman, one part NFL Hall of Fame Coach Vince Lombardi, and one part Sunday preacher. He instills in his players a hockey tactician’s knowledge, the X’s and O’s of the game. He’s a demanding, no-nonsense task-master who is quick to reward fine play and quick to punish poor performance with a seat on the bench. He’s a fiery motivational speaker a la televangelists T.D. Jakes or Joel Osteen.

OHL Windsor's Josh Ho-Sang skating for the Black Aces.

OHL Windsor’s Josh Ho-Sang skating for the Black Aces.

“After one tournament, the locker room was like a Baptist church on a Sunday morning because it was like (Bollers ) was giving a sermon,”Buscaglia recalled. “He had such a high energy, such excitement for the kids, such a love of the game. And he wasn’t easy on the kids, either. He really pushed you to be your best and you earned your time. It was just a different level of hockey and the kids were having fun while doing it.”

When Keegan Iverson saw how much the fun Black Aces were having during a tournament in Toronto about four summers ago, he desperately wanted to join the team. When he received an invite from Bollers, Iverson’s mother packed the family into the car the following summer and made a two-day trek from Minnesota to join the Bollers’ team at a tournament in Upstate New York.

Erie Otters' Stephen Harper played for Cyril Bollers

Erie Otters’ Stephen Harper played for Cyril Bollers

“It was a real powerful experience for Keegan,” his mother said. “It was just a different vibe. “C.J. is a strong personality of a guy. He instills that it’s okay to be good, it’s okay to be the best.”

She thinks the Black Aces influence on Keegan is reflected in the NHL players he’s chosen as role models. When HFBoards asked him during this year’s Ivan Hlinka Tournament who those players are, Iverson smiled broadly and said Simmonds and Boston Bruins forward Jarome Iginla.”

To learn more about the Skillz Black Aces and Black Mafia visit www.skillzhockey.com.

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Will it be lights, camera – and finally – action for black hockey history movies?

04 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Chris Stewart, Detroit Rockies, Jaden Lindo, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joel Ward, Owen Sound Attack, Paul Newman, Slap Shot, Soul on Ice, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals

Hollywood and the Canadian film industry love turning sports stories into movies – especially fact-based, against all-odds, underdog-to-overachiever athletic tales.

“Remember the Titans” chronicled a Virginia high school football team overcoming racial barriers to become champions. “Pride” captured the story of the U.S.’s first all-black competitive swim team. “Crooked Arrows” spun the real-life-inspired tale of a Native American youth lacrosse team. Heck, even Disney couldn’t resist turning the story of the Jamaican Bobsled Olympic team into the comedy “Cool Runnings.”

But when it comes to making feature films or documentaries about the rise of blacks in ice hockey, it seems to be a challenge convincing the entertainment powers that be that it’s a worthwhile venture. That hasn’t stopped Kwame Damon Mason, Joe Doughrity and George Fosty from trying.

For years, the three men have separately been knocking on the doors of film and television industry-types on both sides of the border to get them interested in supporting, funding, and eventually airing their individual hockey film projects.

“It’s a tough sell,” Doughrity told me recently. “When I’ve had meetings at studios about it, they think it’s a great story but hockey is the fourth or fifth sport. It’s not the NFL, the NBA or Major League Baseball.”

Hockey documentary-maker Joe Doughrity.

Hockey documentary-maker Joe Doughrity.

It’s not like hockey is an unknown quantity to showbiz folks. The sport has starred or played a prominent role in many a film, from the 1970 tear-jerker “Love Story” to Paul Newman’s classic “Slap Shot” to director John Singleton’s “Four Brothers.”

Television and film producer Jerry Bruckheimer is a pick up hockey regular in L.A. And Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., has been known to suit up for games. Still, getting a black hockey project green-lighted has been a slow slog.

Doughrity, a Detroit transplant who moved to Los Angeles to pursue a movie industry career, has been searching for backing to finish the documentary he started on the Detroit Rockies, an all-black Midget AA team that shocked the hockey world by winning a Can/Am tournament in Lake Placid in 1995. The young Detroiters outscored their U.S. and Canadian competition 35-8 on the way to capturing the title.

