Color of Hockey: Europe-born players celebrate Black History Month

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog for the past eight years. Douglas joined NHL.com in March 2019 and writes about people of color in the game. Today, he profiles Colorado Avalanche forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Calgary Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington, two black players born in Europe, who give their perspective on Black History Month.

Oliver Kylington was born in Stockholm, Sweden, so the Calgary Flames defenseman didn't know much about Black History Month until he caught an NBA game on television.

"I watched an NBA game a couple of years ago and all the players had T-shirts during warmups that had Black History Month logos on them," Kylington said. "I started picking up on it a little bit more."

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Colorado Avalanche forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, the ninth NHL player born in France, knew about black U.S. history, but not that much about the history of black hockey players. That changed during his rookie year with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2014-15 when he met Willie O'Ree, who was the League's first black player in 1958.

"When I met him, I was almost kind of star-struck to see him and talk to him," Bellemare said. "It was kind of humbling to understand how much he had to go through to play a hockey game compared to what we go through today to play a hockey game."

Bellemare and Kylington are among the few black players in league history who were born and raised in European countries that don't formally celebrate Black History Month the way the United States and Canada do. Still, both said they enjoy celebrating the month and recognize the importance of honoring black history, not just in North America, as a path to a more inclusive future.

"I think it's good, it's something that we can't absolutely forget," Bellemare said. "It's something that's good for the younger generation to understand that the generation before us did a lot of work to allow us to live the way we are living now."

Kylington, 22, said he's particularly impressed with how the League has increased its Black History Month activities and events since he played his first NHL game in 2015-16. For example, the NHL Black Hockey History Tour mobile museum, which details the history and growing impact of blacks in the NHL and other levels of the game, is visiting 14 NHL cities this year, up from six in 2019.

"Hockey has always been seen as a 'white man's sport' in history," said Kylington, whose parents are from Sweden and Eritrea. "It's always good to widen out the culture and try to introduce people from different backgrounds to the sport. I think the NHL is starting to do a good job of making people aware of that."

He said representation in the sport is important. If youngsters see people who look like them involved in hockey, they might take up the sport.

"It could be a way to encourage people to try something new or follow their dreams," he said.

Kylington said he's thrilled that his picture is on the 500-square-foot mobile museum's "Wall of Pucks" along with photos of all the all the black players who've been in the League, including former NHL defenseman Johnny Oduya, a fellow Swede who had 190 points (41 goals, 149 assists) in 850 games for the Atlanta Thrashers, Chicago Blackhawks, New Jersey Devils. Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Senators.

"He was a big mentor for me growing up; he's still a mentor and like an older brother," said Kylington, who was chosen by Calgary in the second round (No. 60) of the 2015 NHL Draft. "We have similar backgrounds. We look the same. We trained together in the summers. We're hanging out pretty much every time we have the chance to do that. He has been part of my hockey career on the ice a bit, but mostly off the ice being a good support for me."

Bellemare, 34, said Black History Month is helping facilitate conversation among players. He said a younger teammate recently asked him what it was like growing up and playing hockey in Europe; Bellemare was a fixture on French national teams and played eight seasons in Sweden before coming to the NHL and joining the Flyers at age 29.

"I just talked to him about the few times (racial incidents) happened," he said. "I was really lucky, fortunate, to have a mom that from really early in my age made me understand the issues that I could encounter and that I had to be the bigger person and that it was something that was not going to be easy, that I would be targeted for the wrong reason, for the color of my skin."

He recounted an experience he had as a teenager playing for France at a tournament in Belarus where people would touch his skin.

"I'm wondering, 'What the heck is going on,' and the coach told me, 'They've probably never seen anyone your color,'" Bellemare said. "It was a different time. It was much tougher to see different cultures because all you only saw was what was on your TV, that's it. There was no social media, no Internet."

He said he's saddened when in today's digitally connected world racist incidents occur like the one former Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly endured while sitting in the penalty box during a game against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center in February 2018.

"It's also a reminder that there's a lot of work to keep doing to make sure we go forward and those little bumps in the road don't make us go the other way," Bellemare said. "Which is why we have Black History Month."