Vilgrain's Story Prepares and Inspires Next Generation | PODCAST

Former Devil Claude Vilgrain's first junior hockey game was also the first time he experienced racism for being a Black hockey player.
"I jump on the ice for my first junior game and I'm pumped because there's about three, four thousand people in the stands. I cross over to the other side and the fans started on me," Vilgrain explained. "All game long, that was my worst hockey game. I didn't want to skate on that side. If we had a face-off on that side, I asked my buddy to switch with me. I went back to my billet, I sat in a corner, I turned off the light, and I had to settle down.
"I couldn't breathe. I spent the whole night in that corner, in the dark. And I told myself if you want to be a hockey player, you got to suck it up because that would be your journey."

After that first game, Vilgrain was determined to never let those being racist towards him impact him the same way again.
"I don't know how many bananas got thrown at me, and the monkey signs in the stands, but I told myself I would never ever let them get to me like they did at my first hockey game. And that's what my dad always told me," Vilgrain said. "Every time that happened, I had my best game because I needed to have a good game."
Vilgrain kept playing and his career had stops with the Canadian National and Olympic teams, the NHL, and a professional team in Switzerland. Little did Vilgrain know, younger players were watching his career and felt seen for the first time in the sport. Vilgrain met one of the players he inspired during the 1995-96 Spengler Cup.
"We had a couple extra players - we had Martin St. Louis and Jamal Mayers, and so they're college kids," Vilgrain said. "I was fixing my sticks, and that kid kept standing beside me just staring at what I was doing and it was Jamal. And I said 'what's up brother.' He said 'you know me and the boys at college followed your career. Finally someone that looks like us playing in the NHL and the Olympics … and now I get to skate with you."
Mayers went on to tell Vilgrain how him and his friends would gather together in the dorms to watch Vilgrain play for the Devils on the TV, excited to see their role model play. Mayers went on to play 15 seasons in the National Hockey League and won a Stanley Cup.
Vilgrain shared many stories throughout his Speak of the Devils podcast interview about the racism he experienced throughout his career, and he knows the impact of sharing his story.
"That was my journey. That first game I played junior I had to make a decision. I realized also, I could have been in the real world and had the same issue and feel that I missed out on my dream to be a hockey player," Vilgrain said.
He continues to be around the sport in a coaching capacity and is there as a resource for the next generation.
"I work and help out my ex-agent with kids in the western part of Canada here. We have a couple of Black kids," Vilgrain said. "I make sure to have the conversation with the kids, because some kids have never experienced (racism) and they will ... My focus is the new generation."