Diversity in hockey

On my way to work, I like to read to pass the time away.

I'm one of those rare Californians. I don't have a car and I don't drive. I never learned how. After 48 years I don't intend to learn now.

I usually read the sports section, my favorite after the travel section, or sports magazines. This always gets a stare from other passengers, especially males.

Just last week, I happened to be reading and taking notes from one of those hockey preview books that come out the beginning of every hockey season.

A young male passenger in a Los Angeles Laker jersey leaned over, saw the magazine, and said, "You like hockey?"

"Yes", was my answer and before I could tell him why, he told me why he DIDN'T like hockey.

"No black dudes play hockey."

Before I could tell my young "brother" about players like Donald Brashear, Anson Carter and Georges Laracque, he had gotten off the bus.

Too bad I couldn't tell him about Willie O'Ree, who played for the Boston Bruins BEFORE the Red Sox even had a Black player.

I would have told him about John Saunders, ABC broadcaster from Toronto who played his college hockey in Michigan.

I began to think. How many other people, black and white think only white guys play hockey? A lot, I'm sure.

Of the four major sports, hockey is the most diversified.

The players are different in more ways than one and I just don't mean having just black hockey players.

Did you know that Paul Kariya and his brother, Steve, who plays for the Vancouver Canucks, along with Los Angeles Kings' goaltender, Jaime Storr are all part Japanese? Relatives of Steve and Paul were in internment camps in Canada during World War II.

Want a little salsa with that ice? How about Scott Gomez of the New Jersey Devils?

Hockey also has a few native Canadian players such as Gino Odjick, Sheldon Souray, Sandy McCarthy, Chris Simon and Craig Berube, who spend much of their off season working with Native Canadian children on reservations in Canada.

You may be surprised at how different hockey players are, so from time to time, I'll be featuring players who happen to be not "different" -- but special in their own way.