Evidence Piece #5
The Rookies & Young Guns (U25 Team)

72 Luke Adam   6' 2" 206 Jun 18, 1990 23 St. John's, NF, CAN
33 Joel Armia   6' 3" 187 May 31, 1993 20 Pori, FIN
63 Tyler Ennis   5' 9" 157 Oct 6, 1989 23 Edmonton, AB, CAN
65 Brian Flynn   6' 1" 180 Jul 26, 1988 25 Lynnfield, MA, USA
82 Marcus Foligno   6' 3" 226 Aug 10, 1991 22 Buffalo, NY, USA
25 Mikhail Grigorenko   6' 3" 200 May 16, 1994 19 Khabarovsk, RUS
19 Cody Hodgson   6' 0" 194 Feb 18, 1990 23 Toronto, ON, CAN
22 Johan Larsson   5' 10" 200 Jul 25, 1992 21 Lau, SWE
4 Jamie McBain   6' 2" 200 Feb 25, 1988 25 Edina, MN, USA
57 Tyler Myers   6' 8" 227 Feb 1, 1990 23 Houston, TX, USA
3 Mark Pysyk   6' 1" 193 Jan 11, 1992 21 Sherwood Park, AB, CAN
55 Rasmus Ristolainen   6' 4" 207 Oct 27, 1994 18 Turku, FIN
5 Chad Ruhwedel   5' 11" 180 May 7, 1990 23 San Diego, CA, USA
6 Mike Weber   6' 2" 211 Dec 16, 1987 25 Pittsburgh, PA, USA
1 Jhonas Enroth   5' 10" 166 Jun 25, 1988 25 Stockholm, SWE

It's that time of year again where spring/summer hockey comes to a close and the intense travel hockey schedule resumes.  With that USA Hockey has released their latest rule changes which have brought about the most significant changes to the book since the introduction of the new Standard of Play Initiative.  This year the focus is on continuing to develop skill rather than intimidation or physical play.  The last time the rule change year came around it was a move that pushed the first year of hitting from PeeWee (12U) to Bantam (14U).

This year features a crackdown on illegal hitting.  Many of the rule changes strengthened the minimal penalty time for those offenders who target the head or the back.  Penalties such as boarding, charging, and head contact now carry minimum penalties of 2 minutes plus a 10 minute misconduct.  This is up from just a 2 minute minor penalty for each offense. 

Just as the NHL has cracked down on repeat offenders such as Patrick Kaleta, USA Hockey has introduced their own legislation which will take players off the ice for extended periods of time in an effort to change the player's ways.  Some of these rules include changing a second 10 minute misconduct into an automatic game misconduct which can also carry a 1 game suspension in some leagues.  The Progressive Suspension clause will deal with repeat offenders and assessing longer suspensions.

These efforts by USA Hockey, in addition to the continuation of the Mite hockey cross-ice program, are all to promote the skill development of young players.  By not allowing players, especially those physically developed players, to hit has allowed smaller players to still fit in on the ice.  This may allow future players to be like Danny Briere or Nathan Gerbe and overcome their size and experience success at a high level.

As always, the views on the new rules will be split.  While I personally don't agree with them, the focus of USA Hockey is on player safety and with the abundance of concussions in the game today, perhaps delaying hitting and punishing those who break the rules significantly will help that number go down significantly.

"If you take a group of African-Americans who have never skated before and a group of white kids who haven't skated before and put them on the ice approximately the same percentage of them will skate proficiently right off the bat" --Anonymous

If this is the case then why can you count the number of minorities on 10 hands?  It all starts at the youth hockey level.  It's about exposure at a young age.  Dr. Frome takes his students from the King Charter School to the Riverside Ice Rink which is all the way across the City of Buffalo.  So why does the City of Buffalo share two ice pads while the suburbs share 20 ice pads?  It's all about the affluence as the wealthy people moved out to the suburbs and got hooked on the sport largely based on your financial status.  To fully equip a hockey player can cost upwards of $1,000 or more just until the next time he/she grows out of the equipment.  That doesn't even include the fee to play, which for travel can be upwards of $1,000-$2,000 for the ice time, referees, hotel, etc.  The sport is skewed towards rich, white parents who want their kids to be just like them. 

