Color of Hockey: Ice Hockey in Harlem's first alumni team hits rink

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, he profiles Ice Hockey in Harlem forming its first alumni team that competed in the Lawyers' Cup fundraising tournament in March.

Todd Levy said he never had so much fun losing.
The Ice Hockey in Harlem co-founder helped assemble a first-ever alumni team from the 36-year-old program that competed in the Lawyers' Cup held at Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers in New York earlier this month.
The squad managed one win during the day-long IHIH fundraising tournament against teams from six prestigious law firms, but it didn't matter.
IHIH players, coaches and volunteers from the 1980s, '90s and early 2000s were together enjoying themselves, paying it forward for a program that helped show them the world of possibilities beyond their neighborhoods.
"It was just the most emotional, heartfelt moment," Levy said. "We won when we got there. There wasn't one of them who didn't have a smile on their face from the minute we saw each other."
Founded in 1987 by Levy, Dave Wilk and former New York Rangers forward Pat Hickey, IHIH offers free hockey and academic enrichment programs to children ages 5-18 from the Harlem community.
IHIH reinforces the value of staying in school and teaches life skills, discipline and the value of teamwork through the prism of hockey.
The program is part of the NHL's Hockey Is For Everyone initiative, which provides support and unique programming to more than 30 nonprofit youth hockey organizations across North America.

Thousands of boys and girls have participated in IHIH since its creation. Many of them have gone on to attend college and find jobs in the public and private sectors.
"They're all contributing to the world, they all have kids, and families and lives," Levy said of the alumni players. "These kids grew up in a pretty rough time in the '80s and '90s."
Chris Diaz said he had not been on ice for a while, but he bought a new pair of skates when he heard IHIH was putting an alumni team together for the Lawyers Cup.
"My feet were killing me, but anything for the program," said Diaz, a hospital maintenance worker who participated in IHIH from 1991-2005. "It was phenomenal. It kind of brought you back to your childhood days when we were playing. It was kind of surreal, it seemed like it came full circle."
Diaz said IHIH was so life-changing for him, he enrolled his 7-year-old son, Christopher Diaz Jr., in it.
"It broadened our horizons in ways that we couldn't imagine and when something does that, you always want to keep it close to you and make sure that things keep going, and you also want to come back and give back," Diaz said.
Lydell Harrigan was ready for the tournament because he hasn't stopped playing since he participated in IHIH from 1989-96.

Harrigan is a detective with the New York City Police Department and a defenseman on NYPD's hockey team that will face the New York City Fire Department in their 49th annual charity game April 15 at UBS Arena, home of the New York Islanders.
"The Lawyers' Cup was great, I wish we had done it sooner," Harrigan said. "You're skating with your old friends again. The program did a lot for me. I got to experience a lot of things other kids didn't get to experience. I got to play junior hockey in Canada, I got to go to hockey camps in the summer, it got me off of the streets."
Derek Richardson traveled from suburban Washington, D.C., to skate and tell old stories with his former IHIH teammates and coaches.
"It was funny because we were telling Todd, 'Twenty, 30 years ago, we were your kids, and now here we are with our kids,'" said Richardson, who served in the U.S. Navy and is now an information technology contractor. "The best part was seeing people that I knew from a long time ago."
IHIH executive director Malik Garvin also suited up for the Lawyers Cup. He was 4 years old in 1996 when he first joined the program, following his older brother into the sport.
"He and the other older guys, they inspired me and let me know that I can stick with this, that I am a hockey player," said Garvin, who went on to play 10 games as a walk-on for Western New England University, an NCAA Division III team, in 2014-15. "I looked up to them and wanted to be them. They were seasoned veterans who could skate, pass and shoot, and compete every game and who, more importantly, loved the game and became lifelong hockey players and hockey fans."
Garvin said the Lawyers' Cup, held for the first time since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, raised more than $53,000.

The money will help cover increased ice time and travel expenses associated with bussing 175 IHIH players to area rinks while the Lasker Rink, their outdoor facility in the northern end of Central Park, is closed as part of a $150 million renovation project. It's scheduled to reopen in 2024.
Law firm Stikeman Elliott won the tournament, which also featured teams from Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden, Weil, Gibson Dunn and Proskauer.
"From a competitive standpoint, these teams were stacked, these guys really like to win," Levy said. "The Stikeman Elliott team is a Canadian law firm. They legitimately did not have a ringer and I don't think they didn't have anyone who wasn't, like, insane, talent-wise."
Levy and Garvin said IHIH plans to have an alumni team in next year's Lawyers' Cup and beyond. And Levy has a message for potential players.
"Off-ice conditioning begins this summer," he said.
Photos: Roger Graham, Ice Hockey in Harlem