Color of Hockey: Abel 1st player to commit at Tennessee State University

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 Xavier Abel, a 22-year-old forward from Toronto who is the first player to commit to skate for Tennessee State University, which will become the first historically Black college with a hockey program when it begins play in September.

The Tennessee State University men’s club hockey team doesn’t have a coach, equipment, or conference affiliation yet.

But it does have Xavier Abel.

The 22-year-old Toronto resident enrolled at the university in Nashville this week and became the first player to commit to the first hockey team at a historically Black college.

Abel, a forward, transferred from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, where he had 18 points (12 goals, six assists) in 34 games last season for its American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II team.

“The whole idea of building the first HBCU hockey team was the biggest incentive for me transferring,” Abel said.

 “I feel like the biggest thing in hockey that’s evolving is representation -- getting more kids of different cultures and backgrounds representing the sport,” he said. “Expanding that culture and just building that representation in that sport to kids of color is something I’ve been working toward in my career.”

Abel said being able to do that while continuing a family HBCU legacy makes it even more exciting.

Abel’s mother, Erika Abel, graduated from Hampton University in Virginia in 1991, and he has five relatives who are currently enrolled or previously attended TSU.

“I felt like a historically Black college would be a great opportunity for him, but I almost felt like that wouldn’t happen,” Erika Abel said. “As soon as we received, I mean literally the same day, word about Tennessee State potentially having the first hockey team, we got on it immediately.”

TSU is among more than 100 colleges and universities in the United States, District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands that are federally designated as HBCUs.

They were established before 1964 with the primary mission of educating Black Americans who were denied admission to predominantly white institutions during the pre-civil rights era.

“The HBCU experience is different from other college experiences,” Abel said. “Like it has that community, culture that's just extremely impactful. Once you experience it, it sticks with you for a lifetime.”

TSU officials announced plans to form a club hockey team to begin play in 2024-25 at the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville last June.

The university’s plan calls for the club team to eventually shift to NCAA Division I status, following paths taken by Arizona State University in 2015-16 and Penn State University in 2012-13. TSU’s home games and practices will be held at Ford Ice Center, which is also the Nashville Predators’ practice facility.

Nick Guerriero, TSU’s assistant athletic director for communications who’s helping assemble the hockey program, said the university expects to post the opening for the coaching position soon. It also hopes to unveil the team’s jerseys in February.

Abel said he can’t wait to see what TSU’s inaugural roster looks like.

“I can say that it's not going to be difficult for Tennessee State to get good players and build themselves a good program because there is such a variety of talent, especially in Canada,” he said.  “There are players of color in the west coast of Canada, playing in the British Columbia leagues and the Alberta leagues. … And there’s a depth of talent in the United States in Tier II, Tier III. There are so many leagues and so much talent around.”

Abel’s interest in hockey began near Chicago when he was about 9 years old, when he won tickets in a raffle to see the Chicago Blackhawks play the Calgary Flames at United Center in 2009. He and his mother found themselves sitting near the glass by the Blackhawks bench.

“You had Dustin Byfuglien and you had Jarome Iginla on the other team,” Erika Abel said. “It was magical that night because my son could actually watch two players who looked like him that were out there playing the game, and he was mesmerized.”

Xavier Abel grew even more starry-eyed when Byfuglien noticed that he was wearing his No. 33 Blackhawks jersey and “he handed me his stick.”

“That's why he wears 33 today, because he was a huge Byfuglien fan,” his mother said.

Abel was excelling at floor hockey in a local YMCA league at that time, and a coach suggested he try ice hockey. He became good enough to go to Canada to play in the competitive Greater Toronto Hockey League.

Abel’s mother and sister, Layla, moved to Toronto in 2016. He later played at Blyth Academy and moved on to teams in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Great North Midget Hockey League.

He went on to play for New Hampshire, South Shore, Buffalo and Las Vegas in the United States Premier Hockey League from 2019-20 before he was recruited by Drury University in 2022-23.

Abel won’t see much game action until TSU begins its first season in September. He plans to stay in hockey shape by going to as many open hockey sessions as he can and by getting on the ice with some of the Nashville area’s junior teams.

“I’ll definitely be ready for the 2024 season,” he said. “Ready to compete.”