Hockey was invented in Canada and some say perfected by them and it's reflected in recent results from Olympics and other world events.  Yet the United States is on the rise!  They are doing so, however, with a majority of white athletes.  With the minority becoming the majority in our country why are we not tapping into the wealth of athleticism that these minorities possess in order to better the overall skill of USA Hockey?  We are limiting the draw of hockey players to mostly suburbs of major cities, who are white, and have money.  This means we are drawing from a very slim percent of the country.  While hockey doesn't thrive in all regions of the country, especially the warmer climates, cities like Buffalo which are hockey-enthralled are still failing to tap into the African-American market.  Programs such as Hasek's Heroes which is a part of the Hockey is for Everyone initiative by the NHL is allowing children from the City of Buffalo to learn how to skate and play hockey at no cost!  With similar programs in Philadelphia (Ed Snider) and all around the country we are SLOWLY starting to expand the opportunities for this group of children which can only benefit USA Hockey.  The Tim Hortons Backyard Classic has raised over $30,000 in our five-year existence to help in Hasek's Heroes efforts and rewarding the hard work by the children of Hasek's Heroes by bringing one or two teams of their kids out to play in the tournament every year.

This problem isn't just in USA Hockey though, it carries over to the National Hockey League as well.  If I asked you to name 10 white guys who currently play in the NHL it would take me five seconds to answer: Vanek, Pominville, Myers, Crosby, Ovechkin, Miller, Thornton, Kaleta, Ennis, Leopold.  Yet if I asked you to name me ten Asian players or even five Asian players I guarantee you wouldn't be able to.  The same carries over to African-American hockey players as well.  The most prominent one currently is probably Wayne Simmonds who at the beginning of the season was victim of racism when a fan threw a banana onto the ice while he was performing a shoot-out attempt.  We are years away from slavery, yet how much progress have we actually made?  Minorities have just as much athletic talent and ability if they are given the exposure that everyone else is given, so why not better our game at a national and local level by evening the playing field and giving everyone a fair shake.  Look below for current minorities in the NHL.


(AS OF JANUARY 30, 2013)

NHL Players of African Descent or Ancestry   Active Players (Only current NHL team or affiliate identified):  Akim Aliu, Forward, Calgary Flames Paul Bissonnette, Forward, Phoenix Coyotes Francis Bouillon, Defense, Nashville Predators J.T. Brown, Forward, Tampa Bay Lightning Dustin Byfuglien, Defense, Winnipeg Jets, Member of Stanley Cup Team, Trevor Daley, Defense, Dallas Stars Robbie Earl, Forward, Minnesota Wild Ray Emery, Goaltender, Chicago Blackhawks Maxime Fortunnus, Defense, Dallas Stars Mark Fraser, Defense, Toronto Maple Leafs Jarome Iginla, Forward, Calgary Flames Derek Joslin, Defense, Vancouver Canucks Evander Kane, Forward, Winnipeg Jets Greg Mauldin, Forward, Colorado Avalanche Jamal Mayers, Forward, Chicago Blackhawks Kenndal McArdle, Forward, Winnipeg Jets Johnny Oduya, Defense, Chicago Blackhawks Kyle Okposo, Forward, New York Islanders Theo Peckham, Defense, Edmonton Oilers Ryan Reaves, Forward, St. Louis Blues Bryce Salvador, Defense, New Jersey Devils Wayne Simmonds, Forward, Philadelphia Flyers Devante Smith-Pelly, Forward, Anaheim Ducks Anthony Stewart, Forward, Carolina Hurricanes Chris Stewart, Forward, St. Louis Blues P.K. Subban, Defense, Montreal Canadiens Joel Ward, Forward, Washington Capitals 


NHL Players of Aboriginal Descent or Ancestry   Active Players (Only current NHL team or affiliate identified): Arron Asham, Forward, Pittsburgh Penguins Rene Bourque, Forward, Montreal Canadiens Kyle Chipchura, Forward, Phoenix Coyotes Jonathan Cheechoo, Forward, St. Louis Blues Vernon Fiddler, Forward, Dallas Stars Chris Kelly, Forward, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins D.J. King, Forward, Washington Capitals Dwight King, Forward, Los Angeles Kings Cody McCormick, Forward, Buffalo Sabres T.J. Oshie, Forward, St. Louis Blues Carey Price, Goaltender, Montreal CanadiensWade Redden, Defense, New York Rangers Sheldon Souray, Defense, Anaheim Ducks Jordin Tootoo, Forward, Nashville Predators


NHL Players of Asian Descent or Ancestry   Active Players (Only current NHL team or affiliate identified):Chris Beckford-Tseu, Goaltender, Florida Panthers Manny Malhotra, Forward, Vancouver Canucks Jon Matsumoto, Forward, Florida Panthers Raymond Sawada, Forward, Dallas Stars Devin Setoguchi, Forward, Minnesota Wild Brandon Yip, Forward, Nashville Predators