Color of Hockey: James honored by Capitals during memorable weekend

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, as part of NHL.com's celebration of Women’s History Month, he profiles Angela James, a 2010 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee who was known as the Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey.

FORT WASHINGTON, Md. -- Angela James said she was flattered, and a little nervous, when the Washington Capitals presented her with a red game jersey Friday with her last name and No. 8 on the back.

“I was, like, ‘I don’t want to get beat up here, it should say ‘Ovechkin’ on the back,’” she said.

Alex Ovechkin may be known as “The Great 8” to Capitals fans, but James made the number her own long before he made his NHL debut in 2005-06.

James is regarded as one of the greatest women’s players of all time. Offensively gifted and physically imposing, she was known as the Wayne Gretzky of women’s hockey, a dominant force in Canadian college hockey, international tournaments and in the top North American women’s league of her era.

James made her first visit to Washington over the weekend, and the Capitals honored her with the jersey and a salute on the giant center ice scoreboard at Capital One Arena during Washington’s 5-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday and selected her to participate in the “Top Shot Challenge,” a fan-favorite in-arena contest.

“They allowed me to do the target shooting and that was a lot of fun,” the 59-year-old Toronto native said. “It was my first time putting on a Washington Capitals jersey, so that was fun. … I really liked the environment.”

James also enjoyed getting on the ice and coaching more than 30 youth hockey players from the Washington area at a skills clinic Saturday at the Tucker Road Ice Rink.

“I told the other instructors right before, like, ‘Sometimes I can be a little intense out there,’ but I think the kids will probably benefit more than just going out and fooling around,” she said. “You might as well give them a couple of pointers that they can take back with them, and that takes a little bit of discipline and teaching.”

She took questions from the young players after a post-clinic screening of “Ice Queens,” a 2023 documentary that features James and chronicles the history and impact of Black women in hockey. It’s directed by Kwame Damon Mason, who wrote and directed the award-winning documentary “Soul on Ice: Past, Present and Future.”

The event was organized by the Tucker Road Parent Hockey Organization, which oversees the Tucker Road Ducks, a minority-oriented grassroots developmental youth hockey program founded 10 years ago to expose kids in Maryland’s Prince George’s County to the sport.

The program is thriving after a two-alarm electrical fire destroyed its home rink on Jan. 4, 2017. The parent organization, led by its president Alexandria Briggs-Blake, aggressively lobbied state and county lawmakers and a gleaming $28 million replacement was built and opened in August 2021.

James was impressed by the facility and by the players she put through drills Saturday.

“I thought they were pretty good,” she said. “This was great. Any chance that I can get out and work with groups, have some fun, contribute a little bit where I can and meet new people and new instructors and just have fun with the game. Share your knowledge, pass it forward, that’s what it’s all about. I thought the kids really listened well.”

And why not? They were getting tips from a 2010 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, the second Black player (after Grant Fuhr in 2003) and one of the first two women (with Cammi Granato) to be enshrined. She became the first Black woman to be inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2008.

James helped power Canada to IIHF World Championship gold medals in 1990, 1992, 1994 and 1997. She wasn’t included on Canada’s roster for the 1998 Nagano Olympics, when women’s hockey was played for the first time, and some former teammates believe that she would have been a difference-maker against the United States, which won the tournament, had she been on the roster.

James had 34 points (22 goals, 12 assists) in 20 world championship games. She averaged 4.00 points per game for Seneca College of the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union with 128 points (80 goals, 48 assists) in 32 games from 1982-85. She was the top scorer for eight seasons and MVP for six in the Central Ontario Women’s Hockey League, as well as MVP at eight Canadian championships.

The city of Toronto renamed the Flemingdon Arena in James’ honor in 2009. James became a co-owner and general manager of the Toronto of the Premier Hockey Federation 2022. The team won the PHF Isobel Cup last season in the professional women’s league’s final year of operation.

“They look at the GOAT who's out there, legendary Hockey Hall of Fame member, Angela James,” Briggs-Blake said of the clinic participants. “And they are out there on the ice with her. So, that in and of itself is so inspirational for them. But then they look at that representation piece and the fact that she is a Black female or a female, period, and it gives them a lot of hope.”

Yahvi Parthasarathi, an 11-year-old center for the Montgomery (County) Ice Devils, could hardly believe that she took passes from a legend.

“I knew she was in the Hall of Fame, but I didn’t know how she skated, how she coached and stuff,” she said. “I’m just so happy to be here and experiencing this. I mean, it’s amazing.”

That’s exactly how James summed up her weekend in D.C.

“You know what?” she said. “A lot of people are making it hard for me not to come back.”