The Rockies’ story is compelling enough that Doughrity is working with Fox Television Studios on a pilot that uses the team as a springboard to explore the passion for the game and the resilience of the people of Detroit. He’s also working towards a feature film about the team.

“It’s been happening for a couple of years now,” Doughrity said of the television pilot. “On the feature film side, a pretty well-known producer named Mike Karz, he’s done a bunch of Adam Sandler films, he’s spearheading the feature film version. I can’t tell you anything definitively about a start date, who might be in it, because it’s all in its infancy.”

Still, the slow pace of the projects hasn’t diminished Doughrity’s excitement or drive to get the Detroit hockey story on the big or small screen.

“I love the story,” he said. “It will help make black kids feel comfortable playing the sport because they get it from both sides: they get it white kids who don’t think we play hockey, they get it from black kids who don’t think we play hockey. I want to make something cool about being black and playing hockey.”

Mason, a Toronto resident, recently launched an online fundraising drive on to support

Kwame Damon Mason interviewed hockey great Herb Carnegie, left, before he passed away in March 2012.

Kwame Damon Mason interviewed hockey great Herb Carnegie, left, before he passed away in March 2012.

his documentary: “Soul on Ice: Past, Present & Future.” For his project, Mason has interviewed some of the game’s black trailblazers, including the late Quebec Aces legend Herb Carnegie, who was regarded as one of the greatest hockey players never to reach the NHL; current players such as forward Joel Ward of the Washington Capitals; and follows the budding career of Jaden Lindo, a right wing for the Ontario Hockey League’s Owen Sound Attack. Lindo, 17, will be eligible for the 2014 National Hockey League draft this summer.

Mason hopes to have cameras rolling at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center  on June 27-28 to chronicle how Lindo fares at the draft. But until then, he’s out to raise $40,000 via the international crowd online fund-raising site Indiegogo to help keep film production going.

Mason has gone all-in on his project. He set aside his job in radio two-and-a-half years ago to devote all his time to conducting interviews, raising money, and trying to persuade entities like the Canadian Broadcasting Company to air the documentary when its hopefully finished by next September.

“I’m just being a starving artist right now and putting everything into the project,” he said. “It’s a perfect time for it, more blacks are coming into the league,” Mason said. “It’s not a new phenomenon with blacks playing in the NHL. But I think there needs to be this attention or understanding about the history of it because, as they say, you can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’re coming from.”

Kwame Mason profiles Owen Sound's Jaden Lindo in his documentary.

Kwame Mason profiles Owen Sound’s Jaden Lindo in his documentary.

Fosty and his brother, Darril, are equally passionate when it comes to trying to generate studio and investor interest in expanding their documentary which is based on their 2004 ground-breaking book, “Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey Leagues of the Maritimes, 1895-1925.” 

The book and documentary trace the roots of modern hockey, from the slap shot to butterfly-style goaltending, to an all-black league comprised largely of runaway U.S. slaves who settled in the Canadian Maritimes.

“It’s not been easy at all,” George Fosty told me. “You walk in with a hockey history, and a black history on top of it, add a Canadian history element to it, that’s three strikes and you’re out of it already.  They’re going to say ‘Somebody in Iowa is not going to be interested in this.'”

But he and other filmmakers say that perception is slowly fading as movie and TV executives are taking note that the changing complexion of hockey reflects the changing racial and ethnic demographics of the United States and Canada. in other words, movie-goers and TV audiences are becoming browner.

Fosty says recent conversations that he’s had with Canadian television executives about the possibility of making “Black Ice” a made-for-TV movie make him feel encouraged that the tide may finally be changing for him, Doughrity, Mason and their projects.

“We’re rounding third and heading home,” Fosty said. “These films will be reality, they will be made. Now do you want to work with us or stay on the sidelines? That’s the big question in the meetings we have with industry people today.”

For more information on Joe Doughrity and his hockey film project, visit https://www.facebook.com/joedfilmmaker, follow him on Twitter @afropuck or email him joedoughrity@gmail.com. To Learn more about Kwame Damon Mason’s project, visit Indiegogo at http://igg.me/p/542885/x/4899078. For more on George Fosty’s “Black Ice” efforts, contact him at  gfosty@boxscorenews.com.

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